World War One To An Armistice In 1918 History Essay

ground War One To An Armistice In 1918 History EssayThe failure of the spring offensive in 1918 indicated that Germ whatsoevers military defeat was imminent. The collapse of Bulgaria and the desperate situation on the Western Front, which was precisely made worse by the intervention of the American troops, made the Germans take further steps. The German military leading feared an infinite collapse of the cause and that the enemies could make their way farther and could thus claim and take over German territory.In August 1918 the Allies fought the Germans back from their fronts and Lud expiryorff, a German general, had to inform the Kaiser We have nearly reached the find of our powers of resistance. The war must be ended. In September 1918 the German government began negotiations on an armistice with the American President Woodrow Wilson whose 14-points they expected to bring about a peace treaty without too much loss.At the end of September 1918 Bulgaria made peace and one mon th later Turkey was defeated. Austria was defeated by the Italians at Vittorio Veneto and sign uped an armistice with the Allies. Germany was now fighting the Allies alone. They had no other choice than to sign an armistice with the Entente in Compigne, France on November 11. This treaty marked the end of dry land War One. enfeeblement at the frontBut where did the exhaustion at the front and the necessity of an armistice come from?The prototypical and major reason is that the conditions the soldiers at the fronts had to live with were disastrous. They led to exhaustion and war weariness.When the war began many late men rushed to join the armies to proudly fight for their fatherlands. The British government asked for 100,000 volunteers but afterward vindicatory one month they already had 750,000. However, the peoples enthusiasm did non last. E actuallyone had believed the war would be over by Christmas 1914 zip had expected they would continue fighting for four more years.Wa r-weariness set in. People, both at the so called piazza front and soldiers fighting at the actual front, were tired of war and disappointed that in spite of the puffy loss all the armies had suffered, and the fact that not any progress had been made, there was still no end in sight.Soldiers young men of 20 years only had seen their comrades wounded and die one after the other. Either killed by the enemies bullets or bombs or slowly dying of influenza or other disease, caused by the miserable conditions in the trenches. These brave men were fighting in a futile battle, between the all of a sudden bodies of their friends, suffering from extreme temperatures and hunger. As a result of the Allied blockade beginning in 1914 German soldiers were exceedingly poorly fed. The allied navies prevented ships sailing directly to Germany providing it with anything that could be used for making war (including food) in order to starve the Germans until they give up and surrender.The Allies al so had an overwhelming superiority in artillery, tanks and motorized transport and their equipment was greatly superior. The Germans had to rely on their superior skill, but they didnt have a top-down overshadow structure like the British or the French. It is said that the Germans were tactically unsurpassed, but operationally deficient and strategically inept. So it was not military prowess that led to the Armistice.A part of the German military leaders didnt want to admit their failure in the battlefield. They claimed that the German army had actually been undefeated and their failure was only due to unpatriotic civilians and treacherous politicians at the post front stabbing their own forces in the back. This imitation theory was called stab-in-the-back-theory (German Dolchstolegende).Exhaustion at the home frontBut it was not that people at the home front were being unpatriotic that led to the German defeat. Of course many people had lost their look in their fatherland, but in fact it was the same exhaustion and war weariness as in the battlefield that forced the German leaders to start negotiating about an armistice.Generally the word home front indicates the inclusion of the civil universe of discourse into warfare, even if the actual front is outside of the populations lebensraum. And indeed, they were involved and suffering from the cause of the war. The biggest problem at the home front was the acute food shortage bare hunger. The civilian population of Germany was suffering. Although the German U-Boat campaign had led to food shortages in Britain the Allied naval blockade that prevented supplies from get into German ports hit Germany harder. Even worse was that the shortage of food during the war had led to an inflation, a hook in the general level of prices of goods. So those little supplies of food that were available was often not cheap for the common family. Even fuel was short supply and limited.Furthermore the influenza epidemic of 19 18 and 1919 killed between 20 and 40 million people in Europe. The so called Spanish Flu also hit German cities and claimed many lives amongst the people, who already suffered from and were weakened by the lack of food.In November 1918 the population was not willing to birth this situation anymore. Strikes and demonstrations paralysed Berlin. Workers went on strike, soldiers refused orders, and the German navy mutinied. The strike and protest spread all over the country. inwardly a week, there was no more German city that was not involved into the demonstrations, protests and strike veritable into a revolution. On 9 November 1918 Germany was declared a democratic republic, which was followed by the formal abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II.On 11 November the Armistice of Compigne was sign-language(a) by Center Party deputy Matthias Erzberger. World War I was officially over.ConclusionExhaustion on the front and on the home front, not military prowess, brought World War I to an Armi stice in 1918. The major reasons for the exhaustion were the large losses that the countries had suffered without making any progress. Bad conditions in the battlefield such as hunger and disease caused war weariness. Hunger and very bad living conditions caused exhaustion and war weariness on the home front. The German people was not willing to take this anymore and started a revolution in November. Germany became a republic and finally signed the Armistice of Compigne on November 11. The Great War was overAn essay by Katharina VoThe information was found at the following pageshttp//www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/standard/history/1890_1920/end_of_great_war_rev1.shtmlhttp//www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/german_experience_01.shtmlthreehttp//www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/braveryinthefield.htmhttp//www.historylearningsite.co.uk/home_front_1914_to_1918.htmhttp//de.internationalism.org/Welt150_nov1918