Over 2 million American soldiers, a similar number of British ones, and 3 million French soldiers held western France. American industrial superiority had showed itself for the first time by passing German arms and munitions production in early 1917. However, the defeat of Russia with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had allowed millions of Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops to reinforce the Western Front. Furthermore, the Germans had gained naval superiority in the North Sea, skirmishing with Entente fleets as far as the western coast of Ireland, and threatening to cut Britain off.
Entente forces had adapted to the realities of modern war; gas masks, anti-tank artillery, all sorts of armoured vehicles and bleeding-edge fighter biplanes were pouring out of American production lines, then quickly shipped to France. Trench warfare resumed, though it was now less static thanks to the advent of mechanised warfare. But with a marked strategic, tactical and numerical superiority, Central Power troops slowly crawled their way through the Entente defensive line, almost always striking limited victorious with terrible losses. By August of 1918, German troops had reached the Pyrenees. Back at home, massive protests erupted in Western France, Britain and the continental United States. On the 23rd of that same month, the Entente announced their intentions to surrender and asked for an armistice. The German Empire had won Word War I.