modern history

Summer 1918. The last German offensive failed to break the Allies. Unrest bordering on revolution at home spread demoralization to the German army. The central Powers’s alliance was crumbling with Turkey exhausted, Bulgaria beaten, and Austro-Hungary trying to work its own armistice with the Allies.

The situation was ripe for a decisive Allied victory if only they would have the will to launch a great offensive. But who would want to press on the fighting when the war is obviously nearing its end?

Failure to reach a decisive military victory, coupled with vindictive terms of armistice imposed upon the German would undo all the sacrifices paid on the battlefields, sowing the seeds for the next great war in Europe.

In early 1918 Germany was nearing the end of its tether, with a stalemate on the battlefield and growing unrest at home. Nevertheless, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia freed half a million German soldiers to fight on the Western Front. With the impeding arrival of the Americans in the conflict Germany had no choice but launch a vast offensive to break the Allies before the fall or all would be lost. And so started a race against time for the Germans.