Why Germany Lost the First World War
Why Germany lost the First World War
The First World War ended with the triple entente as victorious (with help from the Americans). Some reasons to why the allies won the war were because of; Germany had to fight a war on two fronts, the unstable political situation in Germany, the allied naval blockade, German economy, failure of the schlieffen plan, interception of the Zimmerman telegram, the German naval blockade on Britain (sinking of American ships), development of the tank and anti-submarine weapons, the advancement of new technology that required new tactics.
The Naval blockade
The British blockade was a key factor in the defeat of Germany. Starved of supplies, the German army was weakened and the German people lost some of their will to support the war. The war at sea was one of the main factors that contributed to Germany’s defeat.
To help the British navy survive against the German submarines the British used several different techniques to stop their boats from being destroyed. The British used mines and depth charges. Also to reduce the allied shipping losses all merchant ships travelled with a military convoy which provided protection to the merchant ships. When the convoy formation was applied the allied shipping losses decreased by 20%. Another technique used was Q ships. Q ships were merchant ships with disguised heavy guns. Q ships were the reason that German submarines stopped warning the enemy ship that it was about to attack.
The effect of the British blockade of Germany was that there were 300,000 deaths that were related to malnutrition and starvation during 1914-1918 among civilians. The blockade also cut supply chain of nitrate that was used to make explosives and also used in fertilizers.
Weaponry
The tank was a British invention. It was first used at the battle of the Somme. The tanks advanced in front of the infantry, crushing barbed wire fences and spraying the enemy with machine-gun fire. Yet the tank was very unreliable since
The First World War ended with the triple entente as victorious (with help from the Americans). Some reasons to why the allies won the war were because of; Germany had to fight a war on two fronts, the unstable political situation in Germany, the allied naval blockade, German economy, failure of the schlieffen plan, interception of the Zimmerman telegram, the German naval blockade on Britain (sinking of American ships), development of the tank and anti-submarine weapons, the advancement of new technology that required new tactics.
The Naval blockade
The British blockade was a key factor in the defeat of Germany. Starved of supplies, the German army was weakened and the German people lost some of their will to support the war. The war at sea was one of the main factors that contributed to Germany’s defeat.
To help the British navy survive against the German submarines the British used several different techniques to stop their boats from being destroyed. The British used mines and depth charges. Also to reduce the allied shipping losses all merchant ships travelled with a military convoy which provided protection to the merchant ships. When the convoy formation was applied the allied shipping losses decreased by 20%. Another technique used was Q ships. Q ships were merchant ships with disguised heavy guns. Q ships were the reason that German submarines stopped warning the enemy ship that it was about to attack.
The effect of the British blockade of Germany was that there were 300,000 deaths that were related to malnutrition and starvation during 1914-1918 among civilians. The blockade also cut supply chain of nitrate that was used to make explosives and also used in fertilizers.
Weaponry
The tank was a British invention. It was first used at the battle of the Somme. The tanks advanced in front of the infantry, crushing barbed wire fences and spraying the enemy with machine-gun fire. Yet the tank was very unreliable since