XI. WORLD WAR I
A. Immediate Causes of WWI – By 1914 tensions in Europe were running high: Germany was committed to a massive naval arms race with Great Britain; France was still determined to recover Alsace and Lorraine, and the Slavic peoples of the Balkans were determined to break away from Austria-Hungary.
1. Assassination of Franz Ferdinand – Sarajevo, 28 June 1914; Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Sarajevo was the capital of Bosnia (annexed along with Herzegovina by A-H in 1908), a province populated by Serbs who wished to join Serbia.
i. The Black Hand – an underground Serbian nationalist group from Belgrade (capital of Serbia) who promoted anti-Austrian propaganda within Serbia and committed terrorist acts (sabotage, espionage, assassinations, etc.) abroad – especially in provinces which Serbia wished to annex.
The Black Hand included many Serb government officials and army officers.
When it was learned that Franz Ferdinand was going to visit Sarajevo in June, 1914, the Black Hand decided to assassinate him.
ii. Role of Serbian government – The Black Hand’s activities were fairly well known to the Serbian government.
when the Serbian government learned of the assassination plot, it found itself in a very awkward position:
do nothing and bring on a war with A-H; or warn A-H and anger Serbian citizenship while also admitting to deeper knowledge of anti-A-H actions within Serbia.
in the end, the Serbian government made a weak attempt to try to intercept the assassins crossing the border, and when this failed, they decided to give A-H a vague warning that would not expose the Black Hand.
iii. 28 June 1914 – After reviewing troops on maneuvers, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, headed for City Hall in a motorcade consisting of six cars.
FF and Sophie were in the second car which had its top folded down and was flying the Hapsburg flag; lining the route were seven assassins.
second assassin through bomb which bounced off the car and exploded in the street
incredibly, FF continued to City Hall for his reception, and decided there that he did not wish to change his schedule,
but he did decide to visit his wounded friend in the hospital by way of a different route (continue on the Appel Quay rather than turn onto Franz Joseph street as was originally planned).
his driver didn’t get the message and was forced to stop and back up, right in front of Gavrilo Princip, a man who had been rejected by the Serb army for being too small.
Princip fired his pistol twice, hitting FF in the neck and Sophie in the stomach; he was arrested on the spot.
2. The July Crisis – The events of July would turn what should have been a localized incident in Sarajevo into a world conflict. July was a month that could have been used to ‘cool things down;’ instead certain individuals decided to use the assassinations as a ‘means to an end,’ i.e. we will use this incident to wipe out Slavic nationalism for good while also restoring the honor of Austria-Hungary.
i. Immediate reaction – On June 29th, Belgrade wires its condolences to Vienna.
same day, Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pasic formerly renounces the Black Hand and ordered all public meetings closed.
Austrian Foreign Minister Count Leopold von Berchtold’s initial reaction is one of moderation: jail all suspected terrorists and dissolve all extremist groups.
Austrian Chief of Staff General Conrad von Hotzendorff wants immediate mobilization for an invasion of Serbia, an action which would require sixteen days.
The Austrians are aware of a trip by French President Raymond Poincare to Russia that will end on July 23, so it is agreed initially that no action should take place with the French and the Russians in such close contact.
London newspaper headline: “To Hell with Serbia”
German ambassador to Vienna warns Berchtold against “measures in settling accounts with Serbia.”
ii. Austria-Hungary’s response – Investigations quickly revealed that the terrorists had been armed in Serbia and smuggled across the border into Bosnia with the help of Serbian frontier guards. By July 2, three of the conspirators had made full confessions.
The Austrians felt that the time had come to crush Serbia once and for all. Many in the imperial government felt that war with Serbia was now a necessity.
At a time of crisis, the Austrians needed a true leader, someone to force them to ‘use their heads.’ but there was no such leader; there was only Franz Joseph, who at the time was 84 years old and fatalistic: “if we must go down, we will go down like gentlemen.”
iii. ‘Blank Check’ – On July 5 Franz Joseph and Count Berchtold sent a letter to the Kaiser requesting support for any action Austria-Hungary might take against Serbia.
Austria needed Germany’s full support to undertake military action against the Serbs because of the threat of Russia. ( Had Austria acted quickly and unilaterally against Serbia, w/out seeking Germany’s support, it is probable that it would have remained a local Balkan issue:
o Serbia was politically and morally isolated: most of Europe was still shocked at the 1903 act of the Serb army – killing their king and queen and throwing their bodies from a window and then hacking them apart with their swords.
o BUT Austria was unwilling to act unilaterally -- a product of the precautionary mindset produced by decades of mutual assistance treaties AND the anticipation of military consequences that might ensue should she act alone.
July 6th, Wilhelm II and his Imperial Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, telegrammed Berchtold, saying that Austria- Hungary could rely on Germany to support whatever action was necessary to deal with Serbia -- in effect offering von Berchtold a 'blank check.'
