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World War I
Causes
 Militarism (Wilson): military,
reporting directly to a king, not to
elected civilian governments,
controlled Germany, Austria,
Russia and Turkey with goal of
military power and glory
regardless of the people
 Arms Race: Germany, under
Kaiser Wilhelm II, tried to
challenged British naval power,
producing bigger and more
powerful battleships; new
technology produced more lethal
artillery and individual weapons,
all giving developed nations
confidence in their own military
power.
Further causes:
 Nationalism: waves of nationalism, especially in
Austria and the Ottoman Empire (Serbs, Slavs,
Germans) wanting independent nations of their
own + national pride wouldn’t let nations back
down if they were insulted by another nation.
 Economic Imperialism (Marxist): great powers
empires competing for economic control would
result, inevitably, in world conflict (Hobson):
American variation: arms producers and dealers
pushed the war to make greater profits.
Argument vs this last: arms manufacturers had
no more influence on government decisions than
all the other industries that might be hurt by the
war
Above all, false confidence:
 Germans: their two wars happened so fast, (7
weeks) they felt invincible. They welcomed
frischer und frohlicher Krieg (“fresh and joyous
war”), an adventure for their “iron youth,”
unbeatable.
 French and British: war was a romantic escapade,
Mortal Combat, not grim reality: they would
defeat Germany before Christmas. The French
even had their own plan, Plan #XVII, a lightning
offensive designed to regain the provinces of
Alsace Lorraine, lost to Germany in 1870.
1. Name the alliances that provided the
setup for war
"Some damn foolish thing in the Balkans,"
2. Who said it? How was it prophetic?
3. What happened as the spark for war?
Bosnian assassins in Serbia
 South Slav Nationalism
 7 assassins in large plot sponsored by Black Hand, directed by
head of Serbian intelligence (executed)
– 27 yr old Bosnian carpenter with bomb (didn’t because gendarme near
–
–
–
–
–
–
and afraid it would ruin plot) escaped
17 yr old with pistol; didn’t shoot because afraid of hitting empress; 16
yr sentence; history prof
20 yr old threw bomb; got next car; swallowed poison capsule, jumped
into canal; saved, imprisoned; died of TB in prison
18 yr old lost nerve (nearsighted: claimed didn’t see car) served in
prison, became school principal
24 yr old originator of plot: no weapons, though he’d furnished the
weapons for the plot: executed
19 yr old, didn’t act: said afraid of hurting women and children and of
implicating innocent friend standing with him; died in prison
Gavril Princip, 17, heard bomb and thought plot successful; by time
found out failure, car already by him. Then mistake of driver had the
open car turning around where he was walking. He shot twice, was
captured, died of TB in prison
The Black Hand
 1908, two days after Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, many men,
some of them ranking Serbian ministers, officials and generals, founded a
semi-secret society -- Narodna Odbrana (National Defense) to recruit and
train partisans for a possible war between Serbia and Austria.
–
undertook anti-Austrian propaganda and organized spies and saboteurs to
operate within the empire.
– so effective that in 1909 Austria pressured the Serbian government to stop
– Russia was not ready to stand fully behind Serbia, so Belgrade forced to
comply.
– From then on, Narodna Odbrana concentrated on education and propaganda
within Serbia, trying to fashion itself as a cultural organization.

Ten men, on May 9, 1911, formed a new secret organization to continue
the terrorist actions Ujedinjenje ili Smrt (Union or Death), The Black Hand
– By 1914, several hundred members, perhaps as many as 2500, including
Serbian army officers. The goal of the group was the creation of a Greater
Serbia (Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, etc) by use of violence, if necessary\
• trained guerillas and saboteurs and arranged political murders.
• organized at the grassroots level in 3 to 5-member cells. Above them were district
committees. Above them, was the Central committee in Belgrade
• The decision to kill the Archduke was apparently initiated by Apis, and not
sanctioned by the full Executive Committee. Those involved probably realized that
their plot would invite war between Austria and Serbia, not World War.
