Causes for the Central Powers Losing the First World War

After the First World War had ceased on the 11th of November 1918, there were a lot of negotiations on the issue of how to sustain peace, and how to treat the Central Powers, which consisted namely of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. France wanted urgent reparation for the damages Germany had caused, and did not consider giving her a “mild punishment”, such as the one Britain had suggested. There are several important reasons as to why the Central Powers lost World War One.

During this analysis I will be looking at the most vital ones, and giving a brief idea of how and why these shaping events took place. There was one particular event involving especially Germany at an early stage of the war: the von Schlieffen plan. In 1914, Germany tried to pursue the so-called “von Schlieffen plan”, in which the goal was to surround the French armies. They planned to do so by flying through Belgium to the coasts of France, to then capture the Channel ports and use the way of the rivers to surround France, their support and their navy.

This was easier said than done; the Belgian resistance was strong, making Germany unable to capture the Channel ports and thus unable to get somewhat control of France. The fact that the von Schlieffen plan failed had a great impact on the Central Powers’ motivation throughout the war, as well the fact that it did not manage to show their authority from early on. Several smaller reasons to why the Central Powers lost also need to be taken into consideration. Britain tried to block German ports and trade routes, making it difficult for them to acquire weapons, ammunition, transport and food from other countries.

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Considering that the Germans were already exhausted by the war, because of the fact that they did not expect a long-term war. To add to that, there was not a lot the other Central Powers could do to help Germany, meaning that they all-in-all did not get many new supplies of tools for warfare. In conclusion, there were many minimal causes for the results of the First World War, such as British blockade of German ports and trade routes, German exhaustion and the fact that they did not get much help from the other Central Powers. US entered the war in April 1917.

This was a vital reason for the Allies’ victory. Seeing as it was at the very end of World War One, and Germany was already exhausted, it did a great deal to their morale when a whole new continent joined the war. The US contributed by providing Britain and France with food, merchant ships and credit. By mid-1918 over half a million American soldiers were involved in the war. As well as the physical help, the USA gave a vast blow to German morale. Thus, the US joining the war was one of the leading steps to the Allies winning.

As my short analysis has shown, there were many different reasons for the Central Powers losing the First World War, in which there were small reasons as well as big ones. The causes I have mentioned are the failure of the Schlieffen plan, small reasons such as British blockade, German exhaustion and not getting any help from the other Central Powers and lastly, the US joining the war towards the end.

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