[Boards: 3 / a / aco / adv / an / asp / b / bant / biz / c / can / cgl / ck / cm / co / cock / d / diy / e / fa / fap / fit / fitlit / g / gd / gif / h / hc / his / hm / hr / i / ic / int / jp / k / lgbt / lit / m / mlp / mlpol / mo / mtv / mu / n / news / o / out / outsoc / p / po / pol / qa / qst / r / r9k / s / s4s / sci / soc / sp / spa / t / tg / toy / trash / trv / tv / u / v / vg / vint / vip / vp / vr / w / wg / wsg / wsr / x / y ] [Search | Free Show | Home]

Why did Germany lost WWI?

This is a blue board which means that it's for everybody (Safe For Work content only). If you see any adult content, please report it.

Thread replies: 128
Thread images: 27

File: WWImontage.jpg (292KB, 799x828px) Image search: [Google]
WWImontage.jpg
292KB, 799x828px
They were winning until 1917. What happened afterwards?
>>
Food shortages, loss of morale, mass surrenders of German soldiers. New tactics using armor.
>>
File: american.jpg (53KB, 640x402px) Image search: [Google]
american.jpg
53KB, 640x402px
>>3344850
>>
>>3344865
This is the actual answer.
>Knock Russia out the war
>Kick the shit out of France and Britain
>Know that you only have so long as it takes for the US (largest industrial power in the world) to mobolize properly.
>Hindenburg doesn't do what he has to in time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Zul1AzlYo&index=22&list=PLdEBPyoq11-7H07u7iwGM_3l-_QfxFj9B
>>
>>3344850
American supplies. simple.
>>
>>3344850
da joos
>>
>>3344865
>>3344909
>>3344954
>>3344967
>>3344850

>Are
>You
>Literally
>Retarded
>?
>>
>>3344990
shoo shoo joo
>>
>>3344999
Not a kike, also nice trips
>>
>>3345002
exactly what a joo would say
fuck off, rabbi
I won't let u cuck my foreskin
>>
>>3344850
the brave germans were about to march on paris until they were ambushed from behind by the jewish stab squad
>>
>>3344990
I don't know if this is just /his/ fucking about or the state of public knowledge about WW1, but either way it's pretty shitty.

I would in no way say that Germany was winning up until 1917. At best it was a stalemate, at worst the the Germans were being drained of men and materiel at a rate that would have left them unable to fight on much beyond 1918 anyway.
Entente armies had the full backing of the French and British empires as well as American resources and money. They had the material and resources to fight the kind of war on the Western Front in a way the Germans didn't. They also had the institutional capacity to train their troops, all their troops, in the kind of fire and movement and infiltration tactics that Germans only trained in their "stormtroopers". When they tried their summer offensives they bloodied the nose of the British and French, but they hardly routed them and once their campaign was stopped they found themselves with inferior troops, too few resources and a line that was not hand picked for defence like the Hindenburg line was. And when the Brits and French reorganised they not only dominated the new battlefields they pushed the Germans back over the ground they'd just captured and then back to the Hindenburg line and then broke that too in the same amount time than it took for the Germans to take it.
>>
>>3345065
>>>3344990 (You)
>I don't know if this is just /his/ fucking about or the state of public knowledge about WW1, but either way it's pretty shitty.

This guy I can talk to!
>>
>>3345065
fake news
nice try, kike
>>
File: lots.png (31KB, 366x474px) Image search: [Google]
lots.png
31KB, 366x474px
>>3345076
Go for it. I had a couple of WW1 threads up last week. I'm a PhD student studying command on the Western Front and I run a WW1 blog with 3000+ pictures.
Unfortunately I'm about to go to bed, but I'll answer any and all questions tomorrow if you guys have any.
>>
File: All smiles.jpg (49KB, 490x490px) Image search: [Google]
All smiles.jpg
49KB, 490x490px
>>3345077
You sound a little mad kiddo.
>>
>>3345090
did black people fight in ww1 or is battlefield a liberal meme
>>
It's impossible to defeat the Chad Anglo
>>
>>3345098
Literally hundreds of thousands of black soldiers fought on the Western Front. Mainly in the French and American armies, but there were also significant numbers of black British troops as well as I think one or two regiments of black German soldiers. There were also tens of thousands of Indian troops who fought on the Western Front and hundreds of thousands of black labourers and hundreds of thousands of Chinese labourers.
>>
>>3345098
yes absolutely, battlefield apparently just seems to make it random across all armies or something like that for maximum diversity insurance which only makes people think it's a forced meme
>>
>>3345090
You again?
Awesome! I'm going to main de massiges in two weeks. Any interesting things you can tell me about the area?

