Exam 2 Flashcards
Creeping Barrage
- was the French strategy at Verdun
- Robert Nivelle
- send 1 group of men up and over the top
- they need cover
- as firing, advance 100 yds every 4 min.
- artillery fires as infantry is crawling and advancing
- if they don’t advance quickly enough or advance too quickly then they die of friendly fire
Somme
- British wanted to use mines and used tanks
- mines detonated under trenches - British soldiers dug below German trenches (tunneling)
- Germans knew attack was coming
- bombardment had little effect, some were buried alive, and was an ultimate failure
- Also used creeping barrage
- When casualties were low Haig was cranky, when casualties were high he believed they were fighting well
Somme facts
- 100,000 shells/day for seven days
- 7:26 am, July 1st 1916
- 100,000 over the top
- Objective:take 10 miles on first day by creeping b
- First 8 hrs: 20,000 dead + 40,000 wounded
- offensive strategy, defensive weapons
Battle of the Somme Casualties
Br: 420,000
Fr: 200,000
G: 450,000
Battle of Somme results
Hindenburg Line (25 miles) (retreat line) Gov. documentary = morale boost British gained 6-7 square miles
Submarine Warfare
- Believed submarines would tip the war
- hit and run, change the way naval warfare would be fought
- Germany started with 10 U boats
- Germany U21 sunk Firth of Forth with a single torpedo, ships taht stood by to rescue were also shot down
- U-9 sank Hogue, Cressy, and Abaque in 3 minutes (considered live bait squad)
- 700 saved, 1400 killed, churchill blamed
Room 40
- previously knew nothing about war vessels
- Russians passed Magde code book to British intelligence (Room 40) - code breaking room
- Russians captured German cruiser Magdeburg
- men in room could speak German and kryptography
Deutschland
- set out for America
- could carry tons of supplies
- 8 mil Americans had German parents/ancestors
- some attempted to enlist in German army - treated as heroes - returned with nickel and coper (boosted morale)
- too small to break blockade
Jutland
- entire British fleet was on way to intercept Germans - were using loose blockade
- German ships left harbor, Adm Scheer wanted to sink enough of Navy to get supplies
- Germans seemed to be luring British into a trap
- Germans are bombarding, british shoot slow and precise as if far away
- Wilhelm claimed victory
- GB lost 14 ships and 6000 men
- G lost 11 ships and 2500 men
Total War involves regulation of
- consumption of food and fuel
- clothes, boots
- H2O
- Production, factories
- need to increase economy by:
- tax colonies
- war bonds - propaganda and censorship - communication, radio, newspapers
- use of land - need hospitals, bases
- weapons, labor force
- transportation networks
DORA (Defense of Realm Acts)
- British Summer Time - move clocks forward by 1hr to gain daylight
- Control of Mines and railways (reviously owned by citizens
- Rationing: take card to grocery clerk - get less than usual
- Censorship: before anything can be published, must run by gov censor
- Dilute beer: took percent from 12-15 to 5 bc didn’t want wasted people to work on making bombs
- Licensing Hours: only 5hrs to buy alcohol
British Conscription
- BEF (3,000,000 + volunteers)
- 1916 - conscription - 1st - only single men
- 1918 - married men as old as 50
- Total: 4.9 million enlisted (roughly 50/50 split) -22% of population
- 2.8 million from colonies (50% from India, 19 from NZ, 13 from canada, 13 from australia, 11 from south africa
Financing the War
- war bond- loan money to gov. (receive slight interest)
- % of income
Easter Rebellion
- 1916, Ireland, Dublin, 1600 ppl were captured, British sent 10,000 troops
- German submarine was blown up bc it was nearly captured (Ireland thought they were arriving two days later)
- Free Ireland
- Anti-war movement
- guns smuggled
- Zimmermann (G) wanted to destabolize Britain
- becoming increasingly desperate
Zimmermann’s 4 pronged attack (easter rebellion)
- 25,000 troops to land on west coast - leaders got cold feet
- submarine in dublin - sunk
- zeppelin raids over London
- Supply weapons > submarine
Battle of Asiago
- Conrad (A-H) wanted to take Padua to prevent Italians from further fighting - Falkenhayn says not to do this, he does it anyways
- Moved 9 divisions from Russioan front; heavy guns
- Take italian city of Asiago (late May 1916)
- 147, 000 Italian casualties; 81,000 AH casualties
Entry of Romania
- Ion Bratianu (PM) - joined alliance aug 17, 1916
- join Entene, want land - offered money and have oil, Transylvania, Banat
- Bucharet (capitol taken by 5 dec 1916)
- 200,000 casualties
- 150,000 POW
- Ploesti oil fields controlled by Germans and AH
The Air War
- Aerial Combat Begins (1915)
~ bi-planes, wood/fabric, 50mph, rear mounted engines and propellers - Newer aircraft - interrupter gear (pauses propeller from spinning so you could shoot without hitting propeller)
- Oswald Boelcke (G) - concept of fighter squadrons
- Red Barron - 80 kills - fighter wing
- (GB) sopwith camel has gun on top - machine ngun on top
- (GB) bristol f-2: two seat bomber
- impacts: raids impacted morale, inflicted little actual damage
Second Battle of Aisne
Nivelle Offensive:
- 80 km front, 1.2 millon troops (19 Div), 7,000 guns
- 48 hr breakthrough
- 1st day: 40,000 Fr casualties
- Problems with creeping barrage
Second Battle of Aisne results
- abandoned offense on 9 may
- Fr casualties: 187,000
- G casualties: 168,000
- widespread mutiny
- by may 27, 30,000 AWOL (43%)
- Mass tials, 554 sentenced, 43 executed
French Mutiny
