Being largely a land locked country, but also due to the success of the British Navy in securing the North Sea and preventing access to German ports, Germany was forced to provide all its own resources such as food and fuel. While their attempt to obtain sufficient resources from the East resulted in having to send troops away from the Western Front, this was not wholly successful. By 1917, there was severe famine in Germany and unrest at home was both demoralising to the troops and potentially dangerous to the stability of the country. Concern about the poor health and condition of the populace were a significant reason why the Kaiser and the government decided on surrender.
It has been said that compared to Britain, Germany was less economically developed. The industrial revolution had resulted in comparatively many more people leaving the farmland and working in industry. Britain was therefore able to feed itself better with fewer farmers. Germany had many smaller farms as a result of their laws of succession. In Britain the farm passed onto the eldest son; in Germany it was split among all children. So Germany was less able to give up farmers as soldiers and because it would be less able to feed itself.
Potential unrest at home and the possibility of a revolution against the autocratic government could cause Germany to have problems in the future. At the time Lenin thought that revolution was more likely in Germany than Russia and for this reason he had remained outside of Russia until late 1917. The German government recognised this possibility and so sought peace when perhaps the army did not feel the battle was totally lost.
However, apart from these economic problems, morale was low in the army because of Spanish influenza. This meant that the army was not only battling the enemy on two fronts but was also fighting a serious disease that was very difficult to treat at the time. Being miles from their home and on a freezing cold front line was severely mentally and physically draining. This was a long-term factor that was going to prove fatal for the Germans; especially as even when they gave 150% effort they still were not winning! This motivational problem was very depressing for the soldiers but given the conditions they had already endured over time I doubt that there was suddenly a huge decrease in morale even when the Americans joined the war.
Not only did the Allies eventually possess greater numbers than the Germans, and they were better trained, they also advanced technologically at a greater speed. The Allies were the first to introduce tanks. While initially these did not prove to be a great success, at the Battle of Cambrai major breaks in the front were obtained by the tanks. Potentially this was a turning point for the War. In addition, while the Germans were at first better in the air, the Allies gradually obtained supremacy there as well. The German generals recognised that soon the allies would be able to introduce even greater technical competence and strength: another reason for the surrender.
This technology was integrated well in terms of attack formation and tactics, this meant that the Allies were able to sustain fewer losses while attacking and inflict heavy losses while defending. This was in a few main areas to maximise the possible effect. Machine guns were introduced in bunkers that could fire up to 600rounds per minute and replace up to 125men. Artillery was one of the main areas for improvement because they had greater accuracy, rate of fire and power. It was used to damage the enemy just before an infantry and tank attack began. When combined with spotter planes to find out what was happening on the frontline it became very effective to make the enemy deal with two problems at once. The artillery could be fitted with lead shells that were very damaging to personnel or explosive shell that caused great damage or with gas that caused chaos just imminent to an attack as it meant the Germans had to worry about getting their gas masks on before they could defend themselves.
Other technologies such as gases like mustard gas burned the lungs unless a gas mask was worn. Increased communication methods improved the ability to quickly relay messages and information for the Allies. In addition, the Allies started to integrate tanks in their attacks, this meant that the infantry that were attacking could hide behind the tank as a shield and protect them until the last minute when they could inflict much damage. Also, the tank was a perfect barbed wire cutter and it meant that it was no longer an obstacle to infantry; this made attacks swifter and less dangerous to the attackers in the short term. This left the Germans unaware and unprepared and made the Allied attacks far more effective. This factor increased in importance, and aswell as decreasing the moral of the Germans over time. It was very important and a significant reason to lose the war and it occurred over a long periods of time. This problem was increased even more when the Germans started the spring offensive as their lack of integration was clear and it left gaping holes for the Allies to exploit.
The spring offensive was one last chance to get the resources and power to win the war. It involved trying to take the Eastern front as quickly as possible and then concentrating on the more dangerous Western Front. If this was successful it could have won the war. However, the heavy losses that Germany had already sustained limited this effectiveness and it only caused a further drop in morale as they realised they would not win. It did not work because the Allies attacked from the West just when the Germans were trying to win on the Eastern front. This left shortages of men and they were unable to cope with the attack and this was the breaking point for the army. Also, the German attack left them over extended as they had not learnt how to integrate their technologies and thus the Allies were easily able to pick off the Germans when they had none of the vital artillery protection. This factor was a strong reason in the short term for why Germany lost the war however it was only a single offensive compared to the hundreds that had already occurred so was not that important in my opinion. These shortages in resources became even more obvious when the Americans joined the war effort and it heightened the differences between the two nations.
The Americans played a key role in the rapid winning of the war, without them the Allies would have taken much longer to win but probably would have eventually. The Americans contributed towards the vast resources accessible to the Allies and thus the defending power was vastly increased. The ability to disrupt the German plans and morale was immense and it was vital that after the Americans joined the Germans felt that they had a very slim chance of winning, dampening their morale. If any number of American troops were deployed it meant in general terms that the Germans would lose the war and the Germans knew this. Also there were hundreds of thousands of fresh, well kitted troops ready for deployment in any place that was required this made the economic factors even more exaggerated. This was quite possibly the main reason for the defeat of the Germans after the integration of technology.
In conclusion the Germans would not have lost the war given just one of the problems listed above, but given a combination of them it was impossible for Germany to win. The factors all contributed together to leave a weakened Germany defeated. Most important was the technological integration; this is because it easily doubled the fighting power of an equivalent army and allowed the weaknesses in the Germans to be exploited by the Allies. The unbelievable difference in strength when he Americans joined was just unfair! It was unlikely the Germans would win before the Americans joined but after it was just unbelievably unfair as the difference in resources and manpower was incredible. When the Americans joined, it added to the huge economic might of the Allies. This caused the spring offensive to fail and thus the Germans became even weaker. This disheartened them and when their morale e started to fall, it was clear that their ability to fight would fall. The integration of new technologies on the Allied side inflicted heavy losses for the Germans and this caused their morale to drop further. Thus I can finally conclude that after consideration of these factors Germany would have been able to deal with any of these factors but when they had to face them all, they could not cope and had to surrender.
