Conflict and tension Flashcards
1
Q
What was the Schlieffen Plan?
A
- To have a surprise attack on France by going through Belgium as the French would’ve expected them to come through Alsace Lorraine and then defeating them in 6 weeks knocking them out of the war
- as Russia would be slow to mobilize their armies, they’d have time to move to that front to fight the Russians
- Britain wasn’t expected to join the war
- it was a risky plan
2
Q
Why was the Schlieffen plan made?
A
To avoid fighting a war on two fronts so Von Schlieffen, the man who came up with the Schlieffen plan, decided the best idea was to defeat the French first
3
Q
What actually happened with the Schlieffen Plan?
A
- The Belgian army slowed down the German army when they attacked on the 4th August as they put up a strong frontier defence buying the French and British time to mobilize
- Britain joined the war due to Belgium’s neutrality being broken by Germany
- didn’t reach or defeat the French in the 6 weeks
- Russia moved faster than expected
4
Q
What happened at the Battle of Mons?
A
- the BEF led by Sir John French was sent over to France and met the advancing Germans on the 23rd August
- the troops were well led by Lieutenant General Douglas Haig and were using Lee Enfield rifles that could shoot accurately
- they had some initial successes
- but had to pull back as they were greatly outnumbered
- though managed to slow the Germans down
5
Q
What happened at the Battle of Marne?
A
- Germans had to pull 100,000 troops to fight against Russia as they had invaded Germany
- then they decided to go straight to Paris instead of swinging around it like originally planned
- french troops immediately sent there by trains, foot, and taxis
- french and British troops combined stopped Germans from entering Paris, past the line of the River Marne but couldn’t push them out of France
6
Q
What were the consequences of the Battle of Marne?
A
- neither side could make any progress so by 8th September both sides were digging trenches protected by barbed wire
- stalemate was beginning
7
Q
How did stalemate begin?
A
- German generals decided to try and go around the enemy’s lines as they couldn’t break them on 12th October
- the race to the sea began
- every time it seemed that the Germans were about to break through, the French and British would block them
- So by 1914 it was a deadlock
8
Q
What were the conditions like in the trenches?
A
- not all time in trenches was spent charging enemy trenches in fcat far from it
- a lot of it was routine such as digging new, repairing old trenches and spending time in secret listening in posts near the enemy trenches
- millions of men and horses lived together
- soldiers were infested with lice or “chats” as they called it
- trenches infested with rats that fed on dead bodies
- trenchfoot was common due to standing in water for hours and days
9
Q
Why did soldiers put up with the horrible conditions in the trenches?
A
due to many factors such as
- humour - many soldiers produced humourous newspapers and was handed out to soldiers; it kept the morale high they usually poked fun at their commanders
- comradeship - many men joined the army in groups of friends and many battalions were made up of close friends and many men did not want to let each other down
- comforts - british soldiers recieved the best rations in fact the average man gained 10kg more weight because he was so well fed
soldiers received many letters and parcels regularly from home
they also received luxuries like tobacco and alcohol
10
Q
What was the “over the top” attack?
