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World War IWorld War I
Short version
Causes Militarism (Wilson): military,
reporting directly to a king, not to elected civilian governments, controlled Germany, Austria, Russia and Turkey with goal of military power and glory regardless of the people
Arms Race: Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, tried to challenged British naval power, producing bigger and more powerful battleships; new technology produced more lethal artillery and individual weapons, all giving developed nations confidence in their own military power.
Further Causes
Nationalism: waves of nationalism, especially in Austria and the Ottoman Empire (Serbs, Slavs, Germans) wanting independent nations of their own + national pride wouldn’t let nations back down if they were insulted by another nation.
Economic Imperialism (Marxist): great powers empires competing for economic control would result, inevitably, in world conflict (Hobson): American variation: arms producers and dealers pushed the war to make greater profits. Argument vs this last: arms manufacturers had no more influence on government decisions than all the other industries that might be hurt by the war
Above all, false confidence:
Germans: their two wars happened so fast, (7 weeks) they felt invincible. They welcomed frischer und frohlicher Krieg (“fresh and joyous war”), an adventure for their “iron youth,” unbeatable.
French and British: war was a romantic escapade, Mortal Combat, not grim reality: they would defeat Germany before Christmas. The French even had their own plan, Plan #XVII, a lightning offensive designed to regain the provinces of Alsace Lorraine, lost to Germany in 1870.
"Some damn foolish thing in the Balkans,"
2. Who said it? How was it prophetic?
3. What happened as the spark for war?
Dominoes: interlocking alliances Franz Josef of Austria is persuaded to declare war on
Bosnia to retaliate for the assassination of the Archduke.
Russia, with a contracted alliance, must rush to Bosnia’s defense.
Germany promises a “blank check” to help Austria, knowing this action threatens to cause war with Russia, but gambling that France and Britain will not support their ally.
Russia is allied by treaty with France and England, so when Russia goes to war, France and England must go, too. Germany’s invasion of Belgium, the neutrality of which is guaranteed by Britain, impels the British into the war.
More nations join the fray…
Everyone wants a piece of the Ottoman Empire. Besides, Turkey had signed a secret treaty with Germany: she joined the Central Powers
Italy had been allied to Germany and Austria since the 1880’s, but had signed a secret treaty with France and wanted parts of southern Austria. Though Germany and Austria wanted Italy to come into the war with them, Italy argued that their treaties with those countries were defensive, and Austria had attacked Bosnia first. Italy joined the Triple Entente later.
Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and attacked Serbia from the south.
1. Name the alliances that provided the setup for war
Later the war becomes a struggle between autocracy and democracy
At first, Triple Alliance included Russia, an autocracy of autocracies.
Russia was defeated; the Revolution replaced the autocratic czar (temporarily) with limited representative government; when Lenin took over, Russia withdrew from war = only democratic powers remained
US now could safely make a case to its people to join the war to “make the world safe for democracy.”
German Plan: “Schlieffen Plan”
Whoops! Why the plan didn’t work:
Russians got ready for war much more quickly than Germany anticipate;
Belgians put up much more resistance than planned: bog down the German invasion
British also prepared much more quickly than anticipated; transported troops, etc to support French against German forces
German invasion forces are bogged down, forced to fight much more fiercely
Armament and the War: determining the kind of fighting
5,000 cubic feet Nurse Balloons; hangar, Okla. City
German weather balloons leaving hangar
Anthony Fokker testing the
synchronization mechanism of a
machine gun mounted on a German plane
The biplane replaced the balloon for
observing enemy positions in the
trench warfare of World War I. By
the end of the war, the
Germans were acquiring 4,000 photos a day as part of the planning for their last great offensive of 1918,
and the US Army made over one million prints in the last four months of the war..
SPAD XIII
SE5
Handley-Page Bomber
This is the official German photograph of the Baron Manfred von Richtofen, the Red Baron. Von Richtofen, Germany's highest ace, with 80 kills, was himself shot down and died on April 21, 1918. He was shot down by a Sopwith Camel flown by Captain A. Roy Brown, a 24 year old Canadian aviator. An Australian infantry unit also claimed they had shot Richtofen down.
