After the treaty Germany had access to Ukrainian racecourses and therefore wheat and other resources.
Wasn't it better to wait 1919 for a new offensive as Otto Von Below proposed:
" Forget about the offensive and shorten the front lines as much as necessary; build Panzers throughout all of 1918 and, with your Panzer squadrons, break through all the way to the Channel coast in the Spring of 1919."
" Forget about the offensive and shorten the front lines as much as necessary; build Panzers throughout all of 1918 and, with your Panzer squadrons, break through all the way to the Channel coast in the Spring of 1919."
Although viewed through the hindsight of 1940, this might appear a good idea, in reality it is doubtful Germany could have lasted that long. Tanks in 1918 were still unreliable, work-in-progress implements of war, while the time spent on the defensive would have seen the German Army further weakened by attrition, while the terrible morale of winter 1917-18 would not have been buoyed by the arrival of units from the East and plans for a new offensive, while the Americans would have been better prepared for future offensives. Above all, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary were on borrowed time.
After the treaty Germany had access to Ukrainian resources and therefore wheat and other resources
The Germans and Austro-Hungarians had a very difficult time trying to extract anything useful from the new vassal states in the East. They also had to face resistance from left-wing radicals that disregarded the Bolshevik Armistice, as well as local nationalists, who among other things, killed Field Marshall Max Eichorn with a bombing in Kiev in 1918. Bolshevise had also taken hold in the ranks, the Eastern Front forest having always received the mediocre manpower while the West had priority.
In short, if the Germans wanted to win the war, or at least negotiate a favourable peace, attack was the only option.
Because by that point her allies in Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans were falling apart, Austria was bleeding the last of her strength away in the Balkans and Italy, the Ottomans were in a losing struggle in the Levant against the British and the Arab Revolt.
And most important the US was already having its presence felt by the Spring of 1918. By the summer almost 10k US troops were arriving PER DAY in France. That was a flow that nothing Germany could do would be overcome, and it was only getting worse with time. By the fall the AEF already numbered more than 600k men.