World War I Coursework

Select and explain the most important turning points in the fortunes of the Allies during 1914-1918.

One of the turning points of the war was the Battle of the Marne, which led to the failure of the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan was a plan devised by the Germans to help them win the war. The plan was to attack France through Belgium, the target being Paris. They would then attack Russia. Despite the fact that they won at Alsace-Lorraine, the Germans didn’t manage to defeat the French at the Battle of the Marne. This meant that they couldn’t get to Paris within the time frame they had thought they could. The French armies pushed the Germans back to Aisne. The failure to get to Paris as quickly as they had planned meant Russia did mobilise quicker than the Germans thought they would. This meant that the Germans had to split their forces and fight on two fronts, weakening their attack on France. The Schlieffen Plan had failed. The failure of the Schlieffen Plan led to the race to the sea which in turn led to stalemate and trench warfare, meaning an attacking war had become a defensive war. This is an important turning point because it changed the war.

Another turning point in the war was Russia pulling out of the war. In October 1917, there was a Communist revolution in Russia and in March 1918, they pulled out of the war. All German troops were then transferred to the Western front; they were no longer fighting on two fronts and so were stronger on the Western front. Using the extra forces, they launched the Spring Offensive which proved very successful, however, they were too successful and supplies couldn’t keep up with the, and so they had to attack. They pushed the Allies back over twenty miles, but then they ran out of supplies, meaning their troops were exhausted, underfed and had low morale. This meant that the Allies could launch a counter-offensive. The Germans were pushed off the Hindenburg Line and the Allies won the war. Russia pulling out of the war was an important turning point in the war because it meant that the Germans could launch the Spring Offensive which became a victim of its own success and helped the Allies to win the war by breaking the stalemate.

A third turning point in the war was America joining the war. They joined because Germany kept sinking their boats, so they declared war on them. America joining the war not only gave the Allies precious extra resources such as men and food, but also boosted their troops’ morale. The US army helped the Allies to push back the German army and force it to surrender. In June 1918, the US army was used to clear the Germans off the main road to Paris. On the sixth attempt, they finally managed to push them back. This seriously dented German morale because they lost many men. The Americans joining the war was an important point in the war because the extra resources they brought with them (the Germans couldn’t sink their boats because they were too far away) helped the Allied troops. The extra men also helped the Allies to outnumber the Germans, helping them to win the war.

Explain the part played by the land fronts other than the Western Front in the victory in World War I

The Eastern front played a large part in aiding the Allied victory in World War I. The Schlieffen Plan relied on Russia mobilising slowly, however, Russia mobilised more quickly than expected, meaning that Germany had to split its forces between the Eastern and Western fronts, weakening them on both. Because they were weakened, they were held up in France in the Battle of the Marne, which in turn lead to the race to the sea, which lead to ...

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Explain the part played by the land fronts other than the Western Front in the victory in World War I

The fact that the Germans had to fight on two fronts greatly weakened them, again helping the Allied victory.

In October 1917, there was a communist revolution in Russia and in March 1918, the new government pulled out of the war. This freed up many German troops, which were transferred to the Western Front. Using these extra resources, they launched the Spring Offensive, which proved to be too successful – supplies couldn’t keep up with the troops and the Germans were forced to attack. They pushed the Allies back over twenty miles, but then ran out of supplies. With the help of the U.S.A., the Allies launched a counter-offensive and pushed Germany off the Hindenburg Line and broke the stalemate. In November 1918, they sued for peace.

The Balkans was another land front that played a part in the Allied victory of World War I. Although they didn’t make much headway until 1918, when the stalemate was broken, it did isolate Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary – two of Germany’s main allies. In theory this would have weakened Germany as it could no longer rely on its allies’ support, however, in practise, it was Germany who was supporting its allies, not the other way around. Overall, the Balkans achieved little but tying up one million French and British troops for most of the war, also disease was rife amongst the troops, with many getting malaria and dysentery, which didn’t help the Allies as it meant that many soldiers being unable to fight due to illness.

Gallipoli was a third land front of world war I. the aim was to drive Turkey out of the war (another of Germany’s allies) and to supply Russia. This would have helped the Allies fur two reasons: supplying Russia would have kept them in the war (something they were desperate to achieve because they didn’t know the benefits that Russia leaving the war would later have) and kept Russia able to fight the Germans. It would have also helped to weaken Germany further by attacking its allies and leaving Germany isolated. However, Allied commanders decided that the naval attack wouldn’t succeed; the Turks knew they were coming and so were prepared. They then decided to try and take the peninsular, but only managed to get a small amount of land. Gallipoli was a disaster and only managed to kill many Allied troops; therefore Gallipoli didn’t manage to help the Allies to win World War I.

What was the most important front in bringing about Allied victory in World War I, the war at sea or the war in the air?

I think that the war at sea was most important to Allied victory. I plan to look at how both the war at sea and the war in the air between three time periods: 1914, 1915-1917 and 1918.