Having sent the telegram, the Kaiser departed for his annual North Sea cruise – a 20 day trip that he saw no reason to cancel.
iv. Count Berchtold – he took the Kaiser’s offer of support and quickly came around to Hotzendorff’s side: “Serbia must be eliminated.”
he gained support of Hungary’s Prime Minister Istvan Tisza by promising that no territorial demands would be made on Serbia
this was a lie: Serbia had already been partitioned on paper;
he intercepted several letters from the Hungarian Prime Minister to Franz Joseph pleading for leniency.
v. Ultimatum – delivered to Serbia at 6:00 pm July 23rd (after French-Russian state visit); it was so severe that its refusal was guaranteed. Serbia had only 48 hours to reply. Some of the conditions included:
suppress all propaganda which incites hatred and contempt of the Monarchy
remove all officers and officials guilty of carrying on the propaganda against Austria-Hungary
prevent the participation of Serbian authorities in the smuggling of weapons and explosives across the frontier
vi. Reply – On Saturday, July 25th at 5:55 pm within five minutes of the 24 hour deadline, Serbia delivered its response.
In short, Serbia had accepted all of the conditions of the ultimat-um except the condition that imperial officials be allowed into Serbia to supervise the investigation.
The Serbians were willing to discuss this point, but Berchtold would not take ‘yes’ for an answer.
the Serbian leadership, fearing exactly this (that Austria would attack no matter what the contents of the reply), had ordered the general mobilization of it's army at 3:00 pm.
Nobody knew it, but, World War I had just begun.
vii. Austrian mobilization – The Austrian mobilization order must be signed by Emperor Franz Josef (who now feared war). Berchtold
obtained the signature the same day (Saturday) at 7:23 pm by telling the aged Emperor that the Serbs were already attacking.
Germany was not informed of these actions by her Austria-Hungary.
the next day, Sunday July 26th, Russia entered its state of pre-mobilization, recalling its youngest reservists to units in its western military districts.
viii. July 27th–31st – During the following week, events rapidly spin out of control:
Monday, July 27th – Kaiser Wilhelm II cuts his cruise short and returns to Germany. Reportedly, his first words to Bethmann-Hollweg on his return were: “How did it all happen?”
Churchill orders the British fleet to proceed to war stations in order to be ready if the crisis got out of hand.
The French Chief of Staff, Joffre issues standby mobilization orders.
Tuesday, July 28th – at 11:00 am, Austria declares war on Serbia
Bethmann-Hollweg offers the Kaiser his resignation (admitting that he was duped by the Austrians), but the Kaiser refuses saying, “You have cooked this broth, now you will eat it.”
Word of the declaration reaches St. Petersburg where the French ambassador assures the Czar of France’s support.
Wednesday, July 29th – at 1:00 am Kaiser Wilhelm II and Czar Nicholas II begin the famous Willy-Nicky telegrams.
Czar orders partial mobilization for western military districts (agreeing in effect to only partial mobilization on the Austrian front.)
Thursday, July 30th – 5:00 pm Franz Joseph orders full mobil-ization on Russian and Serbian frontiers.
Frantically, the Bethmann-Hollweg urges Count Berchtold and the Austrians to back down and agree to negotiate a settlement, but Berchtold declines.
Czar orders general mobilization on Austrian-German frontiers.
Friday, July 31st – at 11:55 am, triggered by Russia’s general mobilization, Germany declares a state of pre-mobilization and issues an ultimatum to Russia: demobilize within 12 hours or Germany would declare war.
Germany issues another ultimatum to France: declare neutrality within 18 hours or Germany would declare war.
at 5:15 pm French war cabinet authorizes full mobilization.
B. Outbreak of World War I – Russia and France ignored the German ultimatums; Germany declared war on Russia on August 1st on France on Aug. 2nd. On Aug. 4th Britain, France and Russia all declared war on Germany. Italy declared neutrality.
1. Initial Action on the Western Front – The first two and a half months of WWI (Aug. – mid Oct., 1914) gave the deceptive impression that the war in the west would be one of movement. For both the Germans and the French initial troop movements were based on decades of planning that followed precise railroad timetables.
i. Germany’s Schleiffen Plan – Named after Chief of Staff von Schlieffen, it was Germany’s plan for quick victory against both Russia and France. It was a pigeon hole plan if there ever was one.
In the east Germany had to hold the line against the Russia: with its primitive industry and transportation facilities, Russia would take months to mobilize.
meanwhile in the west, Germany would attack France, not along their common border ( a heavily forested and mountainous region that was well defended by a series of French forts ) but by sweeping north and crossing through neutral Belgium ( a violation of Belgium neutrality ).
ii. Invasion of Belgium – on Aug. 4, 1914, German cavalry crossed the border into Belgium. The Belgian army was small and poorly equipped, but they fought courageously.
Forts at Liege – built along the River Meurse between 1888 and 1892, they were the most modern in Europe: a complex of underground fortresses considered one the strongest positions in Europe.
any delay at this fort would throw the Schlieffen plan off schedule; so the Germans decided to bring up their heavy artillery: “Big Bertha,” the world’s largest cannon, firing one ton shell.
