Why Germany Lost the First World War (Documentary)

Summary

In a gripping exploration, The Great War documentary investigates why Germany, despite its massive early advantages and powerful military might, lost World War One. Initially dominating Eastern Europe and defeating Russia, Germany's tactical missteps, coupled with overambitious strategies and inefficient logistics, ultimately eroded its position. The Allies, despite occasional blunders, outmatched Germany in resources and man power, especially with the United States joining the war. Additionally, internal struggles, failed alliances, and a public desperate for peace contributed to Germany’s collapse, underscoring the multifaceted reasons behind its defeat.

Highlights

• The German army, initially strong, succumbed to tactical and strategic errors over time. 😮
• The Schlieffen Plan's failure in 1914 marked a turning point, leading to a drawn-out conflict. 📆
• Unrestricted submarine warfare backfired, drawing the US into the war against Germany. 🚢
• The Allies coordinated better and efficiently used their greater resources to their advantage. 👥
• Germany's internal collapse, with strikes and a revolution, spelled its doom. 🏛️
• Allies' strategic high ground and effective leadership outmaneuvered Germany's scattered efforts. 🏆

Key Takeaways

• Germany began WWI with a strong military advantage but lost due to strategic missteps. 🚶‍♂️
• The Schlieffen Plan failed due to overstrained troops and neglected logistics. 📉
• Germany made critical tactical errors, including renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare. ⚓
• The Allies, despite their own blunders, pooled resources and maintained strategic advantages, especially with US support. 🇺🇸
• Internal strife and public discontent further weakened Germany’s war efforts. 😓
• Failed alliances and ineffective governance plagued Germany, contributing to its ultimate defeat. 🏳️

Overview

Germany entered World War One with unmatched military prowess but soon found itself ensnared in strategic blunders. The initial hope to blitz the Western front crumbled with the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, the violation of Belgian neutrality, and the exhaustion of its troops. Logistic miscalculations and overambitious tactics added to their woes, marking a shift from swift success to prolonged warfare.

Despite managing remarkable victories in the East, Germany's key blunders—renewed unrestricted submarine warfare and inability to sustain alliances—eroded its standing. The Allies, however, turned their setbacks into stepping stones, leveraging superior resources and strategies bolstered by the American entry into the war, which further tipped the balance.

Within Germany, public discontent festered, inciting strikes and a burgeoning revolution that contributed to the Empire's downfall. This internal collapse, coupled with exhausted manpower and dwindling resources, hastened Germany's plea for an armistice. The armistice of November 1918 marked the end of hostilities, driven by Germany's multi-layered failures in strategy, governance, and maintaining national morale.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Context The chapter titled 'Introduction and Context' provides an overview of Germany's situation during World War One. It highlights the stark contrast between November 1918 and the previous year. In late 1918, Germany was defeated and in the throes of a revolution, yet less than a year prior, it had controlled much of Eastern Europe, defeated Russia, and had a numerical advantage over the British and French forces in the West. The chapter questions why Germany, which had entered the war in 1914 with the world's most powerful army, had to sign an armistice on Allied terms by 1918, which led to the transition from Empire to Republic.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Initial Success and Challenges This chapter titled 'Initial Success and Challenges' discusses the nuances behind Germany's defeat in the final year of World War I. It argues against the simplistic view that Germany's defeat was merely due to the Allies' numerical and financial superiority. The text highlights that while the Allies did have more resources and time worked in their favor, history is not deterministic. Germany had lost crucial opportunities for a swift victory earlier in the war, notably at the Battle of the Marne in 1914. It suggests that the Central Powers might have avoided total defeat under different circumstances.
