History of Germany During World War I - 1918

1918

In one of the bloodiest series of battles in history from March to August, 1918, Ludendorff's plans were thwarted by the combined Allied efforts and Germany's last chance to win the war was lost.

By September 1918, the Central Powers were exhausted from fighting, and the Allies had won the support of American forces. Even though the eastern front was hundreds of miles away from the borders of the Reich, an invasion of the Rhineland on the western front was possible. The hunger and popular dissatisfaction with the war precipitated uprisings and an attempted revolution throughout Germany, deposing the Kaiser and creating the historical motive for far-right German nationalists to later develop the Dolchstoßlegende. By the end of 1918 Germany had signed the Armistice, the Kaiser had abdicated, and the Empire had been replaced by the Weimar Republic.