German army now flooded across the Belgian plains and crossed over into France.
By the third week of war, the Germany army was within 20 miles of Paris, but their “Rape of Belgium” had brought world-wide condemnation.
iii. France’s Plan XVII – While the German army swept southwest through France, the French army under Joffre pushed east towards Alsace-Lorraine according to its plan.
France’s war plan was based on the expectation that the outbreak of war would find the main Germany army deployed along their common frontier between Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Chief of Staff Joffre was a champion of the offensive; he was determined to strike out against Germany.
Joffre believed that the German force to the north was a diversion, so he followed plan and attacked east.
The French offensive was a disaster: French generals had overestimated the offensive capabilities of French infantry armed only with rifles and bayonets.
o Over 40,000 French were killed in 4 days of attack. On Aug. 22 alone, 27,000 French killed.
o The French wore bright blue jackets and red pants (the Germans wore field gray; the British wore khaki): in the past, armies wore bright uniforms because of the smoky battlefields, but smokeless powder of the 20th c. made these soldiers conspicuous targets.
iv. The British Expeditionary Force – As a result of the Belgian invasion, the British government had declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to France.
The BEF landed in France on August 14 and held up the German right wing at the Battle of the Mons (August 23rd).
After defeat at Mons, the BEF retreated to the Marne River where they took up defensive positions alongside the French army.
v. Battle of the Marne (Sept. 6-12) – The combined French-British counterattack; Joffre had pulled reserves out of his eastern line and created the French 6th army around Paris. On Sept. 6 he attacked the German right wing.
At one stage the French 6th Army came close to defeat and were only saved by the use of Paris taxis to rush 6,000 reserve troops to the front line.
Rather than give up territory already won, the Germans dug in to protect themselves from the guns of the advancing Allies.
The Germans had the best field engineering units of any army in Europe, and they quickly built a series of interlocking trench systems and strong points along the ridge beyond the Ainse River.
The Allies couldn't break the German trench lines and so they followed the German example.
the French had around 250,000 casualties; it is believed that Geman losses were similar; the B.E.F. lost 12,733 men during the battle.
The Schlieffen Plan had failed; however the successful retreat of the German army and the digging in on both sides ended all hopes of a short war.
vi. Race to the Sea – In an effort to outflank each other, both armies maneuvered north, fighting a series of battles across northern France.
Both sides dug trenches as they pushed north in order to secure their positions along the way.
The fighting was continuous during the month of November; it was particularly intense along the Ypres salient where the low lying land and wet conditions made for nightmarish conditions.
By the end of November, lines of trenches extended from the North Sea all the way down to the Swiss border.
2. Initial Action on the Eastern Front – On the Eastern Front the Russian offensive began successfully on both German and Austrian fronts; however, there were some serious problems within the Russian army which would bring about disaster in the end.
i. Russian army – Russia had the largest army of any country in the world, but it was an army made up of illiterate peasants who were poorly trained and incompetently led.
many soldiers went into battle without rifles; they simple ran along with the rest, hoping to pick up the rifle of a fallen comrade.
Russian general officers were incredibly incompetent: they believed that they could win battles simply by throwing wave after wave of peasant soldiers against machine guns and trained artillery.
ii. Russian advance against Germany – Two Russian armies entered East Prussia in Aug. 1914
the Russian First and Second Armies outnumbered German forces in East Prussia 4-1; however they were forced to split from one another in order to bypass a 50 mile region of lakes;
the German forces seized this opportunity and pounced on the Russian Second Army to the south.
iii. Battle of Tannenburg (Aug. 22-29) – the Russian Second Army was surrounded.
of Second Army’s 150,000, less than 20,000 escaped. 30,000 were killed (many drowned) and around 100,000 were captured.
the Russian general (Samsonoff) shot himself right afterwards; this was Germany’s greatest military victory of WWI.
The Russian advance into East Prussia, though ill-fated, did relieve German pressure against the West during the first critical weeks of the war.
iv. Russian advance against Austria –Four Russian four armies (about 600,000 men) entered Galicia in Aug. 1914.
By Sept. the Austrians had been badly defeated, and their campaign against Serbia was in trouble.
within two months of fighting, the Austrians had lost over 200,000 men, including all of their best officers.
their campaign against Serbia ground to a halt in December without any results.
C. Stalemate on the Western Front – By the winter of 1914-15, the armies on the Western Front had suffered appalling losses: in 5 months 400,000 French soldiers had been killed; German losses were almost the same; the small British Expeditionary Force had been almost entirely wiped out.
1. Trench Warfare – All along the Western Front armies dug lines of interconnected trench systems, protected by sandbags and barbwire.
i. Trench systems – Behind frontline trenches were reserve and support trenches connected by communication trenches.
front line trenches were built with fire steps and sandbags, and in front they were protected by rows of barb wire and listening posts.
front line trenches were as lightly manned as possible (except during an attack) in order to avoid increasing casualties.
in rear areas first-aide stations, supply depots and command centers could be found.
