Monday, August 5, 2019

Why Did the Central Powers Lose WW1?

Why Did the Central Powers Lose WW1? On November 11th 1918 Germany signed and armistice to finally end the four year conflict of World War One. At the end of 1917 Germany was in a good position. Although the United States had entered the war, that had yet to have any impact on the western front. Russia, having just gone through a communist revolution, had lost the war and was willing to make peace at any price. By 1918 Germany had begun to break through allied lines and even came within striking distance of Paris but by the end of November in the same year Germany was looking for a stop to the fighting. Why was this? A few reasons could be the that the Schlieffen Plan had failed resulting in Germany fighting a war on two fronts for most of the war, the British naval blockade on Germany and the entry of the United States into the fray. The Schlieffen Plan was Germanys main offensive strategy during the outbreak of World War 1. The plan involved utilizing 91% of Germanys armed forces (also known as Kaiserreichsheer) to attack France. Fearing that the French forts on the border would slow down a German advance, Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen suggested an attack through Belgium into the northern part of France for a quicker invasion. The rest of the German Army would then be set up in a defensive position on the eastern front in order to stop an improbable Russian advance. There are quite a few reasons why the Schlieffen Plan had failed though. Firstly, the Germans had underestimated the capabilities of the Belgian Army. While the Belgians had only 43,000 men, they had put up a strong fight that was even unanticipated by the Germans. Some tactics even flooding their own land or destroying their own infrastructure in order to slow down the German advance Secondly, the lack of communications between the German arm ies along with a failure to resupply efficiently weakened the troops. . This helped the Allies by giving the British more time to reinforce the French lines and when Germany finally had broken through Belgium into France, they were intercepted at the River Marne in France by the allied troops. Attempts to reinforce the German united battling the Allies also left a gap between them and the German 2nd force, allowing Allies to move up and split apart the two German forces. Fritz Fischer reffered to the Schlieffen Plan as a brash stroke so common to bombastic Wilhelmine Imperial Germany. (Fischer, 1979) But not all historians agreed on that the Schieffen plan was a complete failure. An American officer in the Army, creator of combat modeling software and military theorist Trevor N. Dupuy argued that the Schlieffen Plan was secret the of institutionalizing military excellence. (Dupuy, 1970) The United States joined the First World War on the 6th of April 1917; three years after the war had begun. This was due to the then American political view that being an isolationist country was the best way that American would grow and as a result took the view that the European conflict did not require any American intervention. In 1915 German U-boats were ordered to attack any ship that was headed towards Britain due to suspicions of ammunition being smuggled through passenger liners and Q-ships, these were merchant ships that had disguised heavy guns. The Q-ships were also one of the reasons that German submarines stopped warning the target that they were about to attack. This was brought to the attention of the American people when the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by U-20 on the 7th of May 1915. The Zimmerman note was probably one of the more direct reasons that the Americans decided to join the war. The content of this note is that if Mexico attacked America for the land t hey had claimed before, then Germany would support them with arms and supplies. This was a very big threat to America and as a result they thought it would be in their best interests to join the war. By 1917, both sides of the conflict were exhausted and demoralized. The United States were able to support the Allied front with a million fresh soldiers, this greatly improved Allied morale and demoralize the Germans and her allies further. In addition to this, more supplies were also being brought in by the United States and helped relive some of the burdens born by the allies. The British Blockade was one of the key factors in the defeat of Germany and her allies. Drafted by Winston Churchill, the then Secretary of the Royal Navy, it was intended to take Germany out by starving her out of the war. When the blockade was put into effect towards the end of 1914, Germanys imports had fallen by 55% of pre-war import levels. One of the more prominent imports that were cut off were nitrates, these were used to create explosives and fertilizer. The resulting shortage of the latter led to extreme shortages in foods and by 1916 many civilians were consuming ersatz products such as war bread (also known as Kriegsbrot) and powdered milk. These food shortages also caused riots and social unrest, not only in Germany but also for most of the Central powers as well in places like Vienna or Budapest. While the German government did make attempts to counter the effects of the British Blockade, they only limited success. The Hindenburg Programme is one such example. It was d esigned to increase productivity and provide cheap mass meals to the population but that average daily diet of 1,000 calories provided was not enough to maintain a good standard of health even for babies. This resulted in many malnutrition related disorders such as scurvy, dysentery and tuberculosis and by 1918 and estimated 434,000 people were dead due to malnutrition. In March, 1918 the Central Powers were sure to win the war. They had already beaten Russia and France and Britain were getting weak, they were losing the will to fight. For the first time German units were larger than the British and French combined. However eight months later, the Central Powers lost due to a failure in tactics, a new enemy entering towards the end of the war and being starved into submission by their enemies. The assumption of this topic is that when the