conflict and tension part 3/3- end of the war Flashcards
Russia’s exit from the war
-Tsar Nicholas had been leading the army in 1917, despite being a poor leader
-war affected Russians by 15 million men leaving jobs to fight meaning food shortages and fuel shortages as railway couldn’t cope with extra demands
-early 1917, discontent of bourgeoise meant riots and strikes broke out
-March 1917, Tsar Nicholas abdicated and him and his family imprisoned
-July 1917, provisional government ordered attack on Germany ending in Russia losing
-November 1917, Germans smuggled Vladmir Lenin back into Russia after being exiled by Tsar for revolutionary ideas. Lenin and Bolsheviks staged a second revolution, overthrew porvisional government and made a new one that would have Russia make peace with enemies
-March 1918,Russians signed treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and its allies, Russia lost farmland and natural resources and Britian and France were angered at its exit
Russia’s exit from war impact on Germany
-Meant they were no longer fighting a war on two fronts so they could focus on Western front
-pulled troops from Eastern to Western front
-gained valuable farmland and natural resources from treaty of Brest-Litovsk to help shortages caused by blockade from British
America entering the war
-USA had been politically neutral for first 3 years but sold food, weapons and other goods to Britain and its allies, also lent £2 billion which was used to by food mainly from the USA (by end of war, America sent Europe 90,000 tonnes of meat and 600,000 horses)
-May 1915, Germans sank the Lusitania sailing from New York to Liverpool, killing over 1000 passengers including 128 Americans
-As a result Germany scaled back u-boat attack on Britain as Woodrow Wilson refused to declare war on Germany, despite being told to
-By 1917, Germany were desperate and thought the only way to win was to starve Britain and France into surrendering so launched another u-boat attack and sunk 8 American ships and demands for war grew again
-March 1917, Americans discovered Germany was trying to forge secret alliance with Mexico to supply them with weapons to attack USA and claim Texas, New Mexico and Arizona
-USA declared war on Germany in April 1917
Impact of new technology on Germany’s defeat
Advances at sea:
-Hydrophone helped locate submarines (a microphone that can be used underwater to listen to underwater sound) by 1918 they detected submarines miles away
Advanced in air:
-Airplanes constructed with stronger metals and became more manoeuvrable
-stronger planes meant larger fuel tanks so they could travel greater distances and and hold larger bombs in ‘bomb racks’ so long range combing attacks were possible
-Pilots could communicate with ground troops via radio
Advances in artillery
-creeping barrage perfected and used successfully in final advances of the war
-mine warfare increased by digging tunnels under enemy trenches and placing bomba under to explode them
-anti aircraft guns to shoot down planes
Infiltration tactics
-specially trained soldiers advance ahead of main attack to locate and destroy German machine guns
Commanding troops
-General Foch, ‘commander-in-chief’ directed British French and American troops known as a unified command structure
-Foch coordinated troops and organised a counter attack immediately
Tanks
Helped Britain win at Battle of Cambrai with a fraction of usual losses
Helped Britain win in Battle of Amiens
Impacts on America entering the war
-Positive for Britain and France as USA was one of the richest countries in the world with huge supplies of cotton,oil, wheat, coal and iron
-Came when Russia’s commitment to war was doubted, even though it would take a few months for American soldiers to arrive
-Pressured Germany as they were planning to launch a concentrated attack on Western Front before USA arrived
Ludendorff’s Spring Offensive
-planned spring offensive as USA needed to build up army to send to Europe so he wanted to stage an all out attack to win before America arrived
-By April 1918, it was a success for Germany as British were outnumbered and confused with thousands surrendering
-By end of first day, 20,000 British soldiers killed, 35,000 wounded and 21,000 taken prisoners
-Between March and April 1918, Germans had lost 220,000 soldiers and didn’t have enough in reserve to replace them as Ludendorff had sent too many deep into France and their supplies of food and water took too long to reach them
-Germans had lost half a million men by July
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failure of Ludendorff’s Spring Offensive
