Ypres First Ypres- The Battle of the Ypres was a result of Falkenhayn’s “Flanders Offensive”. The
goal was to capture the city by launching a serious of assaults against it, and
against the surrounding cities. Falkenhayn had a considerable advantage over the
BEF (British Expeditionary Force), this being A LOT more troops. Falkenhayn had
a brand new division at his disposal. The Allies however only had seven infantry
divisions and Indian support. The BEF’s saving grace was their rifles. When the
attacks began on the 31 of October, a German group pushed through a BEF
division; however this push was stopped by heavy rifle fire from the British.
This rifle fire came so fast that the Germans believed them to be machine guns. The next big push by the Germans came on
November 11. Two German divisions pushed past British lines only four miles from Ypres. The Germans were successful and occupied a small town, Hooge, outside of
Ypres. However, the Germans didn’t use their newly found advantage quick enough;
this gave the British enough time to assemble an unlikely division, which
succeeded in repelling the German invaders. These pushes and pulls continued
until November 22, when a sudden extreme chill broke the battle.
Second Ypres-
The Germans failure to take the town of Ypres
infuriated Falkenhayn. He decided that instead of taking the town, that they
would just destroy it. This battle was also the first time gas was used on the
Western Front. Chlorine Gas was tested at this time, and it was remarkably
effective. 168 tons of Chlorine Gas was released on the French Troops. The
effect was massive. Allied troops could be seen running to the shelter of Ypres.
This gas attack affected approximately 10,000 troops; half of whom died ten
minutes after the gas was released. The Germans too were surprised by this huge
breakthrough and because of their lack of faith in a breakthrough; the actual
soldiers that got through were undermanned, and so they couldn’t use the
situation to its fullest. The Germans repeated this on the Canadian Troops north
of Ypres, and again they gained ground. The Canadians had 1,000 fatalities in
the gas attack and the artillery fire. Smith-Dorrien purposed a retreat and then
a powerful counter-attack; he was fired. However, Herbert Plummer, Smith-Dorrien’s
replacement, also suggested a retreat. In light of recent counter-attack
failures by Ferdinand Foch, the Commander-in-Chief of the BEF agreed. Fighting started anew on the 8th of
May. Now closer to Ypres, the Allies tried to hold strong. With repeated gas
attacks the Germans were able to advance a little, but their holding of the
higher ground gave them an obvious advantage. Finally, the Germans had no choice
but to stop their offensive because of lack of supplies. Even with the constant
bombardment of the city of Ypres, they weren’t able to completely cut through
the Allied defensive. There was no clear winner in this war, however the Germans
did suffer less casualties and did reduce much of the city of Ypres to rubble.
Total Fatalities (German and British and French): 104,000
Marne
The Battle of the Marne ended the Germans hope for a
quick victory on the Western Front. The Germans had invaded Belgium and pushed
to within 30 miles of Paris. The Germans were following the Schlieffen Plan, and
were in high hopes. The Schlieffen Plan prompted for a quick and decisive
takeover of France. After about ten days of attack, the takeover of Paris seemed
eminent, and even the government had fled from the capital. Joseph Joffre,
however, had other plans. On the 4th of September he and Sir John
French instigated a counter-offensive on the Germans. By sending men at
different points on the German lines, they were able to make a thirty mile gap
between the first and second German army. The Allies then sent BEFs through the
gap to reinforce the French. This still wasn’t enough and the Germans held their
positions. However an arrival of taxis changed the outcome of this war.
The Taxis that saved the Marne: The need for emergency
troops was grave, but transportation was very tight. There was only one way to
send the troops to the battle… and that was by taxi. Some six hundred taxis in
all were sent to the field, carrying 6,000 men. This tactic worked and the
German’s assault was repelled. This caused great distress for the Germans
because they wouldn’t have been able to complete the Schlieffen Plan in time.
