As well as fighting on land, naval battles ensued throughout the war, but not the way we are thinking. The naval race prior to the war had been a long exercise for naval supremacy with Britain leading the world with Germany snapping at its heels.
Because Britain was a small island that was pretty much isolated from other countries such as France etc, it had to have most of its food imported from abroad. The same couldn’t be said for Germany whom could afford to grow most of its own food at home but still needed foods sugar from abroad. The plan for the Germans was to ‘starve the British into surrender’ by cutting off its food supplies that arrived from abroad by sinking merchant ships with U-boats (submarines). The British had also thought of this too and took similar action against the Germans. By 1917 the U-boat campaigns were in full effect and the people back home (in Britain and Germany) were slowly beginning to have their food supplies reduced and were beginning to starve (more so in Germany where at the end of the war around 750,000 civilians died due to starvations). The British naval plans to reduce Germany’s food supplies were superior to the Germans. Realising that lone food carrying merchant ships would be under inevitable attack from the German U-boats, Lloyd George devised the plan that merchant food ships travel from abroad (America etc) in ‘convoys’ (travel together in large groups) escorted by ‘destroyer’ ships for protection, this would safely allow food to be delivered to Britain and the offending U-boats to be destroyed by the destroyers with depth charges and other weapons of assault. German food ports would also be blockaded, not allowing food to be delivered to the people of Germany, and slowly forcing them into starvation. For soldiers this had a big effect on their morale, their families were starving back at home and they were constantly fed lies by their generals that the British were in even worse positions than they were (they weren’t, due to clever rationing methods devised by the British Government). These situations had a psychological effect on soldiers, the prospect of winning the war quickly began to evaporate, the discovery that the British had more food than them and that their families back at home were starving to death through the successful British naval blockade proved too much for some soldiers and affected a large majority of them and performances began to drop off as well as their morale. The Allies were beginning to look better and better all the time.
In 1915 the naval vessel the ‘Lusitania’ was sunk by German U-boats without warning, killing over 120 American passengers who were onboard.
A year later the ‘Sussex’ ship was sunk again with American passengers on board, this outrages the American public saying it was a violation of their neutrality rights at sea . ‘Immediate warfare’ was demanded by some American public and politicians, including Teddy Roosevelt. President Woodrow Wilson did not resolve to war but issued a firm stance on the matter by increasing the size of his military and giving a strong warning to the Germans. The Germans temporarily halted submarine warfare but pretty soon it became clear that if America was going to join the war that German defeat would be inevitable. Hoping to eliminate the ‘American threat’, German minister Zimmerman attempted to persuade Mexico and Japan into attacking the US with promise of European land after it was conquered. The message that was sent to the Mexicans and Japanese was decoded by the British and sent to America
Woodrow Wilson (left) wanted war, primarily due to hostile German warfare which sank the Lusitania and the Sussex but also the Zimmerman note. Wilson asked permission from Congress to go to war and on the 6th of April 1917, Congress finally declared war on Germany. As well as facing hardships its people were facing at home, the German soldiers morale took a further battering when the US decided to join the war. The Germans knew that America was a major world power and now was its chance to prove itself. America seemed to have limitless money and weapons which the Germans knew all too well. 200,000 American soldiers arrived every 3 months across the Atlantic ocean via naval ships while it seemed to the Germans that they were losing 200,000 men every 3 months!
The American soldiers that were arriving across the Atlantic were fresh men (as opposed to the tired German soldiers) who had been psyched up by American propaganda at home with slogan such as ‘Save your country’s food!’ and persuasive posters such as those shown below which offered the chance to travel the world.
The Americans it seemed were ready for anything and could do anything to the rest of the world. The German soldiers already knew they were losing a losing battle and this seemed to confirm their worst fears.
By mid 1918 the German army had finished their business on the Eastern front and the Russians had gone back home . The Germans on the Eastern front were sent to the Western front – further tiring them out. By March there were 190 German divisions against 170 Allied. Ludendorff decided to attack the point where the English and French lines met, hoping to separate the two armies and force the English to withdraw across the sea.
On the 21st, 71 German divisions attacks 21 British divisions, throwing back British and French resistance and advancing 35 miles by the 5th of April. The offensive was a success! On the 9th a new offensive was launched but this was a failure. A new plan was conceived, the plan this time concentrated on the French lines, in the hopes that the Germans could cut off reinforcements to the British. When the British were in a position where they were unable to secure reinforcements, the Germans would attack them.
The offensive began on May 27th, by June 23rd the Germans were within 5 miles of Paris but the Allies rallied together and managed to stop the charging German advance Ludendorff began to plan yet another offensive. In June 1918 the first American soldiers fought the Germans. The Germans began their new offensive on July 15th with 51 divisions, this time against the combined forced of the British, the French and the Americans. The German army was met with strong resistance and many losses.
Three days later the French launched a counter-offensive led by 600 tanks, this threw the Germans completely back and resulted in 300,000 casualties with 800 artillery pieces being lost. The German ‘charge’ was beginning to wane and on the 18th of August 1918 the Allies began a huge offensive which would completely break the German defences.
The tables had dramatically turned against the Germans and they began to lose more and more ground to the Allies. The offensive grew stronger and stronger and the whole German army began to be pushed back. By September, the Germans had lost 1,000,000 soldiers, reducing their army from 3.5 million to 2.5 million. The previously superior German army was now down to 19 divisions against 400-500 of the Allies. The American involvement in the war rose from around 200,000 (which continued to increase every 3 months) in 1917 to 2,086,000 at the end of the war. During the days of September 14th-30th , the Allied troops caused the entire Bulgarian front to collapse. At the same time, the Austrians were also negotiating their own peace treaty with the allies. Meanwhile, a combined French, British ,Greek and Serbian army liberated the Balkans, an by November 10th they had moved in Rumania. Ludendorff accurately summarised the outlook of the war when he said
“The condition of the army demands an immediate armistice”
Germany’s other allies soon began to collapse and left with no choice, Germany proposed an armistice on the 3rd of October, The Allies declared they would only give the armistice to the Germans if they didn’t intend to improve their military strength. On the 11th of November the official armistice was signed and it officially ended the war, though the war was over a long time before America joined in.
Looking at all the factors that I have mentioned, I do think that America had a large influential role in the allies becoming victorious at the end of the war but it has to be said that it wasn’t solely because of the Americans that the Allies won. Germany was beginning to fade quickly even at the start of the war, as soon as ‘Trench warfare’ set in and with the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, it was plain to see that war wouldn’t last up until Christmas (something that the British were better prepared for). I also think that the successful U-boat campaigns against the Germans by blocking German ports and not allowing food to get into Germany was also a decisive factor as it lowered German soldiers morale thus waning their performances allowing the Allies to exploit the chinks in the armour of the Germans. The replacing of one old and tired ally in the form of Russia with the new fresh American troops meant that the Allies were very lucky. The Allies were beginning to tire a great deal by this stage and war could have lasted more years yet, but with the arrival of America (who seemed to have limitless money, weapons, ships and fresh men) it seemed once again to turn in favour of the Allies and had yet another big blow to the Germans.