failure so there was no hope of a quick Germany victory.
A third consequence of the Schlieffen plan was trench warfare. After ‘The Race to the Sea’, both armies went on the defensive to stop either advancing. Trenches were built and they stretched from Flanders in Belgium to Switzerland in the south. Neither army could move any longer. It was a stalemate.
Another cause of Germany’s defeat, however, was the decisive use of allied sea power. One cause of the strength of allied sea power was the number of dreadnoughts that the British had. Before WW1 had even started the British had more dreadnoughts than the Germans. In 1911 the British had completed 17 Dreadnoughts and the Germans only 6. Also the British had 34 under construction and the Germans had 38 on the way so overall the British had a possible 51 and the Germans 44. Both countries were very cautious and didn’t want to risk loosing their main fleets, especially the German’s due to the small number of dreadnoughts compared to the British.
Another cause of the decisiveness use of allied sea power
was the battles at Jutland and Falkland. Falkland: Von Spee had a squadron of 5 ships and they had recently sunk some old British ships. Because of this the British Government sent 7 warships to deal with Von Spee’s dangerous squadron. While the British ships were refueling at the Falkland Islands, Von Spee decided to attack the Falkland’s radio station not knowing that the British ships were there. The British warships gave chase and sank four out of five of the ships. 2,300 German sailors were drowned including Von Spee and his sons.
Jutland: This was the first major sea battle of the First World War. Admiral Scheer had just been put in charge of the German naval fleet and he wanted to battle. He had decided to send a small number of ships into the North Sea as bait for the British naval fleet. He himself would then follow behind with a great number of ships and surprise the British. However, in 1914 a drowned German sailor had washed up on a Russian beach. In his pocket was a booklet which had all the German codes. So when Scheer sent messages to his fleet the British were able to decode and send a smaller fleet to meet the bait while Admiral Jellicoe followed closely behind. They then went on to Scheer’s fleet and after fierce fighting Scheer withdrew his fleet as did Jellicoe. The reason for Jellicoe not following was because of the possibility of submarines and mines. From figures it shows that the German fleet won the battle because Britain lost over double the amount of sailors than the Germans. Also the Germans only lost 11 ships to Britain’s 14 but the real importance was that they were unable to destroy the British sea power. The British say they won because Scheer removed his fleet first.
A third cause of the decisive use of allied sea power was that the Germans high sea fleet was in anchor. After the Battle of Jutland the German High Seas Fleet stayed in Kiel for the rest of the war. This meant that the allied naval fleet could have complete control of the seas and they made a blockade causing food shortages and denying exports for the German’s, while keeping the Allied armies fully supplied.
There were a number of consequences of the decisive use of allied sea power. One consequence was that the allied naval fleets could make a blockade to cut the central powers from its allies. Britain was trying to cripple exports for Germany and causing food shortages. This involved stopping and searching every neutral ship and confiscating any goods suspected of being intended for enemy hands.
Another consequence of the decisive use of allied sea power was that the British trade routes were open to her empire and the rest of the world so the naval fleet wouldn’t starve and in turn enabling the allies to continue fighting with a good supply of resources.
A third consequence of the decisive use of allied sea power was that the British could send their troops to the continent and keep them supplied via the channel ports it also allowed reinforcements to help with the fighting and give the other troops a rest.
Another cause of Germany’s defeat was the failure of German submarine warfare. This was in two parts : restricted and unrestricted. One cause of this was the lack of U-boats since all of their surface vessels had been destroyed or were blockaded in port, the only alternative was submarine warfare. As it was restricted warfare they had to use neutral shipping and passenger liners. However this was not effective due to the lack of U-boats. Because of the lack of U-boats they were unable to cause much damage to the British. before 1917 there weren’t enough U-boats. At the start of the war Germany only had 29 U-boats and therefore before 1917 that wasn’t enough. They were a very good thing to have in your naval fleet and if the Germans had more they would’ve been able to knock out the French and British fleets much more easily.
Another cause for the failure of restricted warfare was the problems with indentification, this was due to the British attempting to try and fool the Germans by flying neutral flags and by using passenger liners to transport arms and ammunition. This allowed the British to continue with their supplies and trade with other countries without taking heavy losses.
A third cause of the failure of the restricted submarine warfare was the protest by the Americans. This was when the British liner (the Lusitania) was sunk by a torpedo. The Lusitania was carrying arms and ammunition and also contained civilians, 128 of the 2000 that died were American and as a result of this the Americans protested against the use of submarines which caused the submarine campaign to tone down which as a consequence made it less effective.
