Topic 4 Flashcards
Battle of Heligoland Bight, 28th August 1914
The British plan was to catch the German destroyers as they returned to port. British won and the Germans were horrified. Resulted in small groups taking part in raids
Germans raids
It layed down mines
Forced British ships to chase the German raiders where it would lead them into an ambush
Forced British grand fleet to split up to catch isolated ships and reduce British strength
Battle of Dogger Bank, 24th January 1915
Germans attempted to attack Britain but Britain knew what to do, thus they were able to kill 900+ Germans.
Battle of Jutland, May 31st-June 1st 1916
There was a German surprise attack on the British, but the British were ready. Germany left because it was worried about losing boats, and Britian lost most of its men and boats, but still remained in control of the North Sea.
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Resulted in a German U-Boat sinking the US Passenger ship, the Lusitania, in May 1916. Resulted in Germany stopping unrestricted submarine warfare for a while. It would not attack neutral ships.
Anti-U-Boat measures
Huge minefields were set in the English Channel.
Depth charges were developed, they exploded and destroyed submarines.
Merchant ships were protected by the Royal Navy
British introduced Q-Ships, which disguised as neutral ships and attacked German U-Boats.
Impact of Anti-U-Boats measures
Large number of U-Boats were sunk. 30% of the sunken U-Boats were thanks to the mines placed
Depth charges only destroyed 5 U-boats in 1917, so in 1918, they improved it and it sunk 22 U-Boats
In 1918, only 1% of Merchant ships were sunk by U-Boats
Q-Ships sunk about 10% of all U-Boats
Lusitania
A passenger ship sailing from New York to Liverpool. Germans did send a warning before the Lusitania set sail but many of the passengers kind of ignored it. As a result, U20 torpedoed the Lusitania and it exploded. Of the 1959 passengers, 1198 drowned; and 128 were Americans.
Effect of Lusitania sinking
There was calls for USA to declare war on Germany but technically Germany had the right to destroy the ship even though there were passengers on board because there was war materials on the Lusitania.
Unusual things about the Lusitania
One of the Lusitania decks was converted to a gun deck. The cargo on the Lusitania also contained 5000 cartridges, 1250 shrapnel shells, 20 fuses for artillery shells and a large quantity of gun cotton.
Reason for the Gallipoli Campaign
Turkey joined the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Turkey also had control over the Dardanelles, which blocked aid into Russia. Russia, desperate for help, was being attacked by Germany and Austria-Hungary
Churchill’s Gallipoli Plan
Naval bombardment on the Gallipoli peninsula, where the Turks are defending the Dardanelles. If the plan worked, neighbouring neutral countries can join the war on the allies side. This would then force Austria-Hungary out of war and leave Germany to fight alone.
Main features of the Gallipoli Campaign
Anlgo-French naval takes out Turkish guns on the coast. Attack begins. However it’s not very successful so they retreat.
Allies then decide they would land on the coast of Gallipoli. ANZAC and British troops had no experience of landing on the enemy beaches, most of the Turkish beaches were bad topography and they did not have up-to-date maps.
ANZAC were able to establish themselves in ANZAC Cove but were never able to move inland.
British landed at Cape Helles, it was a bloodbath. They managed to get a small piece of land but the British never captured a single Turkish fort.
Effects of the campaign
48,000 Allied troops dead, 204,000 wounded
Dardanelles still remained closed, Russia fell into a famine
Stalement on the Western front was not broken and Germany strengthened themselves
General Hamilton and Winston Churchill both got bad careers and were forced to resign
