The Germans declared the war in 1914 because they thought that if they waited any longer their plan would be practically useless. However, they had already left it too late; By 1914 the balance of power was already incredibly equal. Had they decided to launch war five or ten years previously just after the plan had been drawn up, Russia would still be suffering after Japanese defeat and the French had not yet been reorganised. The British and French were not close enough to ally each other and the British hadn’t had an expeditionary force. When the Germans attack was launched there was no real superior military force which meant that no one could win the war quickly; leading to the long war of attrition earlier mentioned.
The allied system meant that there were “2 sides” fighting each other during the war. The Allied powers included France, Britain, and Russia and later in the war the United States as well as other smaller countries. The Central Powers included Germany, Austria Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire along with other smaller countries. If you compare the two sides for strength, the Allied powers were much stronger. Germany was let down by her Allies during the war (her strongest Allie was Austria-Hungary) which was definitely a point for why Germany lost the war.
The Eastern front was going well for Germany. At the Battle of Tannenburg the German army performed the Schlieffen plan to great effect capturing 92,000 Russian soldiers and destroying sixty percent of the Russian army. The offensive ended at the Masurian Lakes where the Russians withdrew without a fight.
The Austrians, however, were not going so well. They were defeated due to a lack of coordination between the Austrian and German armies, the first of which had no idea about the Schlieffen plan or the Germans intentions to invade France. The Austrians suffered several embarrassing defeats by the Russians at Galcia and the Dulka Pass and by May of 1915, had lost almost one million men. By now the Austrians were effectively out of the war meaning that Germany was fighting alone.
In Germany, there was a huge shortage of food due to the British naval blockade, which had prevented supplies reaching the German ports. An epidemic of illness hit a population which was already hugely weakened by the huge lack of food and killed large numbers of people. Strikes began inside Germany; these were incredibly difficult to control and fears arose that a revolution would occur, leading to more soldiers being pulled back from the two fronts to control it. Because of these terrible circumstances, the German people back at home began to lose support for the war and morale was low.
Throughout the war, new technology began to develop. It was slowly at first but as the war continued, new methods of weaponry were created and were proved to be very effective. For example in August 1918, tanks meant that the allies were able to break through the German lines at Amiens. The four hundred tanks used were backed up by over eight hundred fighter planes; firing machine guns and dropping bombs. The new advances in technology meant that where as in previous wars the fighting had been purely attacking, methods of defence could be developed and lead to a different trend of fight style.
This meant trench warfare. In the great war, the trench system really first began at the race to sea and as the war went on the trenches began to get much more sophisticated. They were reinforced with concrete and barbed wire which meant that artillery bombardments were basically useless which showed especially for the Germans at the Battle of the Somme which turned basically into a British Slaughter. The bare fact that artillery bombardment was not so useful anymore led to the creeping barrage which worked for the British to great effect as it meant that where as before any method of surprise was lost, the troops could attack just after the bombardment had ended leaving the Germans with no time to prepare to fight off the Allies. This is another example of how new fighting methods led to allied breakthrough.
When America declared war on Germany, the immediate impact was not huge as they continued to supply materials and weaponry to the Allies and this had already been happening. It did mean, however, that the Allies could now call troops from America. These American troops were fresh and not tired like the other troops meaning that their power was increasingly high. Although, their entry had not started out as a huge draw back to Germany as a nation as the war continued their entry into the war was a huge decisive factor for the Allies.
In March 1918, the final German offensive , the Ludendorff offensive failed. Initially the attack seemed to be succeeding as the Germans managed to advance to the River Marne but the Allies managed to hold their line. The German troops had put everything into the offensive hoping that it would be the one blow to the British which would win them the war. Their quick advances meant that they had soon outrun their supplies. The Germans had always thought that the British were suffering with the same lack of materials as they were but on discovering allied bunkers they realised that this was in fact untrue. This had a huge effect on the German morale leading to it completely dissolving. Their previous advances were completely useless. This meant that a route was open for the British to force the Germans back.
When the Allies decided to run under one ultimate commander, the French Marshall Foch, it left them united as one army rather than separate as previously. They ran more efficiently and stood and fought together as one. Where as before they would have collapsed under German pressure, united they could stand up and fight the Germans back. They decided to not retreat anymore and managed to break the Hindenberg line. By August of 1918, the Germans were weakened and hugely demoralised after many failed offensives, huge casualties and economical collapse in Germany. For the first time in four years, the German troops began to surrender without resistance and the allies were able to push them back to their original spring position by the end of August. The Allied advance continued throughout the Autumn pushing the Germans back through France. When the Allies were united they were very effective and managed a lot more in a few months than they had in the 3 years previously although this was obviously also down to German failure.
In conclusion I would say that Germany’s failure on the western front was mainly down to the failure of the Schlieffen plan for had the plan succeeded the war would not have become a war of attrition, it would have been over by 1915. However, German thinking was not as effective as previously thought as the offensive was not executed quickly enough and was bound to fail given the time it was in fact used. Had the plan been launched previously, Britain and her empire would not have been brought into the war and in direct combat with France Germany would have been victorious. However, even though the Schlieffen Plan had failed there was a point when it looked like Germany had won the war and had it not been for the dissolution of morale and the pace of the army they could have still succeeded. So although I would put the failure on the western front mainly down to the failure of the Schlieffen Plan I would say that it was not completely due to this and that there were other factors, even before the war had began, which led to German defeat.
Josie Payne
Bibliography
www.firstworldwar.com
www.bbc.co.uk/history
www.pateshistory.co.uk
GCSE modern world history second edition by Ben Walsh
History Review 1998