Dominoes: interlocking alliances
 Franz Josef of Austria is persuaded to declare war on
Serbia to retaliate for the assassination of the
Archduke.
 Russia, with a contracted alliance, must rush to
Serbia’s defense.
 Germany promises a “blank check” to help Austria,
knowing this action threatens to cause war with
Russia, but gambling that France and Britain will not
support their ally.
 Russia is allied by treaty with France and England,
so when Russia goes to war, France and England
must go, too. Germany’s invasion of Belgium, the
neutrality of which is guaranteed by Britain, impels
the British into the war.
More nations join the fray…
 Everyone wants a piece of the Ottoman Empire.
Besides, Turkey had signed a secret treaty with
Germany: she joined the Central Powers
 Italy had been allied to Germany and Austria
since the 1880’s, but had signed a secret treaty
with France and wanted parts of southern
Austria. Though Germany and Austria wanted
Italy to come into the war with them, Italy argued
that their treaties with those countries were
defensive, and Austria had attacked Bosnia first.
Italy joined the Triple Entente later.
 Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and attacked
Serbia from the south.
Objectives of major participants:
 Germany: Belgium as vassal, with domination (through Belgian ports) of
the seas, challenging Britain (Wilhelm read influential book stating the
nation that dominates the seas, dominates the world: navies all important)
Empire in Africa and Asia, gain more territory, especially in Russia
 Austria: avenge shooting of Franz Ferdinand, stabilize the empire, win
parts of Russia and Turkey (Balkans)
 Turkey: reassert claims in Balkans; hold on to Empire
 Bulgaria: take as much of Balkans as can secure
 Britain: curtail German expansion into Belgium; ensure security of
empire through naval domination; balance of power in Continental
Europe, with no repeat of domination of one power isolating Britain;
increased influence/territory in Turkish Mid East
 France: vengeance for Franco Prussian War, reassert claims over
Alsace/Lorraine, claim Turkish territory in Mid East and N. Africa
 Italy: take part of Austrian empire adjacent to Italy
Later the war becomes a struggle
between autocracy and democracy
 At first, Triple Alliance included Russia, an
autocracy of autocracies.
 Russia was defeated; the Revolution
replaced the autocratic czar (temporarily)
with limited representative government;
when Lenin took over, Russia withdrew from
war = only democratic powers remained
 US now could safely make a case to its
people to join the war to “make the world
safe for democracy.”
 As the war progressed, France and Britain (which
extends suffrage to all males) become more
democratic, therefore generated more support for
the war in their people
 In Germany the opposite: support for the war
crumbled; military dictatorship ousted the Kaiser,
who at least was constitutional in his rule
 An Allied victory led to the maintenance and even
extension of liberal democracy in Europe. A
German victory would have snuffed it out.
– When the German army appeared to be on the verge of
victory in spring 1918, the Kaiser crowed that this was
the vindication of monarchy and autocracy over
democracy.
German Plan: “Schlieffen Plan”
Getting Ready:
 Assumed it would take Russia 6 weeks to get ready for
war; so no E Front until then
 Immediately conquer France; then Russ and Britain
would be unlikely to want to continue
 Use 90% of German forces to attack France in long
pinscher movement through Holland and Belgium into N.