Total Fatalities: around 512,733
French Fatalities: 250,000
German Fatalities: Unknown, but thought to be around
that same as the French
Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was the single
longest battle in World War One. The German siege of Verdun and the ring of
forts started with a letter from the German Chief of Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn
to Kaiser Wilhelm II, on Christmas Day of 1915. In the letter, Falkenhayn
claimed that the key to the war was on the Western front, not against Russia. If
France could be defeated, he argued, Britain would in turn join Germany or fall
itself. Wilhelm took this advice and concentrated his forces to the western
front. The battle took place in forts in Verdun, not the
woods which would have proven much better as a strategic location. These forts
would hit the French in the heart. The task of taking Verdun went to the German
Fifth Army. This army was going to attack the town from both sides but
Falkenhayn vetoed this plan, fearing loss of life. Instead, they attacked at the
east bank only. The attack, originally scheduled to begin on February 12 but was
postponed to the 21st because of poor weather. The French Commander in Chief
Joffre learned of the attack and quickly deployed reinforcements. At the same
time the fortress commanders scrambled to improve the trench systems outside their forts.
The battle was extremely unfair with every allied soldier outnumbered five to
one. The Germans with 1 million soldiers started the attack at 7:15 against
200,000 French soldiers on February 21st. The German soldiers fired 100,000
shells each hour, with their intent to wipe out a majority of defenders before the Germans
started their attack of the fortrss. After the rain of shells, the Germans efforts proved sucessful
and the Germans sent in a scouting party. The party reported that only half of the original soldiers
remained after the fierce bombardment. Now Wilhelm decided to restart the bombardment insed of attacking the fort.
Analysis shows that the German army could have sucessfully taken the fort, but insted the bombardment continued.
By the end of the day the Germans had only captured the first trench lines, and two battaloins were defeated.
Although Verdun was still under French control, the defenders were desprite and falling. The
next day the German army managed the take the second trench line, but the two outer forts still held up okay.
The French Commander in Cheif still held his ground, telling all the French commanders that anyone giving up ground would be court-marshalled.
Henri-Philippe Petain was promoted and put in charge of the defence. He decided to inflict the most possible damage to the German army, even if it ment sacrificing his own troops. Petain started to command the artillery himself and attacked defencely, making sure to keep open a road to Verdun with which to recieve fresh supplies. For the rest of the month Wilhelm would attack, making progress, but the French would push back, still in possesion of Verdun. Casualties rose to one million on both sides combined, and on April 3rd, the Germans staged a major attack, and Petain once again held up for another two months. Petain was promoted and then replaced at Verdun by Robert Nivelle. Under his command, the outside forts fell in June due to lack of supplies. After the fort fell, the Germans pressed on and almost broke through the French line with phosgene gas. Joffre begged the British government to make a diversionary battle somewhere else to divert the Germans. The Battle of the Sommes was started later that month.
As the battle wore on, the new commander in chief for Verdun retook the two outside forts. The French, encouraged by this, managed to retake land that was lost at the begining of the battle. Hindenburg saw no point to continue attacking, and the battle ended on December 18th. The casualties of this battle were very large:
Somme
The Battle of the Somme was a great plan
that went off with too many flaws to work. The battle is the most famous for the
stunning loss of 58,000 British troops in one day, a record which is still
unmatched today. The battle started on July 1, 1916 just north of the
Somme river. The battle was planned to be a joint British-French attack on
Germany planned by Joffre and Haig in late 1915. Although planned to be
mostly led by French troops, the offensive was led by mainly British troops
after almost all French resources were diverted after the Battle of Verdun.
The plan was to start with the detonation of 17 mines at 7:30. The German lines
would then be bombarded with artillery for eight days, thus allowing the allied
soldiers to literally walk across No Man's land and take the front lines. On the
day of the battle, 750,000 men, 80% of which were British attacked 16 divisions
of the German Second Army. The odds were obviously stacked in the allies
favor. The battle would have been a stunning victory
for the allies if there hadn't been so many problems along the way. The first
mine exploded ten minutes late, alerting the Germans of the incoming force. The
stunning bombardment was failed because of so many duds, or failed shells that
were poorly built and quickly constructed. The bombardment failed to destroy
the barbed wire placed or the concrete bunkers constructed by the Germans.
During the barrage of artillery, the Germans simply took shelter, coming out
after the barrage to start gunning down the allied troops with machine guns.
