I do not believe the tanks were very important. I think it was the least important because although it had an effect on the Germans psychologically, I think they took too much time to become useful, and the only real effect they had was raising the British morale.
Next was the War at Sea, and the supremacy of the British Navy. The Navy played a large part in the war, although this is often not recognized, because people never take into consideration the fact that the Navy helped the troops on land a lot. They assume this because there weren’t many battles at sea. The British used their ships to stop supplies getting to Germany, using blockades in ports. This, in turn, meant the Germans didn’t have much food, weapons or ammunition, which meant the Allies were at a great advantage. The Navy were also used to defeat the U-Boat menace that the Germans had been using against the Allies.
The Navy was also linked to the entry of the USA joining the war in 1917, which was a major turning point. The supremacy of the Navy helped the USA’s ships carrying troops, supplies and resources come over to Britain, using the convoy system, in which the USA felt very safe. In my opinion, I think that the Navy, although on its own, didn’t play a huge part in the Allied victory, I think that it set up many links that eventually defeated Germany.
Thirdly, the failure of the German Offensive. In 1918, Germany transferred many troops from the Eastern to the Western Front, due to Russia leaving the War. The Germans had the idea to use their specially trained ‘Storm Troops’, so that the Allies couldn’t use all of their soldiers together in one place. The first attack was very successful, with the Germans claiming 64km of land, and coming very close to Paris. Although the Offensive worked very well to start with, the Germans couldn’t keep up their success. Many soldiers died, and couldn’t be replaced, as Germany had no replacement troops. Their supplies were drained as well, because of the blockades that the British had set up. They stopped the Germans getting any supplies or resources. I believe the failure of the Offensive played a large and important part in the Allied Victory. This is because the Germans had lost 400,000 men, and they couldn’t replace them, and also, it broke the stalemate. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were defeated, so Germany ended up fighting alone. The Allies benefited well from the failure, so I believe it played a great part.
Fourthly, the failure of the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan was drawn up in 1905. It said that Germany would face a two-front-war with Russia and France, and they would need to defeat France within six weeks, so they could get to Russia before she mobilized her troops. This plan didn’t work, and in the end, the Germans were pushed back 35 miles. This was because the Belgians, the BEF and the French fought hard and well. Russia mobilized much quicker than expected and Germany ended up fighting a two front war. I think this was of equal importance to the failure of the Ludendorff Offensive, as it benefited the Allies greatly. It knocked Germany’s confidence, left fewer troops in Germany – they had to split them to fight both sides of the country. Russia became a huge threat, and it ended up in trench warfare. This helped the Allies greatly as it made Germany much less of a threat, and it also meant that much of their troops were being used fighting against both sides of the county. It meant that the Allies had a much easier time fighting Germany than they originally thought they would.
Lastly, the USA joined the War in 1917. They joined the war for three main reasons: They had strong links with the Allies; Germans had killed innocent US citizens, and the Zimmerman telegram tried to get Mexico to ally with Germany. I deem this as the most crucial reason for the Allied victory. This is because not only did the USA bring fresh troops, food, supplies and resources, but they seemed to also have an ‘everlasting’ stream of soldiers, constantly replacing the ones that were lost in the War. The USA also had a psychological effect on the Germans, as they knew they had to fight very fast to defeat the Allies. Germany ended up fighting a one-front-war, but it was against three very powerful countries – Britain, France and the USA.
Overall, I believe it is very hard to find one reason that had importance over the others, as they are all very interlinked. If one hadn’t happened, some of the other’s wouldn’t have followed in its wake. In my opinion, the USA played the most crucial part, although, this wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been linked closely with the other reasons. For example, the Failure of the Ludendorff Offensive meant that Russia left the War, leaving room for the USA to replace them. Also, if the British weren’t so supreme at sea, it would have been unlikely that the Germans would have started the ‘Unrestricted Submarine Warfare’ campaign; therefore they probably would not have killed the innocent US citizens, thus not provoking the USA. The German Offensive probably would have worked if the tanks hadn’t helped push the Germans back so far, so if the tanks hadn’t been used, then technically the Allies might not have won the war. For these reasons, I believe it is very hard to choose one reason that had importance over the others.
