Greetings,
What do you think was the turning point of World War I? Was there a turning point? By "Turning Point", I mean a point at which it became inevitable that the Western Allies would win the war. Was there a single event, or a period, past which the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, etc.) had no realistic hope of winning? Did such a moment ever really exist? I'll lay out a few of the candidates as I see them, but feel free to add your own:
1. November 1914: The failure of Germany to conquer Paris (and possibly knock France out of the war a là 1940) doomed both sides on the Western Front to a long war of attrition involving the massive loss of men and material - things Germany could not match to her enemies. Both von Moltke and his successor Falkenhayn claimed by the end of 1914 that while Germany may not lose the war, it could no longer win. The critical moment for a German victory had passed. Were they just pessimists as Hindenburg and Ludendorf later claimed?
2. June 1916: Brusilov Offensive. This powerful Russian thrust into Galicia (modern southeastern Poland and western Ukraine) effectively destroyed the Austro-Hungarian Army as a fighting force, forcing the Germans to repeatedly send large numbers of their Reichswehr units to aid Habsburg efforts along the Russian, Romanian, Italian and Balkan fronts. As Hindenburg noted a year after the Brusilov Offensive in a comment about Austria-Hungary, "We are fettered to a corpse."
3. May 1916: The failure of the German Kriegsmarine to decisively break out of the British blockade, despite technically scoring a tactical victory over the Royal Navy. This guaranteed that Germany remained a land-locked power, which meant that its two major foes, both great maritime powers, could starve it of the raw materials necessary for making modern war.
4. December 1916: The collapse of the idiotic German campaign against the French at Verdun. The Germans' basic goal was not a breakthrough but rather to simply maul the French Army to such an extent that it would collapse - completely ignoring the equal reality that the German Army would suffer at least similar losses in the battle, as attacking armies usually do. The whole battle, lasting some 10 months, killed 700,000 soldiers on both sides and achieved little beyond seriously weakening both armies. Coupled with the simultaneous British attack at the Somme, Germany began to feel manpower and material losses that its enemies could more readily replace.
5. February/March-October/November 1917: Russian Revolutions. What seemed like a dream come true for Berlin with the collapse of the Tsarist tyranny quickly became a noose of sorts as a whole Pandora's box opened up in an Eastern Europe freed of Russian imperialism. German troops would still be fighting in some enclaves of Eastern Europe as late as 1923. Initially Germany dreamed it could simply dictate order to the region, but it quickly dissolved into chaos and one-by-one Germany lost control of the situation, tying down troops and ensuring a post-war mess regardless of who won the war.
6. April, 1917: The Nivelle Offensive. The failure of the Germans to exploit the French Army's virtual collapse after this failed offensive, leading to the widespread mutinies in the French Army (whereby French soldiers remained at their posts but refused any offensive action) was the last chance Germany had of defeating the French. Their procrastination in exploiting the French Army's weakness gave the new French commander, Petain, the chance to suppress the mutiny and restore French fighting confidence. A lost opportunity.
7. April 1917: American entry into the war on the Entente side. The brilliant German success in removing Russia from the war was mooted by the fumbling German Foreign Ministry's clumsy antagonization of neutral America, bringing the world's largest industrial power into the war against Germany. While the American peace-time army was tiny (c. 200,000; spread throughout the U.S.) the country eventually mobilized some 4 million men in 19 months (2 million of them reaching France by war's end) at a time when Germany was already sending young boys and old men to fill their shrinking ranks. The entire series of events on the Western Front in 1918 was determined by a German need to end the war before American soldiers began showing up in significant numbers. German stupidity in 1917 forced a greater desperation on the German war effort in 1918 - ultimately to a fatal extent.
8. March 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The German-imposed treaty that took Bolshevik Russia out of the war seemed like a brilliant stroke at the time but it shocked Europe - including Germans - with its raw imperialism and dismantling of one of the hitherto Great Powers. A political threshold had been crossed, and Germany's position in even some of the strongly pro-German Latin American states was heavily tarnished by this naked act of thuggery. This treaty invigorated not only Allied opposition to the war, but as well native anti-war elements in Germany itself, especially the more extreme Socialists. Compared at the time with Woodrow Wilson's recently-issued "Fourteen Points", the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk made Berlin seem like a power-hungry menace, even to some Germans.
9. May-July 1918: 3rd Battle of the Marne. Despite everything else, the mad German drive that began in March 1918 with Operation Michael could still have knocked France out of the war had the Reichswehr reached Paris - maybe - but the German failure with stiff Allied resistance along the Marne, and the coordinated Allied counter-attacks, ensured Germany was doomed.
10. August 1918: The "Black Day of the German Army". A myth centered around 8. August 1918, in fact throughout August the German Army suffered repeated and constant defeat at the hands of its enemies, and began to crack. By the end of August the staunch Ludendorf would be begging the Kaiser to find a way to diplomatically end the war. Major Allied gains began to snowball in September, but Ludendorf repudiated his August collapse and insisted on fighting on - until late October, after the defection of two of Germany's allies, and the increasingly imminent collapse of the Reichswehr itself. When in November 1918 General Groener was setting out for the negotiations for an armistice, he was told that it was not known if some front line German units still existed.
Well - thoughts?
