What was expected to be a war over by Christmas of 1914, it actually lasted for four long years. World War I fought between the Central powers and the Triple Entente has many topics of controversy. One of these topics is why Germany and her allies lost the war in 1918. There are several reasons for Germany and her allies eventual defeat.
Germany’s first failure was that of the Schlieffen Plan because it gambled on a quick victory but they miscalculated the strength of the French military and the mobilization of Russia, and weren’t expecting Belgium to strongly resist the invasion or the British declaring war on them. This led to German military confusion regarding the capture of Paris and created a two front war, essentially making it a long term war of attrition. Another German weakness was that there were many distractions due to fighting France and Britain from the west and the Russians from the east. This was a result of Germany’s allies being weaker than any of the other allies, specifically Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. This then led to a war of one versus many, and left Germany not only outmatched but with the handicap of having to assist and bail out Austria-Hungary. Furthermore, Germany made desperate risky attempts to quickly end the war visible through the Ludendorff Peace Offensive which epically failed. Another high risk strategy that failed Germany was their unrestricted u-boat warfare that they implemented in 1917. This was a major failure because it pulled the U. S. into the war. Another large weakness was when the Spanish flu hit Germany. It killed thousands of Germans and drastically lowered their morale for fighting. Along with this, Germany experienced an economic collapse as well as a result of the British Blockade which prevented Germany from receiving resources by sea. The effects of this were starvation, lack of discipline, and people ready to revolt in Germany. There also was major debt in Germany because the government funded the war by loans and savings bonds from their own people. In fact, the German government spent 83% of their money on the military and only 2% on their people.
Another reason for Germany’s failure was the allies’ strengths. The allies had better resources and more men from the U.S. providing supplies and weapons to deploying over 2 million troops in the last year of the war. In fact, according to the historian Akira Iriye, one the U.S. joined the war then German hopes for victory were lost. Another Allies’ strength was their control of the sea over Germany visible through the British Blockade. Also, the Allies were able to destroy many u-boats due to new technology and the implementation of the convoy system which helped to reduce the loss of merchant ships. Also, more modern warfare helped the Allies. They utilized tanks and super battleships and improved artillery tactics and fire control. Furthermore, Italy defeated Austria-Hungary, destroying about half of its army, and Turkey lost to Britain as well.
In conclusion, Germany and her Allies lost WWI due to their weaknesses and failures and the Allies’ strengths. Although at many points during the war, Germany had the upper hand, a series of failures and faults on behalf of Germany and her Allies concluded with an armistice bearing harsh conditions for them.