France and on to Paris
 When Moltke takes over from Schlieffen as war minister,
changes to just moving through Belgium (plains of
Flanders), assuming Belgian armies could not stop
Prussia/German, could take France to Paris before other
countries ready to help
 HOWEVER:
Putting the Plan into Action:
Invasion of Belgium
 August 1914: the
Germans gave the
Belgians two choices:
give up or fight: the king
went to the front and
took control and
FOUGHT
 Belgian resistance held
the Germans much
longer than the Germans
expected
 The Belgians were
defeated, but spoiled the
Schlieffen plan
Other shocks for Germany:
 Russians got ready for war
much more quickly than
Germany anticipate;
 Belgians put up much more
resistance than planned: bog
down the German invasion
 British also prepared much
more quickly than
anticipated; transported
troops, etc to support French
against German forces
 German invasion forces are
bogged down, forced to fight
much more fiercely
Armament and the War:
determining the kind of fighting
A new kind of war:
 Romanticized (“we’ll be home for
Christmas after teaching the enemy
a lesson”)
 BUT new technology = new
warfare; unfortunately old generals
fought in the old way (“over the
top”), sacrificing millions of lives
 Trenches with months of fighting
accomplishing nothing
 Total War: not just polite fighting
on battlefields, total destruction of
entire areas, cities, etc, and many
civilian casualties
5,000 cubic feet Nurse Balloons; hangar, Okla. City
German
weather
balloons
leaving
hangar
Anthony Fokker
testing the
synchronization
mechanism of a
machine gun
mounted on a
German plane
The biplane
replaced the
balloon for
observing enemy
positions in the
trench warfare of
World War I. By
the end of the
war, the
Germans were acquiring 4,000 photos a day as part
of the planning for their last great offensive of 1918,
and the US Army made over one million prints in the
last four months of the war..
SPAD XIII
SE5
Handley-Page Bomber
This is the official
German photograph of
the Baron Manfred von
Richthofen, better know
as the Red Baron. Von
Richtofen, Germany's
highest ace, with 80
kills, was himself shot
down and died on April
21, 1918. He was shot
down by a Sopwith
Camel flown by Captain
A. Roy Brown, a 24
year old Canadian
aviator. An infantry unit
also claimed they had
shot Richtofen down.
London air raid damage
Big Bertha, Howitzer L/14, manufactured by
Krupp, the German industrial power, had a range
of 122 km. It bombarded Paris for 20 months
during 1917.
Effects of French shellfire on German positions
Machine Gun, Cal. .30, M1917/M1917A1 (1917). The
M1917 water-cooled .30 cal. machine gun was
developed by John Browning. The M1971A1 was the
Army's standard until mid-1950s. The M1917 watercooled machine gun saw service with the last U.S.
troops to enter France near the end of World War I. It
was tripod mounted, but was also used as an aircraft
gun. The M1917 had a rate of fire of 450 spm.
Although commercial pistols
were purchased and issued to
General Officers, some standard
Army issue pistols were
specially modified for use by
General Officers
Pistol, Semi-automatic.45 Cal.,
M1911
Pistol, .45 Cal., Revolver, M1917
(1917). During World War I, due to a
shortage of M1911 pistols, the Army
procured Colt New Service and Smith
& Wesson hand ejector cal. .45 sixround double-action revolvers. These
pistols were standard issue until
World War II, when they were only
issued to Military Police and security
personnel.
M1918A2 (1940) was fully-automatic, but selective at
either Slow (300-450 spm) or Fast (500-650 spm) rates
of fire. The M1918A2 was originally issued with a spike
based removable stock rest which fitted in a hole in
the buttstock.
Photo of the British Mark I Tank in 1916
Photo of the British Mark I Tank in 1916
"Tanks in Action" - Edward Handley-Read
Trench Warfare
"Humanity StretcherBearer
Post, 9th
Field
Ambulance"
- Gilbert
Rogers
(Official
War Artist)
After two years of war, the battle lines of the Western
front (noted in yellow) had barely changed from the first
days of stalemate. This was modern warfare. The Eastern
front was a different story, where battles more resembled
fluid engagements of the 19th century.