What do you think was the turning point of World War I? Was there a turning point? By "Turning Point", I mean a point at which it became inevitable that the Western Allies would win the war. Was there a single event, or a period, past which the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, etc.) had no realistic hope of winning? Did such a moment ever really exist? I'll lay out a few of the candidates as I see them, but feel free to add your own:
1. November 1914: The failure of Germany to conquer Paris (and possibly knock France out of the war a là 1940) doomed both sides on the Western Front to a long war of attrition involving the massive loss of men and material - things Germany could not match to her enemies. Both von Moltke and his successor Falkenhayn claimed by the end of 1914 that while Germany may not lose the war, it could no longer win. The critical moment for a German victory had passed. Were they just pessimists as Hindenburg and Ludendorf later claimed?
2. June 1916: Brusilov Offensive. This powerful Russian thrust into Galicia (modern southeastern Poland and western Ukraine) effectively destroyed the Austro-Hungarian Army as a fighting force, forcing the Germans to repeatedly send large numbers of their Reichswehr units to aid Habsburg efforts along the Russian, Romanian, Italian and Balkan fronts. As Hindenburg noted a year after the Brusilov Offensive in a comment about Austria-Hungary, "We are fettered to a corpse."
3. May 1916: The failure of the German Kriegsmarine to decisively break out of the British blockade, despite technically scoring a tactical victory over the Royal Navy. This guaranteed that Germany remained a land-locked power, which meant that its two major foes, both great maritime powers, could starve it of the raw materials necessary for making modern war.
4. December 1916: The collapse of the idiotic German campaign against the French at Verdun. The Germans' basic goal was not a breakthrough but rather to simply maul the French Army to such an extent that it would collapse - completely ignoring the equal reality that the German Army would suffer at least similar losses in the battle, as attacking armies usually do. The whole battle, lasting some 10 months, killed 700,000 soldiers on both sides and achieved little beyond seriously weakening both armies. Coupled with the simultaneous British attack at the Somme, Germany began to feel manpower and material losses that its enemies could more readily replace.
5. February/March-October/November 1917: Russian Revolutions. What seemed like a dream come true for Berlin with the collapse of the Tsarist tyranny quickly became a noose of sorts as a whole Pandora's box opened up in an Eastern Europe freed of Russian imperialism. German troops would still be fighting in some enclaves of Eastern Europe as late as 1923. Initially Germany dreamed it could simply dictate order to the region, but it quickly dissolved into chaos and one-by-one Germany lost control of the situation, tying down troops and ensuring a post-war mess regardless of who won the war.
6. April, 1917: The Nivelle Offensive. The failure of the Germans to exploit the French Army's virtual collapse after this failed offensive, leading to the widespread mutinies in the French Army (whereby French soldiers remained at their posts but refused any offensive action) was the last chance Germany had of defeating the French. Their procrastination in exploiting the French Army's weakness gave the new French commander, Petain, the chance to suppress the mutiny and restore French fighting confidence. A lost opportunity.
7. April 1917: American entry into the war on the Entente side. The brilliant German success in removing Russia from the war was mooted by the fumbling German Foreign Ministry's clumsy antagonization of neutral America, bringing the world's largest industrial power into the war against Germany. While the American peace-time army was tiny (c. 200,000; spread throughout the U.S.) the country eventually mobilized some 4 million men in 19 months (2 million of them reaching France by war's end) at a time when Germany was already sending young boys and old men to fill their shrinking ranks. The entire series of events on the Western Front in 1918 was determined by a German need to end the war before American soldiers began showing up in significant numbers. German stupidity in 1917 forced a greater desperation on the German war effort in 1918 - ultimately to a fatal extent.
8. March 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The German-imposed treaty that took Bolshevik Russia out of the war seemed like a brilliant stroke at the time but it shocked Europe - including Germans - with its raw imperialism and dismantling of one of the hitherto Great Powers. A political threshold had been crossed, and Germany's position in even some of the strongly pro-German Latin American states was heavily tarnished by this naked act of thuggery. This treaty invigorated not only Allied opposition to the war, but as well native anti-war elements in Germany itself, especially the more extreme Socialists. Compared at the time with Woodrow Wilson's recently-issued "Fourteen Points", the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk made Berlin seem like a power-hungry menace, even to some Germans.
9. May-July 1918: 3rd Battle of the Marne. Despite everything else, the mad German drive that began in March 1918 with Operation Michael could still have knocked France out of the war had the Reichswehr reached Paris - maybe - but the German failure with stiff Allied resistance along the Marne, and the coordinated Allied counter-attacks, ensured Germany was doomed.
10. August 1918: The "Black Day of the German Army". A myth centered around 8. August 1918, in fact throughout August the German Army suffered repeated and constant defeat at the hands of its enemies, and began to crack. By the end of August the staunch Ludendorf would be begging the Kaiser to find a way to diplomatically end the war. Major Allied gains began to snowball in September, but Ludendorf repudiated his August collapse and insisted on fighting on - until late October, after the defection of two of Germany's allies, and the increasingly imminent collapse of the Reichswehr itself. When in November 1918 General Groener was setting out for the negotiations for an armistice, he was told that it was not known if some front line German units still existed.
Well - thoughts?
I never thought of the Russian Revolution in that light. 
But based on my knowledge I'd say either 
guess what?....
