REASONS FOR THE DEFEAT OF CENTRAL POWERS/GERMANY IN WORLD WAR I OR REASONS FOR THE TRIUMPH OF ALLIED POWERS IN WORLD WAR I

Background
World war I was basically fought between two belligerent camps i.e. the triple alliance and triple entente.
Germany and Austria-Hungary were the core members of the triple alliance and were called the central powers. France, Britain and Russia were the dominant members of the triple entente and were known as allied powers. Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria joined the central powers and USA joined the allied powers in 1917 after the withdrawal of Russia. Italy, though a member of the triple alliance changed camp and fought on the side of the triple entente. The war also involved colonies and other powers who joined either of the camps. The central powers began the war with much vigour and successes but failed to sustain the war in the long run. They were overpowered with massive losses and by 1918 all had surrendered. This was due to political, social and economic factors.
l. Military superiority of allied powers accounts for their success against central powers/Germany. The allied powers had better military equipments like tanks that were first used by the British, sophisticated fighter jets and airplanes for spying on the position of troops of central powers. The central powers were militarily inferior which made them to lose several battles. The range of the German U-boats were short and inflicted maximum damage on civilians than allied troops, which attracted negative public outcry against the central powers. The Germans tried to use poison gas but abandoned it after realizing that winds were blowing it back to their own base. Besides, German allies like Turkey, Austria-Hungary ar. ' Bulgaria were so weak that Germany would occasionally divert her troops to help them against the a' .d powers.
This diverted the German army and led to lack of concentration yet Germany was fighting cu two fronts i. e. The Western front against Belgium, France and Britain and the Eastern front against Russia.
2. The naval superiority of allied powers also explains the defeat of central powers/Germany. The allied powers were boosted by Britain who had the best dreadnaughts and battleships manned by well drilled and experienced naval officers. These were effectively used to block Germany and her allies from accessing most European waters, which limited their combat operations to the mainland. Imports and exports involving central powers were therefore severely reduced, which worsened economic crisis and weakened them militarily. The British navy also demolished several German squadrons and U-boats on the Atlantic Ocean e.g. A very dangerous German squadron commanded by Admiral Graf that had inflicted severe damage on British ships on the coast of South America was finally crushed in Dec 1914. Thereafter, the several German squadrons that were scattered throughout the world were hunted down and demolished.
Naval superiority made allied powers to effectively control European waters and freely move troops to any theatre of war unlike the central powers, which made the defeat of the central powers inevitable.
3. The reckless German submarine war fare strategy also contributed to the defeat of Germany and her allies. The Germans used unrestricted U-boat warships that were banned in Europe because of their destructive nature. From mid 1915, the Germans without any preliminary warning recklessly used U-boats to sink any ship be it for civilians, merchants, traders, refugees, soldiers or passengers as long as it was sighted in the war zone. The U-boats even sunk ships of neutral countries like Spain, Portugal and USA.
This led to death of several innocent civilians’ traders and refugees e.g. in May 1915; the Germans sunk the British ship (Lusitania) in which over 1000 passengers including 100 American citizens perished. This created a public outcry in America to punish Germany for the wanton massacre that made USA to join the war on the side of allies and defeat Germany. On the other hand, German's overreliance on U-boats was unsustainable by 1918. The allies countered it with the "Convoy system" which rendered the U-boat strategy ineffective hence accounting for Germany's defeat.
4. The German invasion of Belgium in 1914 was a military blunder that contributed to the defeat of the central powers. On 4^ Aug 1914, Germany invaded Belgium and attacked France. This was an outright violation of the 1839 London treaty in which the great powers had pledged to respect the neutrality and independence of Belgium. This portrayed Germany as an aggressive imperial power that does not respect international treaties. It irritated European powers most especially Britain who joined the war purposely to safeguard the 1839 London treaty, which had guaranteed Belgium's independence. Thereafter, Britain used her naval power to blockade Germany in European waters, which conditioned German's defeat by 1918.
5. Poor planning based on misconception created by the Schleinffen plan also contributed to
Germany's defeat in World War I. The German war plan was devised by her chief of general staff. Count Von Schleinffen in which German troops were to quickly march through Belgium into France, overrun Paris and defeat France in about 6 weeks. Thereafter, the victorious troops were to rush to the East and defeat the 'inferior and backward' Russia in a few days. However the plan was a fiasco right from the moment it was tried. First of all, the war started with Russia on 1st Aug before France later on the 3rd.
Secondly, the Belgians waged a strong resistance and the quick march to France was a dream. Thirdly, the inferior and backward' Russians advanced much faster and attacked East Prussia, which prompted the Germans to divert over 4 more divisions from France to the East. This disorganized and weakened German forces right from the onset and retarded their effectiveness.
6. Numerical superiority of allied powers also contributed to the defeat of Germany and her allies. The allied camp had more states including large and highly populated countries like Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Japan, USA etc. They were boosted by common wealth forces and vast colonies possessed by allied powers. On the other hand, Germany and her allies had very few colonies compared to those possessed by allied powers. Out of German allies, only Austria was militarily stronger while Turkey and Bulgaria were militarily inferior. The scale of the war subjected the four central powers to fight the whole world, which was impossible considering the fact that they were numerically disadvantaged.