• 01:30 - 02:30: The Schlieffen Plan and Early Mistakes The chapter titled 'The Schlieffen Plan and Early Mistakes' discusses the pivotal decisions in World War I, focusing on Germany's actions. Although both the Allies and Germans made impactful decisions during the war, the chapter zeroes in on Germany, given its significant role as the strongest Central Power. Historian Holger Afflerbach is quoted emphasizing that while it was impossible for Germany to win the war post-1914, significant mistakes were necessary for their defeat, highlighting the critical analysis of German decisions leading to their loss in 1918.
• 02:30 - 04:30: Central Powers' Strategic Mistakes The chapter discusses strategic errors made by the Central Powers, focusing on Germany's Schlieffen Plan from 1914, which was intended to swiftly defeat a more powerful enemy alliance. However, as noted by General Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, plans often fail upon encountering the enemy's main force. This was a lesson hard-learned by the German high command in late summer 1914.
• 04:30 - 06:30: 1918: Hope and Despair In the chapter titled '1918: Hope and Despair', the focus is on the German military's strategic errors during World War I. The narrative highlights how German leaders overestimated their army's capabilities, neglected logistical planning, and made critical operational blunders. Their failures were compounded by the effective resistance of the French at the Marne and the involvement of Britain, spurred by Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality. Consequently, the German tactics led to unforeseen consequences and set the stage for a prolonged conflict.
• 06:30 - 08:30: Allied Strength and Technological Advancements The Central Powers, despite facing stronger enemies, were not necessarily doomed to total defeat. Historians suggest they could have secured a compromise peace if not for strategic mistakes and risks taken from 1914 to 1917. The High Command's failure to reassess their strategy after their 1914 defeats and develop a coherent plan contributed to their challenges in forcing acceptable peace terms.
• 08:30 - 10:30: German Morale Collapse and Allied Advantage The chapter discusses the collapse of German morale and the subsequent advantages gained by the Allies during World War I. It highlights several key military and strategic failures on the part of Germany. Firstly, the German army suffered significant losses in manpower due to unsuccessful offensives, such as the one at Verdun, and poor defensive tactics during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Additionally, German planners were unable to sustain adequate food production, exacerbating the challenges posed by the Allied blockade. Another critical point was the mismanagement of Germany's alliances, particularly with Austria-Hungary, where there was often a lack of coordination in military operations. Moreover, there was an instance where Kaiser Karl of Austria-Hungary attempted to initiate peace talks without German knowledge. Lastly, the chapter points out the inefficiencies in Germany's governance system, emphasizing the prominent and authoritative role of the Kaiser.
• 10:30 - 13:30: Political and Military Failures The chapter discusses the shortcomings of the military's takeover of governance, highlighting its lack of political and economic acumen, resulting in further interference and mismanagement. It also covers the strategic blunder of resuming unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, which backfired by failing to defeat Britain and provoking the entry of the United States into World War I. Despite these failures, Germany, supported by Austro-Hungary, achieved military victories over Russia, Serbia, Romania, and Italy between 1915 and 1917.
• 13:30 - 16:30: Long-term Consequences and Conclusion The chapter discusses the long-term consequences of wartime strategies and alliances. Despite limited resources, certain powers were able to produce vast quantities of weapons and innovate in fertilizer production, influencing alliances with the Ottomans and Bulgarians joining the Central Powers. The chapter also highlights the strategic missteps of the Allies, such as the inefficient use of resources and several failed offensives in different regions and time periods, which had adverse impacts on the war efforts.
• 16:30 - 25:00: Promotions and Call to Action This chapter discusses the strategic position of Germany and the Allies during World War I, particularly highlighting the disadvantage Germany faced as a weaker power compared to the Allies. The chapter notes that Germany's errors had a significant impact due to their precarious position in contrast to the Allies, who, strengthened by US involvement, had a promising outlook for victory by 1917. The chapter covers Germany’s recognition by late 1916 of its inability to secure a victory on the Western Front.

