Snake Featherston
Banned
On the surface of it WWI at least looks like an instance of the Central Powers giving more than they got. The Russian Empire IMHO was in trouble if its war lasted more than three months regardless of what it did or did not do on the battlefield, but the Central Powers were the ones in that war to overrun entire countries and Russia the only Ally to make great, big, sweeping advances in Europe. Yet in 1918 the German army had only a week or two and then it was a glorified mob.
So the question I'm going to ask here is a simple one: why did the Allies ultimately win WWI? In my view the Allies won WWI partially because in 1918 an already flawed German plan was executed even worse than it was planned, which gave the Allies the ability to inflict a giant backhand, followed by a 1943-like grinding offensive that was a triumph of superior use of all arms. The broader Allied victory was due to the Germans having to dissipate their strength in some cases and willfully doing this for not much of a good reason in others, with the Allies having the ability to pay for and sustain a war to the last ditch while Germany had neither.
What do you think? In lieu of all the Central Powers victory scenarios I think a discussion like this is required in no small part to see what would have to change from an Allied POV to make a CP victory possible.
So the question I'm going to ask here is a simple one: why did the Allies ultimately win WWI? In my view the Allies won WWI partially because in 1918 an already flawed German plan was executed even worse than it was planned, which gave the Allies the ability to inflict a giant backhand, followed by a 1943-like grinding offensive that was a triumph of superior use of all arms. The broader Allied victory was due to the Germans having to dissipate their strength in some cases and willfully doing this for not much of a good reason in others, with the Allies having the ability to pay for and sustain a war to the last ditch while Germany had neither.
What do you think? In lieu of all the Central Powers victory scenarios I think a discussion like this is required in no small part to see what would have to change from an Allied POV to make a CP victory possible.