Central Powers had lost World War 1 that the war had in fact ended. It could be said that World War 1 never ended. It may have taken a break but it had never truly ended until 1945, the year that signified the end of World War 2. Complications from the end of World War 1 would prove to be the advent of World War 2. World War One ended when Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. This proved to be a humiliating defeat for the Germans. The size of Germany had been drastically reduced while those of France and Italy (a former German ally) grew. Germany was also forced to admit that they were to blame for the war and was made to compensate for damages. The military was also reduced to a minimal size but there were soldiers who would not stop fighting. They would eventually join and establishment of mercenaries called the Freikorps. The German commanders and generals also never had to admit to defeat. They merely told that if the German Peopl e had not been stabbed in the back (most likely referring to the newly formed Weimar Republic for accepting the terms) This theory became hugely popular with the German population that did not want to admit to defeat and generals that had signed the treaty were referred to as November Criminals. Adolph Hitler was obsessed with this idea and blamed the Marxists and Jews for this major blow to the people. Germany was seething with revenge and hate, just waiting for the right moment to strike back. In their minds, they were waiting for a chance to resume this conflict and get the justice that they deserved. Finishing in Leather: Strategies and Concepts Finishing in Leather: Strategies and Concepts Hassan Aly Hassan Introduction The word â€Å"finish† as a verb means bringing the task to an end or in another meaning is by completing the manufacture or decoration of (an article) by giving it an attractive surface appearance. (Dictionary). The same applies for leather when it reaches the final stage. The leather is now set to be modified and upgraded to give it more characteristics that meet with customer expectation. That’s why tanneries all around the world are putting more effort on the final stage in order to enhance and sell their leather. After tannage, all classes of leather, whether vegetable or chrome tanned have to be finished to make them suitable to the purpose for which they will be ultimately used. With the exception of sole leather, finishing may broadly be said to consist of (i) dyeing or colouring, (ii) treating the leather with grease for softening and water-proofing (technically called currying) and (iii) polishing or glazing. But the finish imparted to leather is peculiar to it, so that no two varieties are finished the same way Coming up with a finishing recipe high relays of different factors highly depending on what the customer wants. Giving an example when trying to achieve a shoe upper finish it differs from an upholstery finish. When finishing vegetable tanned leather it is neither dyed nor glazed. Its finishing is consisted in setting it out well to make it flat and smooth on the surface and pressing heavily to make it stiffer and water resistant. For chrome it differs it is run through more operation in order to achieve its final appearance starting with shaving in order to make the leather thin then neutralization taking place ending it up with stacking in order to make the leather softer then glazed to give it the glossy look and feel. What is the purpose of finishing? The purpose of finish is done in order to enhance certain qualities and characteristics for example protecting the leather upgrading the leather look and feel by providing a texture which is waxier and smother. Full grain leather can be addressed as the leather that does not go through the buffing stage and this is widely used when achieving furniture leather or automotive. Achieving a full grain can be expensive to most tanners. In order to achieve the natural grain of the leather it most not contain any marks or scratches, veins and putrefaction so it is very important on how to sort out your leather. The tanner should pick a good quality grade of crust leather in order to enable for finishing. Corrected grain leather is known as chrome tanned side leather which is buffed with emery paper on the grain enabling it to remove the defects of the leather and then applied to it a plastic resin and pigmented finish to he help being built up on the leather usually this type of grain is used in the footwear industry. Crust preparation Crust is mentioned as the dried leather after tannage. And as it’s widely known as chrome leather ends up drying quickly and that results in leather becoming stiffer and making it harder when rewetting, drying usually occurs after any normal retanning and fatliquoring. leather that is exported around the globe in usually in this state while still many prefer at wet-blue or pickled stage because this gives them more ability of the leather process. When crust preparation applied for full grain leather or corrected grain leather both operations are related except for some procedures for example in buffing. Leading a leather from a crust stage to finishing still undergoes several procedures and also depends on the tanners recipe before receiving the end use . Operations in common Staking: Staking is a mechanical operation for softening the leather, it is done through a staking machine machines which helps in expanding and opening up the fibers and thus leading to a softer skin. Some tanners do it manually by pulling the skins over a shaped knife but this usually takes more time compared to the staking machine. Conditioning: when the leather dries out after the retanning, dyeing and fatliquoring the fibers on the skin tends to stick together and thus making the leather more firm and harder. The fibers are then separated and the leather goes the staking operation enabling it to become softer. Adjusting the moisture content is very important so water is applied to the leather through water guns and that evens out the moisture content before entering the staking stage. Milling: During the milling stage, the crust leather is layed in the drum responsible for milling and is then rotated ate certain temperature