Allied Victory in World War I
The First World War is attributed to many causes. One of the causes of the war which began in 1914 is cited to be the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo. From this, the war eventually turned out to be the largest war in human history in both magnitude and impact. There have been claims that the US contributed most to victory in the war through provision of weaponry and later involvement.
However, it is probable that the victory came due to liaisons between various powers in the world. The exploration of factors that led to allied victory in the war can give explanations on why the allies won and not the US. The beginning of the war saw an escalation in militarism and arms in Europe and Germany in particular. In Germany, the implementation of the Schlieffen plan on the Western front formed the blue print for action during war (Zuckerman, 2004).
Although Germany had the most formidable army in the world, the allied forces still managed to achieve victory in the war. The first key battle was the battle of Marne, fought in 1914. The battle provoked the war participants to race to the sea, which turned to be significant during the entire war period. The allies took control of the sea and later won the Arras war. This war led to the acquisition of the Vimy Ridge, a strategic location during the war. Control of the sea and Vimy ridge gave the allies an opportunity to achieve naval blockage hence resulting in other victories during the war. In addition to this, the international situation also played an important role in that Germany had few international friends hence could not form strong alliances in comparison to Canada and British forces.
The entry of Italy into the war also contributed to allied victory in that besides reinforcing the German side, they also provoked the opposing sides to greater aggressiveness. This led to multiple human losses for the Italian side. Through technology such as invention of the tank, the British were able to penetrate German lines comprising of machine guns and barbed wire. This also had a certain psychological impact on the German side leading to their relaxation.
Other formations such as the convoy system used by the British also made it possible for allies to achieve victory as they were better capable of countering the challenges posed by the Germans by making the allied forces unpredictable. Moreover, the timely entrance of America into the war also led to the victory of the allies. The entry is regarded to have been due to provocation by the German side. It is claimed that the provocation came due to Germany’s declaration of the unrestricted submarine status where the German’s could sink any ship that was not theirs.
The entry of the US into the war played a critical role in the victory. This was achieved after the sinking of a passenger ship by Germany (Preston, 2002), and later incitement of Mexico to wage war against America (Stevenson, 2004). This led to the deployment of American forces into the war front in June 1917 and their later addition to help attain victory for the allies. Apart from the entry of America, loss of the Balkans also continued o injure the German side since it led to the strengthening of the allied side. Despite the contribution of the US, it is important to note that it is not this contribution that led to eventual victory since the allied forces had been at the helm of the war from the beginning.
Bibliography
Preston, Diana. “Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy” (New York: Walker, 2002), 7.
Stevenson, David. “Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy” (New York:
Basic Books, 2004), 61.
Zuckerman, Larry. “The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War I” (New York:
NYU Press, 2004), 39.
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