The consequences of the Schlieffen Plans failure were telling. Along with being drawn into a war of attrition against opponents with better resources Germany’s initial advantage in well-equipped, trained soldiers would be gradually reduced by casualties and the improvement of its opponents, especially Britain. Germany’s allies, particularly Austro-Hungary, were weaker then their opponents in terms of manpower and the introduction of Britain to the war also meant being hit with a blockade by the British Navy which isolated Germany.
The Schlieffen Plan failure was the reason for no early German victory but it wasn’t the only cause of Germany’s defeat. The Germans tried a number of other offensives and strategies, none of which provided them with a significant breakthrough. The other two main failures for Germany were the U-boat campaign which started quite early on in the war and carried on throughout and the Ludendorff Offensive in the spring of 1917.
The U-boat campaign was designed to starve Britain out of the war and, if successful, would have given Germany the upper hand. It was highly successful in 1916 and 1917 and led to the start of rationing. Sugar was rationed in December 1917, meat and butter in early 1918 followed by any products containing sugar and eventually tea. The campaign failed though because of the introduction of a convoy system where groups of ships were protected by fast warships with weapons that submarines were vulnerable against. At first the idea of convoys was rejected due to the risk of losing warships but Lloyd George insisted on introducing them. The results were immediate and supplies began to reach Britain. Prior to this, at one point there had been just six weeks of supplies left. Meanwhile American shipyards replaced any sunken vessels. From June 1917 to November 1918 just 154 ships were torpedoed out of 16,539. This high rate of success meant that Britain could continue in the war. The U-boat campaign also gave the British public a sense of unity and raised morale on the home front in a similar way to the air raids in the Second World War. Another area where the U-boat campaign failed and did more harm than good was in inducing pro-war feelings. This occurred when the Germans attempted to step-up the campaign and sunk American ships. The turning point for the anti-war American public was when the passenger ship the Lusitania was sunk, killing 128 Americans, just six days after the Gulflight, an oil tanker, was sunk. This led to a huge increase in pro-war feeling and was an important factor in America joining the war, albeit two years later.
The Ludendorff Offensive was Germany’s last throw of the dice. They were being starved at home, there was great anger at the Kaiser’s government and morale was running low. The defeat of Russia in March 1918 allowed a million German soldiers to transfer to the Western Front. The Allies were now outnumbered but Germany had only six months before America joined the war. The German General Ludendorff decided on an all-out offensive using the storm troopers to move quickly, punch a hole in the Allied line and attempt to bring an end to the war. The appointment of General Foch as overall commander allowed the British and French to co-ordinate their armies and, with America, halt the German push. The German attack had failed due to two main flaws as well as good Allied defence. The storm troopers moved quickly and penetrated the lines but moved so fast they were sometimes left with little support and were vulnerable to counter-attack and artillery. Also attacks were not concentrated and often the Germans would break through but advance through open countryside and not gain any great advantage instead of concentrating on one section of the lines and making a significant breakthrough. When the Allied counter-attack came in July it drove the Germans back and they were left with no support from their beaten allies, a demand at home for an end to war and a depleted army with declining morale. There are similarities between the Ludendorff Offensive and the Schlieffen Plan as they both were very risky plans that would have won the war for Germany but failed due to being executed badly and having important flaws that weren’t addressed. In the case of the Schlieffen Plan it was the list of assumptions that didn’t materialize and in the Ludendorff Offensive it was that the attack wasn’t concentrated on one important section of the lines.
But Germany didn’t lose the war solely as a result of its failures; they were defeated by the Allies. There were several decisive factors in the Allies winning the war: America joining the war in 1917, the British naval blockade of Germany, and the advancement of attack techniques on the Allied side.
The introduction of America into the war was very important for the Allies because it meant they could draw from Americas huge industrial strength, had the support of many more men and had a big boost in morale. But Germany only had themselves to blame for Americas entry. America had originally been anti-war but public opinion had been turned by the sinking of the Lusitania and then the interception of a telegraph from Arthur Zimmerman, the German foreign secretary. This urged Mexico to ally with Germany in return for part of Texas as a reward. This caused an outburst of anti-German feeling and America was on the brink of war. Soon after this six more American ships were sunk and Wilson declared war on the Central Powers on 6 April 1917.
The Allies had improved steadily throughout the war and continued to improve under General Foch when they combined. The new system meant that the armies were coordinated, defended well against the Ludendorff Offensive and counter-attacked effectively. The introduction of America brought resources in men, ammunition and machinery (e.g. field guns and tanks) that greatly strengthened the Allies and this was telling in the counter-attack as the German lines were smashed and pushed back.
The naval blockade of Germany was very successful for the Allies and caused great food shortages in Germany. It weakened the resolve to fight, caused great anger towards the Kaiser and lead to very low morale on the Western and Home Fronts. The Germans were losing the will to fight on and the revolution in October 1918 was largely due to the lack of food that the blockade caused. The Germans could not break the blockade because its navy was so much weaker then Britain’s. About 12,000 ships were intercepted and fewer then 80 managed to get through the blockade. It was not just food that was in shortage. Chemicals for explosives, fuel and gas were all running short which meant that they wouldn’t be able to continue in the war long. Millions of Germans were starving: 120,000 died of hunger in 1916; 260,000 in 1917 and 290,000 in 1918. Those who lived queued for any food they could get and many thought that it would be better to surrender and live then to die of starvation. By 1918 there were strikes and rioting broke out as the German civilians demanded an end to war.
The Germans were defeated. They had put everything into the Ludendorff Offensive and it had failed, as the Schlieffen Plan had failed. The Home Front was in a catastrophic situation and the morale was at a low. The German civilians had had enough of war. A mutiny of sailors and a take-over by the Socialists in October 1918 was the culmination of all of these factors. Kaiser Willhelm was forced to resign as thousands died from a flu epidemic that was spreading through Germany. The Socialists proclaimed Germany a republic and agreed to discuss peace with the Allies. It was impossible for them to fight on. There was widespread starvation. German industry had no fuels or chemicals and strikes and riots were spreading throughout the country. Germany had no remaining allies and was being driven back steadily through France and Belgium.
There was no one reason why Germany were defeated in the First World War, there was just a web of causation for Germany’s defeat. The evidence suggests that nothing is caused by a single event and the culmination of many events defeated Germany. Germany lost the war mainly though because they were not able to sustain their war effort. This was in contrast to the Allies; Britain had the empire to draw from and the introduction of America meant there were many more men available. Also the major German strategies; the Schlieffen Plan, the Ludendorff Offensives and U-boat campaign failed. The Schlieffen Plan was a significant factor in the outcome of the war. Its failure resulted in a long war of attrition. This was one of a series of setbacks that led to the defeat of Germany.
