Why were Germany and her Allies unsuccessful in WWI?

Germany’s downfall along with that of her Allies in WWI happened fairly rapidly, although this may have not seemed the case to the men fighting the War. However the German High Command knew that the end was nearing. Although some did not want to admit it, but the German fighting machine was chocking out its last few attempts at survival. Still with the “Black Day of the German Army”, the outflanking of the Hindenburg line and the taking of 100,000 German soldiers prisoners, it was clear to Hindenburg and Ludendorff that the end was nearing. Yet what had caused this huge failure of Germany and her allies? It is clear that from the very beginning the idea of the war was corrupted by a mislead government, politically unfit and unsound to lead a war, which in turn affected military, economic and social sides of Germany, irreplaceably important towards the war effort. Since the leadership of a country could not cooperate nor judge its enemies correctly, it poisoned all other pathways for any sort of functioning Germany or its allies.

One main problem with the idea of questioning what caused Germany’s failure is of course the fact that it is still possible that we do not have all the information, and to the fact I am limited to my own cultural view. Of course, for some, the German army never lost WWI and therefore this question is out of discussion. Also, the allies might not even have wanted Germany to win towards the end, which is totally based on the countries opinions. Still it can be argued that had it not been for Germany’s catastrophic political leadership, the areas of military, economics, and social may never even have been affected.

Political problems within the structure and leadership of Germany existed already before WWI, although this did not become evident until Germany went into War. German government was set up in a way that if Germany went to war, the Kaiser who controlled every other aspect of German affairs, would give the reigns to German Generals. This created several problems politically. Suddenly the head of the government was not in control anymore of his people, in a way the Generals were and they lead the war the ways they set fit. This therefore lead to people running the state which were not set on the well-being of the people and country but more in the sense of winning a war.

Another political issued which formed was the fact that the German government did not tax its people. Structurally this idea was never implemented in the German system, for one reason or another. However in war times, such a crucial side to be able to lead a functioning political body was important. Unused to such an idea, implementing tax during a war time, where people were already suffering would be irresponsible and showed the short-sightedness of the German politicians.

To that the German government also had no system in which it analyzed or handled the International Community with could also have bad effects on military, economy and social aspects of Germany.

With the main political problems mentioned above, these then had negative effects on the military aspects of Germany.

With the generals leading the war, they were overconfident in their War machine and therefore were sure any war attempted with France or Russia, would be easily won. Why should they not think this? Evidence in history showed that France and Russia were easy targets. Only a few decades earlier, Prussia had defeated France and taken over Paris in a number of days. Why should Germany not be able to do the same again? The same went for Russia as well. In the Russo-Japanese war, the country with the most human resources had been defeated by an island nation. In the eyes of the politicians and generals in Germany, it would be laughable not to be able to defeat them. To that, Germany was already more mobilized and prepared than any other country, as far as the Germans could see. During the Race of Industrialization, Germany had pulled through and followed well, even pulling out their own navy. What could possibly stop them now?

It is through these factors mentioned above that the birth of the Von Schleiffen Plan took place, under the overconfident eyes of the leaders of Germany. A two front war would not be a problem with weak enemies such as Russia and France. However another factor the German politicians did not consider was the resistance of Belgium and the quick reaction of England towards this violation of a neutral country. Again the German leadership had over exceeded itself by being unable to interpret international countries correctly.

It is also the lack of insight of the German political side that Allies such as the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary were taken. The Ottoman Empire had crippling strikes within itself and therefore was called the “Sick Man of Europe.” This did not actually strengthen military power, but actually weakened it, due to the fact that often the German army would have to come to the aid of its allies, and fighting a two front border already, this was too much to handle as well.

Another political lack of foresight which caused military problems was that of the effects of the Zimmermann Telegram, inciting Mexico to attack the U.S., and the unrestricted submarine warfare on the USA. By not accepting the possibilities of what such a telegram could mean to the U.S. if intercepted was not thought through. Neither was the fact that sinking American ships with civilians, or at least what could be possible civilians, thought maybe a too provoking act. In this way, the German politicians did not know how to use propaganda nor did they know how to play America in any way to their side, or at least to neutrality.

As counterargument, one could say that the German leaders had no way of knowing that the USA would enter the war, even if they intercepted the Zimmermann Telegram. This was of course totally based on observation. One could also argue that Germany was not overconfident of itself and underestimated its enemies, but factually saw the weakness of their enemies as facts. Therefore it only made sense that a plan as ambitious and simple as the Von Schleiffen Plan would work. This of course is perfect speculation since we cannot know the full scale feeling of the time.

