Download Lsn 19 World War I

World War I
Lsn 18
ID & SIG:
• attempts to break the stalemate, central
position, Hindenburg and Ludendorff,
Marne, militarism, Schlieffen Plan, tanks,
Tanneberg, technological advances of
WWI, trench warfare, Triple Alliance, Triple
Entende
World War I: The Belligerents
• The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria,
and Italy
• It was counter-balanced by the Triple Entente of
France, Russia, and Britain.
• As a result, by 1907 Europe was divided into two
armed and rather fearful camps.
World War I: Militarism
• One of the reasons WWI
erupted so quickly was the
advanced state of
militarism
– World War I was the
first war in which the
opponents went to war
with detailed and
precise plans that had
been written years
before the outbreak of
hostilities
• “Mobilization means war”
(German ambassador to
the Russians)
• War Plans
– Austria: Attack Russia, Italy, or
the Balkans (Variants R, I, and
B)
– Russia: Attack Austria-Hungary
(Plan A) or defend against
Germany (Plan G)
– Germany: Attack France before
Russia could mobilize
(Schlieffen Plan)
– France: Attack Germany (Plan
XVII)
– Great Britain: Deploy BEF
The Western Front: The Plans
• French Plan XVII
disregarded the Belgian
frontier (thought the
Germans wouldn’t
violate Belgian
neutrality)
• In reality, the German
Schlieffen Plan had its
main effort through
Belgium
The Western Front: Schlieffen Plan
• The Schlieffen plan sent a
powerful right wing through
western Belgium, the
Netherlands, and northern
France in a gigantic wheeling
movement
• The idea was to destroy
France before Russia could
mount an effective offensive
against the weak German
forces in the east and thus
avoid fighting a two-front war
Alfred von Schlieffen
(1833-1913), chief of the
German general staff
Moltke’s Modifications to the
Schlieffen Plan
• Helmuth von Moltke replaced Schlieffen as chief of the
general staff in 1906 and modified Schlieffen’s original
plan
– Weakened the right wing and strengthened the left
• Moved four and a half corps from the west to the
east to protect East Prussia
• Modified sweep of right wing so that Germans
would not violate the Netherlands’ neutrality
• Added a counterattack mission to the left wing
– Violated Schlieffen’s dying words to “Keep the right
wing strong”
Problems with the German Plan
• Became inflexible “war
by timetable”
– Required enormous
logistical effort to move
men and equipment from
Aachen to around Paris
in a little more than five
weeks
– Committed Germany to a
two front war
• Necessitated attacking
before Russia or France
could seize the initiative
(even if Germany wasn’t
ready)
The Western Front: Miracle of the
Marne
• The Schlieffen Plan worked initially but stalled
due to logistical demands
– “Amateurs study strategy, professionals study
logistics.”
• The French commander General Joseph Joffre
finally realized the German intentions and
abandoned his hope of defending along the
frontiers and instead attempted to establish a
second defensive line deeper in France
• British and French forces combined to halt the
Germans in the battle of the Marne in
September 1914
The Western Front: Result
The Eastern Front
Tannenberg, August 1914
The Eastern Front: Prittwitz
• The goal of the German strategy in the
east was to avoid defeat and to maintain
as stable a front as possible
– Principle of war?
• General Max von Prittwitz commanded the
Eighth Army and had the mission of
delaying the Russian advance
The Eastern Front: Prittwitz
• On August 20, Prittwitz
attacked at Gumbinnen
and the Russians got
an early advantage
• Prittwitz’s initial
response was to
withdraw more than 125
miles across the Vistula
River which would have
abandoned East
Prussia to the Russians
The Eastern Front: Prittwitz
• Prittwitz’s staff eventually
convinced him to use his
superior lateral
communications to
concentrate the bulk of his
forces against the slowly
advancing Russian
Second Army to the south
and leave only a small
force behind in the north
to block the Russian First
Army
• These decisions set up
the battle of Tannenberg
Central Position
The Eastern Front: Hindenburg and
Ludendorff
• Moltke however was
disturbed by
Prittwitz’s initial plan
to abandon East
Prussia and
replaced him with
the more aggressive
command team of
Hindenburg and
Ludendorff
Hindenburg (left)
and Ludendorff
The Eastern Front: Hindenburg and
Ludendorff
• Paul Hindenburg was a 66 year old retired
general who Moltke recalled to active duty
after he became dissatisfied with Prittwitz
• Hindenburg was assigned as commander
of the Eighth Army on the Eastern Front
• Major General Erich Ludendorff had done
well at the battle of Liege in August 1914
and was appointed Hindenburg’s chief of
staff
The Eastern Front: Tannenberg
• Hindenburg reversed
Prittwitz’s retreat and
implemented the plan
Prittwitz’s staff was already
working on
• Ludendorff rushed four
corps to the south and the
Germans attacked on
August 26
