Was World War 1 A Success Or A Failure Essay
1918 saw the disciplined, robust forces of the Central Powers (who consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria) lose to the Allies (Great Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Russia up to 1917, and USA in 1917) in a war that would become known as the First World War. Both sides were fairly evenly matched even though the Allies had dispatched almost double the amount of men than the Central Powers’ meagre 21 million. This was because, although the Allies had the larger force number-wise, they included about 21 million Russians who were immensely ill equipped and fairly ineffective. Whether the Allied forces merely took advantage of the mistakes made by the Central Powers or whether they were indeed the stronger bloc is arguable, never the less, the loss of the war came as a huge shock for the Germans and the other members of the Central Powers and was because the many of the people in these countries had sincerely believed that they were
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Germany’s hope to win the war quickly lay in the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan (which was created by General Alfred von Schlieffen) was designed as a tactic to attack France but through Belgium and Holland, leaving them Russia to attack afterwards. Their feeling was that although Russia had a bigger army, they would be slow and fairly ineffective in their mobilization and as a result, would take longer to attack. This plan worked well up to a point. As the advancing German army created gaps, the advantage was given to the French and the British who then attacked them. The Russian army was also not as ineffective and slow in mobilization as initially thought. The Germans then retreated as a result and this marked the beginning of trench warfare and the greater use of mechanized weapons. This failure of the Schlieffen Plan is viewed by many as the beginning of the demise of the Central
Germany’s hope to win the war quickly lay in the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan (which was created by General Alfred von Schlieffen) was designed as a tactic to attack France but through Belgium and Holland, leaving them Russia to attack afterwards. Their feeling was that although Russia had a bigger army, they would be slow and fairly ineffective in their mobilization and as a result, would take longer to attack. This plan worked well up to a point. As the advancing German army created gaps, the advantage was given to the French and the British who then attacked them. The Russian army was also not as ineffective and slow in mobilization as initially thought. The Germans then retreated as a result and this marked the beginning of trench warfare and the greater use of mechanized weapons. This failure of the Schlieffen Plan is viewed by many as the beginning of the demise of the Central