The beginning of the year 1918 marked three and a half years of war, 42 months of fighting in the biggest, bloodiest conflict ever seen, and remarkably, despite all the sacrifices made by all the belligerent powers, at this moment it remained entirely unclear which side was going to win.

The big question, the one that was in everyone's mind, was surely,

Where are the Americans?

George M. Cohan's smash hit song promised that the yanks are coming.

But if the yanks are coming, well, when?

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you. The

The Oh, and the other, Episode 162.

We just got here.

Last week I talked about the German offensives of 1918, and I was pretty dismissive about them because, by any reasonable measure, they were a failure.

The Germans paid a dear cost in casualties and supplies in exchange for capturing swaths of territory that will provide them

no benefit whatsoever.

Now, I say this with the benefit of hindsight.

The Allied commanders weren't in a position to be as aloof and dispassionate at the time,

as we can be a century after the fact.

The final weeks of the 1917 campaign season

had seen a few minor allied accomplishments in the Balkans and in the Near East, but it had also

seen two serious setbacks. The Caporetto offensive had pushed the Italians deep into their own

territory and forced Britain and France to send soldiers into

northern Italy to help shore up the Italian line, and the new Bolshevik government in Russia

had quit the war. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster in Italy, the three allied

powers, Britain, France, and Italy, agreed to a suggestion from David Lloyd George to form

...