A cause of the failure of unrestricted German submarine warfare was the organization of convoys after 1917. The Germans attempted to sink every enemy and neutral merchant ship that crossed the Atlantic in the hope that Britain and France would be starved into surrendering . The Germans were almost successful as a total of 430 ships were lost and the corn supply was bought down. Lloyd George insisted that the ships should adopt the convoy system, which meant that a large number of merchant ships would sail together whilst they were being protected by escorting warships. This dramatically reduced the number of losses and meant that the German plan had failed.
There were a number of consequences of German submarine warfare. One consequence was that Britain and France were still in the war. The submarine warfare was meant to knock Britain and France out of the war but the campaign was not very successful and didn’t affect the allies much and instead it forced the USA into entering the war which Germany didn’t want.
Another cause of Germanys defeat is the entry of the USA into the war. One cause the entry of the USA is unrestricted submarine warfare. The submarines sunk the lusitania ship which killed 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard 128 of which were American. This annoyed president Wilson and is one of the reasons why the USA entered the war. Also the Germans are financially involved in the war by selling weapons to the allies and giving them loans. This meant that if the allies lost, the USA could lose money.
Another cause of the USA entering the war was that the USA didn’t want to cut themselves from Europe because they were making a lot of money from supplying weapons to the allies, also the American government were lending war loans which in 1917 had amounted to 2 billion dollars so therefore were already financially involved in the war and couldn’t risk loosing that amount of money.
A third cause of the USA entering the war is the Zimmerman telegram. Arthur Zimmerman was the foreign minister for Germany and he sent a telegram to Mexico to say that they should ally with Germany if the USA entered the war. This meant that the Mexicans could attack the southern states of America such as Texas and Arizona. In return for the alliance of Mexico, Germany promised Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in return. The telegram made it into the newspapers.
An additional cause of the USA entering the war was the overthrowing of the Tsar(Russia). The Americans were very hesitant to join sides with Russia because of the Autocratic government the Tsar ran but when the Tsar was overthrown in the March revolution of 1917 America no longer had any worries to join with Russia.
There were a number of consequences of the entry of the USA. One of the consequences of the USA entering the war is that British and French morale was boosted by the deployment of more men to back them up. This gave the allies and extra determination to hold of Germany until the USA came to help them.
Another consequence of the entry of the USA was the extra resources that allies would get. The USA would bring not only extra men to the war but they could also bring ammunition and other weapons. The only problem with the USA entering so late was that they wouldn’t be able to join straight away as there army needed building up. Weapons needed to be made and men trained. They also needed to transport all there men to Europe and they didn’t have any big enough ships built, so building ships would add even more time onto the wait. The USA actually didn’t play apart until 1918.
A third consequence of the entry of the USA was the moral deflation of the German army and because was such a powerful country it would give the allies a lot of resources and man power. This would put the German army under more strain and meant that they were under more pressure as they had to win the war before the USA arrived if they were to stand much of a chance.
Another cause of Germanys defeat in the war was the allied leaders were more competent. There were a number of consequences of the allied leaders being more competent. One consequence of this is Ferdinand Foch and his counter attack tactics. His counter attack succeeded in stopping the German advance. Foch also planned the Grand Offensive, opening on September 26, 1918, which led to the defeat of Germany. He was French general up until 1918 when he was appointed the position of Marshal of France. "the most original and subtle mind in the French Army".
Another consequence of the allied leaders being more competent was General Haig. He was a British soldier and senior commander during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force during the Battle of the Somme and the 3rd Battle of Ypres. To show his brilliance the French, American and Belgian armies combined captured 196,700 prisoners-of-war and 3,775 German guns between July 18 and the end of the war. But Haig's forces, with a smaller army than the French, captured 188,700 prisoners and 2,840 guns. The military historian, Gary Sheffield, called this 'by far the greatest military victory in British history'.
A third consequence of the allied leaders being more competent was the use of tanks. Germany used very little tanks during the war and the allies used this to their advantage. 456 tanks were used to repel the German forces from the Ludendorff Offensive, until they reached the Hindenburg line.
An additional consequence of the allied leaders being more competent was Germany being far less competent. For example, General Ludendorff launched the Ludendorff offensive on the 21st March 1918 in a last ditch attempt to win the war before USA arrived. The Germans had broken the stalemate and started to march to Paris, they advanced 65km and reached the River Marne in July. However too many men were sent too far and too fast into French territory. There were no reserves and the army had been exhausted. Ferdinand Foch, using his counter attack drove the Germans back from the Marne. Foch kept up the pressure and on the August 8 the Germans were forced to retreat until they reached the Hindenburg line.
