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…German planning for the Spring Offensive began in November of 1917. The Germans had realized that there was no way for them to win a prolonged war of attrition with the Americans in the war, war production was not increasing as fast as it should, and the Italians failing to leave the war. With attrition not an option victory would have to come through an operational masterstroke.

General Ludendorff proposed an operation to provide that. The goal of the operation was to break through British lines on the Somme, hook around and cut the British lines of communication. The BEF would thus be cut off and able to be destroyed at the Germans leisure, without the BEF the French could not cover the front alone and sufficient American troops were not available to do so. The French would be forced to sue for peace or be destroyed in place and the war would be won.

Ludendorff was unwittingly helped by an Entente decision to increase the area of the front covered by the BEF relative to the French. The British high command resisted, but the French were desperate, and they were overruled by Lloyd-George. This expansion, along with the casualties the British suffered in the previous year, forced the British to reorganize their infantry into triangular divisions, with 9 battalions, as opposed to rectangular divisions with 12. The British in order to preserve seniority had the oldest battalions retained, which caused organizational chaos as newer divisions lost most of their battalions which had to be replaced by battalions from other divisions.

Events in Russia would further aid Ludendorff…


-Excerpt from The Loss of Innocence: America in the Great War, Harper & Brothers, New York 2014


…With the immediate threat to Bolshevik power removed at the end of October Lenin and All Russian Congress of Soviets released a decree on peace. There he called for an immediate beginning of negotiations by all powers for a just peace without annexations or indemnities. No power took up this offer for a general peace conference, but the Central Powers indicated that they were willing to talk with the Bolsheviks.

Negotiations began in early November and seemed to start well. The German negotiators indicated that they were willing to accept in principle the no annexations or indemnities principle, so long as the Entente unanimously pledged to do the same and had no intention to annex territories by force. The Bolsheviks were ecstatic at the seeming success of their principles and were prepared to sign an immediate peace on these terms.

Then the German delegation realized that the Bolsheviks had misinterpreted their position. The Germans had no desire to annex territories but based on the principle of self determination the Societs espoused the Polish and some of the Baltic territories occupied by the Germans would become independent states. This came as a total shock to the Soviet negotiators who viewed this as annexations of territory in violation of their principles, and they demanded a recess of two weeks.

In this recess the Soviet leadership decided that such a peace agreement could not be agreed to. Agreeing to it would alienate their political allies in the Left-SRs and minor socialist parties. It was instead decided that they would stall until Revolutions broke out in the Central Powers, then conduct negotiations with the new revolutionary governments. Leon Trotsky, the Soviet foreign minister was thus sent to head a new delegation and stall.

Likewise, the German government was furious. The Austrians, Ottomans and Romanians were demanding that they be allowed to annex territory, and Hindenburg and Ludendorff wanted a much larger buffer in Poland and the Baltics for the next war. Foreign minister Kuhlmann was given strict instructions to ensure Germany got the territories it wanted and their allies were not left out.

On November 27th the delegations met again. Within a week it was clear to them that the Soviets were stalling. On December 7th they gave the Soviets an ultimatum, accept the terms of the loss of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Bessarabia and Galicia or else. They had two weeks to make up their minds.

Trotsky returned to St. Petersburg and advocated for simply declaring peace with the Central Powers and transferring their forces against the Provisional Government. The most extreme left members of the Central Committee believed that the Central Powers were on the verge of revolution and that they should continue the war until that happened. Finally, Lenin, in a rare burst of pure pragmatism, wanted to sign a treaty now and avoid having to sign a more damaging treaty after a few weeks of humiliating military defeats. Trotsky’s views won out and a position of “no war, no peace” would be the basis for future negotiations beginning on the 21st.


On the 27th, after having time to recover from the Christmas celebrations, the central Powers launched an offensive all along the front. The Bolsheviks, having transferred their forces elsewhere, were unable to resist. The Central Powers advanced 150 miles in a week. German forces advanced within 150 miles of St. Petersburg and forced the Soviets to move their capital to Moscow.


On January 8th the Central Powers stopped and released another ultimatum. They added Estonia, Belorussia, Finland and all of the Ukraine to the list of territory the Soviets had to cede, as well as Erdehan, Batum and Kars to the Ottomans. This time only seven days would be provided to decide. The Bolsheviks stalled until the eleventh hour but announced they would sign just before the deadline on the 15th, after a heated debate and a Central Committee decision of 7-3-4.

On the 17th the Treaty was signed in the Fortress of Brest-Litovsk. A quarter of Russian population and industry was ceded to the Central Powers, as well as ninety percent of Russian coal mines. The Central Powers quickly advanced to occupy this new territory and set up puppet governments, a task that took weeks.

