War at Sea 1914-7
• Battle of Jutland (Skagerrak), May-Jun 1916 (draw between GB ≠ G)
• Battle of the Falkland Islands, Dec 1914 (sinking of German cruisers by GB)
• Submarine warfare of G, s. Sep 1914 + sinking of US liners by G U-boats, 1915
• G declaration of unlimited submarine warfare, Feb 1917 → US declaration of war on G, Apr 1917
Unlimited submarine warfare (1)
• USW targeted enemy AND neutral merchant vessels alike
• Strong protest by neutrals esp. USA after sinking of passenger ship Lusitania (7 May 1915)
• USW regarded as support for Verdun battle (1916) + decisive for ending war → Launching of propaganda campaign
Unlimited submarine warfare (2)
• Bethmann’s opposition thwarted by OHL → Re-launching of USW after power struggle (1 Feb 1917)
→ US cancel diplomatic relations & declares war on G (6 Apr 1917)
= Extra US power potential for Allies to compensate initial successes of USW
↓Severe blow for Central Powers: Realistically little
chance of winning war
July Crisis 1917 (1)
• Caused by:1) Reichstag parties MSPD, Left & Right
Liberals, Centre Party demanding domestic reforms & peace by negotiations: Threatening with end of support for war credits
2) Army Supreme Command (OHL) rejecting domestic reforms + striving for peace by victory: Threatening with stepping-back
July Crisis 1917 (2)
Bethmann’ s continuous attempt to find ‘middle line’
► After pressure from both sides dismissed by Kaiser (13 Jul)
= Success only for OHL: New chancellor Michaelis more a ‘conservative hardliner’
= Blow for parties: Unwise & short-sighted politics to abandon moderate Bethmann
Military situation 1917• Increasing calls for peace in GB
• Successes of G troops defending Hindenburg- and Siegfried lines on Western front
• Allied offensives at Aisne & Champagne failed > Many mutinies in F & R troops
• Breakthrough of G & A-H troops ≠ I at Izonzo (Oct): 300,000 I prisoners-of war
• Bolshevist revolution in R (7 Nov) + peace calls of new government → Peace talks with G & A-H
Peace talks (Dec 1917-Mar 1918 )
• R with G & A-H in Russian-Polish town of B-L
• OHL: For vast annexations after Siegfrieden (Peace through victory)
• Chancellor von Hertling: For moderate goals due to strong critic of leftist parties → Thwarted by OHL
= Shocking peace terms first refused by R
= Invasion of R resumed by G troops
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 Mar 1918)
Accepted by Lenin ‘to secure Bolshevist revolution’:
• R lost Poland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, Finland with60 million people (1/3 of R people)¼ of coal mines + 1/3 of railways + 1/3 of agricultural landsAlmost 100% of oil and cotton production
= Over 50% of all economic resources
• R paid 6 billion gold roubles indemnity
• R agreed to cease all Bolshevist propaganda
= Harsh Diktatfrieden (Dictated peace)
Consequences
• G hegemony in Central & Eastern Europe (September Program of 1915) almost achieved
• Strong boost to morale + strong support in G
• Fears & stiffening of war efforts in F + GB
• End of war in East allowed to transfer ca. 1,5 million G troops & weapons to West
► Ludendorff’s attempts to achieve decisive military breakthrough on Western front in spring 1918
Ludendorff Offensive (Mar-Jul 1918)
• G attempts to beat F + GB with strong attacks before arrival of US troops
• Both sides almost equal: 200 divisions with 3,5 million troops
• Several highly-concentrated attacks on front sections, 21 Mar-mid Jul 1918
• Initial successes > 60 km territory but problems with supplying weapons & provisions
Results• Strong Allied defensives: ½ million G † • Growing psychological fatigue of G troops• Increasing frustration & exhaustion • Desertions & alleged sicknesses & self-
inflicted injuries• Voluntary capitulations of single + groups of
soldiers
= Troops more and more disloyal > Hidden military strikes’
The End (1)
• Major Allied offensives (Jul-Sep 1918)
→ F: Breakthrough at Villers-Cotterets
→ GB: Successes with airplanes + 400 tanks at Amiens > 8 Aug: Black Day of G army
► G troops in ‘strategic defensive’ (OHL slang)
The End (2)
• Ludendorff’s nervous breakdown after Bulgaria’s military collapse (29 Sep)
• Demanded ‘immediate ceasefire’ + new parliamentary government of majority parties incl. SPD ↓
► To impress US president Wilson to get better peace conditions
► To push burden of defeat on majority parties who were made responsible for lacking war efforts
Stab-in-the-back legend (Dolchstoßlegende)
Widely believed notion in right-wing circles, after 1918:
• German Army did not lose WW I
• Army betrayed by civilians on the home front, esp. republicans who overthrew monarchy
• Advocates denounced German government leaders who signed Armistice on 11 Nov 1918, as
"November Criminals"