2. American Involvement American President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917 after German submarines sank 7 US merchant ships By summer 1918 they were sending 10,000 soldiers a day Germany also sent a secret telegram to Mexico asking them to join the war on the German side once the US joined the war
3. German Offensive of 1918 Entire action took place between March 21 to April 5, 1918 Germany used new tactics that relied on surprise The Germans would use a very short artillery barrage then sneak small groups of soldiers through to weak points in allied lines More heavily armed German soldiers would then move up to reinforce their new trenches
4. German Offensive of 1918 Germany advanced an amazing 60 kilometres The front lines moved to less than 120 kilometres of Paris Heavy rail guns fired shells on Paris causing citizens to flee
5. End of the Offensive The Allies were able to hold the Germans back from making anymore significant gains From May to July 1918 the Allies were able to slowly take back much of the land the Germans had gained The offensive and the following counter by the Allies meant that the Germans did not have the manpower to mount anymore significant attacks
6. The One Hundred Days Offensive The Allies launched several offensives from August 8 to November 11, 1918 The Battle of Amiens (Aug 8-10), and the Battle of the Somme (Aug 15-29) were two decisive victories for the Allies The Germans were forced to retreat to their heavily fortified Hindenburg line
7. Armistice Fighting continued until minutes before the armistice at 11:00am on Nov. 11 The armistice was signed on a railway car in France
8. Treaty of Versailles Military restrictions: German army limited to 100,000, navy limited to 15,000, import and export of weapons not allowed, poison gas, armed aircraft, tanks, armoured cars prohibited, Germany gave Alsace and Lorraine to France, Poland created cut Germany in half, Germany had to pay Allied countries the equivalent of 442 billion USD for their losses, finished paying in 2010
