The following were equally important reasons why the stalemate on the Western Front was broken, New technologies like the tank, The American entry into the war, The blockading of German ports, The German Offensive of March 1918.

trench warfare, although they did gain a little ground the trenches were to wide for them to cross. The first success for the tanks was in November 1917 by an assault team of 100 tanks. There main use came at the counter attacks made against the spring offensive, Hamel, Villers-Cotterets and Amiens. Another huge development was that of planes. They were usually used for recognisance but because of their noise and need to fly at a low level, they were always spotted and the enemy moved position before the plane could relay the information back to it’s base camp. There moment of glory was once again at the counter attack to the spring offensive, where they were used to shoot at soldiers moving across open ground. A German advance in technology was the U-boats. They were used to try and starve Britain into surrender. There were developed to blockade British ports and destroy cargo and transport ships. Their main role in breaking the stalemate was the fact that they were one of the main reasons that the Americans joined the war. The Germans nearly succeeded in starving Britain, but they blew a boat called the Lusitania in May 1915. 124 Americans were aboard the ship, all were killed. The Germans stopped the attack on the boats for a while after this, but started once again in 1917 in another attempt to starve Britain. They sunk 9 U.S ships. Initially the U.S was happy to stay out of the war and sell weapons to both sides. The U-boat attacks made them less eager to stay away. The final straw for them was the fact that ion the 1st of march, Britain released a document that was intercepted, travelling between the German foreign minister Zimmerman and the German Embassy in Mexico. It offers an alliance with Mexico promising them parts of Texas if the declare war on America. On the 6th of April 1917 the U.S joins the war. This boosted moral amongst the allies after several major setbacks as it provided fresh troops and supplies. The initial impact of America joining the war is not that great, as their standing army was quite small, their troops need training and it took time to get them to the western front. The Germans become agitated at the entry of America into the war, and they start their final push before the bulk of the American troops arrive. The spring offensive started off going Germanys way, but the development of tanks, planes, and the addition of American troops helped the allies fight back. As the battle went on, more and more American troops turned up at the western front and they were eventually able to stop the Germans. Now the German troops were all diverted to fighting for the spring offensive, this meant the Royal Navy could get its ships out and try and blockade the German ports. The volume of U-boat attacks increased, so the blockades were stepped up and mines were laid around the German ports. Not only was this starving the German population and causing unrest, it also meant that the German troops did not have ready access to supplies. This was the final factor in breaking the stalemate. I believe that all 4 of the developments were as important as each other, because they all relied on each other in some way to break the stalemate.