The first attacking wave went over the top of the mountain to the French flank,
which came as no surprise to the Germans. The plan was openly discussed in
French cafes and shops, and was obvious from the bombardment. German
troops kept the British offensive at bay in their trenches due to the German
machine gun response. The British would attempt to cross No Man's land expecting
little resistance, instead getting gunned down by machine guns. On July 19th,
the German army reorganized into the First army, but both sides were convinced
that their enemy was tired and so the offensive was maintained into November. In
the beginning of September the Tenth French Army joined the attack and the
Fourth British Army joined the east battle. In September, fifty tanks from the
'C' and 'D' companies were brought in. Equipment failure reduced that number to
twenty four. Throughout September tanks helped in the offensive, with a single
tank capable of holding a city. Although the British were making slow but
steady progress, bad weather halted the battle. Casuatlies were
high:
British - 420,000
French - 200,000
German - 500,000
Total Amount Gained by the Allies in five months - 8 miles
Jutland
This battle would be the last of the big naval battles.
Nothing but ships played any part in this battle. The Commander of the German’s
High Seas Fleet, Reinhard Scheer, had been sending messages that he thought were
secure. However the British could decipher his codes and met him at the punch.
Scheer thought that the only resistance that he would face would be Admiral
Beatty and his fleet; little did he know that the whole Royal Navy was on him.
First Beatty chased a small fleet south, only to be turned around by a group of
German Dreadnaughts. This is a diversion from Jellicoe’s fleet. When the
Dreadnaughts reached a certain point, they were caught under Jellicoe’s
bombardment. Scheer quickly ordered a retreat, and to pass in the Baltic. This
would mean having to go behind and outmaneuver Jellicoe, but that wouldn’t
happen. Jellicoe had slowed down his ships, thus cutting off Scheer. At this
crossroads Jellicoe opened fire landing twenty-seven shots, while Scheer only
landed two. Scheer then panicked and ordered another retreat. This seems like a
flat out win for the Allies, but there were complications. Just look at the
numbers. Even with the numbers, the main victory of this battle was the
dominating rights. This showed the Germans that they had no place trying to
compete with Royal Navy. s
Tannenburg
Tannenberg wasn’t as much a battle
as it was a wholesale massacre. It is called “the most spectacular and complete
German victory”. This was caused by an obviously untrained Russian army, and
miscommunication of sorts. The Russian army was led by Generals Samsonov and
Rennenkampf. The plan was to create a pincer formation around the German army,
and launch a simultaneous attack. At the time the German forces were being led
by General Prittwitz, however his eagerness to retreat after the battle of
Gumbinnen had gotten him removed from the position. In his stead Moltke placed
Hindenburg and Ludendorff, Hindenburg was brought out of retirement and
Ludendorff had done well at the battle of the Liege. Hindenburg was not a person
to back down, instead of retreating he ordered his troops to follow a plan
proposed by Maximilian Hoffmann, the deputy chief of operations.
This plan was rather ingenious. By using the grudge that Rennenkampf had for
Samsonov, Hoffmann had found a way to separate them, and focus on destroying one
army at a time. This plan began to blossom when Rennenkampf stopped to “lick his
wounds” after the battle of Gumbinnen without telling Samsonov, who thought that
his army was moving according to schedule. However, everything changed when
Hoffmann was handed two intelligence intercepts that had been sent from
Rennenkampf to Samsonov and vice versa. These documents were crucial to what
happened next. The intercepts clearly stated the distance between the two
armies, and their marching orders. Another key piece of information was the fact
that the two armies wouldn’t be crossing paths. This was HUGE! This meant that
the Germans could take one army without worrying about support from the second.
The information was so astounding that some, like Ludendorff, thought the
intercepts fake. Another key player, Hermann von Francois, had accelerated the
victory of Tannenberg. Francois, instead of direct orders to back off, moved his
forces eastward to block the escape route of the Russians. Samsonov, after trying to retreat only found
himself in an even worse position, between a rock and a hard place, the rock
being Francois, and the hard place the combined armies of Ludendorff and
Rennenkampf. The result was a horrible defeat for the Russians, and a possibly
crushing blow to the Russian Army.