P.S. I've been there a lot of times because my father organises trips to the western front. Just interested if you can tell me anything new.

P.P.S. This is his website, mostly for dutch and belgiumfags
http://reizennaarwo1.nl/Welkom/
>>
>>3344850
over estimated the strength of the russian tsar and underestimated the british.
reading storm of steel really hammered home to me just home out gunned the germans were in regards to industry. the blockade really fucking hurt them.
>>
the German war machine would've grind to a halt if the French and Brits actually invested in a defensive posture
just look at Verdun
>>
>>3345090
At least in broad brushstrokes, I knwo that the German plans involved trying to knock out France in 1914, and when that failed, there were larger attempts to put weight on the Russian front while trying to hold in the western one.

Do you have any information, or better yet actaual sources that go into a timeline as to how the Germans allocated their forces from 1914-1918? I can easily find such things for WW2, but for WW1, I've never been able to find any
>>
>>3344850

In order to have realistic chance of winning, Germany needed to knock out France within the first year of the war. When the war devolved in a slow, grinding war of attrition, Germany had already lost. In retrospect, they should have offered a peace settlement in 1916.
>>
File: Allies must be destroyed.png (435KB, 555x802px) Image search: [Google]
Allies must be destroyed.png
435KB, 555x802px
>>3344850
>Germany is not winning pre 1917 as it is a stalemate and on a strategic level they are loosing having less expendable men and resources than the western entente despite fairing better strategically
>British Blockade crippling them due to lack of food and raw resources which are essential for the combined arms doctrines of late war
>German army is operating at critical capacity on the western front compared to other nations who have men to spare due to other fronts coming to a close with entente victories
>French troops don't nearly have as poor moral as you are led to believe
>Despite having defeated Russia Germany still has to send troops to occupy Russian lands
>The Americans and Anglo/French colonial troops from other theaters are coming to reinforce the western front so Germany is do or die
>Launch Spring offensive but the entente is now even more professional than your army
>Loose all you best troops in the Spring offensive and fail to get a decisive breakthrough but at least you have your impenetrable Hindenburg line
>Allies are preparing for the mother of all offensives in 1919 but go ahead with a smaller offensive in 1918
>The 100 days offensive happens with combined arms and the British and French punch through your impenetrable lines taking so many prisoners its ridiculous causing your entire theater to collapse
>Either sue for an armistice or watch an entire army collapse and the entente sweep through Germany in a theater wide rout and subsequently a unconditional surrender
Germany never stood a chance their fate was sealed at the Marne. As soon as it became a war of attrition the Central just couldn't compete with the Entente on the western front as all other fronts outside of Europe were won by the Entente and the sea was controlled by the British meaning raw material supplies were limited. Even without the Americans Germany would have collapsed by 1919 as the could not have survived the onslaught.
>>
>>3345223
*tactically
>>
>>3344850
well the first thing to realise is they werent winning, they couldnt really be said to be winning at any point after the marne, and after 1916 had to hope simply to exhaust the allies into asking for a peace settlement.

they were slowly being worn down, and every day came closer to defeat.

