That "sword" was the spring offensive of 1918, and it didn't work. Germany had fought on three fronts: East, West, and the Sea, and they were badly beaten at se

That "sword" was the spring offensive of 1918, and it didn't work. Germany had fought on three fronts: East, West, and the Sea, and they were badly beaten at sea, resulting in the suffocation of their economy (see: food shortages of 1918) and the arrival of the US, which would have really come online in 1919.