Question 9: Was German "unrestricted submarine warfare" an avoidable mistake?
This question was difficulte for me to answer because it is easy to see why it was a mistake, but it was difficult to see an alternative to the decision. Germany had really nothing over the Allies except their U-Boats, and if they let U.S. supply ships through to Britain, they would lose their only edge. So from that standpoint it seems like they had no choice. However, it is obvious that if they started consistently attack U.S. ships, the U.S. would join the war and probably end it. So, I don't really know whether the mistake was avoidable, or if they had indirectly lost before they even reached this point.
5 comments:
Hello Kaityln,
I think that Germany never really thought of the U.S. as a threat in this war. I think they thought of them like they thought of Russia. It will be a long time for them(U.S.) to join the war and once they finally do join the war it will not be a powerful army. So they thought u-boat war was a good idea because the U.S. does not matter.
I agree with AJ to some extent. At this point in history, the U.S. wasn't a world power, so it was mostly ignored by the traditional world powers located in Europe.
Similar questions have come up, it is a great question and a difficult one to answer: Did they have any choice?
To answer Mr. Geary's question, Germany had the choice during the war to drop out at any time they felt weak or threatened. To avoid having this happen, though, they had to introduce their one advantage, and ultimately give themselves no restrictions with that advantage. If most of the world was against them to begin with, why would they fear upsetting them by pulling out their 'hidden weapon'?
I feel like they were stuck, they were blockaded and this I think was their last ditch effort. It either worked or it didnt but either way nothing much was going to come of it. At the time I dont think that they were worried about U.S. involvment.
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