Download Battle of Verdun (Western Front- February 1916) - ablanguages-LCII

Language & Culture II
WWI- Sequence of events 1916-1918
Language
&
Culture II
“First World
War”
Sequences of events 1916-1918
Students:
*Lucía
*Mariana Grosso
2nd Year ISFD Nº85
Teacher: Ana Laura Bozzani
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WWI- Sequence of events 1916-1918
Battle of Verdun (Western Front- Feb 1916)
The Battle of Verdun was one of the most important battles of the First World War on the
Western Front. The armies involved were the German and French forces, they fought mostly on the north
of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse (France). The Battle concluded with a French victory as the German
soldiers couldn not capture Verdun and were pushed back close to their initial starting lines.
This Battle left more than a 250,000 deaths and at least 500,000 wounded soldiers. Verdun was
the longest battle and one of the most devastating in W W I and even in human history. They used about
40 million artillery shells during the battle. Some people referred to it like"1916: Total War".
The keywords of the Battle of Verdun were "Ils ne passeront pas" ("They shall not pass")
addressed to his troops by General Robert Nivelle, and "Courage ! On les aura" ("Courage! We shall get
them").
Battle of Somme(western front -jul 1916)
This battle was an operation of French and British forces. The person in charge of this, was The
British Expeditionary Force commander General Douglas Haig. He called for an eight-day preliminary
bombardment that should destroy the German's front line of defenses. Haig strategically placed 27
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divisions of men (75,000), at different points against the German front line, composed of 16 divisions of
men.
The shellfire couldn’t destroy the barbed wire of the Germans or their bunkers. For that reason, the
Germans were able to hold off the allied forces without big difficulties. The British attack was at 7:30 on
the morning of the 1st of July. On that day, the British Expeditionary Force suffered 58,00 casualties, a
third of those men died. This day was considered the worse day in the history of the British army.
On September 15, 1916, General Micheler and the tenth army
joined the battle. Micheler took twelve divisions of men, and
they used Tanks for the first time.
Date
Result
1 July – 18 November 1916
Indecisive
Belligerents
United Kingdom
France
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Newfoundland
South Africa
German Empire
Commanders
Douglas Haig
Max von Gallwitz
Ferdinand Foch
Fritz von Below
Strength
13 British and 11 French
divisions (initial)
10½ divisions (initial)
51 British and 48 French
50 divisions (final)
divisions (final)
Casualties and losses
620,000 dead, wounded,
missing, or captured,
450,000 dead, wounded,
100 tanks lost,
missing, or captured
782 RFC aircraft lost1]
Romanian Entrance (Aug 1916)
The 27th of August of 1916, three Romanian armies launched attacks through the Southern
Carpathians and into Transylvania. First, the attacks were successful and pushed weak Austro-Hungarian
units out of the mountains, but the Austro-Hungarians then sent four divisions to strenghten the AustroHungarian lines, and by the middle of September, the Romanian offensive was stopped.
General August von Mackensen launched the first counterattack in command of a multi-national
army of Bulgarian divisions, some Ottoman divisions, and a German brigade. This army attacked on the
first of September on the north from Bulgaria. It remained on the south side of the Danube river and
headed towards Constanţa. The Romanian garrison of Turtucaia, sourounded by Bulgarian troops
surrendered on the 6th of September
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The 15th of September, the Romanian War
Council suspended the Transylvania offensive and
destroyed the Mackensen army group instead. The
plan (the Flămânda Maneuver) was to attack the
Central Powers forces crossing the Danube at
Flămânda, while the front-line Romanian and
Russian forces were supposed to launch an
offensive southwards towards Cobadin and
Kurtbunar. On the 1st of October , two Romanian
divisions crossed the Danube at Flămânda and
created a bridgehead of 14 kilometer-wide and 4
kilometer-deep. On the same day, Romanian and
Russian divisions went on offensive on the
Dobruja front, with little success.