Why Germany Lost the First World War (Documentary) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 In November 1918, the German army was beaten and Germany in the grip of revolution. Less than a year earlier though, Germany and its allies controlled most of Eastern Europe, had defeated Russia, and outnumbered the British and French in the West. So why did Germany lose World War One? The German Empire entered the First World War in August 1914 with the most powerful army in the world - but by November 1918, it had been forced to sign an armistice on Allied terms and a revolution had replaced the Empire with a republic.
• 00:30 - 01:00 The explanation for Germany’s defeat in the last year of the war is not as simple as a numbers game. Yes, the Allies had more men and more money – and the longer the war lasted, the more likely it was the Allies would win, all things being equal. But nothing in history is inevitable, and all things were not equal. Germany lost its chance to win a quick victory in 1914 when the French won the Battle of the Marne, but the Central Powers may have had a chance to avoid total defeat.
• 01:00 - 01:30 As historian Holger Afflerbach put it: “It was impossible for Germany to win the war [after 1914]; but it required very grave mistakes to lose it.” Afflerbach 513 Both the Allies and Germans made good and bad decisions that shaped the war’s outcome – but only Germany’s decisions lay within its control, and it was by far the strongest member of the Central Powers so that’s why we’ll focus on them to explain Germany’s defeat in 1918.
• 01:30 - 02:00 Germany’s famous war plan in 1914, the Schlieffen Plan, might have been its best chance to win the war against a more powerful enemy alliance. But as 19th century Prussian General Helmuth von Moltke the Elder admitted in war, nothing is certain: “No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength.” (Hart 32) The German high command learned that lesson the hard way in August and September 1914.
• 02:00 - 02:30 German planners and commanders pushed their men past their limits, expected too much from the army they actually had, neglected logistics, and made critical operational mistakes. Coupled with a desperate and effective reaction by the French at the Marne, the result ensured the war would not be over quickly. To make matters worse for the Germans, they drew Britain into the war by violating Belgian neutrality. The wild gamble had gone wrong: France was still fighting, and now Britain was too, leaving the Central Powers to face the unhappy prospect of a long war.
• 02:30 - 03:00 Still, the Central Powers weren’t necessarily doomed to total defeat, even if outright victory was unlikely. Some historians argue they might have wrung out some sort of compromise peace even against stronger enemies. If it weren’t for more risks and mistakes they made from 1914 to 1917. • The High Command failed to effectively reassess its strategy after the defeats of 1914 and develop a coherent plan to win or at least force acceptable peace terms.
• 03:00 - 03:30 • The army wasted precious manpower in the failed Verdun offensive and flawed defensive tactics on the Somme in 1916. • Planners were unable to maintain food production to compensate for the effects of the Allied blockade. • Germany failed to properly manage its alliance: Austria-Hungary and Germany didn’t always coordinate their military operations, and Kaiser Karl even tried to start peace talks without the Germans knowing. • Germany’s system of governance was ineffective: the Kaiser had an important role in the system
• 03:30 - 04:00 but was weak, the military eventually took over but didn’t know how to run the economy or politics and interfered with those who did. • And another huge gamble that blew up in their faces was the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, which failed to knock Britain out of the war and brought in the United States. That’s not to say Germany didn’t have some successes. They (with Austro-Hungarian help) inflicted devastating defeats on Russia and Serbia in 1915, Romania in 1916, and Italy in 1917.
