Absolutely they did, up until the US entered the conflict late in the war. By 1917, Germany was in a difficult position, but there was victory in sight. Russia was broken and revolution was brewing, causing them to withdraw from the conflict so they could focus on their internal problems.
The German army had fought its way into a good defensive position inside France and had permanently incapacitated 230,000 more French and British troops than it had lost itself. Despite this, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of obtaining an early victory.
At the outbreak of the war Germany's army was well-trained and had over 4 million soldiers, and would prove a difficult opponent on the battlefields of Europe. Its army is what helped Germany last through the miserable 4 years of fighting on the Western and Eastern Fronts of the war.
It would have been a negotiated armistice or a German victory. The Allies alone could not possibly have defeated Germany. Without U.S. entry, there would have no Versailles Treaty, termed a “diktat” by Hitler, who used it to arouse Germany against the Weimar Republic and Wilson's League of Nations.
If Germany had won on the Western Front, it would have acquired some French territory and maybe Belgium. The Germans probably wouldn't have been able to enjoy their victory for long. Britain would have retained its independence, protected by its navy that might have continued the hunger blockade against Germany.
Germany's military had a well-trained reserve force, which gave the army a tactical advantage, especially in the early phase of the war. However, the fact that Germany had not been involved in a major war since 1871 meant it was at a disadvantage. France remained the primary military opponent for the officer corps.
Soon, West Germany, bolstered by Marshall Plan aid and relieved of most of its reparations burden, was Europe's fastest-growing economy. This “economic miracle” helped stabilize the economy, and the new plan used the potential of reparations payments to encourage countries to trade with West Germany.
Thus, one could argue that much of the war could have been avoided if Russia and Germany had simply kept out of the matter. On the other hand, real tensions existed among many of the principal nations prior to the war, and these conflicting ambitions contributed to the war's escalation.
Isolationists believed that World War II was ultimately a dispute between foreign nations and that the United States had no good reason to get involved. The best policy, they claimed, was for the United States to build up its own defenses and avoid antagonizing either side.
Probably yes. American industrial reserves and financial reserves were as important to the Allies winning WW2 as British industrial and financial reserves were to the earlier Allies winning WW1, and the Napoleonic Wars (in which by the way the US fought on Napoleon's side).
1. the zeppelins. A waste of resources and a technology dead end. The same effort spent on conventional aircraft in the prewar and early war years would have given air superiority and made the much better German artillery arm even more effective.
The largest share of responsibility lies with the German government. Germany's rulers made possible a Balkan war by urging Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia, well understanding that such a conflict might escalate. Without German backing it is unlikely that Austria-Hungary would have acted so drastically.
Germany lost 13% of its land and 12% of its population to the Allies. This land made up 48% of Germany's iron production and a large proportion of its coal productions limiting its economic power. The German Army was limited to 100,000 soldiers, and the navy was limited to 15,000 sailors.
It must be baldly stated: Germany would have won World War I had the U.S. Army not intervened in France in 1918. The French and British were barely hanging on in 1918.
Yes, there was a point during World War I when Germany seemed to be winning the war. This was during the spring of 1918, when Germany launched a series of offensives on the Western Front in an attempt to defeat the Allied Powers before the United States could fully mobilize its forces and enter the war.
At the most extreme, no attack on Pearl Harbor could have meant no US entering the war, no ships of soldiers pouring over the Atlantic, and no D-Day, all putting 'victory in Europe' in doubt.
Wilson did not think that Germany should be punished for the war, and therefore he did not want to treaty on Germany to be too harsh. It was a worry of Wilson that if Germany was treated particularly badly then it could provoke another war.
If the countries had agreed to signing the fourteen points instead of the Treaty of Versailles, we could have avoided World War 2. Led to less resentment in Germany. It would have helped lessen the devastation of the great depression.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed following World War I, contained Article 231, commonly known as the “war guilt clause,” which placed all the blame for starting the war on Germany and its allies.
Denmark, Monaco, and Sweden were also perfectly neutral European countries. In Central and South America, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, and Paraguay were perfectly neutral. In Africa, it was Ethiopia that wouldn't take sides.
Introduction. At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the majority of the world's nations did not belong to either belligerent bloc. On 11 November 1918, only a handful of states remained neutral: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain in Europe, and Mexico, Chile and Argentina in South America.
West and East Germany were officially unified in 1995, and the country officially paid off its debts in October of 2010.
During 1919 to 45 most German historians blamed Russia, or Britain, or France, while deeming Germany largely innocent. Historians outside Germany generally viewed the war as an accident, for which all the European powers deserved blame.
After World War II, according to the Potsdam conference held between July 17 and August 2, 1945, Germany was to pay the Allies US$23 billion mainly in machinery and manufacturing plants. Dismantling in the West stopped in 1950. Reparations to the Soviet Union stopped in 1953.