• In a double envelopment,
the Germans encircled the
Russians and destroyed
two corps
Sample double envelopment
Eastern Front: After Tannenberg
• Tannenberg was an
operational rather than a
strategic victory
• After the battle,
Hindenburg turned the
Eighth Army north to try to
repeat his success
against the Russian First
Army
• However the Russians
recognized the danger
and pulled back across
the Russian border
• On September 25, the
Russians counterattacked
and drove the Germans
back to the frontier of East
Prussia
World War I
• The Schlieffen Plan had failed to defeat the French
before the Germans were committed to a two-front war
against the Russians
• The Germans’ failure to achieve strategic success after
Tannenberg had also led to a stalemate in the east
Trench Warfare
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Gas
• Various efforts were
made to break the
stalemate
• The Germans first
used gas against
the Russians on Jan
13, 1915 with little
effect
• They were more
successful at Ypres
on Aug 15
Even German dogs were
outfitted with gas masks
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Peripheral Operations
• The Ottoman Empire entered war on
the side of the Central Powers on Oct
31, 1914
• Seen, especially by the British, as a
new theater that offered an alternative
to the deadlock on the Western Front
• The end result was a series of
operations on the periphery of Europe
– “Strategy of the Indirect Approach” (Hart)
– “Strategy of Evasion” (Fuller)
Peripheral Operations
• British defended Egypt against a
Turkish invasion and fighting gradually
moved into Palestine
– Allenby and T. E. Lawrence
• Dardanelles Campaign
– Gallipoli
• Tigris River
• Salonika
Peripheral Operations:
Gallipoli
Peripheral Operations: Gallipoli
• On April 25, 1915, the
Allies launched the
Gallipoli campaign.
• Mustafa Kemal told the
Turkish defenders, “I am
not ordering you to attack.
I am ordering you to die.
In the time it takes us to
die, other forces and
commanders can come
and take our place.”
• On January 16, 1916, the
Allies admitted defeat and
withdrew.
ANZAC Forces on
Gallipoli
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Frontal Attacks
• On Feb 21, 1916, the
Germans launched a
massive attack on
Verdun which was
preceded by a 12-hour
bombardment
• Fighting continued until
December 19 and
caused over an
estimated 700,000 dead,
wounded and missing
• The battlefield was
smaller than ten square
kilometers
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Frontal Assaults
• On July 1, the British
launched an offensive
along the Somme River
to try to divert German
troops from Verdun
• On the first day, 60,000
British soldiers were
killed, wounded, or
captured.
• When the attack halted
in November, the Allies
and the Germans had
each suffered more
than 600,000
casualties.
German casualties at the
Battle of the Somme
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Hutier Tactics
• Short, violent artillery prep
as storm troops advance
to assault positions
• Storm troops infiltrate
through main defenses to
objectives in the rear
• Artillery shifts to fix enemy
• Follow on forces reduce
bypassed pockets of
resistance
Infiltration vs Frontal Attack
Hutier tactics worked locally, but could not
be repeated on a larger scale
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Tanks
• The British began
developing tanks in
1914 and used them in
small numbers at the
Somme on Sept 15,
1916
– Achieved little in this
initial employment
• The Battle of Cambrai
on Nov 20, 1917
marked the first large
scale use of tanks with
474
British Mark I tank of the
type used during the
Battle of the Somme
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Tanks
• At Cambrai, the British
gained initial surprise and
advanced three miles by
the end of the first day
– Deepest penetration into
German lines on the
Western Front since the
beginning of trench warfare
• On the second day, the
British continued to
advance but the Germans
brought up four more
divisions
• On the third day, the
British began losing what
ground they had gained
Technological Advances from
World War I
• The industrialization of
society in the 19th
Century would generate
many military applications
of new technology
• In 1915 British Admiral
Jacky Fisher wrote, “The
war is going to be won by
inventions.”
• Example of war
becoming more total
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Machine gun
Rapid fire artillery
Airplanes
Internal combustion
engine
Tanks
Zeppelins
Gas
Flamethrowers
World War I Airplanes
148th American Aero Squadron
Petite Sythe, France. (August 6,
1918)
Baron Manfred von Richthofen,
the Red Baron, was credited
with 80 confirmed kills
World War I Vehicles
T. E. Lawrence used a fleet of nine Rolls-Royce armored
cars and tenders specially adapted for desert warfare.
World War I Zeppelin
World War I Flamethrower
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• World War I (continued)