I was slighty confused by question 9. "was German 'unrestricted submarine warfare' an unavoidable mistake'?"
I understood the explanation of how Germany launched the expeditions because of desperation, and that the Kaiser reluctantly gave his approval after pressured begging from the civilian leaders. But what I didn't understand fully for whom would it be an unavoidable mistake?? The allies, the other central powers, Germany? I thought Germany would consider it an avoidable mistake because of the desperation, but it doesn't really seem like Germany considered it a mistake; even after failing. And it also really couldn't be described as 'unavoidable'. So i guess i am just questioning who this label would be coming from?
I think the question was asking whether it was a mistake for Germany. Maybe they didn't think it was a mistake, but I personally think it was a mistake for them. They underestimated the United States' will to go to war. In my opinion, I think Germany could have done something else rather than resuming their unrestricted submarine warfare.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anna about it being a mistake. Whether or not it was avoidable is a difficult question to answer. They had to cut off supplies from the US that were headed to the Allies, and the advantage of submarines was the element of surprise. Could they have done anything other than sink these ships?
ReplyDeleteIn short I think Germany knew that they were going to lose the war, but maybe just wanted to post pone it as long as they could. So when they began to use the U boats again they were successful in keeping supplies from Britain but in the end they knew that they were kind of digging their own grave. I think they though tif they were bought time they might stand a chance, especially bc Britain would be hurt with out supplies.
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