Another cause of Germany’s defeat is the continuous strain of enemy losses. One cause of this was the battle of Verdun. fought between the German and French armies from 21 February to 18 December 1916. The Germans brought 1400 big guns to the hills and at dawn 21 February, they then opened fire. Throughout the day 2 million shells were fired and then the Germans attacked the trench lines. They captured the first line after just two days and the second line on the day after. The Germans made advances which were costly on the French but then fatigues German men were eventually driven back to there start position by the French. The Battle of Verdun resulted in more than a quarter of a million deaths and approximately half a million wounded. It remains one of the longest battles in history, spanning roughly 10 months. Also the battle of the Somme On 1 July General Haig sent thirteen divisions over the top. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 20,000 British soldiers were killed and 35,000 wounded. Despite this more attacks were made and the losses made the total even greater. By the end of the battle the British and the French lost 620,000 men and the Germans 450,000. The Allies had advance only 15km at the farthest point.
Another cause for the continuous strain of enemy losses is the Spanish flu. The Spanish flu pandemic lasted from 1918 to 1919. Current estimates are that 50 million to 100 million people worldwide died. Between 2 and 20% of those infected by Spanish flu died, as opposed to the normal flu epidemic mortality rate of 0.1%.
Another cause is the continuous loss of men in major battles in WW1. The two major battles were at Verdun and the Somme. At Verdun, the French lost 315,000 men and the Germans had lost 282,000 and still failed to break the western front. At the Somme the British and French had lost 620,000 men and the Germans had lost 450,000. The allies had only advances 15 kilometres.
Another cause of continuous strain of enemy losses is their use of inexperienced soldiers. Because of this the German soldiers could not cope with certain circumstances, which they could if they were trained. This could result in casualties and even death. However they could not be properly trained because it would take too long.
There was one consequence of continuous losses for the enemies. The consequence is that because of the losses Germany in the end had to surrender before they lost as they did not have a sufficient amount of men to defend or counter attack the enemy.
One cause of Germany losing the war was that she was let down by her allies. Germany was constantly having to help out the Austrians and Bulgarians.
One cause of Germany being let down by her allies. On September 30, the Bulgarians surrendered to the allies in Thessaloniki. The war was costly for Bulgaria, which lost 87,500 soldiers killed and 275,000 civilians. The Bulgarians also lost all their land on the Aegean Sea to Greece and some territory in the northwest to Serbia.
Another cause of Germany being let down by her allies was Austria being defeated by Italy at Vittorio Veneto. By October 1918, Italy finally had enough soldiers to mount an offensive. The attack targeted Vittorio Veneto, across the Piave. Though Austrian soldiers fought viciously, the superior numbers of the Allies overwhelmed them. The Italians broke through a gap near Sacile and poured in reinforcements that crushed the Austrian defensive line. This caused 3, 300,000 Austrian soldiers to surrender. Turkey was defeated in the same month when General Allenby advanced north from Palestine which meant the end was near for Germany.
There were a couple of consequences of Germany being let down by her allies. One consequence was the lack of supplies. Because Germany had lost all of her allies she was left to fend for herself and the allies were unable to give Germany any ammunition, weapons or food.
Another consequence of Germany being let down by her allies was that Germany had to surrender. It was all of her enemies against her because all the concentration was on Germany. They realised they had no chance anymore and decided to surrender.
As a conclusion the Schlieffen plan was certainly a cause of Germany’s defeat, however I don’t feel it is the main cause as there were many causes which contributed to why Germany lost the war. The Schlieffen plan was a long term cause for Germany’s defeat because it took place in 1914. Allied sea power was also a long term cause because it mainly took place in 1914. Submarine warfare, allied leaders more competent and continuous strain of losses for Germany were also long term causes that contributed to why Germany lost the war. The short term causes for the defeat of Germany was the entry of the USA as although they entered the war in 1917 they didn’t have a real impact until 1918. Enemy losses and the allied leaders being more competent were both long and short term because the allied leaders made decisions all throughout the war and the German army suffered losses all throughout the war, although the majority of these losses occurred in 1918. Germany being let down by her allies is short term because Austria and Bulgaria were defeated in 1918. There are many links between each cause of Germanys defeat, for example the unrestricted submarine warfare relates to the USA joining the war. Another link is between allied sea power, blockades and submarine warfare another link is the allied leaders were competent and the surrender of Germany. Also the Belgian resistance links to the British being able to land because without the Belgian resistance the British would not be able to land as the Channel ports would not be open.