German Unterseeboot's Role In World War I

Introduction

The First World War marked a new era for mankind, an era that brought warfare to a global scale. This was the first time in known history that countries from across the world allied together to fight one another. During this Great War, many new wartime technologies were developed and used. The most prolific and arguably most important of these technologies was the German unterseeboot, or U-boat (Harber). World War I was the first time that submarine technology was used on a large scale to participate in naval warfare and their use lead to repercussions that greatly affected the way the war played out in a multitude of ways.
The use of the U-boat by Germany is accredited with greatly affecting the outcome of the war in more than one sense. This includes forcing the United States of America to join the battle and the disruption of the naval supply line in the Atlantic Ocean. Due to this, it is important to inspect how the use of U-Boats by Germany in World War One affected the outcome of the war in the most
Had the damage done by the U-boat been insignificant, Germany would not risk the involvement of the United States by going back on a promise made only a few months earlier. It was only a matter of time before Germany realized that halting their unrestricted submarine campaign was doing them more harm than good. The only way that they could weaken their enemy was to cut off their supply of weapons and raw materials. German naval staff knew that the only way they could win the war was to win the war against shipping (Massie 539). To maintain their favorable position over their enemies, and to destroy allied shipping, Germany needed to continue the use of their most valuable asset, the