Session 6

• USA joined the war

  April 1917
• The USA had the third largest navy in the world and was beginning to assemble a formidable army
• It would take some time to assemble the soldiers and transport them over the Atlantic to France
• Bolshevik Revolution in Russia


  November 1917
• The Communists took power in Russia and called a cease fire with Germany and negotiated a peace deal
• The Allies had lost one of their major partners
• By early 1918 Germany was able to withdraw its troops from the East and redeploy them to the Western Front
• Ludendorff (Spring) Offensive, 1918


  A massive all-out assault on the Allied lines planned by General Ludendorff to bring about a swift victory
• Initially, it was a great success, with the Germans gaining 64km of territory and placing their heavy guns within firing range of Paris
• Losses were high with the Germans suffering 400,000 casualties
• The troops outran their supply lines due to the speed of their advance, and also had a tendency to loot trenches and houses rather than keep pressing forward or consolidating their position
• This delay gave the Allies a chance to regroup, especially with the ever growing numbers of American soldiers in France