The Course of the First World War (1918)

The beginning of 1918 was marked by peace efforts, in particular the message of American President Wilson which set out a peace program of 14 points. In Austria and Germany mass strikes alarmed the political and military leadership. The American peace initiative was commented on in varying ways on the German side, but ultimately found no positive echo among the Central Powers. At that time the Allied side was also not really willing to negotiate. Between late October and mid-February peace negotiations between Russia and the Central Powers took place in Brest-Litovsk. The peace terms offered were harsh. The Russian negotiator Trotsky announced the demobilization of the Russian army but did not want to accept the conditions set by the Germans. Thereupon military hostilities flared up again and German troops advanced further into Russian territory. In February Reval, Minsk and Zhytomyr and in March Kiev were occupied. On 03.03. a formal peace was concluded after all, since the Russian empire, destabilized by the revolution, urgently needed peace. Already on 09.02. a peace had been concluded with Ukraine. This freed Germany from a two-front war and allowed it to reinforce the Western Front with troops no longer needed in the East, yet the presence of the Central Powers in the politically restless eastern regions was still required as a protecting power.

After the signing of the German–Finnish peace treaty on 07.03., Finland asked the German Reich for military assistance against the Red Guards. This led to the German intervention in the Baltic region and in Finland. In April German forces also marched into Ukraine and onto the Crimean Peninsula to protect against the Bolsheviks. Materially, they wanted to secure the promised and urgently needed bread supplies and shares of oil production. On 01.05. Sevastopol was occupied by German troops. The Russian empire sank into civil war. On the side of the bourgeois counter-revolution opponents of the Central Powers also became involved. To make any continuation of the tsarist monarchy impossible, the tsar and his family were shot on 16.07. in Yekaterinburg by the local district soviet. This meant the end of the Romanovs. Finland could be permanently liberated under the supreme command of Count Rüdiger von der Goltz, but the settlement of state affairs in the Baltic states and in Ukraine was not achieved. The Polish question – a plan for an independent Polish kingdom – also could not be solved.

In the West the OHL on the German side prepared a major offensive in order – before the military support of American troops could take effect – to force a decision here or at least a favorable starting position for a negotiated peace.

The so-called Operation Michael was to be the last German offensive. For this attack operation the Germans had once again assembled considerable forces since early November 1917.

On 21.03. the great operation (Kaiserschlacht) began by the 2nd, 17th and 18th Armies. Between Ypres and Arras and Arras and Reims deep penetrations into the enemy front towards the northwest could initially be achieved, but the preset objectives could not be reached. After initial successes and heavy losses especially among the British troops, the offensive bogged down. On 09.04. a second offensive began in Flanders, which, however, only achieved local successes – e.g. at Armentières. On 25.04. German units stormed the Kemmelberg. On 01.05. the attack in Flanders was halted; the OHL’s plans had proved too ambitious. Between 25.05. and 05.06. a 3rd German attack took place at Soissons, on the Aisne and on the Chemin des Dames. The 4th German attack between Montdidier and Noyon pushed the German army once more as far as the Marne and threatened Paris.

The hope for the decisive weakening of the enemy did not materialize, and the 5th German attack between 15.07. and 04.08., including an advance across the Marne and fighting for Reims, also brought no decisive success. The Allied counter-offensive from 18.07. met exhausted German troops. The overwhelming material superiority of the enemies became increasingly noticeable.

On 18.07. the French attacked from the Forest of Villers-Cotterêts with tanks. The German army was pulled back behind the Marne and pressed into a defensive stance. At Amiens on 08.08. the Germans suffered a heavy defeat; Ludendorff later described that day in his memoirs as the black day of the German army.

On 20.08. the Germans withdrew to the old Siegfried position. Attacks by the Allies followed – including 12 American divisions – in the Michel salient and in Flanders. Due to the negative military development Ludendorff in particular suddenly lost his nerve. At the urgent insistence of the OHL the new German government under Prince Max von Baden presented a peace offer to American President Wilson at the beginning of October and asked for an armistice. Lengthy negotiations followed.

Due to the aforementioned negative military developments Ludendorff in particular suddenly lost his nerve. At the urgent insistence of the OHL the new German government under Prince Max von Baden presented a peace offer to American President Wilson at the beginning of October and asked for an armistice.

A final larger planned action by the German High Seas Fleet on 28.10. led to collective refusal to obey orders and a mass uprising of sailors in Kiel. At that time there was no willingness among the crews to take part in the operation perceived as a "death ride." Already in the period from 15.06. to 04.11. the decline of the K.u.K. Army became apparent; especially after the Italian breakthrough at Vittorio Veneto there were mutinies and the de facto dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian army.

World War I was over. It had cost the Central Powers a total of 60643160000 dollars; Germany alone had to mourn 17737000 dead, 4216058 wounded and 1152800 prisoners or missing. This meant, in relation to the total mobilized armed forces, a total loss of 64.9%. The seemingly solid world of Old Europe had been shattered.