degrees and humid conditions. The mechanical process helps the leather in opening up its fiber this results is the leather becoming more softer Buffing: The objective of buffing is removing all the marks on the grain surface of the leather by that it provides a more equal surface . it is done through sandpapering the leather with sand paper for many reasons for example to create a suede or a nubuck finish on the grain or to prepare its for a Chemicals used and finishing operation: Impregnation: it is a coat the purpose of it acts like a sealing coat and this helps in sealing the buffed fibers completely in order for the chemicals to not penetrate through the leather and this will form a more uniform surface. When the corrected grain leather gets buffed the absorbance raises in high rate and any of the chemicals put onto the leather will penetrate in a high rate without building up a film. Applying an impregnation coatis a must for a corrected grain or it will ruin the objective of finishing. Adhesion Coat : buffing does not apply to a full grain leather therefore this coat is used in allowing the resins to bind bind together in a an equal strong form and this leads to a more stable film and this is highly used in the casual shoe finish because it requires higher adhesion finish qualities. After the adhesion coat is applied the leather is not set to dry out during the drying is becomes more drier and stickier this means it is now ready for the base coat the usage of spraying guns is high recommended in the adhesion coating. Base Coat: the base coating is applied to help in covering up the leather. By using a mixture of acrylic resins and polyurethane. Acrylic resin gives the leather a more natural look and increases flexibility. As for the polyurethane resin it improves the physical qualities of the finishing film. A certain ratio that a film goes by to a non-film its either 1:2 or 1:3 as for the non-filming chemicals it includes a wide variety of waxes, auxillaries, oils and waxes. Base coating is usually done by spraying a couple of times and it can also be done by hand padding. Embossing: it is known as the printed pattern that is added to the leather. Embossing become popular to meet with the fashion industry, through embossing it creates a high yield in cutting because of its straightness and strength to hide the defects. During embossing high pressure is applied to ensure the print embossing acts better in higher temperatures . Top Coat: The objective of adding the top coat in order to enhance the touch quality and performance and helps in the protection when finishing. Top coat can be addressed as two coats nitrocellulose and polyurethane. A polyurethane based is selected as the preferred method because it gives the required results Plating: it is a mechanical procedure that helps in obtaining more smoothness and a glossy look. Plating can be applied several times it highly depends on the tanner Finishing Recipes: Casual Full grain upper footwear Safety shoe Corrected grain upper footwear Casual Full grain upper footwear Adhesion Coat : Polyurethane with fine particles that is applied to pre base coating the main purpose of it is for achieving higher adhesion it also help in the flexibility. Base Coat : RU 1 3- 5 4 1: classified as soft polyurethane that is added during the base coat to help in the embossing characteristics. It gives out softer leather outcome. P-P black : it is a pigment applied to the leather in order to give its color RA 1-2-4-6: Classified as hard acrylic resin which enables a better gloos and ensures better results in the rub fastness FI 5-0: Considered to be soft filler which gives a better plating and gives out a wax that helps giving the leather a more waxy feeling. BI 5-9-6: Soft binder which gives a nore flazing look on the leather. Also helps in giving a good plated which is considered to be helpful during the embossing stage Top Coat HM 51-7 6 0 A TYPE OF SILICONE HANDLING MODIFIER WHICH ENABLES GOOD SMOOTHNESS AND a silky like feel it also enhances resistance onto the leather LW 5 4 9 0 : they are water based lacquer which gives a kind of gloss onto the leather . Safety shoe Corrected grain upper footwear Impregnation Coat RI – 1 9 3 : Its is considered to be small particles of impregnation resin which helps in filling up the leather and it has high penetration ability it also helps in the grain break in tge leather and works on smoothening the surface BI 1 3 5 2 : Binder its type is medium hard which helps in the adhesion and improvement on the handling of the skin PT 6 5 91 : Active agents which work on helping the penetration of the finishing chemicals on the the grain layer of the skin this is usually used along a penetrartor to help the chemical penetrate faster RB 2 3 3 0: Its gives the leather a more rubbery feeling and helps in the pating process and filling up the skin RM 4 4 1 0 : a non ionic agent Base Coat RU 3 9 6 9 : A polyurethane that helps in the adhesion and the flexibility of the skin FI 5 0 : It helps in embarking a good plating gives a waxy feeling Top Coat FI 1 2 0 8 : SOFT FILLERS WHICH HELPS IN GIVING A SOFTER TOUCH AND HELPS IN PLATING WT 2 5 2 4 : PolYurethanes which helps in giving more elastic and flexibility HM 2 2 6 7 7: gives the leather a silky feeling XR 5 9 2 3: CROSS LINKER WHICH HELPS IN ENHANCING THE LEATHER DURABILITY AND PROVIDES A BETTER FINISHING ADHESION Comparison in order to achieve a full grain leather the sorting of the leather many scares and defects on the skin will lower the end product of the finishing for the corrected grain leather its easier because the buffing will hide many of the scars and defects n the skin .when it comes to embossing full grain leather it depends it may be required and it may not be depending on the grain of the leather as for the corrected grain in order to give a better grain surface. When it comes to performance full grain leather will achieve higher performances than the corrected grain Conclusion All in all both are different than each other when its comes to physicality properties to achieve good results selection of crust must be made for full grain as for the corrected grain it does not require

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