The signing of the treaty caused the Bolsheviks to lose their allies in the Left-SRs and other socialist parties, as well as costing them a great deal of popular support. They lost control of many outlying territories and were forced to withdraw, giving opposition to them a chance to consolidate. Only the lack of control and complete discreditation of the provisional government prevented this from becoming a complete disaster for them.

In the Caucuses the governments of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan refused to recognize the treaty and formed a provisional union to resist the Ottomans.

The largest effect though was that with the cessation of hostilities the Central Powers could transfer forces to the Western Front. A total of 50 German and 10 Austrian Divisions were transferred West by the start of the Spring Offensive…


-Excerpt from European Wars for Americans, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2004


…In the year and a half following Cleaver Bank the Germans added the Bayern class Battleships Bayern, Baden and Sachsen with 8 38cm guns and the Derfflinger class Battlecruiser Hindenburg with 8 30.5cm guns, which more than made up for the loss of Von der Tann. A fourth battleship, Württemburg would be added in June 1918, with the 35cm armed Mackensen class battlecruisers Mackensen and Graf Spee scheduled to follow in November 1918 and February 1919 respectively. Eight light cruisers with 15cm guns had been added to replace those four lost from Cleaver Bank, with three more expected in 1918 and four more in 1919. The High Seas fleet was stronger than it had ever been.

The needs of the war had weighed heavily on them. To free up resources for U-Boats the decision had been made not to lay down any additional light cruisers or capital ships of the Ersatz-Yorck type and to suspend construction on Prinz Eitel Friedrich, Fürst Bismarck and Ersatz-Yorck, who would not be ready in time to do any good for the war effort. Work on further capital ships and cruisers would be limited to paper studies for the aftermath of the war.

Its rival, the Royal Navy was also stronger. Britain had added two 15” Battleships, Resolution and Ramilles of the Revenge class to replace the two Battleships it had lost, ships that were arguably inferior. The 14” Chilean Battleship Almirante Cochrane was purchased and would be completed in late spring 1919. The 15” armed battlecruisers Repulse and Renown, formerly Revenge class battleships, had been completed, along with two 15” armed Large Light Cruisers of the Courageous class, Courageous and Glorious, their half-sister Furious, ordered as a fast monitor with two 18” was rearmed under construction with 4 15” guns like her half siblings and been commissioned as well, replacing the three battlecruisers launched and the unrepaired Inflexible. Four Battlecruisers Hood, Anson, Howe and Rodney, with 8 15” guns each, would be ready in late 1919 and early 1920. Nine 6” armed light cruisers replaced the two that had been lost, with 5 coming in 1918 and 8 in 1919. The British were further helped by the entry of the Americans into the war, 6 battleships were able to reinforce the Grand Fleet and offset the relative gain made by HSF in battleships.

However the need to replace capital ships had hurt British construction of supporting units, the cruisers of the Hawkins class were suspended in early 1917, two destroyer leaders were cancelled, a proposed aircraft carrier conversion of the Italian liner Conte Rosso was never performed, the two Gorgon class Monitors were suspended, and 13 large submarines of the K, Modified K and M class were cancelled or suspended…

…By early 1918 the Kaiserliche Marine had learned of the planned Spring Offensive by the Army. The Navy had ridden high from the victory at Cleaver Bank in 1916, but later victories by the Army had overshadowed that. If the coming offensive won the war, as most believed would happen, then the Army’s reputation would be untouchable. The KM, looking at their future was thus concerned for their budgets, which had been high prewar thanks to public esteem, the Kaiser’s support, and the desire by the Prussian Aristocracy to keep the Army small enough they could dominate it. With a parsimonious postwar period expected, the Navy would need to do something to ensure they got the budget they wanted. The U-Boats and small units were doing vital work, but they were not particularly visible in the public consciousness, something bigger was needed.

The Spring Offensive offered them the chance to do that. While the KM could not directly support it, they could do so indirectly. A mass sortie by the HSF to cover a Battlecruiser raid on the English coast would provide a distraction to the British at the moment of decision. If they could repeat Cleaver Bank and chew up the British Battlecruisers and give the U-Boats a shot at the Grand Fleet, that would be ideal. If not, they would still provide a distraction to the British government and military at a time when they could ill afford it and amplify the moral blow of the Army’s victories on land.

The idea was proposed to the Kaiser in February and he was enthusiastic about the idea. The HSF would sortie at the same time the Army launched its grand offensive…


-Excerpt from Naval History Between the Wars, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2007