# What if Germany fights it out in 1918? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871 "2018-11-02T01:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/101 "2018-11-14T02:51:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > For God’s sake, here’s [a map of the area Germany occupied](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Stabilization_of_Western_Front_WWI.PNG/800px-Stabilization_of_Western_Front_WWI.PNG). People can decide for themselves what they want to call it. Yes, but that is only a map of the north east part of france. As has been said, at their greatest exent Germany only occupied a tiny corner of France, unlike that in WWII\> ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/102 "2018-11-14T03:10:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but that is only a map of the north east part of france. As has been said, at their greatest exent Germany only occupied a tiny corner of France, unlike that in WWII\> Here is a wiki article on the reparations: > **[World War I reparations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_reparations)** > > Following their defeat in World War I, the Central Powers agreed to pay war reparations to the Allied Powers. Each defeated power was required to make payments in either cash or kind. Because of the financial situation in Austria, Hungary, and Turkey after the war, few to no reparations were paid and the requirements for reparations were cancelled. Bulgaria, having paid only a fraction of what was required, saw its reparation figure reduced and then cancelled. Historians have recognized the Germa... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/103 "2018-11-14T03:14:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but that is only a map of the north east part of france. As has been said, at their greatest exent Germany only occupied a tiny corner of France, unlike that in WWII\> I don’t want to join this argument. Argue with the map. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/104 "2018-11-14T05:33:34Z")
I wouldn’t want to mow it. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/105 "2018-11-14T10:55:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > For God’s sake, here’s [a map of the area Germany occupied](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Stabilization_of_Western_Front_WWI.PNG/800px-Stabilization_of_Western_Front_WWI.PNG). People can decide for themselves what they want to call it. Especially as many of the most important French _villes martyres_, such as Reims, Amiens, Soissons and Arras, were by late 1914 back in French hands. Some of the worst damage was done to towns that were only briefly occupied by the Germans. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/106 "2018-11-14T13:13:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > As has been said, at their greatest exent Germany only occupied a tiny corner of France, unlike that in WWII _“64 percent of France’s pig-iron production, 24 percent of its steel manufacturing and 40 percent of the total coal mining capacity was located in the zone, dealing a major setback to French industry. A number of important towns and cities were situated within it too, notably Lille, Douai, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Maubeuge and Avesnes. Partly because of its proximity to the front, occupied north-east France was ruled by the military, rather than by a civilian occupation administration. Economic exploitation of the occupied zone increased throughout the war. Forced labor became increasingly common as the war dragged on.”_ > **[German occupation of north-east France during World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_north-east_France_during_World_War_I)** > > The German occupation of France during World War I refers to the period in which French territory, mostly along the Belgian and Luxembourgish border, was held under military occupation by the German Empire during World War I. > This entailed various impositions on the population, including malnourishment, forced labor, and requisitions of property, services, and goods. > The territory occupied by Germany at the end of 1914 included 10 départements in part or in full, including ː > These territories ... How do we calculate the value of forced French labor during the war, on top of all the other human and material costs previously discussed? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871/107 "2018-11-14T13:18:53Z")
Germany also occupied nearly the entire country of Belgium during WWI, and similarly made itself welcome there: _"The German army was outraged at how Belgium had frustrated the Schlieffen Plan to capture Paris. From top to bottom there was a firm belief that the Belgians had unleashed illegal saboteurs (called “francs-tireurs”) and that civilians had tortured and maltreated German soldiers. The response was a series of multiple large-scale attacks on civilians and the destruction of historic buildings and cultural centers. The German army executed between 5,500 and 6,500[13] French and Belgian civilians between August and November 1914, usually in near-random large-scale shootings of civilians ordered by junior German officers. Individuals suspected of partisan activities were summarily shot. Historians researching German Army records have discovered 101 “major” incidents—where ten or more civilians were killed—with a total of 4,421 executed. Historians have also discovered 383 “minor” incidents that led to the deaths of another 1,100 Belgians. Almost all were claimed by Germany to be responses to guerrilla attacks.[14] In addition some high-profile Belgian figures, including politician Adolphe Max and historian Henri Pirenne, were imprisoned in Germany as hostages. "_ > **[Belgium in World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium_in_World_War_I)** > > The history of Belgium in World War I traces Belgium's role between the German invasion in 1914, through the continued military resistance and occupation of the territory by German forces to the armistice in 1918, as well as the role it played in the international war effort through its African colony and small force on the Eastern Front. > When World War I began, Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg as part of the Schlieffen Plan, in an attempt to capture Paris quickly by catching the ... Belgium got a share of German reparations after the war, though considerably less then they wanted and needed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-germany-fights-it-out-in-1918/823871.md?page=5)