World War I 1

Question 0

Overview of strategies and tactics to break the stalemate, including key battles: Verdun, Somme and Passchendale.

Answer 0

• Verdun (Feb-Nov 1916)
  
  • German attack on French forces
  • no strategic value but historic to French
  • “bleed the French white” - General von Falkenhayn
  • resulted in nearly a battle of attrition; “they shall not pass” - General Petain
  • French won; symbol of French resistance
  • 500 000 French and 400 000 German casaulties
• the Somme (Jul-Nov 1916)
  
  • Guinness World Record with greatest number of casaulties
  • over 1 million Allied and over 400 000 German casaulties; on the first day alone, Britain had 58 000 casaulties
  • battle of attrition over the belief that defensive tactics were unmanly and the only way to attack the Germans is to go ‘over the top’ after an artillery barrage because the Germans would be dead enough to simply walk through No Man’s Land. Concrete bunkers and machine guns made sure that didn’t work out and the fact that General Haig and other commander refused any opposition to their plans.
  • upper class commanders versus lower class Kitchiner’s army
  • German counterattacks regained lost territory
  • tanks introduced in September but were ineffective
  • only 8km gained before Allies called off battle
  • General Hindenburg withdrew forces to the Hindenburg Line in March 1817’ reducing defence line by 50km
  • “almost useless from the military point of view and merely revealed the vain glory of the generals” - French, Marc Ferro
• Passchendale: Third Battle of Ypres (Jul-Nov 1917)
  
  • named after Belgian village it ended in
  • aimed to relieve French losses from that year (mostly from mutinies) and capture Belgian ports occupied by Germans for their subs
  • infamous for the British artillery bombardment on German positions, leaving a dangerous pick-pocketed No Man’s Land
  • Allies won land though it can be argued that the Germans could have afforded the loss; no opportunity for Allied advance
  • ports no recaptured
  • Lloyd George and Churchill claim 400 000 Allies died; disputed by historians
• Other Attempts
  
  • Dardanelles Campaign; attempt to knock Turkey out by invading it through the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Dardanelles to capture capital Constantinople; failed and ended in December 1915
  • Naval arms race; Britain imposed an effective blockade on Germany
  • Unrestricted sub warfare by Germany; an attempt to blockade Britain; eventually brought USA to Allies in 1917 (but it wasn’t the Luisitania)
  • Pope Benedict XV appealed for peace; Papal Peace Note (Aug 1917) - reduction in arms, evacuation of occupied territory and freedom of the seas, creation of a mechanism to deal with international disputes and rejection of war indemnities; rejected by Wilson, and later Allies; not much of a response from Germany and Austria-Hungary

Question 1

Reasons for the stalemate on the Western Front.

Answer 1

• unrealistic expectations about war and too tight plans
  
  • everyone thought the war would be over by Christmas
  • Germany and France thought they could capture each other’s capital in months
  • mobilisation before other belligerents became a priority with years-old plans
• The Schlieffen Plan’s failure
  
  • created by Count von Schlieffen (General staff 1891-1906) in the event that Germany was at war with both France and Russia.
  • based on how fast each country could mobilise forces
  • knockout France first by passing through Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, encircling it and capturing its major industrial areas and Paris in six weeks, then hitting Russia.
  • the Treaty of London mobilised Britain, impeding German forces; Russia mobilised faster than expected; Belgian resistance greater than expected; Belgium and France mobilised faster with German delays
  • Moltke edited the plan so that the Netherlands wouldn’t be passed through and 78 divisions, not 48, would protect the German-Franco border to draw French troops away
  • Moltke swung round east of Paris
• Battle of the Marne
  
  • German forces retreated to Rivers Marne and Aisne after swinging east of Paris and hearing of British/Russian reinforcements in Belgium
  • saved France from defeat and ensured the development of trench warfare - everyone forced to ‘dig in’
• the Race to the Sea
  
  • where plans to capture ports and encircle enemies failed, troops forced to dig trenches
• Plan Seventeen
  
  • created by General Joffre
  • focused on recapturing Alsace-Lorraine - France believed to have an early victory with only five armies
  • Britain didn’t know about this and couldn’t help
  • assumed Russia would mobilise rapid enough to pressure Germans
  • unrealistic expectation of the spirit of French troops charging in with bayonets for the big win - new technology mean new strategies
  • Franco-Belgian border left unprotected

Question 2

Changing attitudes of Allied and German soldiers to the war over time.

Answer 2

Both Britain and Germany held the belief that going to war was an honour and adventure. This was smashed by their experiences in the trench.