15.5.5

The Final Blockade

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The Impact of the Naval Blockade

The British naval blockade backed up the Allied advance on the Western Front. It was the final military component of the Allied victory.

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The blockade

  • The Allied blockade against Germany restricted ships supplying goods to the Central Powers.
  • Although the Germans had launched a U-boat campaign against Britain, it was far less effective.
  • The impact of the blockade on Germany was enormous.
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Death toll

  • Up to 800,000 German civilians are thought to have died because of the starvation and disease caused by the blockade.
  • The blockade made the ‘turnip winter’ of 1916-1917 AD worse in Germany. This was when Germany was suffering because of a failed potato harvest.
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Starvation

  • Some argue that starvation on the home front forced German defeat in 1918 AD.
  • However many historians disagree. They argue that Germany had new resources from Russia and starvation was reduced by the rationing system.
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Morale

  • The blockade definitely had some material effect on Germany.
  • It also contributed to a growing sense of war weariness, overall low morale, and resentment against the military leadership.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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