Big Bertha, Howitzer L/14, manufactured by Krupp, the German industrial power, had a range of 122 km. It bombarded Paris for 20
months during 1917.
Effects of French shellfire on German positions
Machine Gun, Cal. .30, M1917/M1917A1 (1917). The M1917 water-cooled .30 cal. machine gun was
developed by John Browning. The M1971A1 was the Army's standard until mid-1950s. The M1917 water-cooled machine gun saw service with the last U.S.
troops to enter France near the end of World War I. It was tripod mounted, but was also used as an aircraft
gun. The M1917 had a rate of fire of 450 spm.
Although commercial pistols were purchased and issued to
General Officers, some standard Army issue pistols
were specially modified for use by General Officers
Pistol, Semi-automatic.45 Cal., M1911
Pistol, .45 Cal., Revolver, M1917 (1917). During World War I, due to a shortage of M1911 pistols, the Army
procured Colt New Service and Smith & Wesson hand ejector cal. .45 six-
round double-action revolvers. These pistols were standard issue until
World War II, when they were only issued to Military Police and security
personnel.
M1918A2 (1940) was fully-automatic, but selective at either Slow (300-450 spm) or Fast (500-650 spm) rates of fire. The M1918A2 was originally issued with a spike
based removable stock rest which fitted in a hole in the buttstock.
Photo of the British Mark I Tank in 1916
Photo of the British Mark I Tank in 1916
"Tanks in Action" - Edward Handley-Read
Trench Warfare
"Humanity - Stretcher-Bearer Post, 9th Field Ambulance" - Gilbert Rogers (Official War Artist)
After two years of war, the battle lines of the Western front (noted in yellow) had barely changed from the first days of stalemate. This was modern warfare. The Eastern front was a different story, where battles more resembled
fluid engagements of the 19th century.
Fanciful German depiction of First Ypres
The First Chemical Warfare: Gas
Germans used first, then Allies used it Many different kinds of chemicals,
especially:– Chlorine—acidic gas attacks the lungs– Phosgene—attacks ALL mucus/moist areas– Mustard gas—attacks skin, doesn’t need to be
breathed in
Aerial View—gas attack
German gas attack on
Allied trenches
Aftermath: gas attacks
Stalemate After the First Battle of the Marne, both Entente and German forces
began a series of outflanking maneuvers to try to force the other to retreat, in the “race to the sea.”
– Britain and France found themselves facing entrenched German positions from Lorraine to Belgium's coast.
– Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended occupied territories, so German trenches were much better
– In April 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time, opening a four mile wide hole in the Allied lines closed by Canadian soldiers at both the 2nd Battle of Ypres (the first time a colonial force drove back a European power), and 3rd Ypres (where over 5000 Canadian soldiers were gassed to death), earning German respect.
Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years, though protracted German action at Verdun throughout 1916, and the Entente's failure at the Somme, in the summer of 1916, brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse.
– Futile attempts at frontal assaults, at terrible cost to the French infantry, led to mutinies
– News of the Russian Revolution gave hope to socialists among the troops. Red flags were hoisted and the Internationale was sung on several occasions. At the height of the mutiny, 30,000 to 40,000 French soldiers participated.
Who was to blame? The Generals? Willingness to keep on fighting, accepting enormous
casualties, though success became less and less likely– Haig (Allies) couldn’t allow idea of failure; had to justify earlier
casualties, money on munitions– Somme and passchendaele fought for months after clear attacks
not progressing’– Example: Somme (Oct/Nov 1916) Quagmire, but attacks
continue, degrading morale for 3 months after subordinates said hopeless
Persistently unachievable, over optimistic objectives– Every attack would be the one that would win, vs experience– Haig insisted German morale and manpower at edge of collapse– Oct 1916 convinced one more hammer blow would crush
Germans– Intelligence just told them what they wanted to hear– Example: Passchendaele: plan to reach channel ports and
Uboats there; first day advanced only 6,000 yards (3 3/5 miles) didn’t listen to those who wanted more limited goals
However: New Kind of War No experience because of new weapons Transportation and communications
advances favored the defender Disadvantages for attackers Generals hampered by interfering politicians
Throughout 1915-17, the British Empire and France suffered many more casualties than Germany, but both sides lost millions of soldiers to injury and disease.
