Out of these reasons I would say that the main reason the war broke out was the Americans joining, as they where a huge benefit for the allied troops. They where also fresh fighters that weren’t tired of war and up for fighting. A big success of the Americans was the fact that they could lose men and still be very strong due to their sheer size. So yes I think this is the main factor for the allied victory, closely followed by the leadership of general “Foch”.
2, Explain the part played by internal pressures (for example economic shortage and political upheaval) in the defeat of Germany.
There where a few ways in which internal pressures played a part in the Germans defeat. For example many think that people had lost faith in the Kaiser and his tactics. They thought that he had lost the ability to win the war as he came so close just before the Americans joined. All they needed was one last big push and the war would’ve been theirs, the people realised that the Kaiser had missed his chance and now the U.S.A have joined they would stand no chance whatsoever.
This affected the front line soldiers because they had heard about the problems back home and along with this lack of confidence they where thinking why should we try and win this war? What is there to go back to?
Back in Germany there where all sorts of economical shortages, for example due to the fact that the Kaiser had spent a lot of money on this war there where shortages with food and other supplies that where needed for every day life.
Riots and fighting on the German streets went on in protest of the Kaiser, this also will get to the front-line troops and gain would not exactly the feel-good factor they needed at such a crucial time in the war. It would’ve got the German soldiers thinking that even if they won the war was there anything worth going back to. They would have been thinking that if they didn’t win the war and if they did they still might have got a lot of stick because of being in the Kaisers control.
The internal pressures of the war played a part on the result because if the front-line soldiers heard about problems at home then they may not try as hard when fighting, then if you have a minority that aren’t putting effort in then you would not stand as much chance.
3, What was more important in the defeat of Germany, the failure of the Spring Offensive or the intervention of the U.S.A?
Explain your answer.
These are two major factors in the Germans defeat. The first is directly linked to them as it was their last push and the second is to do with the allied side and the Americans joining to help the allied fight.
The spring offensive was the Germans last attempt to win the war before the U.S.A joined. They had a chance to win the war if they where to just push on one last time. The failure to do this has many reasons. The soldiers may have heard about the internal pressures and bottled it. The fact that the German troops were moving at a pace too fast for the heavy artillery. And finally the fact they where losing more and more of their men and even men that where alive where extremely tired and wounded.
The Americans where an extremely strong and big army aggravated by the Germans attempt to get Mexico to lodge and attack towards the U.S.A, there intervention was so important because all of the allied troops where losing men and getting more and more tired. The Americans intervention freshened up things for the allies and almost put an immediate stop to the German offensive.
The failure of this final offensive was also vitally important to the war because it meant the Germans had failed on their last push and all the allies had to do was finish the job with the help of the Americans. The war was within reaching distance for the Germans as they had the British totally out numbered. But they chose to go too fast and this meant there where no reserves for the exhausted army.
When comparing this failure to the intervention of the U.S.A, they go hand in hand really as just when the Germans where failing the Americans came in to finish the job off. When comparing the two, the case for U.S.A is much stronger because it did actually happen and wasn’t all ifs and buts like the spring offensive.
Saying this though, the failure of the spring offensive was still very important to the German defeat because the morale of the soldiers after they had failed this push would’ve been down because of the realty that would have struck them. I also don’t particularly think the U.S.A made a huge difference as any other fresh country the size of America would make the same kind of difference to the war.
These two factors are though extremely hard to compare to each other. The one is all about joining the war and creating a difference in the way it turned out, and the other is all about a failure and how that made the run of the war change. The failure of the spring offensive though doesn’t seem anywhere near as important as the Americans intervention because the Germans where turned from the stronger position to the very weakest position just by the intervention of the U.S.A.
Overall I think that the Americans intervention was much the stronger case because they game into this war not exactly brilliant tactically but large enough to enter the war and still be able to lose men and do the job that they did. I think the case for the Americans is much stronger than that of the spring offensive because there was always the threat the Americans would join the war during the spring offensive and out a halt to that anyway. The intervention of the U.S.A also brought in new technology and new men that would easily finish the job.
As the Kaiser could see that the Germans where so weak with the Americans so strong he made a half-hearted attempt to postpone the war while he could get some new soldiers trained and the older ones fit again. This alone sums up the strength and importance of the Americans upon the war.
By Tom Essex
Word count: 1,350