after 1917 they were forced to take gambles to try and pull off a miracle before the americans arrived in large numbers, these gambles failed - the russian revolution did succeed but the spring offensive failed- and with the allies finally getting the hang of beating german trench defenses, and the german army significantly impaired the allies crushed the hindenburg line and forced the germans to come to terms
>>
>>3345151
not the guy you're asking but i live in the Marne
it seems that you have already been to the trenches system and museum at the site of Main de Massiges, which is awesome btw
in this area, there are french cemeteries south of Massiges: St-Jean-sur-Tourbe and Minaucourt-le-Mesnil-les-Hurlus (20.000 graves). North of Massiges, at Séchault, there is a german cemetery (6.000)
Best is to go west at Sommepy-Tahure, where a german trench is and the american memorial of 'Blanc-Mont'. Souain-Perthes-lès-Hurlus where the Navarin Farm memorial is with lots of remains of craters and trenches around the place. And Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand where there's a russian cemetery
Or go more far east from Massiges towards Vauquois. The 'Butte du Vauquois' site is incredible, worth the visite, google it. Closer to Massiges eastbound there is Vienne-le-Château, you can see a french cemetery and the 'bois de la Gruerie' (lots of remains from the combats of 1915) and 'Camp Moreau' (a german restored camp). There is also in the town a big tree called 'the bloody tree' where 19 french soldiers of the 129th Regiment got blown up onto in decembre 1914
25km north-east, you can find the Meuse-Argonne american cemetery at Romagne-Sous-Montfaucon and Montfaucon-d'Argonne (US sector in 1918): remains of the church and the american tower monument

there are several small sites, as one lost grave, along with a great story hidden here and there but it's too long to list
have a nice stay
>>
>>3345178
>and underestimated the british.

The French*
The British were barely even there until late 1916
>>
>>3344850
America.
The mere uttering of this word is enough to send any German into a spastic fit.
>>
>>3345098
Yes, mostly in the French army and some in the U.S Army.
The British used black troops but never in combat as you see in BF1, at least in the European theater.
>>
>>3346641
>The British were barely even there until late 1916
The fuck are you on about? All 6 divisions of the British army (That's 100% of the BEF in 1914) fought at the first battle of the Marne. Sure the British Army was tiny in 1914 compared to France and Germany but their troops were all professional full time regulars not conscripts.
Plus I imagine when he said under estimated the British it was in regards to their fighting ability during the opening stages of the war such as at Mons (in which the Germans really under estimated the British) and their ability to transform a small expeditionary force into a continental sized fighting force over the course of the war.
>>
>>3344850
(((revolutionaries))) stabbed them in the back.
>>
>>3346690
Also the British mastery of the new combined arms tactics in the latter stages of the war, which Germany was unable to effectively counter
>>
>>3344852
This, but I disagree with mass surrender playing an important role, compared to the actual mass surrenders of Italian and Russian troops, most German surrender was the result of being encircled / overrun. Not shifting forces from the Eastern Front, after Russia had entirely devolved into infighting and revolution, played a much larger role in sapping manpower, than did surrendering German soldiers.

>>3344850
Germany was kneecapped from day 1 by the British navy blockading the North Sea. Despite early German naval victories in the North Sea and as far off as the Indian Ocean, they were almost entirely ineffectual compared to the tremendous size of the British navy, and the global reach of Britain's supply chain. They also were running out of all forms of supply, by the end of the war, and not just mass civilian starvation throughout the winters. Even church bells were being requisitioned for metal, to maintain the war effort.

Despite Germany solidly defending their gains, and the sudden sweeping aside of British and French forces in the Michael offensive, towards the end of the war, all supplies were exhausted, ammunition was dwindling, food scarce, the factories couldn't produce for lack of men and material, and all gains from the Michael offensive were completely unsustainable.

Rioting broke out from lack of food and other necessities. The Kaiser (having just seen the October Revolution in Russia) immediately wanted the rioters, Red or not, shot and imprisoned. His general staff had known how precarious Germany's existence as a functioning state had been for some time now, and knew this couldn't go on any longer. They initiated a soft coup, refusing to carry out his orders, usurping his authority and beginning talks under an armistice, which devolved into a surrender. Wilhelm knew things were entirely out of control from then on, and did not resist abdication.
>>
>>3346674
Howdy Germanic servants, check it out! I'm made of gold!