Along trenches were dugouts where men slept or took cover from artillery barrages
artillery batteries were farther back behind reserve and support trenches ( field batteries tried to maintain contact with front line ‘spotters’ in observation posts, but this depended on the maintenance of ground wire and field telephones – both of which were in need of constant repair due to barrages; also, enemy raids could cut wires or perhaps even tap them; all of these communication problems resulted in huge numbers of ‘friendly fire’ casualties. )
between enemy front lines was “no-man’s land,” usually between 150 and 500 yards wide.
in some places no-man’s land was so small that opposing front lines could literally hear each other ( during the winter of 1914, in several places along the front lines, troops from both sides agreed to a Christmas truce; men sang carols to each other and even exchanged small gifts and handshakes; in general this was frowned upon by the officers; historians call the Christmas truce of 1914 the last breath of the 19th c.: an age of optimism and good will. )
ii. Tactics – trench warfare tactics were simple and costly.
an army on the attack or ‘offensive’ began by unleashing a heavy artillery barrage on the opposing line.
during the barrage, the attacking army would concentrate as many troops as possible within a small section of the front line.
after the enemy lines had been ‘prepared’ the attackers went ‘over the top’ into no-man’s land in an infantry assault.
in the meantime, the defenders knew exactly where the attack was coming because of the artillery preparation, and they had usually dug themselves deep enough to avoid too much damage.
once the barrage stopped, as it always did, the defenders would rush out of their dugouts and take up positions along fire steps and in machine gun pits.
iii. Modern weapons – in the muddy, rat infested trenches, the lives of the troops were made even more miserable by new, ‘improved’ technology.
poison gas was first used on the British at Second Ypres in 1915.
hand grenades and trench mortars made life in the front lines even more dangerous
tanks and airplanes also came into use during WWI.
2. Major Battles – In 1915 costly battles were fought up and down the Western Front. Very little territory changed hands. In 1916 two enormous battles were fought on the Western Front as generals on both sides tried to end the stalemate. The losses would be staggering.
i. Battle of Verdun (Feb.–Dec. 1916) –Verdun was a fortified French garrison town on the River Meuse about 150 miles east of Paris. In December 1915, General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of Staff of the German Army, decided to attack Verdun.
Although he admitted he would be unable to break through at Verdun, he argued that his aim was not to win the fortress, but to kill as many French soldiers as possible.
The German attack on Verdun began on 21 Feb. 1916. A million troops, led by Crown Prince Wilhelm, faced only about 200,000 French defenders.
For two days the French retreated to their second and third line support trenches (still 5 miles outside the fortress).
On 24 Feb., French general Henri-Philippe Petain (newly appointed commander of the Verdun sector) gave orders that no more withdrawals would take place, and declared famously that “they [the Germans] shall not pass.”
By June key sections of the Verdun fortress were in German hands; however, the scale of the German attacks soon diminished because the British had opened up a new offensive on the Somme.
The Battle of Verdun lasted until 18 Dec. The French Army lost about 550,000 men at Verdun. It is estimated that the German Army suffered 434,000 casualties.
1,000,000 German and French troops had died along a front only 12.5 miles. Troops sent to the Verdun sector were said to be entering the ‘furnace.’
ii. Battle of the Somme (July–Nov. 1916) – originally planned as a joint French and British offensive, the Somme turned into a large-scale British attack designed to relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun.
it was also an attempt to wipe out German manpower.
BEF General Sir Douglas Haig’s strategy called for an eight-day preliminary bombardment that he believed would completely destroy the German front line.
Haig planned to use 27 divisions (about 750,000 men) against an 18 mile stretch of the German front-line held by 16 divisions.
the initial bombardment, although enormous ( more than a million shells fired; shock waves from the bombardment could be felt across the Channel in England ), failed to destroy either the barbed-wire or the concrete bunkers protecting the German soldiers.
The result: July 1st was the single worst day in British military history.
at 7:30 am British officers blew their whistles and led their men over the top; by the end of the day the BEF had suffered 58,000 casualties.
Entire battalions fell alongside each other in formation.
Despite these losses Haig continued the attack well into the fall, achieving some small breakthroughs but nothing that could be exploited.
Tanks were brought up for the first time in mid-Sept., but not in large enough numbers to break through.
Haig continued to order attacks throughout the fall, but gradually the weather deteriorated and by Nov. the offensive had ground to a halt.
The British suffered 420,000 casualties; the French lost nearly 200,000; it is estimated that German losses were around 500,000.
The Allied forces had advanced less than 7 miles at the deepest points.
D. War on Other Fronts – While armies annihilated themselves all along the Western Front, World War I was still being fought in other parts of Europe, the Near East as well as overseas.
