Book contents
- On a Knife Edge
- Cambridge Military Histories
- On a Knife Edge
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Hubris
- Part II Climax: At the Apex of War
- Part III Nemesis: The Defeat of the Central Powers and the Destruction of the European Order
- 14 Military Developments in the First Half of 1917
- 15 The First Russian Revolution and the Opportunity for a Peace Agreement with the Russian Democracy
- 16 ‘War Psychosis’? The Reichstag’s Peace Offer and Bethmann Hollweg’s Demission
- 17 ‘The Unmasking of the Central Powers’?
- 18 ‘Glorious, but Hopeless’: Germany’s Position at the Turn of the Year 1917/18
- 19 ‘Ludendorff’s Hammer’: The Western Offensive of 1918
- 20 ‘Now the War Was Lost’: The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
- 21 ‘Savage in Victory, Contemptuous in Defeat’: Germany’s Route out of the War
- The Final Reckoning: A Terrible Debt that Must Be Paid
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index: People
- Index: Places
18 - ‘Glorious, but Hopeless’: Germany’s Position at the Turn of the Year 1917/18
from Part III - Nemesis: The Defeat of the Central Powers and the Destruction of the European Order
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2022
- On a Knife Edge
- Cambridge Military Histories
- On a Knife Edge
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Hubris
- Part II Climax: At the Apex of War
- Part III Nemesis: The Defeat of the Central Powers and the Destruction of the European Order
- 14 Military Developments in the First Half of 1917
- 15 The First Russian Revolution and the Opportunity for a Peace Agreement with the Russian Democracy
- 16 ‘War Psychosis’? The Reichstag’s Peace Offer and Bethmann Hollweg’s Demission
- 17 ‘The Unmasking of the Central Powers’?
- 18 ‘Glorious, but Hopeless’: Germany’s Position at the Turn of the Year 1917/18
- 19 ‘Ludendorff’s Hammer’: The Western Offensive of 1918
- 20 ‘Now the War Was Lost’: The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
- 21 ‘Savage in Victory, Contemptuous in Defeat’: Germany’s Route out of the War
- The Final Reckoning: A Terrible Debt that Must Be Paid
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index: People
- Index: Places
Summary
The chapter analyses the general mood in Germany at the end of 1917, the deep desire for peace, and the general view that only military victory in the west could bring the peace, because it was considered that the Allied Powers refused negotiations and their war aims were made open by the Bolshevik government publishing the secret agreements between the Allied Powers. This chapter concludes with Delbrueck’s retrospective observation that Germany was already lost, despite having won in the east: a policy of understanding and negotiation did not work, and neither did the offensives with which Germany tried to end the war.
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- On a Knife EdgeHow Germany Lost the First World War, pp. 324 - 343Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022