In 1914, the war at sea was most important. The early war at sea was very important, without control of the seas, Britain would have been isolated from its allies, and so keeping control meant they weren’t cut off. Another important point of the war at sea was the fact that Britain used boats to carry troops and supplies to the Western Front, without which they wouldn’t have been able to fight. In 1914, the British began to use blockades to starve Germany into surrendering; however, it took two years for Germany to feel the full effects of this.

The war in the air was far less important during 1914. The planes were fragile and not used in combat. They were, however, used for observation, which should have been useful to the Allies, but it seems that it made little or no impact, as they didn’t do very well at the beginning of the war.

Overall, I feel that during 1914, the war in the air was most important because it was the only way Britain could get supplies and troops to the land fronts and the blockades, although not fully felt by the Germans, helping the Allies. The war in the air was far less important because planes weren’t used for combat before and during 1914, instead they were used for aerobatic displays, meaning they were fragile.

During 1915 to 1917, the war in the air became more important, but the war at sea continued to be very important.

In this time period, the Allies were involved in the Battle of Jutland. As a result of the Battle of Jutland, Germany never took their fleet out again. This meant that the Allies could continue the blockades. In 1915, the German government was forced to slaughter a third of all pigs because the Allied naval blockade had cut off imports of fodder to feed them. The blockades were being felt by the Germans, and they were starting to stop them from fighting effectively. However, although the blockades were a positive action, the German reaction was, for a while, a negative reaction. The Germans used their submarines (the only boat that left the German docks) to begin a blockade of their own. They sunk British merchant ships, cutting off supplies to Britain. However, the British government came up with many ways of protecting the ships and ensuring that their people didn’t starve. One of these methods was using convoys. Convoys were fairly successful and helped to protect ships from the German U-boats, ensuring that Britain didn’t starve. It was very important that Britain didn’t starve because if they did, the citizens would demand an end to the war and Britain would be forced to surrender. When the Germans realised that their U-boat campaign wasn’t working, they began to sink all boats approaching Britain. This included American boats. As a result, in April 1917, the U.S.A. declared war on Germany. This not only gave a huge boost to the Allies in terms of troops and supplies, but also gave the men and those at home a huge morale boost. It also meant that the British could build ships faster than they were being sunk. However, the war at sea wasn’t the only reason the U.S.A. declared war on Germany. Germany formed an alliance with Mexico – an enemy of America. However, the war at sea played an important part in the American entry into the war.

The war in the air gained more importance during 1915 – 1917. Planes were used in combat. Pilots were involved in dogfights, in which planes were shot down. There were two benefits of this, one of them was the fact that aces, famous pilots, were glamorised by the British media. This raised morale and helped recruit many more pilots. High morale was needed to keep the public supportive of the war; otherwise Britain would be forced to pull out. The other benefit was that it helped to interrupt enemy observation. However, the Germans could also do this. In 1916 and 1917, machine guns were fitted on planes and air combat became more common. Squadrons were formed, meaning the air force was more organised. This proves that the war in the air was becoming more important. If it hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have formed squadrons. Early bombers were introduced; however, both Britain and Germany had them. Strafing was used in 1917, which helped to lower infantry casualties. Planes were also used to protect ships by spotting U-boats, this helped to prevent starvation in Britain, (something that was very important because if Britain had starved, the citizens would have lost support for the war and demanded and end to it, meaning that Britain would have had to have pulled out of the war), and on this point alone, it is clear that the war in the air and the war at sea were important during 1915 to 1917.

However, the war in the air and the war at sea were not equally important during 1915 to 1917. Despite the fact that the war in the air gained more significance, the war in the sea also gained a great deal more importance. Whilst aeroplanes were becoming better designed for combat during this time period, with Aces proving an important recruitment factor, the war at sea brought America into the war, bringing with them a boost to morale and resources, proving that the war at sea was still more important than the war in the air.

By the end of 1918, both the war at sea and the war in the air had made big contributions to the war. However, whilst both gained yet more importance, the war at sea was still the most important.

This is due to the fact that during 1918, the impact of the U.S. entry was felt as troops arrived to help the allies fight, bringing with them lots of resources. This meant that the Allied army was stronger than the German army, this helped the Allies to win the war. Another important part of the war at sea were the blockades. The blockades were vital in 1918 because they meant that Germany was short of food and nitrates, which were used as fertilisers for farming (further worsening the food shortage) and for making explosives. Due to the shortage of food, the Germans were forced to launch the Spring Offensive. However, due to the fact that supplies couldn’t keep up with troops and the offensive failed. This meant the Allies could launch a counter-offensive, helping them win the war.

During 1918, the war in the air gained more importance, with the R.A.F. being formed. This shows that aeroplanes were more important than they had been at the beginning of the war. Planes used to help defeat the Turkish army – an ally of Germany, again showing they had improved.

However, the war at sea was far more important during 1918 because it helped the Allies a lot, especially with the Spring Offensive, whereas the war in the air only helped in a less major war.

Overall, due to the fact that the war at sea played such a vital role in the Spring Offensive and the U.S. entry, I think that it’s the most important. Also, at the beginning of the war, aeroplanes had never been used in combat and so the war in the air didn’t play much of a role in the majority of the war.

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