T.Charlemagne
>>
>>3346690
Why ?
>>
>>3344850
The Germans had arguably lost by the end of 1916, with the failure at Verdun and the retreat across the eastern front. Millions had to be tied into overseeing Russian lands which meant the Germans lost any strategic initiative and the Entente only had to run out the clock without failing.
>>
>>3345115
Yeah I believe the German legions were called Askarien
>>
>>3346690

BEF is a joke and meh professional army a meme

BEF was a tiny and ridiculous army, just a kind of police to prevent uprising in the colonies ; only composed of 70K soldiers where as the professional armies of the french and German were about 750k soldiers

British army was little and irrelevant until 1917

>>3346784

It was in fact the french since the commandment was place in the head of Foch
>>
>>3345223
I wonder what it would have taken for the Entente to accept peace terms in 1915/1916. Perhaps return to pre-war borders, plus return of Alsace Lorraine and yielding some other territories? But I doubt the political climate in Germany would have made this possible.
>>
>>3345098
Eugene James Bullard (1895-1961), pilot in the Escadrille Lafayette, first black person to pilot an aircraft
his story is woth reading

also , US hellfighters

and all the africans from the french colonies who fought bravely on the western front
>>
>>3344850
america
>>
>>3344909
>>3344954
America had an inferior war industry at the time, even compared to the entente.
>>
>>3345098
There were some, mostly in the french Army, but nowhere near the hundreds of thousands That other anon is pulling out of his ass.
>>
>>3344850
Every other Central Power was a living failure of a country. If Austro-Hungarian generals knew how to wage a war the Weltkrieg would've ended by 1916.
>>
>>3346690
>The fuck are you on about? All 6 divisions of the British army (That's 100% of the BEF in 1914) fought at the first battle of the Marne. Sure the British Army was tiny in 1914 compared to France and Germany but their troops were all professional full time regulars not conscripts.
A ridiculously small amount of troops. Also, it seems you fell for the "small but élite force" meme. The english were not particularly skilled, or unskilled- even if it were to matter in an attritional, industrial, trenchwar.
>>
>>3347460
Not him but the war was not a trench war in 1914 and not a war of attrition until Verdun.
>>
>>3347466
That is true, however what would make you think 70 thousand men would matter in a front where millions of men fought?
>>
File: 2enfieldpc3.jpg (89KB, 662x568px) Image search: [Google]
2enfieldpc3.jpg
89KB, 662x568px
>>3347460

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1019160/Oh-What-A-Lovely-War-Movie-Clip-These-French-Generals.html
>>
>>3344850

The blockade killed Germany in both wars.
>>
>>3347497

British troops played a pretty substantial role in fucking up the quick victory that the Shifflin plan depended on. British troops could fire their rifles with such accuracy and rapidity that their fusillade was often mistake for machine gun fire.
>>
>>3347622
A good wikipedia copy paste. Don't use their articles for anything serious.
Do you think fire rate has a correlation with skill? Or that the germans were blind and didnt notice a couple thousands guns firing? Or that they even made the same sound?
>>
>>3347658
>5000 dead germans
Thats more dead than at rorkes drift, and the zulu only had spears
>>
>>3347497
What makes you think 6 divisions is only 70,000 men? A full strength British division was around 18,000 strong. And they mattered because not all of those millions of men were fighting in the one place at one time. Six infantry divisions may not be a lot to the 60 or 70 the Germans had on the entire front, but they weren't using massively overwhelming numbers all along the line. The Brits were generally facing odds of 2:1 during August/September, numbers that weren't outrageous and they slowed the German advance, cost them more casualties than they took and retreated in good order.

>>3346884
I'm as much of a francophile as any man, (probably moreso) but to say the French taught the British anything or were in anything more than nominal control is just straight up false. Sure Foch was put in supreme command in 1918, well after the Brits had learned their lessons and trained their armies in the new tactics and developed effective technologies. Institutional learning, that is how an army actually learns lessons from battles, adapts doctrine and then trains forces was very insular. There was almost no cross-pollination between the French and British armies. They learned their lessons and came to similar conclusions separately. All Foch did as supreme commander was coordinate with Haig where and when each ally would attack. He didn't dictate, he didn't tell Haig what to do, he just made it clear how they could best work together.