1. Eastern Front – By the end of 1915 the Russians were short of weapons, food and ammunition. Moral was low. They had retreated 300 miles inside their own borders, and they lost about 300,000 men.
i. Brusilov Offensive (June – Sept. 1916) – its effect on the 20th c. was enormous; it was Russia’s last great effort of the war, a counter-offensive against the combined German-Austrian forces.
Russia would lose 1,000,000 men; its demoralization from these losses that would lead to directly to the Communist Revolution of 1917.
the offensive weakened the Central Powers on the Italian front (Italy had joined the Allies in 1915) and at Verdun.
Germany was forced to transfer 35 divisions from the Western Front.
Austria-Hungary was ruined, unable to cope with its losses and in political turmoil. This situation would lead directly to the collapse of Hapsburgs.
for Russia, the loss of one million Russian soldiers, decayed public morale, widespread famine (caused by the diversion of all resources to the war effort) would lead to rioting.
Nicholas II would be forced to abdicate the throne and the provisional government set up I his place would get overthrown in the Oct. 1917 Russian Revolution.
2. Italian Front – At the opening of WWI the Italians declared neutrality; for months they bargained with both sides to see which would offer the most in exchange for entry on their side.
i. The Allies promised to give Italy the Austrian territories in the Alps and along the Adriatic
May 1915 Italy declared war on the Central Powers.
ii. Battleground – the Italians fought along the mountainous region above the northern end of the Adriatic.
As a result, casualties from shell fire (rock fragments) were much greater
weather and terrain caused large numbers of casualties.
iii. Battle of Caporetto (1917) – The front lines changed very little until 1917 when in Oct., a combined German-Austrian offensive threw the Italians into a disastrous retreat.
the Italians lost 300,000 men (270,000 captured) as well as all of their artillery; Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms
3. The Gallipoli Campaign – In 1915, the Allies tried to gain control of the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits for the purpose of opening a Black Sea supply route to Russia (badly in need of supplies). The Straits were controlled by the Ottoman Turks ( The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers to form the Triple Alliance with the signing of the August 1914 Turco-German Alliance ).
i. Plan – The idea of forcing the straits was originally promoted by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill was anxious to involve the British navy, which at the time, wasn’t doing much in the North Sea
original plan called for a naval operation to fight through the heavily defended straits
optimistically, only a small landing force would be needed to secure shoreline batteries
naval attack began in Feb, but it was a disaster: extensive minefields and shore-based artillery inflicted heavy casualties; 6 out of 18 battleships were sunk
as a result Churchill began pushing for a substantial landing force
ii. Landing – Beginning in April 1915 British, Australian, and New Zealand divisions began landing at various points on the Gallipoli Peninsula, while a French division landed on the Asian side of the straits.
Gallipoli peninsula was just five miles across at its widest point, but the terrain was terrible for assault
Amphibious assault ( still today considered the most difficult and dangerous of all military operations ) were not common at the time, and the divisions landing on Gallipoli had little practice
at 3:30 am on April 25 shallow draft steamboats began to tow landing boats towards the shore, but in the dark, the tows bunched up and drifted too far north
the result was that the whole force landed bunched up on a small beach confronted by steep ground, rather than wide open country to the south
iii. Stalemate – For months the Allied forces tried to push inland, but the terrain and Turkish defense made each frontal assault futile.
during the summer conditions went from bad to worse: the heat was searing, and all over the tiny battleground millions of flies swarmed over rotting corpses and tormented survivors in their trenches; thousands died each month as a result of disease, especially dysentery
no place was safe as the Turks commanded high ground over-looking the Allied trenches
the generals in this campaign were unforgivably incompetent ( a particularly infamous incident was the assault of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade [who had left their horses in Egypt]; the Brigade was in effect sacrificed by General Birdwood [neither unit on its flanks had reached the jump-off line, so there was no realistic hope for support: 600 men went over the top; 375 men fell. )
the Allies withdrew from the area in Jan 1916.
The Gallipoli operation cost over 26,000 Australian casualties; New Zealand lost over 7,500 men; the British lost a total of
120,000; the French 27,000. (the original landing force amounted to about 75,000). The Turkish total was probably about 220,000.
Churchill’s plan had little or no effect on the war
4. Egypt and the Middle East – In 1915 WWI spread to Egypt and the Middle East.
i. Suez Canal – in Feb. 1915 the British were forced to defend the Suez Canal (completed in 1869) against an attack from the Ottoman Turks (which would cut off Britain’s trade with India).
Although the attack failed, it did succeed in tying up a large British force which could have been used to in the Gallipoli campaign.
ii. Palestine campaign – the goal of the British was to capture Jerusalem from the Ottomans (its capture would be a serious blow to Ottoman power and prestige).
