Why did Germany lose the First World War?

Germany’s failure to win the Great War cannot be attributed to a single factor. Indeed there are many factors that contributed to the country’s ultimate defeat and, in retrospect; one could say that the country had it coming from the beginning, as it committed a number of strategically tactical mistakes in a number of major fields such the military, the economic and the political fields. Germany and her allies were unsuccessful throughout the war, even though they had won various battles, due to their poor decisions in constructing plans for their tactics in the battlefield but also for their political system in order to keep their government from declining.
The fists tactical error was Germany’s military strategy. One major mistake was Germany’s official declaration of war, when she invaded neutral Belgium in order to attack France. Not only was this a bad military judgment, since Germany did not consider the consequences of disturbing a neutral country and disrespecting a treaty made by Europe saying that Belgium would not be involved in the war, but it was ridiculed by many countries through propaganda. Propaganda played a great role in persuading men to recruit in the war and therefore affected soldier’s military practice in the war. Britain took advantage of Germany’s mistake of invading Belgium and made a global campaign by picturing her as a monstrous country, thus preparing recruits for the barbaric scenes of the battlefields. Contrary to Britain’s successful propaganda, the German propaganda by using untrustworthy and false arguments (e.g. the British are cowards), did not prepare her soldiers well for battle and for many the propaganda did not sound convincing in any case. Therefore German soldiers were psychologically unprepared, thus losing faith shortly after entering the war. Another strategic misjudgment that Germany made was the fact that she didn’t have any alternative plans when for example attacking a country. The von Schlieffen plan, which was the plan to invade Belgium, would be interpreted strategically clever (going around a country to attack France in surprise), by a historian, if Germany had an alternative plan since things went wrong. Also, Germany’s easy access to attack the Allies after Russia exited the war was a bad strategy since U.S.A. entered the war almost immediately after Russia had dropped out. This shows Germany’s lack of strategic skills.
Another factor that caused Germany’s loss was the triggering of nationalism, specifically American nationalism. Germany should have kept U.S.A. neutral in order to be sure that she’d be safe from even more enemies; however, Germany did everything to enrage the country. One reason why U.S.A entered the war was the sinking of her military ship, Lusitania, in 1915. Even though the ship was sunk, by Germany, 2 years before U.S.A. actually entered the war America used this as an excuse to enter the war. Lusitania was a military ship that secretly transferred weaponry to Britain and this angered Germany since she stated that whoever supplied Germany’s enemies, she would prevent them. Sinking the ship was a bad decision, since Germany would lose any chance of keeping U.S.A. neutral. The Zimmerman telegram was another event that triggered American nationalism. Germany sent a telegram to Mexico in 1917, during a civil war in Mexico, asking the Latin American country to take Germany’s side in the war in exchange for their lost land from the U.S.A. This showed Germany’s desperate position as Mexico was plagued by civil war and could not provide any real assistance to Germany’s cause. The telegram was obviously ignored by Mexico, but it greatly angered U.S.A. and caused her to join the war officially in the Allied side. U.S.A, though, was already allied with Britain in a way, since she had equipped Britain with supplies and weaponry throughout the war and when she finally entered, it affected Germany enormously. She joined the war towards the end, when Germany had lost faith in the war, and provided the Allies with fresh strategies and more soldiers. Therefore as Germany’s nationalism faded away, her enemy’s grew.
The lack of cooperation between the Central Powers caused the ineffectiveness of Germany’s Alliance System. A system called Authoritarianism made it very difficult for Germany to collaborate with her allies. The structure of powers was not very organized: the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, made all the decisions along with the military general, Ludendorff and no one else was beneath the to help make other decisions. In contrary to Germany’s power structure decline, was the Allies’ system of commanding. Britain, France and America appointed one Supreme Commander who would give all the instructions for the military tactics, however, if the Commander-in-Chief of the British, French or America did not agree they could decide on their own military tactics thus proving once again that the Allies had better strategies, as to how to control their military.
Germany not only had to face her enemies, the Allies, but also had to face her own nation which had begun to go against her. The limitations of Germany’s economy and geography caused the people to protest. Due to Germany’s lack of coastline, it was difficult for her to import or export supplies thus reducing her economy and worsening her nation’s living conditions. An incident called the “Turnip winter” is an example of German economy decline. This is when communism emerged, when people started starving and thus went against their own government since they wouldn’t support any of their Kaiser’s poor decisions. Starvation also occurred in Britain; however, the British government passed a law called D.O.R.A. - Defense of the Realm Act, which protected the people from starving but did not affect the role of the soldiers and their living condition. This showed that Britain was organized and was ready to act if they came across a problem like that.
Germany and her allies were unsuccessful throughout the war, even though they had won various battles, due to their poor decisions in constructing plans for their tactics in the battlefield but also for their political system in order to keep their government from declining. Winning some of the battles does not mean that a country has a big chance of winning the war, if all the rest is falling apart. Germany’s government and economy was declining due to the protesting of the people, her military tactics were unsuccessful due to the lack of collaborations with her allies and due to her poor judgment as to who to appoint a military general. Furthermore, Germany’s enemies were by far more successful economically, politically and militarily, and this big difference of organization played a great role to Germany’s loss. If Germany hadn’t taken everything for granted – her nation and enemies- she would have a much more rewarding result.