Why did Britain and her allies emerge victorious in 1918.

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Why did Britain and her allies emerge victorious in 1918

        In this essay I will try to identify the main reason that gave the British and their allies the advantage that gave them victory in WW1. I will look at all of the sources for and against the argument. In my opinion the main reason was the British naval blockade of Germany.

        The reason that I consider the naval blockade the main reason for a British victory is the fact that while the blockade was in place hardly any thing could get in to Germany by sea so there was a huge shortage of supplies to the Germans. The German adult meat ration was down to as little as 2 modern beef burgers a week that is about one quarter of a burger a day. The main reason for the meat shortage is the fact that a third of all German pigs had to be killed due to the lack of food to feed them. As well as the fact that much of the little food that was left was sent to the soldiers at the front. Although they were being giving much of the food they were still majorly underfed to fight a war. There were 300,000 deaths due entirely to the British naval blockade. These factors all contributed to a decreasing German morale. The mines set were used to destroy many of the German U-boats. But the main reason that makes the blockade the crucial factor in the allied victory is the fact that in their frustration the Germans sunk an American ship by accident. This gave the Americans the excuse to join the war. On the other hand the allies lost shipping during the period of the blockade. The blockade was also very risky the British were putting their biggest asset at risk in Germany. If the British had lost their navy they would have been literally defenceless to any German attack. Also the blockade was effective but some ships did get through.

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        The second most important factor for me was the failure of the Schleifen plan. The Schleifen plan was the Germans battle plan. The plan was to capture France within six weeks and then head up to fight the Russians but it did not go to plan. The German army was continually slowed down. This was crucial to the British war effort because it gave them and France the chance to prepare. The failure of the plan left the Germans fighting on two fronts at the same time. The Germans were not prepared for this they had no back up plan ...

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