One extraordinary aspect of this campaign was the use of cavalry, both horse and camel.
o On the 31st October 1917, 800 men of the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade charged entrenched Turko-German defences at Beersheba, Palestine. It was desperate attempt to capture vital water wells to save the allied forces from disaster.
o Under heavy fire from artillery, aircraft, machine gun and rifle fire, they successfully charged the fortress. Their losses were 31 dead, 36 wounded and 70 of their beloved horses.
o This was known as the last great cavalry charge in history.
iii. Fall of Jerusalem (Dec. 11, 1917) – News of its capture brought great relief to the Allies, particularly after the bad news from Italy and Russia.
5. War at Sea – Early in the war the British Fleet blockaded the German coast in order to cripple the German economy. The Germans responded with a blockade of their own, but they didn’t have the surface fleet to enforce the blockade.
i. German strategy – Britain had a large numerical advantage over the Germans; the Germans realized that risking their full fleet at one time could prove disastrous.
therefore, the Germans determined to even the odds through a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare
the policy came at the urging of Admiral Tirpitz, secretary of the German navy who wanted to use U-Boats against allied shipping in order to enforce Germany’s embargo
ii. Unrestricted submarine warfare – the Germans began to inflict heavy losses on British shipping in 1915. German U-Boats sank British supply ships, passenger ships, and even hospital ships
because submarines depend on stealth and surprise, the Germans frequently sank ships with little or no warning
in the first six months of 1915, German U-Boats sank almost 750,000 tons of British shipping.
The introduction of the convoy system in 1916 helped to reduce the scale of this loss.
iii. Sinking of the Lusitania – On May 7, 1915 a German U-Boat sank a British passenger liner in the Irish Channel; 1,198 lives were lost including 124 Americans.
it was on its way from New York to Liverpool, England; passengers were warned that “a state of war existed between Great Britain and Germany, and that the zone of war includes the waters off the British isles
the Lusitania was secretly loaded with munitions for Britain for the war
iv. Aftermath – news of the disaster was wired across the Atlantic. Americans were outraged ( there had already been many protests of Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare in which several U.S. ships had already been sunk ).
in response President Woodrow Wilson demanded that Germany abandon unrestricted submarine warfare
anti-German protests and political cartoons began to appear
Germany defended itself against the attacks and protests by claiming that the Lusitania was armed (not true) and that it was carrying munitions that would be used to kill German soldiers (true).
Germans also claimed that the British had deliberately exposed the Lusitania (trying to get it sunk) in order to bring the U.S. into the war ( the Lusitania’s Captain Turner had violated 5 top-secret Admiralty instructions including zig-zagging, traveling near the middle of the channel, etc. )
Germans further justified the sinking by saying that the British were using their “illegal” blockade to starve German citizens and that nation-wide suffering was far worse than the suffering of the ship’s victims
in the end the Germans agreed to restrict U-Boat activity to belligerent ships, and then only after sufficient warning to allow passenger and crew to escape
v. Battle of Jutland – the one time the German navy did come out in force in 1916 in an attempt to break through the North Sea blockade; they met the British off the coast of Denmark.
fought between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, the Battle of Jutland was the largest surface naval battle of all time
Germans inflicted heavy losses on the British, but their own losses forced their surface ships to return home where they remained through the end of the war
E. The United States Enters the War – When WWI started in 1914, the United States declared neutrality. The reasons for its abandonment of neutrality and late entry into the war are complex and: some argue that U.S. was never neutral in first place.
1. U.S. Neutrality – Although U.S. sympathies favored the Allies, the official policy of neutrality was the result of a century of U.S. isolationism. The U.S.’s Isolationist foreign policy was the result principally of the Monroe Doctrine (1821) and the recent victory in the Spanish-American War (1898) in which the U.S. and Spain fought for control of Cuba.
i. Congress feared that if the U.S. meddled with European affairs, than the door would reopen for European countries to meddle with U.S. policies
between 1880 and 1914 a huge wave of European immigrants (20-30 million?) had arrived in the U.S.
ii. Economic interests – from the start of the war, American industrialists sought to maintain the rights of neutral trade with Great Britain and France ( U.S. industry was profiting from Britain and France’s desperate need for supplies )
Between 1914 and 1916 U.S. trade with the allies grew from 825 million dollars to 3.2 billion dollars
America’s economic interests depended on maintenance of neutral trade with the allies, but these interests would in fact end up drawing the U.S. into the war
because if the Allies were to lose the war, U.S. trade with Europe would suffer greatly
2. Allied Propaganda – In an attempt to bring the U.S. into the war, the American public was saturated with propaganda. Most of it had a pro-British slant.
i. propaganda was aided by the cultural connections between Britain and America
ii. American posters urged citizens to buy war bonds in support of the allies
iii. many Americans came to see Germany as a dangerous monarchy full of militaristic and imperialistic thinking
iv. as a democratic nation, many Americans felt increasingly obligated to support the democracies of Europe against tyranny
3. Germany’s Return to Unrestricted Submarine Warfare – By 1917 the German high command feared that they might be forced to surrender because of starvation and shortages of essential war supplies.
i. Therefore in on Jan. 31, 1917 Germany reintroduced unrestricted submarine warfare.