Fanciful German depiction of First Ypres
The First Chemical Warfare: Gas
 Germans used first, then Allies used it
 Many different kinds of chemicals,
especially:
– Teargas—first gas to be used (Germans), but
not destructive enough
– Chlorine—acidic gas attacks the lungs
– Phosgene—attacks ALL mucus/moist areas
– Mustard gas—attacks skin, doesn’t need to be
breathed in
Aerial View—gas attack
German gas attack on
Allied trenches
Aftermath: gas
attacks
Stalemate
 After the First Battle of the Marne, both Entente and German forces
began a series of outflanking maneuvers to try to force the other to retreat,
in the “race to the sea.”
– Britain and France found themselves facing entrenched German positions
from Lorraine to Belgium's coast.
– Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended
occupied territories, so German trenches were much better
– In April 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time, opening a
four mile wide hole in the Allied lines closed by Canadian soldiers at both the
2nd Battle of Ypres (the first time a colonial force drove back a European
power), and 3rd Ypres (where over 5000 Canadian soldiers were gassed to
death), earning German respect.
 Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years,
though protracted German action at Verdun throughout 1916, and the
Entente's failure at the Somme, in the summer of 1916, brought the
exhausted French army to the brink of collapse.
– Futile attempts at frontal assaults, at terrible cost to the French infantry, led to
mutinies
– News of the Russian Revolution gave hope to socialists among the troops.
Red flags were hoisted and the Internationale was sung on several occasions.
At the height of the mutiny, 30,000 to 40,000 French soldiers participated.
 Throughout 1915-17, the British Empire and France suffered many
more casualties than Germany, but both sides lost millions of soldiers
to injury and disease.
 Around 800,000 soldiers from the British Empire were on the
Western Front at any one time. 1,000 battalions, in sectors from the
North Sea to the Orne River, rotated, fighting for a month, then
withdrawing, replaced by another unit, unless fighting in a battle
 The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches.
 Average soldier at the front: 114 days/year of actual fighting;
remainder of year on leave, away from front, or just sitting around in
trenches being bored (Germans: piano in trenches so could drink
beer and sing)
 Result: “live and let live” philosophy in some trenches where the
Germans facing the British might not be so willing to kill. (Germans
write note of bomb coming, Brit eating with Germans when smelled
cooking, “he never did anything to me” --Brit when asked by officer
why not killing guy with gray hair and beard that popped up
– Brit memo to officers to reanimate troops against Germans because if no snipers
or bombing, wouldn’t fight
– False reports of fighting to get officers off their backs
 (Of course, still animosity: Germans hated and feared Scot
Highlanders; French and German really hostile, etc.
The War in Russia
 Russia’s first plan: Attack Galicia (Austria) and East Prussia at the same
time
 East Galicia: some Russian victories
– Success in Austrian Galicia was undermined by the reluctance of other
generals to commit forces to support victorious commanders
– German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units; Russian gains
reversed
– Transylvania and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers
 The German army with superior equipment and training, beat the Russians
in a series of defeats on the border of East Prussia
– Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew
 Conditions in Russia worsened. The Czar was at the front and didn’t
realize what was happening
– Alexandra’s increasingly incompetent rule roused hostility in all classes of
Russians, resulting in the murder of Alexandra's favorite Rasputin.
– In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg ended in the abdication of
Tsar Nicholas II
– A weak Provisional Government, headed by Kerensky, shared power with the
Marxist Petrograd Soviet.
• This division of power led to confusion and chaos, both on the front and at home,
• The army couldn’t effectively resist Germany.
Russia leaves the War:
Consequences
 Lenin and the Bolsheviks succeeded in taking advantage of weakness
and confusion of the Russian revolution to seize power in St
Petersburg
 In December 1917, Lenin signed an Armistice with the Central
Powers, ending Russian participation with the Allies and giving up ¼
of Russia’s territory to Germany
– The withdrawal of Russia freed up German troops from the eastern front
for use in the west.
– Ironically, German troop transfers could have been greater if their
territorial acquisitions had not been so dramatic.
 With both German reinforcements and new American troops pouring
into the Western Front, the final outcome of the war was to be
decided in that front.
