A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

The Final Stages of the War 921

Allied side. Ludendorff hurled all available reserves into the battle. It

looked as though the Germans would take the Channel ports. The Germans
bombarded the French capital with their giant gun, “Big Bertha,” which
could lob shells, each weighing up to a ton, twenty-four miles through the
air before they fell to earth with deadly impact. Late in May 1918, the
offensive pushed French troops back to Reims, and then as close to Paris
as the Marne River in early June. The French stopped the German advance
short of Paris. In the gloom of the Allied headquarters, French Marshal
Ferdinand Foch (1851 — 1929) assumed command of the combined French,
British, and American armies.
However, the Germans had outrun their cover and supplies, and faced
fresh Allied reserves. On July 15, 1918, another major German attack was
repulsed. Ludendorff’s offensive, which he viewed as the last chance to
win the war, had failed. France was not about to negotiate for an armistice.
Morale plunged in Germany, amid extreme shortages of food, gas, and elec­
tricity. Rationing became more stringent and black markets spread. Infla­
tion was rampant, pushed by the circulation of more paper money, as gold
and silver were withdrawn to prevent hoarding. In January 1918, 400,000
workers in Berlin went on strike, demanding a democratization of the gov­
ernment and peace. Carefully couched criticism of the war and of Kaiser
William II began to appear in the press. Socialists became bolder. Demon­
strations took place in several cities, including Berlin.
The Allies counterattacked in July 1918. The British used their tanks
with increasing effectiveness to go over craters and barbed wire and to pro­
tect the advancing infantry. Coordinated attacks on the German lines
began on August 8, 1918, when the British moved forward eight miles north
of the Somme River. A month later, the Germans had been pushed back to
the positions they had held at the start of the Ludendorff spring offensive.
The Allies were now confident that they would win the war, probably in
1919 if all went well. Ludendorff advised the kaiser to press for an armistice
before it was too late. With the Allies gaining ground, on October 4, 1918,
Germany’s new chancellor, Prince Max von Baden (1867-1929), a liberal
monarchist, asked President Wilson for an armistice based on the American
president’s call for “peace without victory.” The Reichstag passed laws mak­
ing ministers responsible to it and not to the kaiser. It was a revolution of
sorts. Given the circumstances, Kaiser William II could do virtually nothing.
The situation for the Central Powers worsened on the Italian front. His
armies in retreat, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Charles I seemed little inclined
nor able to continue the war as desertions mounted. There was now little
doubt that the defeat of Germany and Austria-Hungary was near.

The Fourteen Points and Peace

On January 8, 1918, in an address to a joint session of the U.S. Senate and

House of Representatives, President Wilson set out a blueprint for permanent