Why did Britain and her allies emerge victorious in 1918 Essay Example

the period of the blockade. The blockade was also very risky the British were putting their biggest asset at risk in Germany. If the British had lost their navy they would have been literally defenceless to any German attack. Also the blockade was effective but some ships did get through.

The second most important factor for me was the failure of the Schleifen plan. The Schleifen plan was the Germans battle plan. The plan was to capture France within six weeks and then head up to fight the Russians but it did not go to plan. The German army was continually slowed down. This was crucial to the British war effort because it gave them and France the chance to prepare. The failure of the plan left the Germans fighting on two fronts at the same time. The Germans were not prepared for this they had no back up plan so the soldiers did not have orders for the situations that they found themselves in. If the plan had been successful then the French would have been knocked out of the war putting Britain in a very bad position with the Germans not having the French to worry about. The failure also put the war into a stalemate that the Germans eventually lost. There were things that pointed to the failure of the Schliefen plan not being a crucial factor in allied victory, such as the fact that the failure of the plan did not actually defeat the Germans just held them up and that it can't have been crucial if it happened four years before the end of the war.

I am going to put the

British leaders and tactics as my third most important reason for victory. This is quite controversial as many criticised the British leaders like Douglas Haig after battles like the Somme and Gallipoli. But I am putting it in third because you can't win the war if you have very poor tactics and leadership. Our leaders used the tactic of attrition to good effect in defeating the Germans. The leaders were very determined to win and I think that this helped us. The British used tactics such as the convoy system and the Navel blockade to great effect. Though our methods of victory were not the best such as the continued pouring of men over the top when the enemy was slaughtering them. Many mistakes were made like the continued use of cavalry charges against the enemy machine guns and poor use of the surveillance available e.g. Gallipoli.

I am putting the British use of propaganda next. This was used quite well to raise the morale at home. It also got many men to sign up before mandatory conscription. The British were clever because they did not let soldiers send home letters uncensored. If they had then the reality of war would have sunk in very quickly lowering morale and the amount of men signing up. Propaganda also increases the hatred of the Germans. It was not as effective in the later stages of the war. It is not a physical weapon so it can not have actually won the war for Britain and we can not actually measure it so we don't know how effective it is. The propaganda can also be very costly.

The least important

of the causes in my opinion is the British inventions, though this is not to say that I consider it unimportant in British victory. The most influential British invention was the Tank. The main thing about the tank was that it had a big psycholological impact, it scared the enemy. They were used well at Cambria, almost too well as the infantry could not keep up with them and they had to retreat. In the Somme the tanks broke through enemy lines. Other British inventions were the long-range aircraft that had been developed by the later stages of the war. The British weapons and artillery and other weapons had been developed so that they are a lot more accurate and powerful. But on the other hand in many battles the tanks did not work or were too slow. The Germans also quickly invented ways of stopping the tanks, they had poor weapons and no battles were won entirely by the tanks.

In conclusion the main reason that Britain and her allies emerged victorious in 1918 was the naval blockade, as it left the German soldiers underfed and therefore not in the best shape for fighting a war. It also gave the Americans an excuse to join the war. The blockade was not the only factor to Allied victory but in my opinion it is the most crucial one.