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attacks on Austria–Hungary through mountainous terrain failed with terrible losses, and an Allied landing in the Balkans went literally nowhere. The Western Allies then paused. They were at their breaking point. The French Army mutinied in 1917 by refusing to leave their trenches for offensives. They were tired of donkey generals slaughtering them for no purpose. By putting down the mutiny and restoring the French Army General Petain of France saved the Allied cause; nonetheless, Allied troops were exhausted. When Russia quit the war immediate German exploitation might have put France and England on the ropes, but a dreadful German diplomatic move changed everything.

Over in the Middle East, then part of the Turkish Empire (Ottoman Empire), the English General Allenby began changing the world. With Arab help, he marched from Egypt across the Sinai Desert to Jerusalem, defeating the Turks everywhere along the way. Simultaneously, another British army attacked up the Tigris-Euphrates river valley for the second time in the war and finally seized Baghdad. General Allenby then prepared to invade Turkey itself, and the Turks were none too happy about these developments. Earlier in the war, they defeated a British expedition marching up the Tigris-Euphrates river valley and an English incursion launched out of Egypt. Those early victories were long past now, and the Turks worried about the English driving into Istanbul, so they sued for peace. WWI ended shortly after the Turks capitulated; thus, Allenby’s efforts went mostly unrecognized, but he had altered the world dramatically. At Versailles the Ottoman Empire would fade into history as Britain and France divided the old empire between themselves. To this day, the division of the Ottoman Empire made at the Versailles peace talks haunts the world.

Turning Point: The United States of America Enters the War

The United States stayed out of the war, even though the sinking of US ships angered Americans and turned public opinion against Germany. English propaganda played its part by depicting the Germans as beasts murdering innocents.[179] So far, this had failed to persuade the United States to join the fight. Then Germany’s foreign minister, Mr. Zimmerman, committed the ultimate act of idiocy by sending a telegram to Mexico requesting it join the war on the German side by attacking the United States.[180] In return, Mexico would regain areas lost in the Mexican-American war. Naturally, the telegram was in code, but English code breakers had been reading Germany’s code since the war broke out. Now the code breakers gave England the hammer it needed to break American reluctance to enter the war. And, once again, proving the importance of codes. Britain broke the German codes in WWII with similar outstanding results.

When the American public learned of the Zimmerman Telegram they demanded war. America’s president, Woodrow Wilson, campaigned for his second term on a peace platform; however, after the Zimmerman telegram Congress quickly declared war against Germany. Secretly, Wilson wanted to enter the war against the Germans, but American public opinion prevented the move until this moment. The United States of America entered the Great War in April 1917. This was the turning point. Germany faced her doom unless, by some strategy, she could defeat France and England before the Americans managed to arrive in force. With troops from the Russian front, new training in improved infiltration assault techniques, and new leadership at the top of the army (Hindenburg and Ludendorff),[181] and high hopes, the Germans began their last great offensive. The large German assault (series of assaults actually) initially made good headway, but then faltered without achieving even one key aim. The assaults failed because Germany lacked troops and because Ludendorff failed to focus his plan. The Americans soon arrived, turning the tide against Germany for the last time. Interestingly, Ludendorff had failed to establish a plan for what to do if the offensive failed. Just like they had in 1914 the