Introduction to World War I

 

            The war which began in 1914, and which was to last for four years and three months, was in many ways entirely new in human history. Previous wars, such as the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, had involved as many states and had lasted longer. In every decade since 1815 there had been a war somewhere, and by European states outside of Europe. But if there had not been general peace, there had been no general war. This was the first general conflict between highly organized states of the 20th Century, able to command the energies of all their citizens, to mobilize the productive capacity of modern industries, and to call upon the resources of modern technology to find new methods of destruction and defense. It was the first war on a scale large enough to dislocate the international economy which had grown up during the 19th Century, the first between European nations which collectively controlled most of the rest of the world. It was fought with determination and desperation, because belligerents believed “at first” that they fought for survival, and later that they fought for high ideals; it was fought in Europe to a point of exhaustion or collapse, and with unprecedented destruction, because the two sides were so evenly matched and had for so long prepared for battle; it was fought on land and above land, on sea and under the sea, for the coming of tank and airplane, dreadnought and submarine, made warfare three-dimensional. New resources of economic and even psychological warfare were tapped; for since it was the first war of the masses, a war between  whole peoples and not merely between armies and navies, industrial production and civilian morale became of great importance. Victories were won by miscalculations of the enemy  as by superior insight or strategy. There were times when leaders, civilian and military a like, were literally at their wits’ end to keep any control over the course of events.

 

            Those who expected a general war to be anything like the selective and localized wars of Bismarck, could not have been more completely wrong. This war between the Grand Alliances had many of the qualities of a frankenstein monster. The accumulation and release of so much concentrated power proved to be not only more destructive of human life and material than any previous wars, but also to be more uncontrollable in its consequences, and completely incalculable in its aftermath. Once begun, war ran its remorseless course of insatiable demands for human sacrifice, discipline, organization, and ingenuity, until it became almost an end in itself. Bismarck’s wars had been instruments of precision for attaining diplomatic and political ends, and rested on policies of limited liability and specific objectives. The “Great War”, as it quickly came to be called, got so utterly out of hand as an instrument of policy that it demanded unlimited liability. Its original objectives were soon overlaid  with many others which had scarcely been considered when it began. Even the avowed aims of belligerents changed as its course was prolonged, and its outcome was quite different from either the original or the subsequent aims of either side. For this reason it is especially important to keep sharply distinct the war aims originally involved, the peace aims that came to be involved before it ended, and the consequences that are now known to have flowed from it. Its greatest novelty, historically was a remarkable disparity between the ends sought, the prince paid, and the results obtained.

 

World War I - Background

 

Treaties and alliances, why? British and German Naval Rivalries with the launch of the HMS Dreadnought - British and German navies regarded themselves as natural rivals - this created suspicions between nations. Britain had always ruled the seas with the best navy.

 

Sources of Friction:

 

1.      The First Moroccan Crisis - 1905 - Wilhelm II landed in Morocco to stir up nationalist tensions from French domination and colonialism. Britain and France forced Germany to back down and leave, but this created tension.

 

2.     The Second Moroccan Crisis - 1911 - the French were having problems with revolts. Germany took another chance and sent their battleship to the port of Agadir. This is called gunboat diplomacy, but it did not work as open talk of war with Britain and France scared the Germans away. This created more tension.

 

3.     Naval Race: between the British and Germans. Britain depended on trade routes for her empire, the Germans launched the Westfalen to counter the Dreadnought - this created fear and suspicion.

 

4.     The Bosnian Crisis 1908 - Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia from Turkey. Russia then increased their support of Slavic people. The Balkan League is then formed with Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece. Defense against Austrian and Turkish aggression.

 

5.     The First Balkan War 1911 - the Balkan League vs. Turkey. Turkey wanted a return to the old Ottoman Empire. No clear winner. Tension created because of Russian support of the Slavs.

 

6.     The Second Balkan War - 1912-1913 - Serbia turns on the Balkan League and doubles her size. This created tension with Austria-Hungary who claimed some of Serbia’s territory. The Alliance would play a major role in who supports whom.

 

Sequence of events:

 

June 28, 1914

·        - assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (Austria-Hungary) by Princip (Serbian nationalist) in Sarajevo

July 6

·        - a blank cheque is given to Austria-Hungary by Germany who already had war plans in place

 

July 23

·        -  Austria-Hungary gives an ultimatum to Serbia, give up land or else, easy to do with German support

July 24

·        - Russian mobilization of forces near the Balkans to support Slavs

July 28

·        - Austria declares war on Serbia

Aug 1

·         - Germany declares war on Russia

Aug 3

·         - Germany declares war on France

Aug 4

·        - Britain declares war on Germany

 

War in the west - hinged around the success or failure of the Schlieffen Plan, which assumed that the Russian army would stay neutral (which did not happen)

 

3 Great Blunders:

 

1.      German armies slowed down, instead of surrounding the French by going west, they went too far East allowing the Allied forces to counter attack, stopping at the Battle of the Marne

2.      The French lost their best soldiers quickly

3.      Russians loose big at Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes

 

Results: A stalemate and a war of attrition

 

War Stats and Events

 

n      Sept 1914 - Battle of the Marne - slows German Advance

n      11914 - major Russian defeat at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes, by German Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg, Russia looses 250,000 soldiers

n      1915 - The Gallipoli Campaign - Turkey joins on the side of Germany. Allies attack to keep supply route open to Russia through the Dardenelles. Anzac troops land after naval assault fails. Slaughter of 200,000 allied troops and retreat.

n      1915 - the sinking of the luxury ocean liner lusitania by German U-boats. British ship, with Americans on board. Germans said there were arms on board. Create tension in USA.

n      April 1915 - Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for the first time in modern warfare

n      1915 - after not fighting at all, Italy switches sides because of promised land and money after the war

n      1916 - Battle of Verdun - Allied victory at a cost of 315,000 men. Airplanes used for the first time. 1916 - Battle of the Somme - Tanks used for the first time in battle, over 1 million dead, 620,000 allied against 450,000 German

n      1916 - Battle of Jutland - the only major sea battle, no winner, but no more surface sea battles because fear of losing ships, and U-boat attacks

n      Serious food shortages, very low morale, conscription to get more troops

n      1917 - the USA finally enters the war because of the Zimmerman telegram and the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, the Germans were getting desperate.

n      Allies install the convoy system, warships escorting merchant vessels to Britain to counter subs and keep Britain alive in a war of attrition

n      1917 - the British capture Iraq and cut the Turks off from the war

n      1917 - Russia gets out of the war - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

n      1918 - the Ludendorff Offensive - final all out German assault on the Western Front before the USA lands all her troops. Germans advance 60 km breaking through the trench systems, but overextended their supply lines, Marshall Foch (French) put in control of the Allied forces. Allies drove the Germans back to where they started.

n      1918 - Bulgaria surrenders, Italians defeated Austria-Hungary, Turkey surrenders.

 

The German Revolution - Nov 1918, German sailors at Kiel mutinied, starting a revolution that would sweep the country, people were tired of war, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated, Germany became a republic, with no monarch

 

Unconditional Surrender: on the 11 minute of the 11th hour of the 11th month of 1918.