A
- would start with an artillery bombardment - the “barrage”
- followed by an infantry charge
- attempting to take the enemy trench
- a race between the attackers and defenders now -
the defenders usually had the advantage
-if the attackers did manage to capture the positions they had to hold on to them and this generally proved impossible
11
Q
Describe the development of artillery in the war
A
- the first world war was an artillery war
- artillery actually caused the most casualties
- at the start of the war, they weren’t very accurate often ended uip bombarding own forward trenches
- in the end, they became very powerful
- also, the tactics became much more sophisticated by 1918
- after 1916 british performance had improved and become much more effective
12
Q
Describe the development of machine guns in the war
A
- at the start, they were very heavy though were still very destructive as they could mow down a whole brigade in minutes
- it made it inevitale that lives would be lost during an infantry chrage
- in the end, lightweight machine guns developed and every platoon had their own
- it was a futuristic weapon
- it proved to be very effective for the british in future attacks like in the Hundred Days
13
Q
Describe the development of poison gas
A
- the evry first gas attck was in April 1915
- at the start, it was used to disable enemy troops
- scientists on both sides perfected lethal gases such as mustard gas
- mustard gas burned, blinded and slowly killed victims
- but scientists also perfected gas masks and thanks to this only 3,000 British troops were killed from gas attacks
- the significance of poison gas was the pschological impact it had
14
Q
Describe the development of tanks
A
- it was a British invention that was at first rejected but Winston Churchill saw the potential of them and funded the development of them
- 2 years later used at Battle of the Somme for the first time by the British
- at first not very reliable, nit manouverable and moved at a walking pace
- but by November 1917at Cambrai tanks achieved great successes in fcat they were too sucessful and blasted through the enemy lines too fast and the infantry couldnt keep up
15
Q
describe the development of aircraft
A
- in 1914, they were extremely primitive, unreliable and highly dangerous, losses were very high
- but soon they were used quite effectively for reconaissance
- pilots had pistols on them to attack other pilots at first
- in 1915, machine guns were attached to the planes
- in 1918, air battles were common
- planes helped slow down German advances
- planes also played a part in the Hundred Days
- in the duration of 4 years, aircraft went from simple flying machines to quite advanced
- also the Royal Naval Air Force and and the Royal Flying Corps went from having 37 planes to 23,000
16
Q
Why did the Verdun, 1916, happen?
A
- in February 1916, Germany were determined to capture the French forts surrounding Verdun
- the German commander FALKENHAYN decided to wear the enermy down so that there was no resistance by “bleeding France white”
17
Q
What is the significance of Verdun?
A
- the first major battle for aircraft
- large defensive war
- brought British assault forward
18
Q
What were the events and consequences of Verdun?
A
- Germany used a new gun “the flamethrower”
- they fired 2 million shells in the 8-hour bombardment in Feb but it didn’t go as planned
- France tried to gain airspace to gain insight on the German artillery
- the French failed to recapture lost land
- the french led by General Petain held out but by the summer became very close to breaking point also Germany had more resources
- by July 700,000 men died
- both sides suffered roughly equal losses
19
Q
Why did the Battle of the Somme, 1916, happen?
A
- the aim was to take the pressure off the French
20
Q
What were the events of the first day of the Battle of the Somme?
A
- after a week-long artillery bombardment, Lochnager mine was detonated starting the battle
- British overestimated their bombardment and decided to walk over no man’s land
- in fact, Germans had dug deep trenches and had ferocious barbed wire defenses so they managed to survive and ended up mowing down the infantry charge
21
Q
What were the consequences of the first day of the Battle of the Somme?
A
- 57,000 British casualties, 20, 000 dead
- the bloodiest day in British military history
- the inflexibility of British commanders meant the Schwaben redoubt was lost to germans
22
Q
How did tactics change over the whole of the battle of the Somme?
A
- radical changes made for the British like inflexible commanders removed and the responsibility was given to commanders on the ground
- dawn starts stopped as it meant counter attacks could happen
- the creeping barrage introduced
- tanks used
- air observation improved
23
Q
What were the consequences of the tactic changes in the battle of the Somme?
A
- creeping barrage worked incredibly well
- tanks surprised germans - had a psychological impact
24
Q
What was the significance of the battle of the Somme?
A
- relived the French and allowed them to get their lost land back and to undo everything germans did
- Britain gained thiepval ( huge morale hit for germans)
- by end of July 80,000 germans wounded, captured, dead
25
Q
Why did the battle of Passchendaele (31 July - 6 nov 1917) happen?
A
Haig wanted a British attack in Flanders( Belgium)
26
Q
What happened at the battle of Passchendaele?
A
- on 7th June 19 mines were exploded at the same time killing about 10,000 Germans at Messines Ridge + took 3 hours for British to take over German trenches
- firing 4. 5 million shells for two weeks churned up the ground and ruined the drainage system
- the ground turned into a heavy bog as the heaviest rain for 30 years fell in the next few days
- thick mud clogged up rifles and demobilized tanks
27
Q
What was the significance of the battle of Passchendaele?
A
showed how weather dependent technology was meaning it wasn’t always reliable