• 04:00 - 04:30 They managed, with far fewer resources, to produce enormous quantities of weapons, to develop new ways of producing fertilizer, and convinced the Ottomans and Bulgarians to join the Central Powers. The Allies also made mistakes of course: inefficient use of their greater resources, disastrous offensives in Lorraine and East Prussia in 1914, Gallipoli and Champagne in 1915, on the Somme in 1916, and in Flanders, on the Chemin des Dames, and in the Kerensky Offensive
• 04:30 - 05:00 in 1917. The difference was that as the weaker belligerent in a long war, Germany had no margin for error and every mistake brought it closer to defeat – the same was not true of the Allies. Their prospects for victory once the US joined in 1917 were intact, while the German high command admitted in late 1916 it could not defeat the Allies on land in the West. So, Germany failed to win a quick victory in 1914, then saw its chances for avoiding
• 05:00 - 05:30 defeat further reduced by mistakes in the following years. But then, the Bolshevik revolution in late 1917 gave Germany one last chance for avoiding defeat. And so Germany gambled once again. In December 1917, the Central Powers and Bolshevik Russia agreed to an armistice, and eventually signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in early 1918. With Russia out of the war, Germany now in control of vast territories in Eastern Europe, and American troops not yet in France in large numbers, Berlin had one last chance to influence
• 05:30 - 06:00 the outcome to the war. As German divisions moved from East to West in early 1918, the High Command prepared one more great gamble, and many in the Allied camp feared defeat. British Cabinet Secretary Maurice Hankey reported the worries of General John du Cane: “[Du Cane] envisages the possibility of the French army being smashed and cut off from us, the enemy demanding as a condition of peace the handing over of all the ports from Rouen and Havre to Dunkirk, and, in the event of a refusal, the remorseless hammering
• 06:00 - 06:30 of our Army by the whole German army. He […] considers that, if we wanted to go on with the war, we should have to face the prospect of a million prisoners in France.” Ferg 315 Some Germans had questioned what the coming offensives could achieve, like social democrat politician Philipp Scheidemann: “Suppose we were to take Calais and Paris. Suppose such a breakthrough were completely successful, would that mean peace?
• 06:30 - 07:00 […] we have overrun entire states, we have chased hostile governments from the land and yet we still have no peace.” Watson 515 Most Germans though, held out hope that victory was still within reach. On March 21, 1918, the German Army launched the so-called Kaiser’s Battle, or Operation Michael against the British 5th Army. More than 70 divisions supported by 6500 guns sliced into 34 British divisions in an attempt
• 07:00 - 07:30 to split the two Allied armies. German forces pushed the British back, took 75,000 prisoners, and achieved unheard of advances in the west since 1914. Ludendorff explained that he would set objectives as the attacks progressed: “In Russia we always merely set an intermediate objective, and then discovered where to go next.” Watson 517 But by April 5, the German drive had run out
• 07:30 - 08:00 of steam and the British, with French help, managed to stabilize the situation. The German High Command then unleashed a series of follow-up offensives against both British and French sectors: Operations Georgette in April, Blücher-Yorck in May, Gneisenau in June, and Friedensturm in July. In the end these last-ditch attacks all made serious dents in Allied lines, but they did not result in the capture of any significant strategic objectives, and they didn’t force
• 08:00 - 08:30 the British and French to ask for peace terms. The Western Front was not Russia, and the Allies managed to pool their reserves to stabilize the front, with General Ferdinand Foch taking overall command. The French then launched a major counteroffensive in July, which began to turn the tide for good. The British followed with their own attack on August 8, a day Ludendorff called “the Black Day of the German Army.” From then on, the Allies advanced without stopping during the so-called 100 Days Offensive,
• 08:30 - 09:00 and while the German army still fought back, it was a beaten force. The Allies also achieved crushing victories over the Ottomans, Bulgarians, and Austro-Hungarians in the closing phase of the war, meaning that even if Germany could somehow hold out for longer in the west, it was completely unable to defend itself in the south and southeast. In October Ludendorff told Berlin to ask for an armistice since the war was lost, and the fighting came to an end November 11, 1918.
• 09:00 - 09:30 So, what happened in that critical period that resulted not in the German victory General Du Cane and others feared, but in a clear military defeat? The German offensives from March to July broke their own army without gaining a decisive victory. In March and April alone, they lost 280,000 casualties. By the end of July, the figure was 977,000 – and the killed and wounded were disproportionately from Germany’s best units, including the famous Stormtroopers.
