Why Germany Lost WWI

Although credited with the strategy that kicked off Germany's invasion of France, Alfred von Schlieffen died at the age of 79 one year before the outbreak of WWI.

About a year and a half ago I was fortunate enough to see Richard Evans speak at the University of Sydney. The focus of his talk was on the rise of Germany's Weimar Republic in the 1930s and how it was able to last so long. Flipping the usual historical approach in which Modern Teachers ask the driving question, "Why did it fail?", Evans posited the approach of "Why did the Weimar Republic last as long as it did?" It was a fascinating talk and it reminds me of another talk I saw, a bit later, given by Dr Bruce Dennett about Germany and WWI, this time asking the question "Why did Germany lose the war?" 

It's a different way of looking at the turning points of WWI, shifting the narrative focus from the entry of America and withdrawal of Russia to a collection of cumulative factors that contributed to Germany's eventual collapse in 1918. This approach encourages students to think of the bigger picture when it comes to WWI; about which events were most significant, why people might contest the significance of certain events as contributing factors to German failure, and how the chain of cause and effect can be interpreted.

Here's a resource that summarises this approach.

The main reasons given include:

• The failure of the Schlieffen Plan. This was a strategy that was dependent on France and England being beaten within 40 days. That didn't happen, partially due to General von Moltke making changes to the plan, and the fact that the plan required already demoralised soldiers to march an unreasonable distance.
• The Germans were fighting a war on two fronts - France and Russia. The fighting on the eastern front prevented the Germans from sending enough troops to win in the west.
• The nature of trench warfare meant that the defending side always had the advantage. Neither side had the weapons or numbers to punch their way through to victory. 
• The British naval blockade of the Germans meant that shortages on the German homefront were exacerbated further.
• German generals could not break free of the 'war of attrition' mindset that had them believe the only way of winning was to overwhelm the enemy with superior numbers of foot soldiers. Germany's strategy relied on the Allied armies running out of men before them, something that became increasingly unlikely as the war dragged on.
• Germany unwittingly encouraged U.S. entry into the war through their ordering of unrestricted U-boat attacks on neutral ships.
• The German homefront faced so much hardship that war weariness had set in by 1917-1918, something that would almost lead to German socialist revolution.
• Germany's allies (Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary) were weakening, and required German resources and troops to 'prop them up' on the southern front.

Students can read through the resource and then answer the following questions, which involve them engaging with the material in a variety of ways, such as describing, evaluating, and analysing - hitting the History Continuum in terms of Significance, Contestability, and Cause and Effect:

1. Outline the reasons historians most commonly give for Germany losing the war.
2. Rate these reasons in order of your agreement with them in terms of their significance.
3. Why is your top reason the correct one?
4. List the ways in which the Germany army's moral was breaking down.
5. Why did General Ludendorff decide to ask for an armistice?
6. Make explicit reference to Source C to describe the events leading up to the armistice of 11 November.

Turning Points of WWI

 

As I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog before, the sheer abundance of content that needs to be taught in Modern History can be a tad overwhelming. One of the challenges of the mandatory First World War topic is that we need to teach the skill of source analysis alongside the dot points outlined in the syllabus, all whilst selecting information from the wealth of sources on WWI out there. 

Usually by the time I get to teaching the 'turning points' section of the HSC Modern History syllabus I've already explicitly covered trench warfare, the home fronts, and a fair deal of source analysis. This means that I often feel like it's time for a more student-directed or project-based approach. But bfore I get to that, it's still necessary to ensure that students have a strong base knowledge of the three major turning points of the war:

1. The withdrawal of the Russians from the war.
2. The entry of the U.S. into the war.
3. Ludendorff's Spring Offensive.

While doing this, it's hard not to feel like one is getting bogged down in delivering the content to the students in the same way, over and over again. I get very conscious that I'm boring the Year 12s, so I try very hard to introduce a variety of ways in which they can interact with the information, summarise it, re-contextualise it, and show their comprehension of it.

Without belabouring my thinking too much in this blog, here's the resource itself: Turning Points of WWI. It's a booklet that covers each of the three turning points (the second of which is accompanied by a PPT: The USA and WWI) and ends with four project options that students must choose from to show that they've understood what's come beforehand. 

Further explanation of the booklet:

1. The section on Russia's withdrawal from the war features a cause-and-effect graphic representation that students must re-interpret into a timeline. After that, they can then make a judgement call about which factor they think was the biggest influence on Russia's decision.
2. The U.S.A. section requires students to take notes from the PowerPoint, sorting the information into three columns: USA before the war, Reasons for USA's entry into the war, and Impact of USA on the war. 
3. Ludendorff's Spring Offensive is covered in a more straightforward fashion, with students reading notes and observing the map before answering two questions about Ludendorff's intentions and the overall effectiveness of the plan.
4. The final page features the four project options
1. Create an A3 timeline of all the Turning Points that incorporates symbols and images to show understanding.
2. Write an essay addressing the question, To what extent was the entry of the U.S. into the First World War the deciding factor for Allied Victory?
3. Design a full colour 1917 propaganda poster that deals with one of these ideas:
1. German point of view: Why the U.S. should not be involved in the war.
2. U.S. point of view: Why the U.S. should be involved in the war.
3. Russian point of view: Why Russia should not be involved in the war.
4. Create a PPT presentation to show the rest of the class. This presentation should outline each of the major turning points plus include your opinion about which turning point was the most significant/important.