Summary
Summary Germany’s Loss in the First World War
- Module
- Depth Study
- Institution
- AQA
An A level standard piece of work on why Germany lost the first world war. Written in an exam styled way for both AS and A level standard.
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Germany’s Loss in the First World WarAt the start of the War, Germany was occupying most of northern France and Belgium which
led them to take a defensive position which the Western powers could not get rid of.
Because of this, it seemed like Germany was at an advantage, with French army soldiers
starting to rebel against leading officers and tire against the continuous onslaught in 1917, in
October Italian allies were defeated in Caporetto by Germany and Austria-Hungary and
Russia having collapsed due to internal revolution, leading them to leave the war. The
Bolshevik government sued for peace with Germany, leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
where the revolutionary regime was forced to accept Germany occupying Poland, Ukraine
and a large part of the Baltic territories in Russia. This also freed the German forces in the
Eastern front to assault the West and take them by surprise.
But from here, Germany’s chain of errors from the country's leaders was what finally led to
their defeat in 1918. The first error was to begin unrestricted submarine warfare against
Britain which was taken under pressure from Germany’s military leaders and although Britain
suffered shipping losses, it was nowhere near the level anticipated. Furthermore, this led to
the US joining the war and bringing powerful resources to the Western side. The second
gamble was the decision to throw a continuous assault in order to break British army and
force France to end the war before the US could bring in more manpower than they could
bear. And although they successfully advanced 60km into allied-held territory, they could not
maintain it as the stormtroop units suffered heavy losses where they could not move
machines over. This led to vulnerable flanks from enemy counterattacks as General Erich
von Ludendorff was unable to focus on one objective and as a consequence the German
assault became diffused, making the territory hard to retain and keep.
These errors were attacked on by allied forces who also developed new and more effective
fighting methods that helped greatly. One of the decisions was to give an overall
commander, Marshal Foch, the authority to coordinate British and French forces as well as
firmer grasp on the interrelationship between artillery and infantry, leading to new technology
being incorporated and a more effective conduct of battle. Examples of these was aerial
observation which led to flash spotting and sound ranging techniques where they were able
to fire more accurately by pinpointing positions using enemy guns flash and shells
detonating immediately, with microphones detecting and reporting flight of shells, as well as
perfecting the “creeping barrage” which allowed Allied forces to advance and unable
German forces to retaliate, whereas previously German forces would’ve noticed the
impending assault which resulted in many casualties. These tactics forced the German army
back from temporarily gained positions throughout the summer and autumn known as the
“Hundred Days”.
Another reason why Germany lost the first world war was their lack of resources which could
not compare to the Allied side. Britain and France could rely on their empires for resources,
with France becoming an essential supplier of tanks, artillery weapons and aeroplanes used
by the US. However, Germany’s allies, Austria-Hungary and Turkey relied on help and by
blocking off their ports, the Royal Navy denied the countries vital imports like food needed to
survive. To put this in perspective, the Western powers were producing 100,000 motorised
lorries compared to the 23,000 disposable to Germany which led them to rely on horse
drawn transport to move supplies which was unreliable. They also only managed to deploy
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