• 09:30 - 10:00 German soldier Frederick Meisel described the heavy losses: “French shells began to hit to the right and left of us, leaving human forms writhing in agony. Our advance came to a stop and […] soon the French drumfire engulfed us, the air was filled with gas and flying pieces of steel. […] I reached for my gas mask, pulled it out of its container - then noticed to my horror that a splinter had gone through it leaving a large hole. […] I felt like an animal cornered by hunters.
• 10:00 - 10:30 […] I leapt at [a man whose wound I had just bound] and in the next moment had ripped his gas mask from his face. […] The last thing I saw before putting on the mask were his pleading eyes.” (Hart 433) Germany needed 200,000 replacements every month, but each month only saw 70,000 recovered wounded and plus an average of 25,000 new recruits. These losses caused overall German strength to fall from 5.1 million men in March to just
• 10:30 - 11:00 4 million men six months later. Meanwhile, the Allies were growing stronger, even without Russia. The British released reserves they had held in Britain, and by the end of the year, nearly two million Americans were in France. Even if the Americans played a lesser role in combat, their presence was important. German rifle strength had outnumbered the Allies by 1.57 million to 1.35 million in April, but by November there were just 866,000 German rifles facing 1.49 million Allied.
• 11:00 - 11:30 (Ayers 104) German commanders kept shifting priorities once each drive ran out of momentum. If the Germans had taken rail hubs like Amiens or Hazebrouck, they could have seriously threatened Allied logistics. Major Wilhelm von Leeb was critical of the Army High Command, or OHL: “OHL has changed direction. It has made its decisions according to the size of territorial gain, rather than operational
• 11:30 - 12:00 goals.” Keegan 404 The Germans had effective stormtrooper infantry tactics and innovative artillery tactics thanks to artillery officer Georg Bruchmüller, but they couldn’t turn them into a campaign-winning strategy. The Allies, on the other hand, adapted and collaborated. When the German offensive threatened the Allied positions, the British government released reserves from the home front. The Americans, who had insisted until now on keeping their army together, agreed to lend out some of their divisions to the French and British.
• 12:00 - 12:30 The French transferred forces to the British to stop Michael in March. British commander Douglas Haig, who had until now opposed being under French command, agreed to serve under French General Ferdinand Foch, who took over as Supreme Commander of Allied forces. And the Allies were better at the most modern form of warfare: combined arms war using the latest industrial weapons on a mass scale. Germany had invented all sorts of new weapons technology, from poison gas to flamethrowers,
• 12:30 - 13:00 but the Allies beat the Germans at their own game. They had 800 hundred tanks in the field while the Germans had about 20, had 4500 aircraft to the Germans’ 3700, 18,000 guns to Germany’s 14,000, and 100,000 motor vehicles to move supplies – of which the Germans only had 30,000. (Ferg 290) France alone produced about 50% more planes than Germany in 1918, caught up to the Germans in terms of the quality of heavy artillery, and surpassed Germany in
• 13:00 - 13:30 artillery pulled by tractors, and available shells per battery. Historian David Steveson summed up the shift: „The Allies won the technological race (…), and overtook their enemies not only in numbers but also in fighting power. In the process they pioneered the characteristic forms of later twentieth-century warfare…” (S. 243) Stevenson Although the German army was beaten, it was still fighting in fall 1918 and Allied planners fully expected to fight on to complete victory in 1919.
• 13:30 - 14:00 Instead, Germany suffered a devastating collapse in morale that ended the war sooner. Even before the spring offensives began, many German troops had lost hope, and this only got stronger as 1918 went on. Up to 180,000 German troops deserted on route to France or while on leave in 1918. When they advanced in the field, some infamously stopped to plunder Allied supplies, but they also began attacking their own supply trains for food.