– The Central Powers knew that they could not win a long, drawn out war
now that American forces were certain to be arriving in increasing
numbers
– They planned a rapid offensive in the West, using their reinforced troops
and new infantry tactics.
– Rulers of both the Central Powers and the Entente became more fearful
that further stalemate might bring on national revolutions. Both sides
urgently sought a decisive, rapid victory on the Western Front.
Southern Front: Italy
 Beginning in 1915, the Italians mounted 11 major offensives
all repelled by the Austro-Hungarians, In one year’s fighting,
the Italians had had one minor victory, capturing the town of
Gorizia..
 In the fall of 1917, thanks to victories on the Eastern front,
the Austrians received large reinforcements, including
German assault troops, and launched a crushing offensive
that resulted in the victory of Caporetto: the Italian army was
routed, but after retreating more than 100km, it was able to
reorganise and hold.
 In 1918, the Austrians repeatedly failed to break the Italian
line, and, decisively defeated in the Battle of Vettorio
Veneto, surrendered to the Entente powers in November.
 Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff had a deep hatred for the
Italians because of Italian betrayal (going against prior
alliances with Austria to fight with the Triple Entente in
1915).
– His hatred for Italy blinded him in many ways, and he made many
foolish tactical and strategic errors during the campaigns in Italy.
Eastern Front: conventional warfare
 The Ottoman empire threatened the British Empire, cutting
off India and the East via the Suez Canal.
 So British Empire began fighting in the South with Gallipoli
and Mesopotamian campaigns.
– At Gallipoli, the Turks successfully threw back the ANZAC'S
–
–
–
–
(Australian New Zealand Army Core), forcing withdrawal.
In Mesopotamia (Iraq), by contrast, British Empire forces captured
Baghdad in March 1917.
Sinai Peninsula/Palestine: British failures reversed, captured
Jerusalem being captured
Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Field Marshall Allenby, with
help from Arabs promised an independent nation by Lawrence,
defeated Ottoman
Russian armies generally defeated Turkish forces in the Caucusus.
• The commander of Turkish armed forces (Enyer Pasha—ambitions, but
not a good soldier) launched an offensive with 100,000 troops against the
Russians in the Caucasus in December of 1914. Insisting on a frontal
attack against Russian positions in the mountains in the heart of winter,
Enver lost 86% of his forces.
• The Russian commander, victorious against the Ottomans forces, drove
the Turks out of much of present-day Armenia, tragically provided a
context for deportation of the population in eastern Armenia.
The War in the Balkans
 After repelling three Austrian invasions during August-December 1914,
Serbia fell to Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom
of Bulgaria, (the latter of which joined the Central Powers in
September, 1915) in October 1915.
– The Serbian army was defeated at Kosovo, then retreated into Albania and
Greece.
– In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer
assistance and pressure the Greek government into war against the Central
Powers, BUT the pro-allies government had just been dismissed by the
pro-German king of Greece, who prevented official Greek entry into the
war until 1917.
 The northern Greek (Salonica Front): Allies had no success, joked that
Salonica was the largest German prisoner of war camp.
– At the very end of the war, when most German and Austro-Hungarian
troops had left and the Front was held by the Bulgarians alone, were the
Entente powers able to break through, forcing Bulgaria's signing an
armistice on September 29, 1918.
The Lusitania
 Germany declared unrestricted sub
warfare against allied shipping,
especially British
 America was shipping war material
and food to Europe and making
TONS of money.
Despite German warnings, the Lusitania, a passenger liner,
sailed from New York toward London in 1915.
Off the coast of Ireland, a German sub spotted the liner, then
fired a torpedo.
The initial explosion set off a violent second blast. The ship
sank in 18 minutes. 1,195 of the 1,959 on board, including 123
Americans, died.