Fucking nationalists are terrible at history, goddamn.
>>
>>3347460
>unskilled- even if it were to matter in an attritional, industrial, trenchwar.
God, fucking I don't even.
Of course skill and training mattered. Small unit tactics, fire and movement, envelopment of enemy strong points and consolidation of defence systems. All of these things mattered and had to be trained into soldiers, thoroughly, to enable them to actually gain and hold ground. What do you think they were doing? Walking across a battlefield behind a barrage and then sitting in a trench? That's not actually how battles were fought and certainly not how they were won.
>>
>>3345098
they did, but it was much more segregated. You wouldn't commonly see blacks, indians and whites all fighting together
>>
>>3348151

Tell that to Lettow-Vorbeck.
>>
>>3347440
The French alone had at least three colonial infantry divisions that I can think of and at least one colonial cavalry division, they even had a Colonial Army Corps. Over 400,000 colonial soldiers served in the French army alone. The Americans had two black divisions, the 92nd and 93rd, and US divisions were double the size of a European one, so those to alone would come close to 80,000.

>>3348167
East Africa was a whole nother thing and really felt like a completely different conflict in that regard.
>>
>>3348260

The fighting in East Africa was really dank tho. You should read about it some if you haven't already. It was a bizarre mixture of guerilla fighting and "gentlemen's war" that I can't think of any appropriate comparison for.
>>
>>3346790
About the surrenders, you would often get huge groups of germans crossing the trenches to surrender after artillery bombardments, particularly towards the end. I did get that information from a dudes diary though so yeah, pinch of salt. It seems realistic though, their morale would have been piss poor after consistently losing so much ground.
>>
>>3348260
Not him, and I asked it earlier, but I'm not sure if you saw my previous question >>3345198

Do you have any sources on how the Germans divided their forces East and West and how that division shifted over the course of the war?
>>
>>3348915
I don't personally, but I'm sure that any decent book on German strategy and high command would go into the detail you're after. The decision on where to concentrate forces, attack and defend was all done at the highest levels so you'd want to be reading on the German General Staff and what their plans were and how they changed.
German Strategy and the Path to Verdun: Erich von Falkenhayn and the Development of Attrition, 1870–1916 might be a good place to start and https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/pdf/1914-1918-Online-oberste_heeresleitung_ohl-2014-10-08.pdf
https://defenceindepth.co/tag/first-world-war/ also has some interesting stuff in it about German command and is a good academic resource.
>>
>>3346690
>All 6 divisions of the British army (That's 100% of the BEF in 1914) fought at the first battle of the Marne

Which represented around 35,000 men
In a battle that opposed a million French to 1.4 million Germans...
That's what he meant by "barely even there"
British numbers were literally insignificant until the Somme
>>
>>3347466
Trench warfare started right after the Marne
Germans entrenched themselves and the French copied them
>>
>>3344850
The Naval blockade did its work. Germany was militarily more successful, but it was only a matter of time until they ran out of steam.
>>
Soviet zerg rush
>>
>>3349573
How are you getting 5800 men for a division? There's more men in two infantry brigades than that. A British division at full strength was close to 18,000 men.
Battalion ~1000 men
Brigade = 4 battalions
Division = 3 Infantry Brigades + Field Artillery brigade + Heavy artillery + Divisional troops (supply and transport, medical, engineers etc)
>>
The US of A
>>
Hanging around if anyone wants to talk WW1 for a bit.
>>
>>3347856
*dies on the first offensive*
E-elite...
>>
>>3349794
How significant were commando raids during WW1?
>>
>>3345065
french army morale was close to complete collapse before the us intervened.
>>
>>3349821
lol no.
>>
>>3349807
Very. My office mate is just finishing up his thesis and it's on trench raiding in the British Imperial armies. They were extremely important for giving troops actual experience of combat, intelligence gathering, keeping pressure on the enemy, dominating no mans land and just generally taking the fight to the Germans.
Here's an article of his on Canadian trench raiding
http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol24/iss1/30/
many of the conclusions drawn can be applied to other British forces.
>>
>>3346765

>German government starts proceedings to surrender: 5th October 1918
>German revolution begins: 29th October 1918

What did they mean by this?
>>
>>3349838
Do you think the Russians could've avoided the mess that was Tannenberg had there not been conflicts among Russian generals?
>>
>>3347824

But this is wrong, even if British became stronger and learned their lessons through defeats, this is the french doctrines used in the late 1917 that was applied in the Spring offensive and not the British ones.

