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The end is nigh - The First World War - October 1918

Following Allied advances and the crumbling spirit of the German troops on the Western Front the German generals, Ludendorff in particular, urged Prince Max von Baden, the German chancellor, to seek an Armistice. The generals were convinced that they could get favorable terms from the Allies and pointed to President Wilson's fourteen points. Defeat on the battlefields appeared unavoidable to many of the German generals, given the advances made by the Allies and the apparent wealth of new resources and American soldiers that they had now got at their disposal.

The German chancellor was not as convinced as his generals. He though, rightly as it transpired, that any request for peace would be viewed as a concession of defeat, both by the Allies and by the German civilian population. Nevertheless, convinced of impending defeat by his generals he had little option but to seek terms. He wisely opted to approach the American president, Wilson. On October 4th 1918 von Baden formally requested an armistice and informed Wilson that the German government accepted each of his fourteen points.

This move placed Wilson in an awkward position. The fourteen points had not been accepted by the Allies, nor by the bulk of the American population. As the leader of a nation at war with Germany he also had a duty to seek terms that favoured his side: and that meant appeasing the British and French as well.

Wilson responded by requesting confirmation of the Germans acceptance of the fourteen points and stated that all German troops must leave Allied territories immediately were the request for an armistice to be granted. This liberal approach to ending the war shocked the French and the British They had envisaged a blunter ending to the fighting, with a definite and decisive victory.

The hopes of an armistice on these terms were dashed in mid October, ironically by the Germans themselves. A passenger ship traveling between England and Ireland was torpedoed by a U boat. 450 civilian passengers perished. Wilson, reminded of the reasons for American involvement in the war, changed his tone. The Armistice would have to be negotiated between military commanders, politicians would deal only with the peace treaties.

Whilst these diplomatic wranglings between Germany and America were taking place the other Allied nations made their own demands of Germany: who were still engaging in warfare remember, the fighting continued throughout these negotiations for the cessation of the fighting. Britain demanded the destruction of the German Fleet, France wanted the Rhineland and even some Americans wanted to avoid an armistice on these terms: Pershing is reputed to have opposed the armistice as he wanted to give his army more experience of warfare.

By the end of October an armistice looked ever closer. The Allied advance continued, the German economy was struggling and the German military had lost the will to fight: the Kiel mutiny occurring at the end of October