Germany realized that such a policy would provoke the U.S. into declaring war, but they believed that the British could be forced to surrender before American forces arrived in France
ii. U.S. merchant ships began to go down in March of 1917.
4. Zimmerman Note – Germany’s Foreign Minister Alfred Zimmerman proposed that Germany ask Mexico to form an alliance with Japan ( Japan and the U.S. were already competing for control of Pacific trade; the U.S. had just finished the Panama Canal in 1914 with which they threatened to dominate Pacific trade [most Europeans predicted a showdown between the U.S. and Japan at some point] ) to prevent the U.S. from entering the war in Europe at full strength.
i. Plan – Germany promised that it would help Mexico recover its territory (Texas, Arizona and New Mexico) lost in Mexican War (1845-48) once the Western Front was conquered
Mexico would offer Japan an invasion base on its west coast in return for their military support
ii. On Jan. 17, 1917 Zimmerman sent these plans in a telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico City.
British Naval Intelligence had already broken Germany’s military code used to send information across the world
therefore, the Zimmerman telegram was intercepted and deciphered right away, but the British waited for the right time to inform the U.S. in order to maximize anti-German sentiments in America
Up until the end of Jan. 1917, Woodrow Wilson had been actively seeking to bring the European powers to a peaceful settlement
On Jan. 31 Germany announced its intention to resume unrestricted submarine warfare;
on Feb. 2 Wilson and his cabinet decided not to go to war, but instead to sever all diplomatic relations with Germany (in the American public there was still widespread reluctance to fight Germany)
the Zimmerman telegram was delivered to Wilson on Feb. 24
( two days before an important Armed Shipment Bill was to be voted on in Congress ) and released to the public on March 1.
iii. Reaction – the American public was predictably outraged; for the first time, Americans in the West and Southwest felt directly threatened.
the Zimmerman telegram had stirred precisely that part of the country which up until then had been the most indifferent
the media further united the public to the point that Wilson felt safe in asking Congress for a declaration of war against Germany which he did on April 2
iv. On April 6, 1917 the United States declared war on Germany
Wilson famously called the U.S. entry into the war “a crusade to make the world safe for democracy.”
the Zimmerman telegram, sent to Mexico as a precautionary measure before their declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare, may well have cost Germany the war
F. Ending World War I – When the U.S. entered the war it was ill prepared. Its men were poorly equipped and badly in need of training. In response the U.S. drafted soldiers and geared its economy to suit wartime needs – a remarkable fast transition, an example of the uniquely American ‘can do’ approach to problems.
1. American Expeditionary Force – Led by General John J. Pershing, “Black Jack”, the AEF did not arrive in France in any significant numbers until late 1917; they then began further training behind the front lines.
i. Morale boost – Despite this lack of an immediate frontline presence the significance of the AEF was the boost in moral that it brought in ship after ship loaded with weapons, ammunition, supplies and men.
the AEF began arriving at a time when the French army was refusing to advance ( throughout the French armies men began to mutiny in May, 1917: they said that they would defend the line, but they refused to take part in any more offensives )
o Hindenburg Line – In 1917 the Allies greatly outnumbered the Germans on the Western Front. Facing this increasing shortage in man power (heavy losses at Verdun and the Somme), in Sept. 1916, the German High Command had issued orders for the construction of a state of the art defensive line to be built behind existing trench lines from the Channel coast south to Verdun. It proved impervious to any attack.
meanwhile the British had reached their low point in the war: 3rd Ypres, also known as Paschendale, fought from July to Nov., 1917; little ground was gained; the British lost 310,000 men
the Allied commanders wanted to use the AEF right away by integrating American troops into British and French lines, but Pershing refused and insisted the AEF would stay together and train until it was ready to take over an entire section of the front
the AEF would not see significant action until late May, early June 1918; in August, 1918 it would finally take over its own section of the line
2. Wilson’s Fourteen Points – In a speech delivered to Congress on Jan. 8, 1918, Wilson stated America’s war aims. The American people had been at war now for nine months, and they reassurance that they were fighting for good moral reason. The statement was full of hope and American idealism for a new international order; it would become the foundation for the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Sadly, little of it would be implemented in the final Treaty of Versailles.
i. The Fourteen Points included:
1. Open diplomacy – no secret treaties
2. Freedom of the seas during peace and war
3. Removal of all economic barriers
4. National armaments would be reduced
5. Colonial disputes would be judged by an impartial body w/equal interest given to subject populations
6-13. All involve territorial and sovereignty claims within Europe: ex. France gets, Alsace-Lorraine, Poland becomes a nations, etc.
14. A general associations of nations to be formed to guarantee political independence and territorial integrity to great and a small states alike.
ii. Reaction – at first the speech was received well, but soon it became clear that implementation would produce serious problems.
