Another reason why Germany where defeated by 1918 was the fact that Italy joined the war on the Ententes side, Italy had been Allies to Germany but a month after joining the Entente Italy declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. This meant that Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire where facing war on another front. The German troops just couldn’t cope. Although the German troops could not cope, the English where having the same problem, even though they had introduced compulsory conscription. Germany had defeated Russia by 1917, mainly due to the Russian revolution, but this meant Germany could concentrate on the war in the west. The English army was in desperate need of an injection of new troops.
England got this in the form of America in April 1917. I feel this is a significant factor to why Germany lost the war by 1918. America not only reinforced the English and French army with fresh men and troops, but America had huge reserves of raw materials in which Germany was rapidly running out of. Also the involvement of America in the war made Germany act quickly and hastily causing them to rush into bad decisions and inevitably the wrong decisions. That leads me on to the Schlieffen plan and more importantly the failure of it. The longer the war was to go on there was more of an advantage to Germany’s enemy’s as they had much stronger economy’s. Germany, lead by Wilhelm II, devised the Schlieffen plan, which was that they beat the French in six weeks, before Russia had time to mobilize, so they would not be fighting war on two fronts. This obviously failed and lead Germany into war on two fronts, which they where economically and militarily unprepared.
Another important factor is the English blockade on Germany. English ships where lined up along the small strip of German coast line. This stopped Germany getting raw materials, food, ammunitions and weapons via means of sea. The Germany navy was not significant, in that it could stop the English blockade so the Germans through out the war had to put up with this. The blockade handed the Entente a great advantage as it was difficult for Germany to get their means from else where.
When the Bolsheviks seized power in October, they took Russia out of the war and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia lost (temporarily) virtually all of its oil and cotton production, three quarters of its coal and iron, a third of its railways and agriculture, and a third of its population. And the Germans could now concentrate on the Western Front. This led to Germany launching their final offensive in order for them to win the war. But Germany did not act quickly enough as America where already involved in the war so they where able to throw as many men at the war as they liked. Also Britain launched a counter attack in which they used 450 tanks to fend off the German offensive. The tanks where much better controlled than they had been previously in the war as the British army had been using them for 4 years now, so they had the experience. This on top of Germany’s lack of empire led to the collapse of the German army and the loss of the war on the 11th November 1918.
You could say that Germany where fighting an uphill struggle from the very beginning, with Germany not having an empire of any sort in which to turn to for raw materials and military strength. After the failure of the Schlieffen plan Germany had war on two fronts making it almost impossible for them to overcome the powers of the British Empire. On top of this you add the fact that there was a naval blockade in which Germany could not use the sea as a method of transportation for ammunition or food etc. It was almost inevitable that Germany where going to lose the war, with the introduction of America in April 1917. This made Germany panic and launch their final offensive, which was counteracted by Great Britain, and Germany where finally defeated.
I feel the three main causes of the defeat of Germany where, the British naval blockade, the introduction of America and most importantly the failure of the Schlieffen plan.