Germany's Broken Spirit: Ludendorff's Final Offensive of World War One - Term Paper Example

Introduction The World War I was marked with absolute madness. The picture painted of a soldier as seen by the Kings and army leaders was that of a toy to be used and dumped. The admiration of the rulers was marked by the pomp and pageantry that saw military victories. What they forgot was the fact that times had changed fast and war was no longer about personal combat in the battle fields but rather use of updated killing means that would crush parades of ground maneuvers. When the war started, the mentality of kings playing soldiers persisted even with the realization that the war was not a small king’s battalion. When the war started, it was anticipated that it would take barely three months to crush enemies and gain victory. The three months that had been expected got dirtier and horrors of depression and streams of bloodshed became the order of the day and dragged for years. The new tactics of war alone were enough to crumble the spirits of soldiers way before the shells and bullets followed. What is clearer is the fact that while insisting on victory, General Ludendorff actually ended up creating failure. He even failed to recognize that he had gambled with the war and lost. Instead of recognizing the failure, he stayed put on the course and went on to blame others for what he did not do as was expected of any logic man at war. This paper looks at the broken spirit of Germany during and after the World War I as illustrated by Ludendorff. It takes a critical histographical look at his memoirs in comparison to other people’s writings and the review of secondary sources. This is because given the military position that Ludendorff had in the German army, his writings are prone to being one sided in favor of his actions. The other reason is the fact that he did not accept being a major contributor to the defeat of the Germans by the allied forces but passed the blame to others. Germany's Broken Spirit in relation to Ludendorff’s final offensive When the war was almost coming to an end, it became very apparent that it was not to get finished away from the front lines in France and the Flanders. The limitations of strategy appeared very clear due to the conditions set by modernity. The principle forces were fully absorbed. The unity of control that led to that of command in the last stages of war happened to be a poor improvisation by the German generals. The main problems were caused by the continued weakening of the soviet after the ruins of Serbia and Rumania and subsequently the fall of plans of Balkans. The failure of Russia meant that the eastern military partner was no more. On the other western front, the Italian army was not involved largely due to its independence of action or inaction, which lasted until the war ended. For Germany to gain peace, it had to fight two armies, the British and the French armies. While this dilemma was facing Germany, America came into the scene and changed the whole game plan, turning everything against Germany. As can be seen at the end of 1917, the submarine bases in Belgium that were owned by the Germans were still intact. However, the technology employed by the Americans and the British resulted into few ships being destroyed by Germans. This failure of the offensive of the submarines worked at the disadvantage of Germans. The superiority of the allied forces was unmatched and more supplies were guaranteed by the US. At this point in time, there were serious strains on the economic conditions of Germany and most of the economy was blockaded. The only hope they had was that from Russia’s fall from the military power. When President Wilson led Americans into war he changed his compromise of settlement to thirst for settlement by gaining victory. The comprehension of ending war by Wilson was based on his Fourteen Points that were to be accepted by all the warring nations. As part of these Points, troops were to withdraw from those territories considered not theirs and this was to be done following certain recognizable nationality lines; secret forms of diplomacy were to be abolished, the seas were to be granted freedom at the time of peace and war, trade was to be made equal, and armaments were to be reduced. The plan to attack the Amiens front failed to resume even though Ludendorff had recorded success in his diversions. The success that Germans realized against the French army did nothing material in disposing of British and Ludendorff did not have any hope in gaining victory through his strategies. The moves he made are seen to have left the British more strong and immune to being attacked by the Germans and at the same time the American forces were adding up faster than had been expected. What appears to have been the confidence exuded by the Germans was actually an illusion created to them by the British army. What Ludendorff failed to do was to make a confession on him failing to help the Germans but rather bringing the very government onto its knees. He rushed to make a desperate attempt based on what was more possible for him from the military as far as the conditions could allow. As such, he went gambling with war matters. The arrival in large numbers of the British and French armies should have helped Ludendorff act prudently but he failed to do so. Instead, he bulged the lines, diverted forces, and went ahead to compel evacuation from the Flanders. His troops were left vulnerable to attacks. On the other front, German power from the sea was reduced to negligible levels and was thus not strong enough to fight the sea wars. Germany’s ally, Austria was itself weaker given the poor domestic situation, suspension of its parliamentary government and the massive revolt against the war by its citizens. Austria was thus like a forced ally into war than would have been desired by Germany. To make it worse, the storms at the time flooded the Piave and destroyed the bridges which Austria had built to help in the war. The Austrians’ retreat by silent escape was a major blow to Germany. Given the situation that existed for the Germans, one would wonder why Ludendorff still persisted with his campaign even after knowing that he had no profit in it. He had already exhausted his divisions to an extent that he could not manage a final attack on the allies. The moves he made in Amiens and Paris failed. To Germans such as Ludendorff, nothing was more convincing to them other than victory and for that reason; they failed to consider maintaining their enemies in defensive positions at the time when they were offering a negotiation to the end of war. They considered such a program as belonging to traitors and those who are defeated. Personal chest thumbing was a major undoing for Germans. Offensive strengths seemed more convincing than defensive warfare. Failure of Germans to produce tanks in the same