Rouzeau

Question 1

Why were the opening months of the First World War considered a major strategic setback?

Answer 1

Because none had defeated its enemy. Instead a strategic stalemate quickly developed.

Question 2

What dictates tactics?

Answer 2

Strategy. In this case, strategic stalemate dictated tactics.

Question 3

How does the author define strategy?

Answer 3

Strategy is the essential management of the war to achieve the objectives of the states waging it.

Question 4

How does the author define tactics?

Answer 4

Tactics are the means of engagement.

Question 5

Did some tactical innovations spread from the Eastern Front?

Answer 5

Yes, although the Western Front is viewed as the ‘decisive front’, innovations spread from both directions.

Question 6

Why was the Western Front is viewed as the ‘decisive front’?

Answer 6

It was the setting for the heaviest losses, and “on no other front was the human, technological and logistical effort so massive. … Above all, it was on this same Western Front that a decisive military defeat of one of the warring nations would inescapably mean the defeat of one of the two coalitions at war from the summer of 1914.”

Question 7

Why is exclusively focusing on the Western Front a mistake?

Answer 7

First, the Russian Front was the first to collapse, and “the rupture of the Bulgarian front marked the beginning of the strategic crumbling of the Central powers.”

Question 8

Before the war, the General Staffs of the different Western powers were forced to imagine war. How did they imagine it?

Answer 8

They generally relied on the most recent war between European Powers in 1870-71 (the Franco-Prussian War). They believed “because firepower made the battlefield more deadly than ever before, the war somehow had to be short. … A war of movement, and thus of attack”

Question 9

Before the war, the General Staffs of the different Western powers were forced to imagine war. How should they have imagined it?

Answer 9

Instead they should have drawn more on the Battle of Mukden, which showed “the superiority of defense over attack because of the possibilities of immobilizing attacks through modern firepower (artillery, machine guns, etc.), the mirrored pattern of troops digging, with the rapid development of a network of trenches, the extension of a battle over time, until it was transformed into a long siege in open country, and the weight of extremely heavy losses without any decisive strategic result in favor of one other of the opposing armies.”

Question 10

What was the result of the underestimation of the effects of firepower?

Answer 10

It explains the “terrible losses if the first weeks of combat.”

Question 11

How did trench warfare develop?

Answer 11

“soldiers were often spontaneously burrowing into the ground … as they [the foxholes] were gradually linked up, these individual holes formed the first trench lines. … The German infantry, better trained in field fortifications … led the way … the gradual hardening of existing positions was part of the autumn months of 1914, provoking a strategic impasse which would not be overcome for another four years.

Question 12

Was trench warfare universal in WWI?

Answer 12

Almost, but not completely universal. They were established in the Eastern Front, but less systematically. In “the East, movement remained a daily possibility … [but] … It was only in the Near East, in an immense and fluid theater of operations in desert conditions, that movement remained fully operational as a daily possibility until the end.”

Question 13

What were some weapons in WWI?

Answer 13

The magazine rifle, the grenade, the machine gun, but most important: Artillery.

Question 14

What was the advantage of the machine gun?

Answer 14

If artillery did not eliminate the machine gun nest, a single machine gun could eliminate an entire wave of troops as they emerged from their trench to attack.

Question 15

What were some key types of artillery?

Answer 15

Heavy artillery destroyed the Belgian forts, and was used to penetrate deeply and at long ranges. Howitzers could strike underground because of the higher arc of their shells. Many different specialized shells were developed including poison gas shells (a quarter of all projectiles by the end of the war).

Question 16

What are some indications of the importance of artillery?

Answer 16

In their bombardment before the battle of the Somme, the British fired 1.5 million shells in a week. Camouflage became important, and then mobility for artillery, creating the tank. In 1918, western offensives were supported with 5-8000 artillery guns. 70-80% of war wounds resulted from artillery, and the main purpose of the infantry helmet was to protect the head from artillery debris.

Question 17

What was a key limitation of artillery?

Answer 17

It could not be moved easily to support infantry advances, because the ground was torn up from barrages.

Question 18

Why was the Eastern Front more fluid than the Western Front?

