Why did the Allied victory occur in 1918 and not before?
The First World War, at the time known as the ‘war to end all wars’, owes much of its horror and length to the slow and laborious aspect of the offensive during it, which makes it difficult to understand the precise reason for it finishing in an allied victory in 1918 and not in any of the previous years. Any number of events could have brought about the end of the war or the capitulation of one of the main protagonists, such as the Battle of the Somme, Verdun or even as early as the Battle of the Marne, but none did and in the end it was a very specific conjunction of events that set the scene for the final outcome, which we will study in this essay, focusing on the USA’s late involvement in the war, the Central powers’ loss of momentum after they had thrown their last reserves into the fray, the culmination of the new technologies used and the disgust of war from many of the populations involved, which are all linked to each other.
One of the major factors of Germany’s demise and more importantly of when it happened was instigated by Germany itself, which is the USA’s involvement in the war. Indeed, when they decided in February 1917 to give the go-ahead for unrestricted submarine warfare, the tactic of destroying all ships, military or otherwise, going towards the British Isles, it was in full knowledge that it would in all likelihood bring the US into the war, as they had used this as their main term to not get involved earlier after the sinking of the Lusitania, but the German decided it was worth the risk to knock the British out of the war before any decisive action could be taken on the ground. This did not happen and the US did get involved with the additional incentive of the Zimmerman telegram trying to push Mexico into the war. The announcement of the USA’s decision to enter the war on the allied side was made on the 6th April 1917 and it would eventually mean the downfall of the Central Powers. What the American intervention did in Europe was to “set
One of the major factors of Germany’s demise and more importantly of when it happened was instigated by Germany itself, which is the USA’s involvement in the war. Indeed, when they decided in February 1917 to give the go-ahead for unrestricted submarine warfare, the tactic of destroying all ships, military or otherwise, going towards the British Isles, it was in full knowledge that it would in all likelihood bring the US into the war, as they had used this as their main term to not get involved earlier after the sinking of the Lusitania, but the German decided it was worth the risk to knock the British out of the war before any decisive action could be taken on the ground. This did not happen and the US did get involved with the additional incentive of the Zimmerman telegram trying to push Mexico into the war. The announcement of the USA’s decision to enter the war on the allied side was made on the 6th April 1917 and it would eventually mean the downfall of the Central Powers. What the American intervention did in Europe was to “set