- Morale was low because Verdun was exhausting - killed, wounded, missiong for no reason - Nivelle promised new tactics but didn’t provide
- Nivelle wanted to advance 6 miles, instead they advaned 600 yds, 200,000 men were killed/wounded
- Nivelle promised to sto after 2 days, pushed on for 10 days
- 1 casualty for every minute that the war lasted - soldiers would defend but didn’t want to attack
- Full scale mutiny - half of French army, groups of men, entire units refused to re-enter trenches
- Petain replaced Nivelle, living conditions were improved - would wait for tanks and Americans
Caporetto (12th Isonzo)
- combined G/AH
- Tolmino salient, straighten lines
- meant to relieve AH forces
- push Italians 25km on first day
- use shock troops - infiltaration tech, grenaes, flamethrowers
- moved so quickly that they overstretched supply lines
- Italian casualties: 300,000 (90% POWs)
Passchendaele
- GB: Haig, goal, wants to reach German U-Boat bases
- Ridge at Messines (Germans hold high ground)
- 10 day artillery bombardment
- 3,000 guns, 4.25 million shells
- heavy rains = swamp
- almost zero gains
- Br: 310,000
- G: 260,000
U.S. Entry into War
- continued isolationism - stay uninvolved and neutral, no sale in arms to either side
- sinking of lusitania
- Resumption of unrestricted submarine welfare
- zimmerman note
- mobilization for war - selective service act, volunteers didnt meet 1/3 of expectation
Lusitania
1. sunk by G UBoat 2, American civilians on board 3. British ship 4. sinks on Irish coast 5. war supplies 6. passenger ship
Zimmerman note
- German foreign minister for mexico
- told mexicans they could fight U.S. and take back texas, new mexico, and arizona
- room 40 intercepted
The Girls w/ Yellow Hands
- Dramatic change in workforce
- shell making (1 million women in munition factories)
- didn’t mind dying for country - looked down upon by men
- 16-18 casualties/night from fumes and tnt poisoning
- hundreds died from explosions
- acids felt like pins/needles
- symptoms of poisoning - common cold, front hair ginger, yellow faces, 1/2 never have children
Women’s Battalion of Death
If Russian men would not fight, Russian women would
Yaschka
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
(Russia loses WWI) Germany wins eastern front
Russia loses 27% of European territory, 40% of Russian population, 70% of iron and coal (known)
- Germany is now able to ship huge # of troops to western front
Men w/ Broken Faces
- wounds of nose - continuous reminder of what they went through in gas attacks and bombardments
- concealed war wounds with masks (lessened depression)
- sruggles, gargoyles, public reactions, artists
Kathe kollwitz
- watched son set off to fight - killed 2nd day of battle
- art portrayed hardships of the anguish
“Can only see madness in this world”
Treaty of Versailles
1. Territory
- poland became independent country and had access to the sea
- Rhineland remains part of Germany, cannot have military
- Alsace-Lorraine to France; Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark
- Plebiscite-Saarland was lent to French for 15yrs, after which the people vote France or Germany
- Germany lost overseas colonies
Treaty of Versailles
2. Military Provisions
- G army > 100,000 men, only 4,000 can be officers
2, training academies abolished - no modern weapons (airplanes, subs, bombs, tanks, machine guns, mines) - can only have rifles and hand guns
- British take German ships (no navy)
- league of nations sends weapons inspectors
Treaty of Versailles
3. Economic/Commercial Provisons
- 33 billion in reparations in gold
2. give most favored nation trading status (no tariffs or taxes)
Treaty of Versailles
4. Moral Clauses (Blame Clause)
- Germany must accept sole responsibility, must hand over war criminals - war criminals on Entente were never prosecuted
Treaty of Versailles - Germany’s Response
- Reichstag votes and agrees to accept treaty (237 to 148) - 148 voted to continue fighting
- accept on deadline with 2 hrs to spare
Treaty of Versailles - sighting
28 June, 1919 - exactly 5 yrs after assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand
Treaties of Saint Germain and Trianon
- Dissolve AH empire > Austria and Hungary
- war reparations
- no union with Germany (Austria wanted to be known as Eastern German Reich)
- Both armies limited > A: 30,000; H: 35,000
- Newly defined borders
- A: 6 million ppl
- H: 7 million ppl - Both were landlocked
Treaty of Sevres
- Financial Constraints - Entente control of banks, gov. budget, and currency
- sykes-Picot Treaty: France receives Lebenon and Syria
- B receives, Iraq, Paleistine and something else - Minority Provisons - cannot discriminate against ethnic or religious minorities (due to Arminean Genocide)
- Military restrictions - 7 reg, 6 toredo boats allowed, no airforce, 50,000 troops
Wilson’s 14 points
- Diplomatic: league, no secret alliances, freedom of seas
- Economic: free trade no tariffs or taxes
- military: arms reduction
- Political: national self-determination (people should be able to chose own gov and borders)
- Territorial: break up empires
Shell Shock
Symptoms: nervous system’s response to unbearable reality, couldn’t look at a soldier’s hat, only responded to certain words (bomb), emotionlessness
- electrotherapy
- psychotherapy (the talking cure - sigmund freud)
Siegfried Sassoon
- crazy ass mother
- youngest brother killed in Galipoli - hit in shoulder by sniper’s bullet
- dead were visiing him at night
- wrote that war went from defense to conquor
- war was dishonorable - committed to insane asylum bc of his views of war
- “anyone who thinks the war is mad must be mad themselves”