7. The entry of USA on the side of allies boosted the allies and contributed to the speedy defeat of the central powers. In 1917, USA joined the allies against Germany partly to avenge the death of about 100 American citizens in the British ship Lusitania that was destroyed by German U-boat in 1915. Prior to 1917, USA had accumulated a lot of financial gains through sale of war related equipments and she was the most stable nation. It should be noted that by April 1917, the war had reached a stalemate where either side could not make significant gains and win. However, USA's entrance reinforced allied powers with financial and military backing at a time when both camps were exhausted and fatigued. It also helped to fill the gap left by Russia's withdrawal and that explains why the central powers failed to take advantage of it by making rapid gains, which could have won for them the war.
8. Encirclement of Germany by 1917 greatly contributed to the defeat of central powers. From 1916, the allies launched three simultaneous attacks from the Western, Eastern and Italian fronts. Americans launched a full scale invasion of Germans near Verdum, British used heavy tanks to shell German troops Amiens and Arras, and Canadians attacked German troops who had earlier on taken over Ypress. French and Belgians intensified their attacks in the North of France. This encirclement overstretched and scattered the German troops and made the defeat of central powers inevitable since Germany was the only active member by 1918.
9. High spirit of patriotism and nationalism also contributed to the success of allied powers against Germany and her allies. Allied nations like Britain, France and Italy were led by democrats who instilled the spirit of patriotism and nationalism in their subjects. Their leaders used the mass media to mobilize all abled bodied persons to fight and defeat the central powers. For instance, in 1916 when the Germans attacked the main military base of French forces at Verdum, Marshall Potein, the French commander issued an inspiring call to his troops that "they shall not pass". This call became the French patriotic slogan that inspired confidence and resilience in French troops, which made the Germans to be ejected from France.
10. The role of charismatic leadership also contributed to the success of allied powers in the War. The French prime minister, George Clemenceau and his counterpart of Britain were more experienced and competent than the leaders of the central powers. They mobilized and moral boosted their nationals to fight and defeat Germany and her allies. On the other hand, central powers were led by less experienced and shrewd statesmen. Germany after the downfall of Bismarck was led by Kaiser II and army commanders Von Hidenburg and Ludendorff, who were less oriented in European politics and military organization.
Austria-Hungary was led by Emperor Francis Joseph whose age (84 years in 1914) had partly made him incapable of holding the ramshackle empire together (the empire was crumbling due to the rise of nationalism). Turkey was led by Sultan Mohamad V who had also failed to maintain harmony and co-existence between the various nationalities struggling to regain their independence. This created internal weaknesses that reduced the effectiveness of the central powers in the war and favoured the success of allied powers in World War I.
11. The defection of Italy and Romania to allied camp also contributed to the defeat of the central powers. Italy was a founder member of the triple alliance (led by Germany) and Romania was a close ally.
Germany and Austria thus expected both states to support them in the war. However in 1916, both Italy and Romania defected and joined the allies against the central powers. This created panic, confusion and low morale in the camp of the central powers. The defection led to leakage of long war plans and strategies and boosted the morale in the allied powers that led to the defeat of the central powers.
12. Press propaganda was used to decampaign the central powers and mobilize mass support that led to the success of allied powers. The mass media was manipulated to popularize malicious and ridiculous information about the central powers. The British and French media were used by opportunistic politicians to depict Germany and her allies as imperialists who were fighting to dominate and oppress the world.
Lord North Cliffe, who was in charge of propaganda in Britain, dispatched leaflets to Austria-Hungary in which he promised the various nationalities their independence, if they deserted the Austrian Empire. The Czechs, Poles, Slovenes and Croatians responded to the offer and joined the allies. They contributed to numerical superiority of allied powers that overwhelmed the central powers.
13. Economic hardship also accounts for the defeat of Germany and her allies. This was partly due to the fact that Germany diverted resources from productive sectors like agriculture to sustain the war that dragged on for 4years. Worst of all, as the war progressed, allied powers imposed economic embargo on the central powers that banned imports and exports of food, medicine, arms and ammunitions throughout Europe. Britain enforced naval blockade where she confiscated cargoes of neutral ships trading with Germany purposely to wreck Germany's economy. This led to acute economic hardship like inflation, financial crisis, unemployment, poverty and starvation. On the other hand, allied powers easily traded in arras, ammunitions, food and medicines, which favoured them against the central powers. One should recapitulate that financial crisis led to poor armament, slow reinforcement, poor motivation and low morale that subjected Germany and her allies to defeat.
14. Internal instability also contributed to the defeat of Germany. By 1918, trade unionists, socialists and communists mobilized protests against the severe economic hardship and Germany's continuation of war against the allies. The communists attempted a revolution that was ruthlessly suppressed. These diverted attention and concentration of German leaders and soldiers from the war. On the contrary, allied nations were relatively stable with the exception of Russia. Trade unionists cooperated with their governments and workers were silenced with high wages. This created internal stability that left the allies with much freedom to concentrate on the war against Germany and her allies.
15. The abdication of Kaiser William 11 on 8th Nov 1918 and the signing of armistice by President Ebert
Was the final step in the defeat of the central powers By 1918, all German allies had surrendered and Germany was still persisting with the war amidst severe economic crisis, internal protests and threat of military coup. This forced top army commanders i.e. Ludendorff and Hidenburg to relinquish their power to the Reichstag. Kaiser William 11 was also forced by pressure of events to abdicate and flee to Holland, which made Chancellor Prince Marx to handover government control to Fredrick Ebert, the social-democrat leader. On 11th Nov 1918, Fredrick Ebert signed an armistice with the victorious powers that marked the end of the war and the final defeat of the central powers.