Outrage was great on both sides of the Atlantic (riots in
England)
America enters the war
 German miscalculation overcame US “isolationist” public opinion:
– Immediately after the Lusitania sank, Germany promised to restrict their
sub warfare, but then early in 1917, Germany resumed its policy of
unrestricted sub warfare, reminding all of their hostility over Lusitania
– The Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted about the same time. The
telegram encouraged the Mexican government to declare war against the
US if the US came into the war against Germany: then after the war,
Germany would make sure Mexico recovered all territories surrendered
to the US during the 19th Century.
 After further U-boat attacks on American merchant ships, Wilson had
Congress declare war on Germany in April, 1917.
 Germany thought it had time before large numbers of American
troops would arrive in Europe, and that the U-boats would prevent
their arrival.
– BUT the United States had full military-related production, aiding the
Entente for quite some time, and had loaned the Allied powers money
– The Germans decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, despite
the threat of U.S. intervention, gambling that they would win the war
before America could make an impact on the battlefield.
 American contribution to the war was important,
particularly increasing US infantry in Europe.
Significant numbers of American troops only arrived
in Europe in the summer of 1918.
 The US Navy immediately started escorting European
convoys in the Atlantic. Several regiments of marines
were also dispatched to France.
– However, the United States not able to contribute manpower
to the Western and Italian front until later in the wars.
 The British and French wanted the United States to
send its infantry to reinforce their troops already on
the battlelines; the Americans were short of artillery,
etc. General Pershing resisted breaking up American
units and using them as reinforcements for British
Empire and French units. Pershing ordered the use of
frontal assaults, and the AEF suffered a very high rate
of casualties..
Over four months in 1918 the German army launched five
major assaults at different parts of the allied line. The
Allies called up American troops to assist British and
French in the area just south of Belgium’s border on the
way to Paris.
Germans, knowing where untested American troops were
placed, attacked there with ferocity, expecting easy victory.
 General Ludendorff attacked the Allied Northern Front on 27 May 1918.
– He knew that inexperienced American Expeditionary Forces, moved up
from training areas were placed astride a strategic highway and assumed
they’d be “easy pickings.”
– Allied armies began retreating, and a French officer advised the Marines to
join them. A Marine officer replied: "Retreat, hell. We just got here."
– The Marines were expected to defend Bois de Belleau, three square miles of
rocks, wood, filled with entrenched 1,200 elite soldiers from the 461st
Imperial German Infantry.
 On 4 and 5 June, Marines held their positions along the highway. On 6
June, the Fifth Marines counterattacked against the woods and Hill 142.
By day's end, the edge of Belleau Wood and Hill 142 were taken at the
expense of over 1,000 casualties.
– For four days, Marines hammered their way through the woods. On the
13th, the Germans counterattacked. The entrenched Marines started to drop
the enemy at 400 yards with concentrated rifle fire.
– On 26 June, they proudly announced that the "Woods are now United States
Marine Corps' entirely." At the end of the battle, the Marine brigade had
suffered 55 percent casualties, 1,062 killed and 3,615 wounded.
 The action stopped the last major offensive of the war by the Germans.
German soldiers later referred to the U.S. Marines, respectfully, as
"Teufelhunde," Devil Dogs, because of their fierceness in battle.
 Ludendorff decided that Germany had two ways out of the War—total
annihilation or an armistice, communicated to high command.
 Pershing's artillery continued to unrelentingly pound the exhausted and
bewildered Germans, all along the Meuse-Argonne front. The Allied
pressure did not let up until the end of the war.
 Meanwhile, news of Germany's impending military defeat had spread
throughout the German Armed forces. The threat of general mutiny was rife.
 Naval commander and Ludendorff decided to launch a last ditch attempt to
restore the "valour" of the German Navy. Knowing any such action would be
vetoed by the government, Ludendorff decided not to inform them.
Nonetheless, word of the impending assault reached sailors at Kiel. Many
rebelled and were arrested, refusing to be part of a Naval offensive which
they believed to be nothing more than a suicide bid. It was Ludendorff who
took the blame for this—the Kaiser dismissed him.