So, no, this is not the British armies and their experience that made the differences but the news tactics adopted by the french and spreads out to Allies by Central commandment under Foch
>>
>>3349573
>>3349645

The BEF was at best 80k men which is completely ridiculous and make no difference in the battlefield

35 k engaged in the Battle of the Marne.

There were 140k Belgians engaged in the battle .... With 1M french counter attacking...
>>
>>3349899
foch and pétain.
>>
>>3349916
I'm not denying they played a very subsidiary role in 1914, but they embarked with close to 120,000 men. Even with the casualties sustained during the retreat from Mons they lost less than 15,000 men.
I really don't understand how you're coming up with these British numbers. The British Official Histories pegs the BEF at 126,000 strong in France by September 1914. I get that you may want to hate the eternal anglo, and there's plenty of this to be justifiably angry at but your history on this is just bad.

>>3349899
In all my research on training and doctrine I've never seen anything that points to any real cross-fertilisation of French and British doctrine. American yes, but not British. They were developed simultaneously but separately. It's not that surprising or difficult to understand. They doctrines were similar but still distinct in methods of using artillery and armour in conjunction with infantry.

>>3349884
Probably not. Even had they not hated each other I doubt they would have been able to match the coordination of the Germans. And Russian communications systems were just bad in general, so had they actually wanted to talk to one another, it's pretty unlikely they could have effectively.
>>
>>3350029
Those losses at Mons made them retreat 400km for two weeks, and almost entirely back to England had the prime minister not intervened.
>>
>>3350029
I love this kind of pics (showing battle damage). Post moar if you have.
>>
>>3350060
The losses at Mons amounted to under 2000. Given that the BEF casualties to December would amount to 89,000 I kinda doubt they would have been that squeamish over ~1800 but I dunno.

>>3350076
Just on tanks or battlefields too?
>>
>>3350060
The losses at Mons had nothing to do with British retreat. Brits were retreating because the entire French army was falling back towards the Marne.
>>
>>
>>3350085
On tanks.
>>
>>3350097
The french army didn't plan on falling back towards London though.
>>
>>3350102
Well I can give you busted up ones.
>>
>>
>>3345115
really? I've literally only ever seen 5 examples of singular black German soldiers fighting in standard divisions. Where have you seen entire regiments of blacks in the German army?
>>
>>3345115
I don't believe there was any black regiments in the German Army fighting on the western front due to the fact that it was impossible for the Germans to transport troops from Africa.
>>
>>3350134
I remember reading about their being a black schutztruppe unit stuck in Germany during the War and unable to be sent back to Africa so they just used them at the front, but I can't seem to find anything on it now. If I ever do I'll make a note of it.
>>
They would have won with Italy
>>
File: 1504272296534.jpg (181KB, 785x1000px) Image search: [Google]
1504272296534.jpg
181KB, 785x1000px
>>3344850
Germany lost in 1914 when the Schlieffen Plan failed. It was a plan with an extremely tight timetable. Germany had 40 days to seal the deal in the Western Front, knock out France or allow the war to become a meatgrinder.

When that failed, it only became a matter of time before Russia, and later America, fully mobilized, bleeding Germany to death.

By 1918 the war was all but lost and German surrender inevitable. They were bleeding troops and supplies at a much faster rate than the Allies.
>>
File: Mark_IV_21.jpg (138KB, 924x598px) Image search: [Google]
Mark_IV_21.jpg
138KB, 924x598px
>>
>>
>>
>>3350186
Cute. Named after the best dog as well.
>>
Let's turn this thread to a hypothetical.

How could the germans have won the first world war realistically?

For ease of conversation i'll just put in the three most likely times this could occur.