The fact of having hailed to break the
Dobruja front, added to a heavy storm on the night of the 1st of October, caused big damages to the
floating bridge, and made Averescu cancel completely the operation.
usa Entrance (feb 1917)
Why did the U.S. enter WWI?
1. It was starting to look like Germany was going to be defeated. The USA wanted to be part of the post
war carve up and wanted to be there for their share of the pie.
2. The USA was supplying war materials to the allies. They could not do this and be "neutral" as well. In
fact the USA was breaking international law by supplying the allies.
3. German agents committed two acts of sabotage on war materials in the USA destined for the trenches
of Europe.
4. American public opinion was slowly turning against Germany and the public believed the USA should
help France and Britain.
5. The Zimmermann Telegram and the sinking of seven American merchant ships.
6. Britain softly manipulated the USA into joining the war .
In the begining of the war, The United States adopted a policy of isolationism, preventing
conflicts as it was trying to negociate peace. This made tensions between Germany and England
outgrow. (Caused by Germanny when a U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania in 1915, with 128
Americans aboard).
In January, Germany began again unrestricted submarine warfare. Britain's secret Royal Navy
cryptanalytic group, had broken the German diplomatic code. They intercepted “The Zimmermann
Telegram” which contained a proposal from Berlin to Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against
the United States. The proposal said that if the U.S.A. entered the war, Mexico should declare war against
the United States and enlist Japan as an ally. This would avoid the United States could join the Allies and
would give Germany more time for their unrestricted submarine warfare program to prevent Britain’s
supplies to arrive. As a pay back, the Germans would promise Mexico support in reclaiming Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona.
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U.S. declaration of war on Germany
After the British revealed the telegram to the United States, released the captured telegram as a
way of building support for U.S. entry into the war.
After submarines sank seven U.S. merchant ships and the publication of the Zimmerman telegram,
Wilson called for war on Germany, which the U.S. Congress declared on 6 April 1917.
Crucial to U.S. participation was the massive domestic propaganda campaign executed by the
Committee on Public Information overseen by George Creel. The campaign included government leaders
leaders giving pro-war speeches at public gatherings. Other forms of propaganda included newsreels,
photos, large-print posters (designed by several well-known illustrators of the day, including Louis D.
Fancher and Henry Reuterdahl), magazine and newspaper articles, etc.
First active U.S. participation
The United States was not formally a member of the Allies but was an "Associated Power". It had
a small army, but it prepared and sent four million men and by summer 1918 was sending 10,000 fresh
soldiers to France every day. Germany had miscalculated, believing it would be many more months
before they would arrive and that the arrival could be stopped by U-boats.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet,
destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys.
Russian Revolution (Mar 1917)
The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917. They destroyed the
autocracy and conducted to the creation of the Soviet Union.
In the first revolution, the Czar was forced to leave and was replaced with the Provisional
government, and in the second revolution in October the Provisional Government was removed and
replaced with a Bolshevik (Communist) government.
It was a spontaneous popular revolution.
Battle of Arras (western front, apr 1917)
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War . It took place from the 9th
of April to the 16th of May. British, Canadian, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the
French city of Arras on the Western Front.
In principle, the Allied objective was to break through the German defences into the open ground
farther along and absorb the numerically inferior German army in a war of movement. It was planned in
conjunction with the French High Command, who were simultaneously embarking on a massive attack
(the Nivelle Offensive) about eighty kilometres to the south. The aim of this combined operation was to
end the war in forty-eight hours. At Arras, the British Empire's immediate objectives were to draw
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German troops away from the ground chosen for the French attack and to take the German-held high
ground that dominated the plain of Douai.
The battle officially ended on the 16th of May. British Empire troops had made significant
advances, but they couldnt’t penetrate at any point.
The Battle of Ypres (western front, jul 1917)
The Battle of Ypres actually includes three battles. They were fought in Ypres, Belgium. The town of
Ypres was always under attack from the Germans because it was a key point in keeping them from the
English Channel.
