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There is little question in my mind that had America not been aiding the allies with munitions and loans they would have lost. Even when we entered the war Wilson had no clue how close to defeat the allies were. He didn't even think that American troops would be needed in Europe and that our participation would be mostly naval. The allies had done a good job of hiding how bad things were for them from Wilson and the American public (one of the first British acts of the War was to cut a transatlantic cable from Germany to the United States and then a backup one in Liberia so that news sharply limited from only the allied perspective). Marshal Petain said to Pershing upon his arrival ahead of any troops "I just hope it isn't too late." Pershing was shocked at the military situation from what America had been lead to believe - that the allies were about to win. In March of 1918 before any significant American presence was in Europe- the Germans launched the "Kaiser Battle" which nearly took Paris.

I agree with your assertions but I did not want to get sidetracked onto the topic. Not saying the poster I addressed would have but I have had enough experience on FR to know that a small but contentious point can be used to distract away from the larger issue. Therefore I left the subject open ended rather than conclusive.

I don't have the formual handy but there are statistics as to how many hundreds of rifle bullets are fired before one enemy soldier is killed. I do remember that the Lusitania had enough rounds on it to kill over an entire German Regiment's worth of troops. What I always found ironic was that we shipped so much ammo to the Allies even before we were involved and then once we were in it we had to have them supply us with artillery pieces and even rifles (not to mention planes and tanks). I understand that we were not on a war economy before April 1917 and it takes time to gear up but it is ironic.