-Germans outstretched themselves by a salient so the British and French could attack from both sides
-By June, Americans arrived at a rate of 50,000 per week with new equipment and allies had soldiers in reserve
-15th July Ludendorff ordered a final attack which was a disaster as Germans only advanced 2 miles before running out of supplies
-Foch ordered allies to counter attack and pushed Germans back to the Marne
Hundred Days Offensive
-Foch’s approach to plant attacks in single concentrated areas at different points to stretch enemy to breaking point
-8th August 1918, Batlle of Amiens first attack when allies broke through German lines with over 400 tanks and took 11 km of enemy land on first day
-over next week, another 8km was taken allied loss was 6,500 German loss was 30,000 men
-300 German guns taken and 17,000 Germans taken prisoner
-Late August/Early September, second battle of the Somme, British and Australian forces captured city of Albert, French captured town of Noyon, British got Bapaume
-September 26th onwards, Germans pushed back to Hindenburg line and French and American began attack on this called Meuse-Arrgone Offensive. Largest American attack with 1.2 million men and deadliest losing 26,000 lives
-september 28th, fifth battle of Ypres
-september 29th, Battle of St Quentin Canal
-Early October 1918, allies completely broken through defences and Germans were in retreat, as they retreated Germans burned bridges, destroyed trees, plants and roads and poisoned water wells
Effect of war on normal German people
short supply of food, had to live off turnips and bread, and flu epidemic circulating killing thousands who were already weak due to malnutrition
september 29th Ludendorff told politicians they should abandon war as it’s hopeless
Kaiser reluctantly allowed main parties to form a government however German people weren’t happy as the changes came too late, large demonstrations were held against war and some talked of overthrowing Kaiser
9th November, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and lived in Holland and never returned, due to Germany navy refusing to attack British ships in UK and mutiny news began to spread
soldiers stopped fighting and sailors, soldiers and workers protests arised
they took over towns and set up councils to run them, leading Germany to chaos with Kaiser being unable to do anything
End of the war
Friedrich Ebert took over from Kaiser temporarily and promised to hold and election after ending the war
he sent a small group led by Erzberger to France to negotiate
Foch met with them in a train carriage to agree to terms of armistice which were:
-all fighting on land and sea should end in 6 hours
-all land occupied by German troops in Belgium Luxembourg and France should be evacuated in 15 days
-allies occupied Alsace Lorraine and land in Germany up to 30km to the west of the River Rhine
-German troops withdraw from AH Romania and Turkey
-naval blockade to continue
-financial settlement for the war
Role of Foch in Germanys defeat
planned hundred days offensive, forcing Germany into surrender as he used specific tactics
planned small concentrated attacks of different areas to to stretch the enemy and lead them to breaking point
Role of Haigh in Germany’s defeat
reputation adversely affected by battle of the somme in 1916 and nicknames ‘butcher of the somme’
actively promoted new strategies and technologies which helps allies win
worked under control of Foch in Hundred Days Offensive
captured nearly 200,000 prisoners and 3000 guns
reasons for Germany’s defeat
German Revolution
-food shortages and flu epidemic
- sailors mutinied
-rebellions spread through Germany
Role of Foch and Haigh
-ordered Hundred Days Offensive which led Germany to quit
German allies defeat
-Bulgaria surrendered 29th September
-Turkey surrendered late October
-AH surrendered 3rd November to Italy
Development of Tanks
-Germans not convinced of value
-British and French used them to break stalemate
- used at Battle of Amiens beginning final attack leading to military defeat
Bolshevik revolution
-led Germans to plan Spring Offensive which failed
-Germans adopted behaviour of Bolshevik’s and rioted and pressured Kaiser to abdicate which led to Ebert signing armistice
Failure of Spring Offensive
-lost 800,000 troops
-calculated would need 200,000 fresh troops a month but only had 300,000 available for 12 months
-allied counter attack followed defeating Germany
USA entering war
-economic and military strength of allies
-millions tonnes of food and weapons
-forced Spring Offensive which failed
British blockade
-lack of fertiliser for crops
-food riots 1916, 120,000 died of starvation in 1916 to 420,000 in 1918
-caused riots and conflict