manner as to match those of the allied forces set a stage for an unequal display of might between the two warring forces. What Germans owned were merely tricks, wishful thinking and constant supply of what can be considered as strategic reasoning that did not bear fruits when it came to attacks and counter offensives. The Ludendorff’s believe in the number of his army was quite misleading as this was very temporal given the numbers of the allies which kept increasing each month. The loss of German troops in large numbers in form of casualties and war prisoners and the deteriorating conditions did much to weaken the spirits of Germans. They became more exhausted and lost their morale in war. Another contributing factor to this development was the failure to break the lines of the British and French armies as had been expected. This actually left them disappointed. Various defeats that followed Germans attacks resulted in a general loss of hope in the war by the Germans. The commanders happened to have asked too much from the army and this could not be provided at the moment. The German troops kept surrendering to squadrons and the war kept turning hopeless. These events were further aggravated by the telegraph revived by the king from Austria stating that there was need to end the war and negotiate peace, failure to do so would lead to Austria separately negotiating peace. The advances made by the allies grew each day and the Germans became more afraid of the tanks and troops panicked for being overrun by the tanks. The launch of a combined attack by the French and American forces on Marne was the start of many counter-offensives by the allied forces leading to the withdrawal of Germans. The German troops lost confidence in the legitimacy of their generals to successfully lead them through this war. The kind of force used by the allied forces against German troops was unmatched and this kind of scenario did discourage the fighting spirit of the Germans. The allied forces’ attacks were well coordinated and targeted at Germans to an extent that the Germans reported many casualties as compared to what these allied forces registered. The cooperation and kind of coordination exhibited by the allied forces did manage to weaken the advances made by Germans and their allies in all corners. As was seen in the Middle East, the allied armies attacked cavalry divisions aimed at pushing the Turks away from Palestine. This led to the collapse of the Turkish army and subsequent withdrawal. The Hindenburg line was broken by the allied forces and this had a major impact on the German troops. These successes by the allied forces are thought of as being the major contributors to the nervous breakdown experienced by Ludendorff following many defeats that brought to light the prospects of outright defeat of his military. The allied forces eventually realized this military defeat when they managed to surround German troops from three sides. The allied artillery and their sophisticated aircrafts did manage to bomb Marne bridges. This move was very strategic to the allied forces as it managed to cut off supplies from German troops and stopped their further reinforcements. Major evacuations being done to reverse the Germans added more dips in the low morale for these troops to fight. The belief that German army was infiltrated by the socialists was actually true. This was after the collapse of Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary and ottoman empires. The German’s army continuation to grow even weaker due to the losses experienced weakened their fighting spirit. There was also an escalating decline in the discipline by the troops and were less ready for the battle due to the illness, exhaustion, shortages in food supplies, drunkenness, and desertions as witnessed by the group of soldiers sent to destroy the British navy. The broken spirits of the Germans is still seen in the fact that they decided to sink their own 74 ships instead of giving them to allied forces. Such a move is quite unexpected from a warring nation. A consideration for the negotiation of armistice that was to be based on the fourteen points of Wilson seemed as the only viable solution to the current predicament. The unconditional surrender by the Germans as demanded by Wilson did more in worsening the broken spirit of the Germans. Failure by the Germans to accept the unconditional surrender and subsequent political developments in Germany led to the rebellion among the troops and civilians. The declaration of Bavaria as a democratic republic by socialists added to the problems that Germany faced. Allied forces plan to occupy Germany after the signing of the armistice came into force. Harsh demands were placed on Germany by the allies, which included the surrendering of all territories, navy, artillery, machine guns and all airplanes. Germany signed this agreement but with the exclusion of the army, something that is considered a capitulation. The army simply distanced itself from the treaty. The birth of a German republic seemed to have marked the end of the world war I. however; Germany’s standing in the international arena was fully weakened and had no moral authority to be part of it. After the treaty to end war, Germany is still locked out of the League of Nations that was founded by Wilson. Conclusion War has its price to pay and the Germans have and is still paying theirs. Indeed the developments or events of the World War I cannot be ignored. They shaped human understanding of the new world and new tactics and technologies of war were tested. The spirit of Germany was derailed at the end of the world war one. The memoirs written by Ludendorff have some truths in them. What cannot be overlooked is the important role that the allied forces played in shaping the history of Europe. The burning question is what would have been the new face of Europe if the American troops did not join the allied forces given the thirst and power that Germany had? The bare truth is things would have been different from what they are now. References Byron Farwell, Over There: The United States in the Great War, 1917-1918. (New York: Norton Paperback, 1999). Fromkin, David, Europe’s Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? (Alfred A. Knopf 2004) Keegan, John, The First World War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999) Knock J. Thomas, To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the quest for a New World Order, (Oxford U. Press, 1992) Ludendorff E., My War Memories, 1914-1918 (1920) Neiberg Michael S. The Second Batt of the Marne, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008) Rickard, J, The Ludendorff Offensives, 21 March-18 July 1918, (2007), retrieved on 20th October 2011, from http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_ludendorff.html Toland J., No Man's Land: 1918 the Last Year of the Great War, (1980) Read More