From von Hoffmans memoirs:
Lets say that after the March 1918 offensive is stopped, the Germans give up further offensives in the West and begin negotiations, offering reasonable terms (Hoffman suggests liberating Belgium and giving up parts of Lorraine). In the meantime securing Salonika and Palestine with extra forces. (He advocates overthrowing the Bolshevik regime at some point in May or June 1918 as well).
If the Germans did this April 1918, started negotiations, took steps to bar the east and south and put Russia in order, could they secure at least a compromise peace (instead of a dictated peace like Versailles)
Reference:
http://www.allworldwars.com/The-War-of-Lost-Opportunities-by-von-Hoffmann.html#XVIII
"At the moment when the General Headquarters saw that they would not get Amiens, that they had not been able to break through the enemy's front, they ought to have realized that a decisive victory on the Western front was no longer to be expected. If this first attempt, which had been made with the best forces they possessed, had failed, every succeeding attack that could only be made with ever diminishing forces, would likewise have no chance of success. On the very day on which the General Headquarters gave the order to cease the attack on Amiens, it was their duty to apprise the Government that the time had arrived to proceed to peace negotiations, and that there was no longer any prospect of finishing the War with a decided victory on the Western front."
Lets say that after the March 1918 offensive is stopped, the Germans give up further offensives in the West and begin negotiations, offering reasonable terms (Hoffman suggests liberating Belgium and giving up parts of Lorraine). In the meantime securing Salonika and Palestine with extra forces. (He advocates overthrowing the Bolshevik regime at some point in May or June 1918 as well).
If the Germans did this April 1918, started negotiations, took steps to bar the east and south and put Russia in order, could they secure at least a compromise peace (instead of a dictated peace like Versailles)
Reference:
http://www.allworldwars.com/The-War-of-Lost-Opportunities-by-von-Hoffmann.html#XVIII
"At the moment when the General Headquarters saw that they would not get Amiens, that they had not been able to break through the enemy's front, they ought to have realized that a decisive victory on the Western front was no longer to be expected. If this first attempt, which had been made with the best forces they possessed, had failed, every succeeding attack that could only be made with ever diminishing forces, would likewise have no chance of success. On the very day on which the General Headquarters gave the order to cease the attack on Amiens, it was their duty to apprise the Government that the time had arrived to proceed to peace negotiations, and that there was no longer any prospect of finishing the War with a decided victory on the Western front."