Around 800,000 soldiers from the British Empire were on the Western Front at any one time. 1,000 battalions, in sectors from the North Sea to the Orne River, rotated, fighting for a month, then withdrawing, replaced by another unit, unless fighting in a battle
The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches.
Russia leaves the War: Consequences
Russian plan: to attack both Austrian front and Prussian front at the same time– Some success on Austrian front– Beaten badly by better equipped and trained Prussian armies– Defeats led to discontent at home that helped push the revolution
Lenin and the Bolsheviks succeeded in taking advantage of weakness and confusion of the Russian revolution to seize power in St Petersburg
In December 1917, Lenin signed an Armistice with the Central Powers, ending Russian participation with the Allies and giving up ¼ of Russia’s territory to Germany– The withdrawal of Russia freed up German troops from the
eastern front for use in the west. – Ironically, German troop transfers could have been greater if
their territorial acquisitions had not been so dramatic.
The Lusitania Germany declared unrestricted sub
warfare against allied shipping, especially British
America was shipping war material and food to Europe and making TONS of money.Despite German warnings, the Lusitania, a passenger liner, sailed from New York toward London in 1915.
Off the coast of Ireland, a German sub spotted the liner, then fired a torpedo.
The initial explosion set off a violent second blast. The ship sank in 18 minutes. 1,195 of the 1,959 on board, including 123 Americans, died.
Outrage was great on both sides of the Atlantic (riots in England)
America enters the war German miscalculation overcame US “isolationist” public opinion:
– Immediately after the Lusitania sank, Germany promised to restrict their sub warfare, but then early in 1917, Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted sub warfare, reminding all of their hostility over Lusitania
– The Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted about the same time. The telegram encouraged the Mexican government to declare war against the US if the US came into the war against Germany: then after the war, Germany would make sure Mexico recovered all territories surrendered to the US during the 19th Century.
After further U-boat attacks on American merchant ships, Wilson had Congress declare war on Germany in April, 1917.
Germany thought it had time before large numbers of American troops would arrive in Europe, and that the U-boats would prevent their arrival.
– BUT the United States had full military-related production, aiding the Entente for quite some time, and had loaned the Allied powers money
– The Germans decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, despite the threat of U.S. intervention, gambling that they would win the war before America could make an impact on the battlefield.
American contribution to the war was important, particularly increasing US infantry in Europe. Significant numbers of American troops only arrived in Europe in the summer of 1918.
The US Navy immediately started escorting European convoys in the Atlantic. Several regiments of marines were also dispatched to France. – However, the United States not able to contribute manpower
to the Western and Italian front until later in the wars. The British and French wanted the United States to
send its infantry to reinforce their troops already on the battlelines; the Americans were short of artillery, etc. General Pershing resisted breaking up American units and using them as reinforcements for British Empire and French units. Pershing ordered the use of frontal assaults, and the AEF suffered a very high rate of casualties..
Over four months in 1918 the German army launched five major assaults at different parts of the allied line. The Allies called up American troops to assist British and French in the area just south of Belgium’s border on the way to Paris.
Germans, knowing where untested American troops were placed, attacked there with ferocity, expecting easy victory.
"The Menin Road" - Ian Strang, 1918
Destruction of US 89th Division
ammunition dump at Lucey
Valenciennes burning after
German evacuation
"Ypres, Christmas 1917" - Gilbert Holliday
Peronne during the Battle of the Somme 1916 - Robert Carlson
"Facts are mere accessories to the truth, and we do not invite to our hearth the guest who can only remind us that on
such a day we suffered calamity. Still less welcome is he who would make a Roman holiday of our misfortunes. Exaggeration
of what was monstrous is quickly recognised as a sign of egotism, and that contrarious symptom of the same disease which pretends that what is accepted as monstrous was really little more than
normal is equally unwelcome."
Max Plowman from Subaltern on the Somme
