Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Instructions
1. Choose a question to which you want to respond. Each question is attached as a post. Your post of 250-300 words goes as a "comment" to that post.
2. For your comment of 100-150 words, in the title put your name and to which student's post you are responding. For example, "Valerie commenting on Zlatka's Post". Put it in the section labeled "Comments to Question #__ ". Do NOT put your comments in the same section where you put your original posts.
ALSO... do NOT go back to previous questions. I will no longer look at those.
2. For your comment of 100-150 words, in the title put your name and to which student's post you are responding. For example, "Valerie commenting on Zlatka's Post". Put it in the section labeled "Comments to Question #__ ". Do NOT put your comments in the same section where you put your original posts.
ALSO... do NOT go back to previous questions. I will no longer look at those.
Grading Periods
6th six weeks...last set!
Choose ONE question (#13-15) to answer in a 250-300 work post. Due Friday May 24.
Choose ONE question (#13-15) to answer in a 250-300 work post. Due Friday May 24.
Germany was the most prepared during WWI to fight the war as a total war. Other nations enabled some tactics to prepare for “total war”, but only Germany covered all aspects of “total war”.
ReplyDeleteGermany had a conscription, which allowed them to utilize their manpower effectively in fighting their enemies on both fronts. Germany also utilized their civilian life, specifically women, which can be seen in their significant increase in employing women, which during the war reached 700,000 women. Civilians were targeted in order to ensure victory by removing them from agricultural work to work in factories and ensure military supplies. The government also used all weapons, including their expanded navy with naval vessels, specifically submarines, as well as tanks, and aircrafts. Another aspect of “total war” was the development of further technology during the war, such as chlorine and phosphorus gas, which was not available to all countries at this time. Food blockades were in place among the civilians to ensure that supplies were not being wasted at the time of war, which shows the governmental control of the economy to benefit the war. They also controlled the media by censoring what information about the war was released to the public, which created a nationwide shock when it was announced that Germany lost the war. In general, their war aims were to use any strategy necessary to ensure victory.
Therefore, since Germany enabled all of the necessary components of “total war”, they were the best prepared for this type of war. Had it not been for their poor decisions in regards to their allies, and their use of supplies and manpower, they would have been able to win the war. (B. McCune, 281)
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI do agree that Germany was the most prepared to fight a ‘total war’, but I also question Germany. Though Germany was equipped to fight a ‘total war’, when the British created the tank this caused a huge problem for Germany. The reason being, at this point in time Germany did not have the intellectual leaders or designs to build a tank, meaning that they did not have tanks and did not have so until after WW1 (1930’s). So thus this leads me to my question, Does this mean that since Germany was not prepared to or could not defend itself against the tanks that they were not fully prepared?’ If we went into depth, the definition of being prepared is to be properly expectant or equipped; this would mean that Germany itself was not prepared for ‘total war’, which would both contradict and rule out both your statement and my first sentence of this paragraph, and answer my question with a ‘Yes’. Correct?
DeleteSymone Magee - 155
Kaliah commenting on Brittany’s post
DeleteYes I agree with you in saying that Germany utilized all of the necessary components of total war and they were best prepared for total war. This in turn caused Germany to suffer the most losses in the military and civilians. About 750,00 civilians died of malnutrition during the war and even more died after the war. Germany was unorganized in running the economy during the war and unprepared to supplement losses and over usage of material during the war. They were not prepared to fight for as long as they did as I said once before which caused all of the problems that occurred. Another problem that they had was that they used propaganda to gain the support of the people who in turn helped foot the expenses of war by rationing and other things. This became an issue as the war progressed and people found out about the defeats Germany endured and they kind of felt as If all their efforts had maybe gone to waste. The German government was beginning to lose support and people were not as enthusiastic about helping. As a result of these issues they were ultimately defeated.
word count-199
Germany was the most prepared to fight WWI as a total war.
ReplyDeleteEspecially Germany‘s public enthusiasm, along with their clever use of Propaganda, made it possible for Germany to have a big and powerful army. Germany, compared to other countries like Great Britain, did not have a social barrier for people to join the army. Before WWI Germany‘s army had approximately 800,000 men, but already in August 1914 the number increased by 28%, having a total of 2.9 million men in the German army.
Germany also made use of new technology in order to prepare the country for a Total War.
1906 Germany was number 5 of the naval tonnage, but already in 1914 they made it possible to be second, closely behind Britain.