Answer 18

The density of forces was much lower in the East. That is, fewer soldiers defending each kilometer of front. This difference was even greater in Artillery. The belligerents in the Eastern Front had only 8000 guns combined across a longer front, while the Germans had 11,000 guns alone, facing 18,000 Allied guns. Also, communications and transport were less certain in the East. That meant that rapid reinforcements were more difficult than in the West, so a breakthrough was more possible. The Russians, in particular, seemed unskilled in the art of defense (defense in depth, camouflage, coordination of infantry and artillery, precision fire).

Question 19

Life for soldiers in the trenches was terrible.

Answer 19

Especially in extreme weather, but trench foot was routine. It was difficult to move supplies to the front, so soldiers had to manually move them. This was difficult in the narrow, twisting trenches. They also had to re-wire field telephones. But experienced soldiers learned, and suffered fewer casualties than new recruits.

Question 20

But the trenches were sophisticated

Answer 20

The two lines were separated by no-man’s land (tens to hundreds of meters). Tangles of barbed wire were reinforced during nocturnal sorties. A series of Trenches were never exactly parallel to limit the damage of an artillery shell. The main battle was from the first trench, behind sandbags, but small outposts were manned in no-man’s land for raids, so they could begin a little closer to enemy lines. Communications trenches were perpendicular to the main trenches. Trenches were reinforced with timbers, and by the Autumn of 1915, the Germans were adding concrete.

Question 21

Which side tried more direct assaults on the enemy’s trenches?

Answer 21

The Allies, because they were more interested in repelling the Germans who were on occupied territory. So, the Germans typically prepared defense in depth, and relied on counter-attacks.

Question 22

Was actual conflict nearly continuous?

Answer 22

No, it was intermittent. During these periods, some ‘fraternization’ occurred, a tacit truce. At times, it resembled siege warfare.

Question 23

In addition to modern weapons, what other weapons did infantrymen have on the front lines?

Answer 23

They were prepared for hand-to-hand combat if they encountered enemy soldiers. This was less well documented than the “Industrial warfare”, but it certainly existed.

Question 24

What innovative tactic did the Germans develop and generalize under Erich Ludendorff?

Answer 24

Previously, the normal tactic was a massive artillery bombardment followed by a mass attack (sometimes the bombardment was targeted just ahead of the advancing infantrymen ). In contrast the Germans trained stormtruppen who used Infiltration tactics to try to avoid strong points, bypassing them to attack the rear units, including artillery and command and control. If the infiltration attack was successful, then the mass of German infantry could advance knowing the allied artillery was disabled.

Question 25

Did the Germans ultimately succeed with their infiltration tactics?

Answer 25

No because their temporary gains were generally erased due to the defense in depth adopted by the Allies. The rugged no-man’s land made it difficult to move artillery forward, limiting the Germans advances, it was difficult to maintain communications between the infiltrators and the main body of troops, and the Allies could bring up reinforcements by truck and train.

Question 26

What finally broke the impasse in WWI

Answer 26

(1) The exhaustion of German reserves (2) the new effectiveness of the tank-plus-aircraft combination (3) the manpower contributions of the Americans (who had less to unlearn about the lessons of trench warfare, so were more willing to maneuver)

Question 27

Did the Germans collapse in 1918?

Answer 27

No, the German retreat appeared to be a gradual withdrawal.

Question 28

What tactic did the allies develop in the second half of 1918?

Answer 28

Peaceful Penetration. Massive bombardment ahead of occupation of a limited portion of the battlefield. This economized on manpower

Question 29

In what ways were the WWI battles more like sieges?

Answer 29

Their length, lines of trenches resembling inverted ramparts, tunneling under enemy positions, grenades, short-range artillery.

Question 30

What technologies were developed?

Answer 30

Poison Gas, great improvements in aircraft (and therefore anti-aircraft guns, protective nets, barrage balloons, etc.), tanks (replacing cavalry in the West).

Question 31

Summary?

Answer 31

“The Great War transformed the conditions and patterns of Western war, in virtually all respects. The War introduced a introduced a new kind of soldier, lying flat under fire, as invisible as possible.”