The Loss and Evacuation of Gallipoli
Commander-in-Chief Ian Hamilton, was very desperate after the
loses at Scimitar Hill and Hill 60, which would have united two Allied forces.
In a telegram that he wrote back to London, Hamilton requested 95,000
reinforcements. However, he was only given 25,000.
Capporetto This
battle, sometimes called the Twelfth Battle of Isonzo,
was a large invasion of Italy by Germany and Austria-Hungary. Caperetto
was the first battle where the Germans had to provide assistance to
Austria-Hungary, firmly cementing their alliance. Luigi Cardona led the
defensive for Italy, and van Below on offense for the Germans.
Started at 2am on 24 October 1917 and helped by
very misty conditions, the Austro-Hungarian and German attack took the Italians
by complete surprise. The attack was started with heavy artillery, gas
and smoke, the combination of Austria-Hungary and Germany broke through the
French lines very quickly and force progressed twenty-five miles per day.
Once Capello's lines were broken, he suggested a retreat from the area.
Cardona overrode Capello's idea until Italian troops were instructed to cross
the river, which took four days. During this march across the river, thee
German/Hungarian forces moved extremely quickly, but this extreme ferocity
started to work against them. Supplies began to run low when the supply lines
got too stretched. Cadorna took this weakness and withdrew his
troops the River Piave, which was only about 18 miles away from Venice. Italian
casualties were very large now, with 300,000 deaths. Cardona was dismissed from
the army due to the large losses. The battle was lost for the Italians now
but with the German support for the Austro-Hungarians, the French and British
joined with the Italians due to treaties, both with very big air forces. The
Austro-Hungarians tried to follow up the attack, but ran out of resources and
retreated.
Liege
The first battle of the Great War
was the Battle of the Liege. This twelve day battle was considered a moral
victory for the allies instead of an actual winning. On August 5, 1914 the
Germans invaded Belgium and attacked the heavily outnumbered Belgium army. The
beginning of the Schlieffen Plan, this was the first land battle of the war. The
Second German Army crossed neutral Belgium, attempting invade France from the
North. The army, led by von Bulow, consisted of 320,000 men and was trying to
seize the city of Liege. The city of Liege was a gateway to Belgium which blocked
the best way to Belgium. The German army was not expecting
the twelve heavily armed forts that awaited them. These forts were built in the
1880s and were each about two miles apart. Each fort contained four hundred
retractable guns, but the forts themselves were only equipped with 70,000 men.
The Belgian army, led by General Leman, was outnumbered nearly five to one. The
Germans attacked in a small force at night with about 30,000 men, and made no
progress at all. Ludendoff called in zeppelins to bomb the forts, and then led
his army into the city and forced the Belgian garrison to surrender.
Eventually the Germans brought out their top secret weapon, the seventeen inch howitzer
and the Big Bertha, a siege howitzer, the forts were taken out on August 16,
1914. General Leman was carried unconscious from the battlefield on a stretcher.
The allies were forced to surrender. Because of the loss of many German solders,
this battle was considered a moral victory by the Allies, even if the battle
hadn't been won.
First Battle of the Isonzo- When the battle began Italian forces outnumbered
Austria-Hungary forces 2:1. However, even though they had more men, after a one
week artillery strike on an Austria-Hungary trench, the Italians were not able
to break through and cross the river. This river was a tactical advantage for
the Austria-Hungary forces. Since it was almost completely surrounded by
mountains, the Austria-Hungarian troops were able to set up lines all around the
river. This wasn’t the biggest concern for the Italians though. The Italians
main problem was the fact that they couldn’t shoot the Austria-Hungarians from
behind the river, and needed to shoot them in order to get over the river. No
matter how much the Italians tried they weren’t able to cross the river with
much success. This battle had medium casualties and minimum land gain.
Second Battle of the Isonzo- After the first battle was
called off; the lack of artillery fire was noted and fixed. This however didn’t
help much. As in the first battle General Cadorna continued to use “massed
frontal infantry attacks” to get through the defenses. It didn’t work…again....
Needless to say the second battle of the Isonzo only brought greater casualties:
60,000 Italians
45,000 Austro-Hungarians
Third Battle- In the third battle Cadorna finally wizened
up. Instead of using little or no artillery, Cadorna unloaded 1200 guns on the
Austro-Hungarian forces.