By 1914 Germany had 12 airships, and 17 Dreadnoughts, as opposed to France who only had 4.
Germany also had the most effective Trench system because their system had deep shelters that made it possible to resist enemy artillery fire.
But not only was Germany technological the most advanced and efficient, they also educated the public in a way that changed civilian life, but prepared Germany for a total war. During WWI Germany was also employing 700,000 women in the munitions factory, and economically Germany shifted from agricultural production to industry production. Even children were used in order to make it possible for Germany to completely focus on a war. Children, especially young girls often had the role of a mother because their mother would be working in the industry, while their father would fight in the War.
It can be seen that by having excellent use of new technology, by having the biggest army, and efficiently controlling public opinion, Germany was the country that was the most prepared to fight a total war.
(Juliane Berger, 298)
Soumya Srivastava
ReplyDeleteOut of all the countries participating in World War I Germany was the one prepared to fight in “total war” because of public support, and technology.
Germany use of advance technology helped fight against the allies and with weapons like battle cruisers, battleships, and their navy vessels like the submarines which used torpedoes. The Germans used torpedoes to blow up ships carrying supplies from America to Britain which heavily damaged their enemies. Also things like machine guns which had the fire-power of 100 guns. Large field guns that had a long range and could damage the enemy quite heavily, and their use of Mustard gas which led to death in 5 weeks was smart and deadly. Planes were also used for the first time; they delivered bombs and later became fighter aircraft armed with machine guns, bombs and sometimes cannons.
Public support was also a powerful tool used effectively by the Germans. Propaganda was a heavily relied tool that ensured that the people only got to know what their governments wanted them to know. Newspapers were expected to print what the government wanted the reader to read. Nationalism also insured that they would be soldiers available to fight anytime. Another thing was war German journalist Matthias Erzberger established the Zentralstelle für Auslandsdienst (Central Office for Foreign Services), which concerned itself with distributing propaganda to neutral nations (especially after the invasion of Belgium).The German government also heavily employed the Wolff Telegraph Bureau as a means of international propaganda. After the British had cut Germany’s undersea telegraph cables, the Germans turned to their wireless Nauen station (the most powerful transmitting station in the world) to continue a constant feed of pro-German news reports to the world.
Overall technology and public support were some of the reason why they were ready to fight.
word count 300
I would say that the country that was most prepared to fight WWI as a “total war” was Germany due to all the war preparations it had and its massive army. Germany already has a large army, and therefore wanted to improve its navy so that it would be as big as, if not better, Great Britain’s navy. In the 1890s, Germany wasn’t even a great power with little to none ships. By 1914, Germany was only behind Britain in terms of a navy. While Britain may have been slightly ahead of Germany concerning the navy, Britain only had a small volunteer army whereas Germany had a much larger one due to the draft it implemented. Germany’s economic success is partially due to it mobilizing women to work; there was a 500% increase in women employed in armaments compared to earlier years, the amount of children aged 14-16 that were working in a chemical plant also increased by about 225%. This increase in women working helped toward Germany having a war-ready country. Nationalism was also a factor for why Germany was well-prepared. Britain, while a strong and proud nation, prided itself on being isolationist and not meddling with people’s affairs. Part of Germany’s success came from its people supporting the goals that Germany had, and supporting their home country in general – something which Great Britain didn’t have because prior to WWI, because it was isolationist and only right before WWI did it attempt to go make more allies. Once war actually started, technology allowed Germany to build better weapons which they could do due to their economy which were mostly women workers during the time of WWI.
ReplyDeleteWord count: 277
Eli Diaz
ReplyDeleteGermany and Britain were the ONLY countries that were able to have to capacity to wage full-out, total war due to their massive industrial prowess. Due to this, they would be able to sustain a war of that type.
For Germany, its industrial revolution was surpassing that of Britain by the 1900’s with it having the strongest economy in Europe and second strongest in the World shown by the fact it was surpassing Britain in iron production and producing the second largest amount of battleships in the world. Because of the powerful economy, they would be able to sustain the huge war effort Total War called for. The country of Germany could see a war looming on the horizon due to the brushfire wars that were being fought, and even thought the people did not expect it, they were willing to support and to prepare for war, whether it be a Total or Limited war.