1) They followed the damn plan 1914
2) Verdun 1916
3) Spring Offensive 1918
>>
>>3350197
I love me some Whippet.
>>
>>3350199
Lloyd-George withholds even more men over the winter of 17-18 and then loses his shit and fires Haig. An uncoordinated and understrength BEF gets BTFO while they're trying to reorganise.
>>
>>3350201
Is there a reason as to why the turret, such as it is, is shifted so far to the back? The whole thing looks like it is going to tip over backwards.
>>
>>3350199
Have the Agadir Crisis turn into a full blown war in 1911. The more Germany waited the weaker its position vis-a-vis the Allies became.
>>
>>3346510
Thanks Anon!

If you have the time I would really appreciate it if you list the long story, it sounds intriguing already!
>>
File: whippet.jpg (230KB, 1024x753px) Image search: [Google]
whippet.jpg
230KB, 1024x753px
>>3350209
The front part is the engine so it's comparatively balanced. As to why they chose to have it go in engine first, I haven't the foggiest. The French seemed to have gotten it right with the Renault FT which was basically the same shape but reversed.
>>
>>3349537
Thank you!
>>
>>3350199
4) Half of Austrian officers suddenly dies and are replaced by people who aren't retarded
>>
>>3350563
this
>>
Royal Navy blockade
>>
>>3344850
>blockade by royal navy starts in 1914
>fail to complete the schlieffen plan before full russian mobilisation
>british are pretty good at starving germany
>sinks lusitania in 1915 during unrestricted submarine warfare
>US says : dont do it again
>ok we stop
>losing at Verdun and asking the french for peace afterwards
>French dont even bother to respond
>blockade still pretty efficient
>germans resume the unrestricted u-boot warfare, knowing it will lead the USA to enter in the war
>do it anyways
>zimmermann telegram adds to that
>USA enters war
>fail again when launching the spring offensives of 1918
>blockade is still on
>war is lost for good
>blockade keeps going on even in 1919 to make sure german will sign the treaty of versailles

Germany lost because of: royal navy blockade, defeat at the 1st battle of the marne and USA
>>
>>3351798
>and USA
they didn't contribute to anything significiant.
>>
>>3351901

Knowledge that American soldiers were coming put a fuckload of pressure on German commanders during the last year of the war and made them take lots of risks that they otherwise wouldn't have. It also stopped France from surrendering when they were on their breaking point.
>>
>>3351988
No, they didn't. You give a lot more credit to the americans in WW1 as they earned. The french morale was back on full form by the hundred days offensive, and your statement they were on the brink of surrendering is an insult in the best case.
>>
>>3344850
The British blockade and ticking clock of America. If Germany had somehow managed a naval victory through some fluke battle early on, it would have changed everything.
>>
>>3345065
The Germans could have gone until 1921-1922. They just had no path to victory and faced nothing but certain, grinding defeat. The men on the ground certainly didn't see a surrender happening.
>>
>>3352556
I'm not even sure a Germany naval victory would be enough. Even if they somehow gain battleship superiority, most of their ships don't have anything like the cruising range to operate in the Atlantic for a protracted period of time, and all the available coaling stations are in the hands of the Entente.

The British don't need to beat the German fleet, they just need enough cruisers to stop merchantmen who are delivering things to Germany and dodge the occasional German dreadnought trying to stop them.
>>
>>3345223
>>French troops don't nearly have as poor moral as you are led to believe
French revolts were becoming a regular occurrence and communists were spreading rapidly by the late war.
>>
>>3349870
Revolutions take time and it absolutely had a major impact on the conditions of surrender that were negotiated. It didn't cost the war, but it would have if it had continued. And it did cost a lot of bargaining power in Germany. Your average soldier/patriotic German had every right to despise the revolutionaries, because they were responsible for a decent chunk of conditions and hardship, and more than cancelled out the last year of fighting.
>>
>>3351798
To be fair the Americans were using Americans as human shields for British convoys and clearly violating neutrality.
>>
>>3352556
>ticking clock of America.
You're thinking of the wrong war. Americans weren't a significant threat to the germans.