European leaders (not the people) argued that Wilson and the Americans had no understanding for the complexity of European affairs – then as now, it is nearly impossible to get the European leaders to agree on anything
French Prime Minister Clemenceau said, “the Good Lord only gave us ten commandments; the American president ahs given us fourteen.”
3. Germany’s Final Push – By early 1918, the German army was in a desperate position: the front lines were increasingly filled with old men and boys; German U-boats had failed to knock the British out of the war; now the Americans were pouring into France: it was only a matter of time before the Allies would be strong enough to mount an offensive to dislodge them from the Hindenburg Line.
i. Following the October, 1917 Communist Revolution, Russia had signed a peace with Germany, freeing 1 million men from the Eastern to the Western Front.
German Supreme Commander Ludendorff decided to begin a major offensive on the Western Front
ii. March 21, 1918 the Germans launched Kaiserschlacht, or “the Kaiser’s battle:” one last effort to save Germany’s honor.
the offensive was at first successful, pushing the allies all the way back to the Marne, but as in 1914, problems with supply and troop exhaustion made the offensive gradually fizzle out.
The AEF did not play a critical role in stopping this offensive until late May and early June.
iii. Belleau Wood (June 6 – 25, 1918) – the first significant action of the AEF during WWI, a major counterblow that ground Germany’s last great offensive to a halt.
at Belleau Wood on June 6 outnumbered U.S. Marines attacked a strong German position and drove them back
The ferocity of the U.S. Marines surprised the Germans who called the U.S. Marines “devil dogs”
4. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive (Sept. 26 – Nov. 11, 1918) – An Allied attempt along the entire Western Front designed to break through the Hindenburg line and finally end the war ( In the meantime, beginning on Aug. 8 a combined British-French Amiens offensive had achieved remarkable success. General Erich von Ludendorff, the man in overall charge of German military operations, described the 8th August as "the black day of the German Army.” ) By Aug. 14 many within the German command wanted immediate peace negotiations. Throughout the month of Aug., German troops had begun to desert the battlefields and surrender to Allied soldiers without a fight.
i. The AEF formed the far right flank of this advance, and was assigned the difficult task of advancing through the Argonne forest.
Modern military historians describe the German network of bunkers and interlocking strong points of the Argonne, saying that even today, it would require advanced precision guided weapons in order to dislodge an enemy from it
By Oct. 10 the AEF had pushed the Germans out of the Argonne, but at incredible loss
By Nov. 6, the AEF had reached Sedan and completely broken the German lines, but at incredible loss: in just 6 weeks of fighting, the AEF suffered 117,000 casualties
ii. While the AEF served a crucial role, the most important attacks were made by the British, supported by Canadian and Australian troops.
in Early Oct. the British successfully overran a 30 mile section of the Hindenburg Line
in Oct. revolts broke out in Germany and Austria-Hungary
in late Oct. the German high command now began to seek an armistice, although some wanted to continue fighting into the winter ( When Germany finally did surrender, many German troops felt betrayed: they would blame Germany’s defear on revolutionaries and civilian politicians, and their anger would allow for the rise of Hitler. )
5. Victory – On Oct. 28 Emperor Karl of Austria asked the Allies for an armistice (an agreement to stop fighting for the time being) which went into effect on Nov. 4.
i. On Nov. 9, due to growing threat of communist revolution in Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne on November 10 and fled to Holland.
On Nov. 9, German negotiators arrived to meet French Field Commander Foch (commander of all Allied forces); the Germans had a very weak bargaining position
Foch had very simple, harsh terms: he and the other Allied commanders wanted to make it impossible for the German army to start fighting again if peace negotiations failed (Pershing wanted to keep fighting at this point).
the Germans had no choice but to agree to all of the Allied terms: they agreed to hand over thousands of guns, machine guns, artillery pieces, railroad engines, wagons, all of their U-boats, and many of their battleships.
they promised to evacuate all occupied territories and allow Allied troops into Germany; the Allied blockade would stay in effect until a formal peace settlement was signed.
the armistice was to go into effect Monday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m., the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
6. Casualties – The Great War began the 20th c. It was supposed to be the “war to end all wars.” Instead, it proved to be monumentally senseless and absurd; instead of ending war, it set the stage for 20th c. – the bloodiest century in all of human history.
i. The "old world" had died, an event T.S. Eliot (the greatest poet of the 20th c.) would describe in his 1922 poem The Wasteland:
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
ii. Loss:
Russia: 1,700,000 dead; 4,950,000 wounded; 2,500,000 prisoners & missing
France: 1, 357,800 dead; 4,266,000 wounded; 537,000 prisoners & missing
British Empire: 908,371 dead; 2,090,212 wounded; 191,652 prisoners & missing
United States: 126,000 dead; 234,000 wounded; 4,500 prisoners & missing
Austria-Hungary: 1,200,000 dead; 3,620, 000 wounded; 2,200,000 prisoners & missing
Germany: 1,773,000 dead; 4,216,058 wounded; 1,152,800 prisoners & missing
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