One aspect of the war at sea was the U-boat campaign. This was a very significant part of the war as it led to many changes of civilian life. This campaign started by having the U-boats attacking British warships. However, when they learnt how to defend themselves, the U-boats attacked merchant ships instead. In 1915 the Germans introduced their campaign of “unrestricted submarine warfare”. This meant that any allied ship was targeted without warning. The liner Lusitania was torpedoed without warning in 1915, it sank within 18 minutes. The British named this a criminal act as it killed 1000 innocent being including 100 Americans. However evidence has been found to say that the liner was containing weapons. This rated the U-boat campaign as successful; however, it was called off after objections from America. This action was only temporary until 1916, when their new plan was to cut of the British supplies.
A year later by June 1917 Britain was estimated to only have six weeks supply of food yet as they had lost 500,000 tons of supplies to German U-boats. As well as this, a record number of shipping loses were also recorded reaching numbers of 6.3 million. This however, did not stop the British getting back. They created decoys so that the Germans would torpedo empty ships. They also joined forces with America to make hundreds more ships and devised several more ways to protect themselves again the German attacks. The Germans could not match this recreation so called off their campaign. They created decoys so that the Germans would torpedo empty ships and put them off their original target. This adds to the importance of the war at sea because it affected civilian life a lot more than the western front did.
However, it was not only the British who were cut off from supplies. The Germans were also starved off food as a result of a British blockade. This also meant that some people lost their will to support the war. This is one of the reasons that the war at sea was as important as the western front because it changed people perspectives on war when people started to realise how bad it was. The British blockade managed to lead to 300,000 deaths caused by malnutrition. Although millions of men were killed on the western front, this is also another reason of why the war at sea is more important that the western front because it shows a success rate and also how far the British navy had come to be able to effect the Germans in that way. Because of the lack of food in Germany, German farmers were forced to kill thousand of animals to feed the population. The supplies of nitrates were also cut. This was very important for the Germans because it was vital for them to make explosives and also for the farmers to fertilise their crops. This could indicate that homegrown food was in trouble because the crops could not be fertilised so food was harder to grow. This is another reason for the war at sea being more important that the western front. This is the first time that the Germans have been hit harder than the British in world war one. As a result of the food shortages, Germany went into a massive rationing scheme, which was very strict on meat, flour and main ingredients.
Despite the differences between the two parts of the war, we can see some similarities arise. In both parts, we can see a lot of new measures being made. There were a lot of new sorts of weapons being bought about in the western front. We saw the arrival of gas, tanks and more advanced rifles. It is the same type of situation during the war at sea as we saw the arrival of the submarines, which took control for most of the time during the war of the sea. Along with the submarine, the torpedo was also introduced. This was responsible for the attacks on many British ships as even the “mightiest battle ship was defenceless to the torpedo”. Along with the torpedo also came to the mine. This was just as disastrous as the torpedo during the war at sea. The submarines used these to lay mines in the harbours to catch the enemies’ ships unguarded as they set out to sea. In comparison to this we can see that many changes also took place on the western Front including trenches, which were a very new situation during the war and was the major backbone of the war as all the battles were about gaining land and pushing the enemy out of their trenches. This shows the similarities between both parts of the WWI even though there was a big difference in its effects and importance.
Although the western front lost thousands of lives, the war at sea hit the civilians physically by shortages of food and the need for rationing. This food supply resulted in 300,000 deaths related to malnutrition proving that it affected each civilian personally. It was also very important for both of the countries to have control over the sea because ports, harbours, supplies and empires could be increased. Before the war, Britain had the largest empire, which included ports and control over the sea supported by France. With this in mind, both countries knew what ruling the sea had with it and where eager to do so. Britain especially wanted this because it is surrounded by water, meaning that it would beneficial for them to control it. With this evidence to support that the war at sea was more important that the western front we can see that it is probable. However, we do also know that the Western front was the turning point of the war and contained many important battles. Jutland was one of the most important battles in the war at sea, however, the western front had a lot more than that including the battles of Verdun and the battle of the Somme.