As for Britain, the same could be said. They also had a powerful economy that could be converted into a war economy. Not to mention at the end of the war they were being starved out by Germany which meant Britain stockpiling on top of trading with its great empire. It was always prepared actually, because it wasn’t until the brushfire room bloomed into a full it out war that threatened in national security did it even enter it. Britain knew the war was getting larger and larger due to the actions of Germany and it declaring war causing a bunch of other countries to intervene. As the hyperpower, it had to.
Words: 269
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI believe that no country was prepare for the long and bloody war of WWI, but if there was one country that was most prepare for total war,it was Germany.
ReplyDeleteGermany was prepared in the most important aspects: militarily, politically, economically, and socially.
Germany had a big,powerful, and competent army. Germany had an army of around 3 million men by 1914. Apart from being a large and an efficient army, the army was equipped with some of the best technologically advanced weapons, which include aircraft like the Albatros D series or machine guns like the maxim gun. The pre devised but fail Schlieffen Plan demonstrates that Germany had a plan and was ready for war.
The government took a very important role as it focused the country in full war efforts. The policies enacted by the government fueled nationalism and promoted industry. The government made sure that all of their citizens had strong nationalistic feelings, which n high german moral and involvement/participation of everyone. This can be seen from the structured nationalist educational system that was implemented to the employment of women in the industry, among others. Politics influence people, so it’s closely related to the social aspect. The social aspect also accounts for the preparation of total war, as the public took an active and supportive role. It can also be concluded that the public was swayed by heavy dose of propaganda that was administered by the government. The increase in government guidance as well as people support also allowed,even prior to the war and continuing onward,
Germany to have a strong economy-which helped with overall war costs.
Germany’s ability to focus in war in various aspects is what allowed it to be most prepared.
Word Count 290
I agree with you that no country was ready for WWI.
DeleteWhen it comes to Germany, it was some what prepared to go to war. Yes Germany was prepared in the most important aspects: militarily, politically, economically, and socially but when the British created the tank this caused a huge problem for Germany so Germany did not have " good leaders" you can say in order to build tanks so they had none till later on. So i believe that Germany was not prepared since it didn't have enough defense. I do not completely agree with the statement you made of "
The government took a very important role as it focused the country in full war efforts" because it did up to a point but not completely. I believe that what helped it be kind off prepared was the various aspects of to focus in war, as well as the strong economy which helped paid off also the increase in governments guidance.
Word count- 163
While many of the European countries were at their peak prior to World War one, only Germany’s battle preparedness was thought out and calculated. At the time of World War One, Germany had the most modern, efficient and updated army in Europe. In addition to that, Germany also had fine tuned its internal infrastructure – railroads were in abundance across Germany so Germany could transport its fabulous army to whatever battlefront it needed to fight on. Germany had also been expanding its military through creating a navy. The German navy was not as feared as the British navy, but the German navy had a large quantity of dreadnaughts and used U boats through World War One under the tactic of “unrestricted submarine warfare”. While Germany was extremely well prepared in fighting battles, what it lacked was sheer mass and sustenance. With the lack of males at home, women were encouraged to work in the factory to stock the troops with weaponry as well as ration food to send to the soldiers. New technology, such as the previously mentioned U boats and dreadnaughts, as well as tanks, machine guns, and poison gas, gave Germany a lead in battle preparedness. Germany also began to use new battle front techniques, such as trench warfare, to optimize the amount of enemy casualties, and considered victories with the amount of land an army was able to progress in yards rather than miles. This conviction to win led to what is now considered “total warfare”. While Germany’s achievements were impressive, they were incredibly destructive to Europe.
ReplyDeleteword count - 267 words
Germany was the country most prepared to fight WW1 as a total war country. It is important to note what it means to fight in "total war". Total war maeans to fight on all fronts, using all millitary,civillan,and government resouorces. Germany was supported in the war by their country as a whole, therefore it was easier for them to fight in total war. The civillians in Germany were more enthusiastic about giving the army their resources,being that all imports from Europe had ceased. Yes, the economy in Germany was bad due to the lack of organization to foot the wartime bill, but the people felt as if they were doing their part in the war. Men were more enthusiastic about joining the millitary. They looked at this as being honorable.With an entire country behind them Germany's access to resources of any type were in abundance. Although they had support from the people the reality was that Germany was being defeated in WW1 and were beginning to lose the favor of the people. Germany was the most prepared for total war but they were not prepared for a war that would last more than a few months.
ReplyDeleteword count-200 words