Defeat Brings Political Change
 Ludendorff‘s political plan for Germany.
– Although a traditionalist conservative, he wanted a controlled
political revolution, with new reforms to "democratize"
Germany
– satisfied the monarchists by continuing the Kaiser's reign
– L hoped democratization would show the people that the
government was prepared to change, reducing chances of a
socialist revolt like Russia’s.
 Ludendorff’s ulterior motive?
– reforms would hand power over to the Reichstag—ruling
parties: the centre party, the liberals, and the social democrats.
– they would have the obligation, authority to request armistice
because of 5,989,758 German casualties (1,773,700 killed,
4,216,058 wounded)
"The Menin Road" - Ian Strang, 1918
Destruction of US
89th Division
ammunition dump at
Lucey
Valenciennes
burning after
German
evacuation
"Ypres, Christmas 1917" - Gilbert Holliday
Peronne during the Battle of the Somme
1916 - Robert Carlson
Trying to end the war: Allies
 Allied counter offensive (100 Days Offensive) at Amiens
– utilized 414 tanks of the Mark IV and V type, and 120,000 men.
– The Entente forces advanced twelve kilometres into German- held
territory in just seven hours.
– General Ludendorff referred to this day as "the Black Day of the
German army".
 2nd Battle of the Somme—
– Allies slowed down: problems with all but seven tanks.
– General Haig called a halt and began planning a new offensive,
130,000 United States troops + soldiers from British Armies.
– It was an overwhelming success for the Allies. In 2 weeks, the
Germans were on the Hindenburg Line, the starting point of the War.
 The Allied attempt to take the Hindenburg Line (the MeuseArgonne Offensive)
– 260,000 American soldiers went "over the top".
– All divisions were successful in capturing their initial objectives,
except the one US division which met stiff resistance and was unable
to progress on the first day of the battle.
– This failure allowed the Germans to recover and regroup..
Trying to End the War: Germany
 German Gen. Ludendorff planned a different kind of attack to throw off Allies,
break through, splitting their lines before American troops arrived.
– Germans used infiltration: (before this, long artillary bombardments, then
continuous front mass attacks) artillery briefly and small groups of infantry sneaking
in at weak points, attacking crucial areas and surrounding points of serious resistance.
These isolated positions were then destroyed by more heavily armed infantry.
– German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 km. For the first time since
1914, tactics had returned to the battlefield.
 The front line now moved to within 120 kilometres of Paris.
– Germans used heavy guns to fire 183 huge shells on Paris, causing many Parisians to
flee the city.
– The initial stages of the offensive were so successful that German Kaiser Wilhelm II
declared the day a national holiday. Many Germans thought victory to be close;
– BUT after heavy fighting, the German offensive was halted. German casualties
between March and April 1918 were 270,000.
 The resulting Entente counterattack marked the Entente's first successful
offensive of the war. By July 1918, the Germans were back at their starting
lines, having achieved nothing. The German Army never again held the
initiative.
 Meanwhile, Germany was crumbling internally. Anti-war marches were a
frequent occurrence, and morale within the army was at low levels. Industrial
output had fallen 53% from 1913.
Weimar Republic
 Soon after, Ludendorff had a dramatic change of heart and began to
claim that the very parties to whom he had handed power had lost
Germany the war. He said these politicians had "stabbed Germany in
the back"--later used to great effect by various German nationalist
groups, including the Nazis.
 Prince Von Baden was put in charge of the new German government
and immediately began negotiations for a peace.
–
torn between the idea of a constitutional monarchy or republic
 However, Philipp Scheidemann declared Germany to be a Republic,
from a balcony atop the Reichstag. Von Baden then announced that
the Kaiser was to abdicate—before the Kaiser had himself made up
his mind.