• 14:00 - 14:30 British military intelligence also noticed the change based on prisoner interrogations: “The belief is prevalent among officers and men that Germany cannot now win the war.” Watson 527 After the offensives failed, surrenders became common, including groups or even whole units. This wave of surrenders accelerated until the November 11 armistice, as the army continued to slowly disintegrate. In just the last three months of the war, nearly 400,000 German troops surrendered – by
• 14:30 - 15:00 some counts, almost as many French troops as had surrendered in the entire war. Many within the rank and file became convinced that fighting no longer served Germany’s interests, just those of the high command, the monarchy, and war profiteers, the so-called Schwindler: “The main thing is that the Schwindel and the killing stop. It doesn’t matter to us, if we end up German or French.” (Zkora 124) Others were more likely to surrender because
• 15:00 - 15:30 they felt disoriented as units suffered such heavy losses that they lost cohesion and group loyalty. Overall, the army suffered a nominal loss rate of 140% in just over eight months – so if a unit had 1000 men in January 1918, by October, including all the new recruits and replacements who joined in that time, a total of 1400 men were wounded. And commanders often threw the remnants of depleted units together instead of building them back up with replacements.
• 15:30 - 16:00 Unit cohesion suffered even more because the military regime shuttled hundreds of thousands of men between the field army and industry as short-term priorities changed. (Zkora 141) At the same time, soldiers, sailors and civilians inside Germany had had enough as well. Workers suffering from malnutrition and war-weariness went on strike, and navy sailors mutinied rather than sail out for a final suicide mission against the more powerful Royal Navy. Public anger turned against the Kaiser and military who had led them into the war, and
• 16:00 - 16:30 a full-fledged revolution in early November forced Wilhelm to abdicate and flee to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the Allies renewed their propaganda efforts on the home front, better managed relations with labour unions, and took advantage of the morale boost from American troopships arriving in France to make sure that even fragile states like Italy held on. Of course, millions of Germans, military and civilian, wanted to keep fighting. But millions did not, and that tipped the balance.
• 16:30 - 17:00 As the crisis deepened, Germany’s top generals at first insisted victory was just around the corner, In the late summer, they panicked and admitted defeat, a cycle they repeated more than once in the second half of the year. In mid-August, Ludendorff and Hindenburg informed the Kaiser and Chancellor Georg von Hertling that Germany could not win the war. Ludendorff then changed his mind on this question, but after the collapse of Bulgaria in late September, he announced on October 3 that Berlin had to seek an armistice since the
• 17:00 - 17:30 war was irretrievably lost. He also told Hindenburg that he had no confidence in the troops, since, in his view, they’d been infected by socialism. The German high command had led the army into disastrous offensives, and now undermined what was left of morale by admitting defeat so suddenly. Historian David Stevenson summed up the impact: “The German Army, for all its virtuosity, was let down by a failure of generalship.” Stevenson 78 So, 1918 saw the German army defeated in the field, and a general German collapse in morale,
• 17:30 - 18:00 but it also saw the failure of German wartime politics. From 1916, the German military established an informal dictatorship, and they turned out to be pretty bad at governing. Different interest groups among the German civilian and military elites struggled to give the war a coherent meaning, and none of them really succeeded. The army high command generally saw no political solution to the war and so insisted on, and
• 18:00 - 18:30 mistakenly believed in, their own military superiority until it was too late to avoid defeat. The Kaiser and the High Command stuck to maximalist war aims at the cost of a potentially more effective strategy. They still insisted on annexing Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of France until summer 1918. Ludendorff and Hindenburg even forced Foreign Minister Richard von Kühlmann to resign when he said that the war could not be decided by military means alone. These rigid objectives were at odds with Germany’s allies like Austria-Hungary, who wanted peace
• 18:30 - 19:00 as soon as possible starting in 1916. The Allies coordinated far better, aligning their positions on Alsace-Lorraine, the breakup of Austria-Hungary, and the League of Nations – even though of course some of this consensus would break down after the war. And although Germany won in the East in 1918, the high command kept hundreds of thousands of German troops tied up occupying the territories they had forced Russia to give them, leaving
• 19:00 - 19:30 fewer resources for the campaign in the west. In the turmoil of the former Russian imperial territories, the German authorities weren’t even able to extract the food they needed from the lands they’d conquered, even after the so-called “Bread Peace” with the new Ukrainian state. These policies were at odds with the desire of most regular Germans for peace, like this soldier in fall 1918: “Why didn’t we dispatch a [peace] note, when our offensives had their greatest success? No!