However the Italians made a fatal mistake. They “spread their army out too
thin”. This would prove costly. As the main attack on Gorizia was initiated the
Austria-Hungarians had begun a counter-attack. Both attacks failed and no land
was gained.
Isonzo 4-11- After the third and fourth battle of Isonzo,
Italian support began to slowly wither away. Obviously this was a failing
effort. Many lives were lost, both on the Italian side and the Austria-Hungarian
side. The key factor was that the Austro-Hungarian force had the high ground
(the mountains surrounding the Isonzo River) this gave them the advantage of
seeing the Italians better, and they had a better position to shoot them.
Franz Ferdinand assassinated
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated
by Gavrilo Princip. Heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz
Ferdinand at the time was the Inspector General of their army. He was invited to
Sarajevo by the Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina to
inspect the army there. Unknown was the secret plot to assassinate him there. In
the beginning part of the plan, Black Hand Group was unsuccessful. The Black
Hand Group was a terrorist group that wanted to kill Franz Ferdinand and sent
six people to Sarajevo to fulfill the goal. All six people were unsuccessful in
their attempts due to the quick driving of Franz Urban. However, when Franz
Ferdinand and his wife Sophie von Chotkovato went to visit a friend at the
hospital, their driver made a wrong turn. Coincidentally, Gavrilo Princip was
standing on the corner and shot them. The couple later died of their wounds.
Austria-Hungary declares war on
Serbia
On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary officially declared war on
Serbia. Austria-Hungary thought that Serbia was a threat because it allowed acts
against the empire to take place in Austrian provinces, such as
Bosnia-Herzegovina. When the assassination of Franz Ferdinand occured,
Austria-Hungary was furious. About a month later they declared war on Serbia.
This was known as the start of World War I because it caused a chain reaction of
other countries to join the war. One day after declaring war, Austria-Hungary
attempted to invade Serbia several times, but was unsuccessful.
Turks begin massacre of
Armenians
In the early 1900's, the Ottoman Empire tried to eliminate all the Armenians
that inhabited their territories. However earlier in the sixteenth century, the
Ottoman Empire flourished and occupied parts of Europe, North Africa, and all of
the Middle East. There was no need for genocidal actions because the Turks and Armenians lived in harmony and
there were no laws that discriminated. Although, that golden age did
not last long for the Ottomans, whose empire slowly declined until the early
twentieth century. In the early twentieth century, the decline caused divisions
and tension between the ethnic groups. The Armenians wanted to take part in the
government and Sultan Hamid II denied them. He started to deport and kill
Armenians to scare them from joining the government. The Turks had never shared
power with anybody else and were not willing to do so. The Armenians also
believed in Catholicism and the Turks believed in Islam. This created even more
tension. As the decline created tension between the groups, the it also caused the empire to want to gain
back lost territories. Standing in their of expanding their lands and creating a
new Pan-Turanian Empire were the Armenians. The Turks hoped to eliminate all minorities
like the Armenians so that they could control all of their territories without
minorities interfering. They did this by deporting and mass killing them. They
tortured and starved them as well. The Armenians were also removed with force to
Syria, where many were left in the desert to die.
Overall, about one and half million out of the two million Armenians living in
the Ottoman Empire had died and their spirits always stay in hearts of their
descendents. British liner Lusitania sunk
On May 7, 1915, the British passenger liner Lusitania
was sunk by a German U-boat. The Lusitania had received awards for being
fast and was thought to be fast enough to avoid submarines. Although warned of
a possible attack, 1959 passengers, 159 of whom were Americans, boarded the ship
in New York for London. Some might've felt reassured that the boat was too fast
for enemy vessels and that they would be safe. However that wasn't the case. At
the time, all German ships were to fire at any enemy ship. The Germans also
thought that there were war supplies on the boat (which was true). In that case
they were allowed to shoot because it was then considered war boat. Finally on May 7 after six days at sea, theLusitania was sunkby a German U-boat. One torpedo was fired and
instantaneously a second explosion sounded even though only one shot was fired.