>If Germany had somehow managed a naval victory through some fluke battle early on, it would have changed everything.
Not really. The british had a much better fleet and more importantly, were capable of building ships a lot faster than germans. Not to mentions the french themselves had a fleet to rival the germans.
>>
this article provides a pretty good overview of the psychological and material conditions of the army in 1918:
>The impact of the failure of the Michael offensive on the troops was very accurately described by a general staff officer, Colonel von Thaer, while the battle in Flanders was still going on:
>We now have for this attack between the Kemmel and Bethune quite a few divisions that have just taken part in the March offensive, which there again lost their best officers and men and which have now been barely filled with personnel that is unfortunately of declining value. I must say that I do not much like the troops which have been deployed here. Officers and men express great disappointment that the March offensive has ground to a halt but that now regardless [sic!] one attack is to follow upon another. Their hopes had been too high that this great blow would end the war in March. They had gathered up all their courage and energy for this. Now there is disappointment, and it goes very deep. That is the main reason why even attacks well prepared by artillery peter out as soon as our infantry moves beyond the heavily shelled zone.
>These observations acquire their full significance when interpreted in the context of the fragile ’mood’ preceding the start of the spring offensive. The ’mood’ could not but be affected by the heavy losses, which even in the reserved language of the medical reports for the three participating armies were described as ’extraordinarily high’. Of the initial strength of just 1.4 million men, more than a fifth (305,450) had been lost in the period 21 March-10 April. Certain divisions of the 17th Army were reduced by ’nearly a third’ in the first ten days. It was of special significance that it was above all the ’mobile divisions’ that were affected, for in them OHL had deliberately concentrated the offensive power of the field army.
https://sci-hub.bz/10.1177/096834459600300203
>>
>>3351901
I mean by 'USA' the morale and psychological impact on germany of their entry in the war more than the military impact they had which was helpful but minor comparing the entirety of ww1
>>
>>3352563
They couldn't imo, at first politically wise. the blockade was too much for the german population for the empire to last more than half a year from late 1918 before socialists and commies start uprisings and a revolution in the country
>>
>>3351988
>stopped France from surrendering
This is total unsourced bullshit.
>>
>>3352574
revolts? strikes and mutinies instead, not revolts. The strikes and mutinies were relatively non-violents

on the homefront it was at the most a short strike by female workers in a random sewing factory as a request to increase their salary
on the front, the french mutinies of 1917 lasted from May 1917, when the 'bataille du chemin des dames' failed, to late June 1917. And thats pretty much it. The influence of the russian revolution as a cause of the french mutinies is overrated, it much likely has inspired some leaders but the common mutineer just wanted to defend his position and not attack in deadly and useless offensives. The soldiers didnt want to start a red revolution at all. Also, general Petain put an end to the mutinies in late summer 1917 by improving their situation. there is no other major events like this afterwards
>>
>>3353198
>the common mutineer just wanted to defend his position and not attack in deadly and useless offensives
You're confusing the early stuff with the later stuff. Early on you're entirely correct. Towards the end of the war communists were littering the French trenches and stoking the flames.
Thread posts: 128
Thread images: 27


[Boards: 3 / a / aco / adv / an / asp / b / bant / biz / c / can / cgl / ck / cm / co / cock / d / diy / e / fa / fap / fit / fitlit / g / gd / gif / h / hc / his / hm / hr / i / ic / int / jp / k / lgbt / lit / m / mlp / mlpol / mo / mtv / mu / n / news / o / out / outsoc / p / po / pol / qa / qst / r / r9k / s / s4s / sci / soc / sp / spa / t / tg / toy / trash / trv / tv / u / v / vg / vint / vip / vp / vr / w / wg / wsg / wsr / x / y] [Search | Top | Home]

I'm aware that Imgur.com will stop allowing adult images since 15th of May. I'm taking actions to backup as much data as possible.
Read more on this topic here - https://archived.moe/talk/thread/1694/


If you need a post removed click on it's [Report] button and follow the instruction.
DMCA Content Takedown via dmca.com
All images are hosted on imgur.com.
If you like this website please support us by donating with Bitcoins at 16mKtbZiwW52BLkibtCr8jUg2KVUMTxVQ5
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties.
Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.
This is a 4chan archive - all of the content originated from that site.
This means that RandomArchive shows their content, archived.
If you need information for a Poster - contact them.