 Imperial Germany had died, and a new Germany had been born: the
Weimar Republic
The End of the War
 The end of the fighting came swiftly. Bulgaria was the
first of the Central Powers to sign an armistice 29 Sep
1918 after combined Allies with Greece, Serbian troops
wanting revenge pushed Bulgaria back through Serbia,
opening up land route to Vienna, blocking German land
route to Constantinople.
 British victories in Mesopotamia and Palestine (with
Arab help, when promised Arab independence after the
war via TE Lawrence) defeat the Ottoman Empire
 Rebellion breaks out in Germany:
 When Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered the German High Seas Fleet
against the Entente's navies, the sailors mutinied 29 Oct ; the
Kaiser is forced to abdicate (to Holland where he lives until after
the German sweep into France in 1940)
 Ludendorff, breaking down when he hears about the
Bulgarian armistice, requests a temporary ceasefire 3
October.
 On 30 Oct, the Ottoman Empire capitulated.
 On 3 Nov, Austria-Hungary asked for truce from the
Italian Commander and requested Armistice, peace terms.
 The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Entente
Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian
Commander, and were accepted.
– Armistice with Austria was granted to take effect at three o'clock
on the afternoon of 4 Nov.
– Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the
overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy and the collapse of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
– Armistice Day, 11 a.m. 11 Nov 1918 (11-1111-1918)
The Armistice
 German government reaches out to Wilson, who has
published his “peace without victory” and 14 points.
Germans expect to be treated fairly.
 Ludendorff changes his mind about armistice, but it’s too
late: both army and German people ready to end the
fighting
 Civilian government negotiations: armistice, but
Germany must surrender guns, all subs, most warships,
Rhine
 Ludendorff blames the home front for the defeat—
military “stabbed in the back”
 Armistice takes effect 11 am 11-11-1918
 German army comes home with victory parades, with
fiction “never vanquished, never defeated”
"Facts are mere accessories to the truth,
and we do not invite to our hearth the
guest who can only remind us that on
such a day we suffered calamity. Still less
welcome is he who would make a Roman
holiday of our misfortunes. Exaggeration
of what was monstrous is quickly
recognised as a sign of egotism, and that
contrarious symptom of the same disease
which pretends that what is accepted as
monstrous was really little more than
normal is equally unwelcome."
Max Plowman from Subaltern on the
Somme
Paris 1919: The Versailles Treaty
 Big 4 plus 33 other country’s representatives: Central
Powers brought in only after terms settled upon
 Big 4
– Wilson: League of Nations #1, compromises on
freedom of seas and self determination for all
countries
– Clemenceau: France insists on regaining Alsace
Lorraine, on Germany taking blame; out for security,
so insists on disarmed Germany, reparations
– Lloyd George: Britain wants no freedom of seas;
protect empire (not self determination—ok, but under
empires)
– Orlando: Italy wanted Austrian territory in N Italy
(though had not been able to take it militarily);
territory in Africa and Mid East; some of Balkans
What the Big Powers got:
 Britain: German African colonies;
mandates (protectorates) in Egypt,
Palestine, Iraq; no declared freedom of
seas
 France: Alsace Lorraine; reparations from
Germany; mandates in Mid East
 US: Europe to repay debts from German
reparations; new nations to be
“democratic”; League of Nations (Wilson)
 League mainly to enforce Versailles,
especially war debts and reparations
Who wasn’t happy:
 Germany:
– Forced to take responsibility for war (to justify reparations)
– Onerous reparations—but never paid even as much as
France after Franco Pruss war
– Disarmed (subs and navy to Britain)
 Italy:
– Some territory from Austria, but not Trieste, no African/Mid
East territory
 Japan:
– Wanted racial equality written in—wasn’t
– Wanted parts of China (kept some), islands (not)
 Arabs:
– Promised independent Arab state—didn’t get it
– Upset about Brit (with Fr and US concurring) Balfour
Declaration