• 19:30 - 20:00 Now, when we are taking it on the chin, they want to make peace again. Just like in December of 1916.” (Phd 121) On the home front, the military leadership consistently turned to coercion as a tool of governance against strikers and other unhappy citizens. When Chancellor von Hertling told Ludendorff about the brewing unrest in September, the Quartermaster General simply replied that more repression was required. Austria-Hungary did the same, constantly seeking to root out disloyal Slavs, executing thousands
• 20:00 - 20:30 of its own Ukrainian citizens on suspicion of having Russian sympathies, and moving 7 divisions to the interior to keep order against roaming deserters. Germany also failed to react to crises and support its allies in 1918. Austria-Hungary was suffering from extreme hunger (in the Austrian half of the empire), but what little food the Central Powers did get from Ukraine went mostly to Germany. Ludendorff famously had a breakdown when the Bulgarian front collapsed, since by gambling
• 20:30 - 21:00 everything on the west and leaving large occupation forces in the East, Germany had nothing left to support the Austrians in Italy or the Bulgarians in the Balkans. The Allies on the other hand, had leaders who were flawed but more legitimate and more representative of the men in the frontlines and the people in the factories at home. President’s Wilson’s message that the war was a crusade of democracy was more effective as a result. They also used their command of the sea and good relations with neutrals like the US (until
• 21:00 - 21:30 1917) and Argentina to help feed and fund the war effort, and for example, support Italy and France in their worst moments of economic and military crisis. The German Empire waged a war of risks from 1914 to 1918, a war that ended in bitter defeat. Berlin took these risks because it was the weaker side, but none of them could stave off total defeat. The final gamble in spring 1918 also ultimately failed: the high command had no strategic
• 21:30 - 22:00 goals, the army was beaten in the field by a superior enemy, the generals admitted defeat, and the other Central Powers collapsed. The home front collapse did indeed help end the war, but given the army was beaten, in retreat and disintegrating due to poor morale, here was no stab in the back as Ludendorff and the Nazis later claimed. That myth, however, would help convince many Germans they’d never lost, with deadly consequences
• 22:00 - 22:30 for the next World War. In 1945 however, the Allies didn’t stop before the German borders to avoid the mistakes of 1918. In early 1945 the Allies set their eyes on the Rhine in Western Germany and the Red Army was gearing up for their Berlin Operation. The Battle of the Rhineland would be the last set-piece battle in the west, and the Battle of Berlin the last one in the East. Millions of Allied soldiers stood at the ready to bring the Third Reich to its knees and the last German reserves would have to defend.
• 22:30 - 23:00 If you are curious about these two often overlooked battles, we produced two World War 2 documentary series that together run for more than 8 hours. In Rhineland 45 we cover the Battle for the lower Rhine from the Reichswald at the border until the Allied crossing of the Rhine that involved the biggest single day paratrooper landing of the entire war. In 16 Days in Berlin we document the entire two week Battle of Berlin day by day. Both documentary series were filmed on original location, feature expert guests like Ian from
• 23:00 - 23:30 Forgotten Weapons or David Willey from the Tank Museum and they show the Second World War in an uncompromising way that wouldn’t be possible to show on YouTube. So where can you watch 16 Days in Berlin and Rhineland 45? On Nebula, a streaming service we built together with other creators. On Nebula we don’t have to worry about the algorithm or advertiser guidelines and the viewers there support us directly simply by watching our videos – which by the way are ad-free and usually uploaded earlier than on YouTube.
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• 24:30 - 25:00 I am Jesse Alexander and this is a production of Real Time History. The only history channel that is also sick of the Schwindlers on YouTube.