From a prosopographic view, it was natural for the stronger country to invade weaker countries, as any common man in Germany would view France. To that, for them, the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand had to be brought to justice and if this involved going to war so be it.

With the political problems bleeding into military decisions and affecting the war in grand scale, these actions also influenced the economy of Germany greatly.

With the Generals having unrestricted control over the countries resources, the war was soon led without thinking of the civilian population. This therefore went that the political leaders did not coordinate the military and the home front economy at all. Having built up the German economy mostly on war goods, a suddenly new implemented German Government Office known as the War Materials Office started deciding which companies produced war goods and which did not. They also decided who would fight and who would stay to work in the factories. This could only cause economic problems.

Suddenly companies where being paid by the government to produce war goods, therefore their production rate went up. However since the same company was producing materials for war, their workers also did not get taken from them for the war effort.

In contrast other companies not working for the war effort are suddenly having less circulation of goods while their workers are being taken for the war. Trying to clean up such a system once it has been implemented by the government is almost impossible, and the problems which arise from this set up does not become apparent to the German government until too late. German politics, without realizing the effects of letting generals run the government, had suddenly started ruining their own economy.

However the problems continue. Since the German government did not tax its people, the few companies who were making huge profits, did not aid the German economy or government funds at all. This also had therefore negative effects on how to finance the War. Simply put, we suddenly have unlimited war profits and the German government does not even take part in it! Thus the German government can only cover 15 percent of its costs, while in comparison England can cover almost twice that number.

Here again we see the problem of the German political structures. With it not using political possibilities available to it, it starts to affect the economic situation of Germany as well as its military side.

To level off the suddenly rising costs, the German government also does something which in long term is crippling: it starts to print money. Inflation ensues, which again affects the economy negatively. This lasting effect reaches all the way to the German government during the Inter-War period were it becomes dependant on USA loans.

German political actions had started to crippled the German economy, which in itself was very important for Germany’s military success. Suddenly, German politicians were faced with the problem of where to support its army from and with what?

The idea of German politics leading to economic problems can be challenged by the fact that since Germany had always never taxed its people, how should it know to start now, during the war? As well is the lasting effect of the printing of German money: politicians could not know the effect of such an action in 10 to 20 years.

From a cliometric perspective, Germany lost the war due to the failing home front economy, which could only lead to Germany being unable to finance its huge army. Factories begun to go bankrupt in answer to the bad economy and this downfall*of the economy at this moment, lead to the issues faced by the international community of the Interwar period as well as the beginning of World War II.

With the political leadership unable to solve the rising economic problems and is loosing the war, the social impact is strongly negative, molding the mindset of Germans for the next decade.

The people of Germany had always been proud of their Kaiser and of their government. However suddenly, people were suffering: famine and unemployment ensued. What was the reason for this? The German government. Therefore, suddenly people began to mistrust the German government system of a Kaiser. If the Kaiser let the generals run loose and destroy the German economy, why should the people continue to tolerate this government?

This in a way, brought forth the social breaking of Germany with the Kaiser and the political structure of the time. Without food and without work, the people decided to break away from the norm. This was one huge social change brought forth by the bad leadership of Germany.

It was the bad handling of International affairs by the German government, that USA enter the war, and with that, suddenly a huge enemy loomed at their gates. To that, with the Battle of Jutland, a stalemate between German and British navy, German population began to starve under the blockade and economic problems. With German politicians unable to find a solution to the problem, this blockade is kept up by the Allies even during the negations of 1919 and not until the Treaty of Versailles is signed do they lift it. German population starved which again reflected negatively on the relations between the government and its people.

Another change socially was that of the breaking away from German traditions. We can see this better during the Interwar period, but Germany began to blossom into something which wanted to break loose from its old bonds.

One could argue that in effect the society in itself would have broken from the government anyway since the war was lost. Even if the German government had not created all these problems within the country (unemployment, rising inflation) perhaps the German population would not have acted as negatively towards the Kaiser and gotten rid of him.

One could also say that the German nationalistic pride was more hurt by the fact that they had to go through all that suffering and then loosing the war, that they broke with German traditions. One can never be sure.

From a counterfactual view, what if the German society had not shunned the Kaiser? Would this still have caused the huge social change over the next decade? To that, would Germany have fallen had the Kaiser actually controlled his generals instead of letting them have free-reign?

It is clear that the question of why Germany and its Allies lost the war is perfectly based on opinions, why exactly could be because of all of multiple factors combined. For some, military decisions may be the main reason why Germany collapsed, for other it may even be economic. However, what can be said is that multiple factors affected Germany and its allies which turned the table in the favor of England, France, etc. It is clear though that the loosing of WWI by Germany lead to its turbulent years of Interwar Period and to WWII.