This second explosion was thought to be caused by the lighting of ammunition and
it was what caused the ship to sink. Even though the Lusitania was a fast
ship, it had to move slow due to fog and it also traveled in a straight line
giving enemies an easy shot. Out of of the 1959 passengers, 1198 were killed
including 128 Americans. This was major factor in what caused the US to go to
war.
Wilson reelected as President, continues Neutrality
On November 7, 1916, US President Woodrow Wilson was reelected by a close margin
of twenty-three electoral votes over Republican Charles Evans Hughes. The
deciding state California was only won by 3800 votes. Wilson kept his stance on
neutrality even after the Lusitania was sunk, killing 128 American
civilians. The Democratic slogan was even "He kept us out of war." Wilson did
not agree with that statement because he knew war was in the future for the US.
War was declared one year later in 1917.
First Revolution in Russia
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a large step in how Russia and other
countries in the world would govern themselves for years to come. For many years
before, Russia had been ruled by strict czars with peasants living in tough
economic and social conditions. They had attempted revolts, none of them
successful were successful in bringing freedom. But finally in February, 1917,
the Russian public was tired of how World War I was going and overthrew Czar
Nicholas II. The war for Russia was filled with corruption and the inability to
equip and feed soldiers. Conditions were horrible for soldiers who barely had
enough food and had inefficient shoes. Famine even reached civilians in Russia.
Russia and their old economy of peasants growing food for the country was losing
terribly to modern Germany. Czar Nicholas II eventually abdicated his throne on
March 15. Once the autocracy was gone, it paved the way for Joseph Stalin and
his socialist regime to take over. He used propaganda to spread this idea and it
soon took off throughout the country. This later led to Communism and the
development of the USSR.
War is declared!
In 1914, when the war started, President Woodrow Wilson refused to take sides in
the war, declaring neutrality. However, the German attacks on the Allies turned
the public opinion in favor of the Allies. To cease Germany's receiving of
supplies, Britain established a naval blockade of German ports. Because of this,
the Germans had their U-Boats sink and destroy all the Allied merchant ships
found off the British coast. In 1915, one of the German U-Boats sank a passenger
ship, the Lusitania, killing 128 Americans aboard, infuriating America.
Yet, President Wilson still declared neutrality. In 1917, the final push needed
for the support of the Allies came. From Britain, the U.S. discovered a telegram
proposing that Mexico join the fight against the Americans to regain lost land.
In March of that year, German submarines continued to sink three American ships.
The president proposed and declared war in April.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Russia's continuous failures showed the need for U.S. support. In early 1915, a
small German army outfought an enormous Russian army. In 1915, Czar Nicholas II
decided to take control of the troops himself in frustration. Then, in 1917,
when Russia was a mess because of food shortages and inflation, Czar Nicholas II
was forced to step down. Vladimir Ilich Lenin, leader of a Communist movement
soon took power. Lenin proposed peace with Germany and soon signed the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk. Germany could now better focus their attacks on the Western
Front.
Germany signs armistice with Allies; Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates throne
The turning point of the war was in the summer of 1918 at the Second Battle of
the Marne. The Germans had tried to push back the French line. For three days of
vicious fighting, 85,000 Americans helped to stop the German advance. The Allies
then cut off supply lines to the German troops and eventually pushed them back.
Until the end of the war, the Germans continuously lost land, until they
completely lost everything they had captured. In 1918, a massive drive by the
Allies pushed the German line between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. In
November, the Germans started retreating. After this push, on November 9, Kaiser
Wilhelm I abdicates his throne and steps down. Two days later, the Germans
agreed to an armistice with the Allies, marking the end of the fighting.
Treaty Versailles signed
The treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed by the Germans and Allies at
the end of The Great War. This treaty was held in Versailles on January 18, 1919
and discussed during the Paris Peace Conference. The world's first peacekeeping
body, Covenant of the League of Nations, was included in this treaty. On June
18, 1919, the treaty was signed. Even though the treaty was agreed to, it caused
many more tensions. President Wilson had a vision of "peace without victory",
while other countries wanted Germany to pay heavily for the losses. In the end,
Germany had to accept full blame for the war and had to pay 33 billion dollars
in reparations. This treaty also divided up Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans.