• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Select and explain the most important turning points in WW1 between March 1918 and November 1918.

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

End of WW1 - Essay Coursework 1) Select and explain the most important turning points in WW1 between March 1918 and November 1918. I believe that there are three important turning points between March and November 1918 in the end of the war. I think the first turning point is Ludendorff's Offensive. This is because the main aim of the war was to gain territory and the war had been in a stalemate since December 1914. And because America was moving 50,000 troops into France per month, Ludendorff decided that Germany needed a quick victory and launched the spring offensive. At first this seemed to be a winning formula as the Germans had broke through the allied defence and advanced 65Km and so were only 5Km from Paris. However making this breakthrough caused 400,000 German losses and they had no reserves. Many of the planned German attacks were held up because of bad food supplies and so on the 18th July the allied counter attack at the Marne left the Germans with nothing except a destroyed army. ...read more.

Middle

Because of the military not only trying to fight a war but run the country as well it meant that the military went into the war with out considering what would happen if the war lasted a long time, therefore all the military plans like the Schlieffen plan weren't effective because they didn't account for a long war. And so the military decided to call in more and more men, this meant that the jobs which these men did couldn't be accounted for which led to the country to be under great economic strain. Because of this and Germany's incompetence to defend her port, the allies blocked all of Germany's ports in 1915, which meant that Germany couldn't export any goods to make profits which intern meant that the economy would be on the brink of collapse and so wouldn't be able to fund any more money for artillery for the military. And also Germany couldn't import and food for civilians and soldiers which meant that the diet was poor and so meant that disease started spreading and by 1918 750,000 men died of starvation and influenza. ...read more.

Conclusion

However the reason why the spring offensive was adopted in the first place and the war of attrition didn't carry on was because Ludendorff saw America's potential threat, that not only would the German's be fighting the French and British but the America's too, and Ludendorff knew that the German army just couldn't cope with that, as the army wasn't as good as it was in 1914. Which is why he decided that Germany was in a do or die situation and needed a quick victory and so launched the spring offensive. So overall I believe that the spring offensive was in effect the reason why the Germans were defeated in WW1 in the short term. However, I consider the America's role to be the reason why the German's were defeated in the long term. This is because the America's were the reason why the spring offensive was launched but had also contributed to the war in the allies favour by loaning them lots of money over long periods of time, boosting morale and supplying them with men needed to counter attack the spring offensive in order to defeat Germany. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 essays

  1. Explain how the Schlieffen Plan was meant to work?

    Similarly, Haig also has a reason to lie in the source because he does not want to be blamed for all the deaths. On the other hand source C can be trusted more because it's taken from an interview with a Private, years after the battle.

  2. To what extent were germany to blame for the outbreak of ww1

    Britain and Germany as a result of Germany's desire to become a naval power. The British believed that the only thing holding there vast empire together was their naval power. Consequently Britain felt threatened by Germany's aggressive naval policy. The Schliffen plan relied very much on Britain's policy of splendid isolation.

  1. How is the defeat of Germany by November 1918 best explained

    This meant that Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire where facing war on another front. The German troops just couldn't cope. Although the German troops could not cope, the English where having the same problem, even though they had introduced compulsory conscription.

  2. 1, Select and explain the most important turning points in the first world war ...

    Out of these reasons I would say that the main reason the war broke out was the Americans joining, as they where a huge benefit for the allied troops. They where also fresh fighters that weren't tired of war and up for fighting.

  1. Select and explain the most important turning points in Senator Joe McCarthy's political career

    The media was accusing him of faking photos and evidence just to get fame; people were beginning to look harder at what he was saying. A commission was soon set up to hear the charges between the U.S army and McCarthy.

  2. Russia: a Century of Upheaval.

    One group went to the peasants, but were not successful in gathering support, this was mainly because the peasants were under the influence of the church, and this meant that many of them were loyal to the Tsar. Another problem was that their desire for social change didn't extend much

  1. The years between 1914, when the front trench lines were established in 'the race ...

    This constant shelling also made no-mans land extremely cratered which itself became an obstacle especially when the shells ruptured the water table. The change that the British introduced, to cope with this problem in 1916, was to introduce fuse 106 which detonated on it's first contact, the barbed wire, this

  2. Shells and artillery accounted for up to 70% of the casualties between 1914 and ...

    this is very true as the '100 ton' mine placed by the British made no significant impact on the concrete bunkers during the Somme. In source B it shows the damage caused by a shell, however it's not clear whether it was a British trench that had been bombed or a captured trench with British shell damage.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work