The First Battle of Ypres
The first Battle of Ypres took place between October 30 November 24, 1914
The Second Battle of Ypres
The second battle took place between April 22 - May 25,
1915. The Germans used a new weapon, gas.
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passendale Campaign)
The third battle was fought between the 31st of July and the
10th of November of 1917. On the 17th of June , the British
took the village of Messines. During this battle, the weather
dindn’t help because there was a great amount of rainfall,
turning the battlefield into a swamp. It was almost impossible
to march across. The Germans, who were in concrete bunkers,
killed a lot of the Allied troops with mustard gas and machine guns. The Canadians eventually took the
village of Passchendale after months of fighting. The Allies then stopped their offensive. In the end the
Allies only gained 8km, the casualties totaled 250,000 soldiers for each side.
second Battle of aisne (western front, May 1917)
In December 1916 Robert Nivelle replaced Joseph Joffre as Commander-in-Chief of the French
Army. He argued that a massive sudden attack on German lines would bring victory in 48 hours. The
French War Minister, Hubert Lyautey, General Henri-Philippe Petain and Sir Douglas Haig were all
opposed to the plan.
The Nivelle Offensive was launched in April 1917 and involved a million French soldiers on a
broad front. This included a massive assault on German positions along the River Aisne. On 16th April,
19 divisions of the French Armies, attacked the German frontline. The German Seventh Army had little
difficulty defending its entrenched positions and the French suffered over 40,000 casualties on the first
day. The French Army also lost 150 Char Schneider tanks.
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Nivelle didin’t accept his strategy was not working and the massive attacks continued until the
20th April. Small gains were made by General Charles Mangin, west of Soissons, but the major
breakthrough that Nivelle expected did not take place.
The French Army had suffered 187,000 casualties. Robert Nivelle was sacked a week later.
Third Battle of aisne (jun 1918)
During the 2nd Battle of the Aisne, General Charles Mangin, captured a 4km stretch of the
Chemin des Dames Ridge from the German Army. A year later, General Erich von Ludendorff, decided
to try and win this territory back.
On 27th May 1918, a 4,000 gun preliminary bombardment caused heavy casualties in Allied frontline trenches. A gas attack was followed by an infantry advance and by the evening the German Army
had gained 15km and were at the River Vesle. The offensive continued and by 30th May, the Germans
had captured 50,000 soldiers and 800 guns and were only 90km from Paris. Allied counter-attacks halted
the advance by 6th June at the Marne. The French Army suffered 98,000 casualties, and the British Army
lost 29,000.
Second Battle of the Marne (western front, jul 1918)
The second battle of Marne began with the last German offensive of the conflict and was quickly
followed by the first allied offensive victory . The American Expeditionary Force with over 250,000 men
fighting under overall French command played key roles both in the initial defense and the later advances.
In this battle, there were 30,000 killed and wounded, and the United States started suffering
casualties on the enormous scale.
Armistice Day
It was the symbolic end of World War I on 11 November 1918. The armistice was signed between
the Allies and Germany at Rethondes, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which
took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh
month".
While this official date to mark the end of the war reflects the cease fire on the Western Front,
hostilities continued in other regions, especially across the former Russian Empire and in parts of the old
Ottoman Empire.
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Glossary
Whithdraw: when a military force moves out of an area.
Armistice: agreement between two countries or two groups at war to stop fighting for a particular time
especially to talk about possible peace.
Abdicate: To give up.
Autocracy: government by a single person or a small group that has unlimited power or authority.
Hold Off: allow to pass
Bridgehead: a good position that an army has taken in enemy land from which it can attack the enemy
more effectively.
Isolationism: a policy of nonparticipation in international economic and political relations
Retreat: withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after
a defeat.
Sacked: dismissed
Breakthrough: a penetration of a barrier such as an enemy's defense
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Retrieved from:
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Encarta. N.p.: Microsoft, 1999. CD-ROM.
Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
www.firstwarldwar.com
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
www.wereldoorlog1418.nl/battleverdun/index.htm
www.worldwar1.com
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