Germany Could Have Won World War I

Argument II agree with how my opponent defines his burden. This debate was set up in a specific way, namely that pro presents some strategy for a German victory, and con must refute or poke holes in it. It is indeed unfair to force con to refute every single strategy that could conceivably have led to a German victory, as he has neither the time nor space. And such clarification here is con’s burden. My alternate strategy is indeed limited in scope. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It is true that there are many other things I could have considered, but setting all of those other things equal to historical reality and concentrating on one particular thing that I deem to be extremely important in determining the outcome of the war is a simple yet effective argument. And, if my argument holds, it shows that Germany could have won WWI by utilizing that strategy. If my opponent wants to bring up how other factors would have been influenced by a change in German U-boat policy, that’s fine, but my opponent’s argument here in no way affects my own. As for his hypotheticals, I have shown how it is very likely that the Germans would have won the Second Battle of the Marne if the Americans had not been involved. My opponent puts forth no counter to my arguments there, so, at least at this point, this question is settled. And it’s very unlikely that Austria-Hungary would ever have turned on Germany before the Second Battle of the Marne, particularly given that, around that time, Russia had just been knocked out of the war, removing the only invader of Austria-Hungary, which boosted its morale and its put its alliance with Germany in good standing. Again, my opponent provides no argument for this hypothetical, so, given my argument, this question is also settled. Argument IIMy opponent makes two distinct arguments here. The first is that the American shipments of supplies to England and France, shipments which were significantly affected by Germany’s U-boat campaign, would have turned the tide in favor of the Triple Entente had Germany not started such a campaign. However, my opponent fails to directly argue how such additional supplies could have helped the English and French troops turn the tide at the Second Battle of the Marne without manpower support from the Americans. For one thing, the French and British were in no position to counter the German attack by themselves. The German offensive was two pronged. The British were pinned defending against one of the prongs, meaning that the exhausted French troops would have been forced to counter the second prong all by itself. It was because the French troops were in such poor shape that the Americans were called upon in the first place. It is unlikely that the French troops, regardless of their supply level, and given the position they were in, would have been able to counter the Germans without some kind of additional support. [1]For another, neither the British not French lacked much in resources. Every soldier had a rifle with enough ammunition, and they had plenty of artillery pieces (including ammunition), tanks, airplanes, poison gas cartridges, and other WWI essentials even with the German U-boat campaign sinking many of the supply ships. In addition, the supplies that America provided to Britain and France after entering the war dramatically increased compared to the numbers before it. So encouraging America to enter the war would have been counterintuitive in this area. The second argument my opponent makes is that the Zimmerman telegram, and not Germany’s policy of U-boat warfare was the principal reason America entered the war. However, the Zimmerman telegram was only sent because America was on the verge of entering WWI as a result of Germany’s updated U-boat policy compared to before. Had the Germans not enacted such a policy, there would have been no reason to send the Zimmerman telegram. [2]Argument IIIThis argument is irrelevant because I have countered my opponent’s argument that America’s entry into WWI was inevitable. I’ve shown how, had Germany adopted a more restrictive U-boat policy, America would never had entered the war, and thus its manpower and tech would never have been accessible to the Triple Entente. Sources[1]: . http://spartacus-educational.com...[2]: . http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...