Practices — WWI in Europe

2 sides of practices

1. Technology & tactics

2. Human & economic mobilisation

Compare the success of the Allies to the failure of the Central Powers

Define tech and tactics

The development, implementation, and tactical use of technology

Define human & economic mobilisation

the process of preparing a country for war by gathering and organising human and economic resources

3 examples of technology

1. Tanks

2. Artillery

3. Sea

Tanks

Context: driven by a need to break deadlock in trench warfare at the Western Front

Advantages: unaffected by barbed wire & small arms fire (can break through fortified lines & pave the way for infantry); psychological impact

Allies

1. First introduction of tanks at the Battle of the Somme (1916): Mark I tanks (slow speed, frequent mechanical breakdowns) caused panic among German army but didn’t lead to decisive victory

2. Mark IV: introduced at the Battle of Cambrai (1917) - first success using tanks

3. Mark V: used with great success at the Battle of Amiens (1918), allowed deep penetration into German lines

4. France invented the Renault FT with a rotating turret

Germany

• Slower to adopt tank technology: started producing in 1917

• Limited production: 20 produced by 1918

• No evolution: AV7 was the only model

• German high command not convinced of the tank’s value: focus on anti-tank weapons

Artillery

Tech evolution

• Central powers were leaders in heavy artillery (e.g. German’s Paris Gun): longer range, better firepower

• France produced the 75mm field gun: recoil-absorbing barrel

Tactical advances

• Creeping barrage: artillery fire synchronised with infantry advances

  • Battle of Amiens 1918

• Sound ranging & flash spotting: new methods to locate enemy guns

• Indirect fire: striking unseen targets through calculations

Impact on outcome

• The Allies had more refined indirect fire techniques

• Allies had better use of the creeping barrage (Amiens, Hundred Days Advance)

Sea

Tech advances

• U-boats: big focus for Germany

• Naval mines

Tactical advances

• Convoy system (Allies): grouping merchant ships with naval escorts

• British naval blockade

• Commerce raiding: using converted marchant ships as raiders (e.g. Britain’s Q-ships)

• German U-boat campaign + unrestricted submarine warfare (submarines attacked all vessels without prior warning)

• Anti-submarine warfare: depth charges, sonars

Key battle: Battle of Jutland (1916)

• Britain managed to maintain the blockade

• Germany’s switch to unrestricted submarine warfare

Impact on outcome

• British naval blockade caused severe shortages in Germany

• Failure of Germany’s U-boat campaign

What are the 9 key battles we can use as examples

1st Battle of Ypres 1914

2nd Battle of Ypres 1915

Battle of Verdun 1916

Battle of the Somme 1916

3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) 1917

Battle of Cambrai 1917

German Spring Offensive 1918

Battle of Amiens 1918

Hundred Days Advance 1918

1st Battle of Ypres 1914

Start of trench warfare

2nd Battle of Ypres

First large-scale use of gas by Germany

Battle of Verdun 1916

German objective: ‘bleed the French white’

Heavy casualties on both sides

Manpower crisis in Germany

Battle of the Somme 1916

• War of attrition

• First use of tanks by Britain

• Highlighted imperfections in tech & tactics on both sides

• Loss of experienced troops in Germany

3rd Battle of Ypres 1917

• Allies attempted to capture strategic high ground in Belgium

• Significant blow on morale

Battle of Cambrai 1917

• First large-scale use of tanks (Mark IV)

• German stormtrooper tactics

German Spring Offensive 1918

• Germany’s last attempt to win by using all of its resources before the US could join

• German lines became overextended

• Allies had an effective counteroffensive —> collapse of the home front in Germany

Battle of Amiens 1918

• Start of the Hundred Days Offensive

• Allied surprise attack

Hundred Days Offensive 1918

• Hindenburg Line broken

• American involvement

• Complete German collapse

Impact of allies

Germany’s allies were defeated before itself and did not offer much help

The Allies were aided by the Commonwealth and the US

Examples of human mobilisation

• Wartime government

• Wartime laws

• Propaganda

Wartime government in Britain

• Big government: interventionist government which controls all aspects of the lives of citizens

• Total war: warfare involving any and all resources and infrastructure to win

Wartime government in Germany

• Hindenburg established the Supreme War Office in 1916 which would control all matters affecting the war

• Extremely authoritarian and militaristic —> decrease in morale

Wartime laws in Britain

• Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) 1914: granted the gov. broad powers to regulate civilian life

• Munitions of War Act 1915: sought to increase the production of munitions

  • Ministry of Munitions created

  • Private factories nationalised

  • Worker mobility restricted

Germany wartime laws

• Conscription: imposed from the start of the war in 1914 —> decrease in morale as the manpower crisis grew larger

Propaganda in Britain

• Ministry of information: responsible for creating propaganda and censorship

• E.g. Lord Kitchener poster

Germany propaganda

Less effective than Britain’s

• Less coordinated

• Did not shape international opinion (Britain’s influenced US opinion)

Examples of economic mobilisation

• Homefront

• Arms production

• US involvement

Britain homefront

• Ministry of Munition 1915: owned 200 factories in response to the ‘shell crisis’

• Nationalisation of key industries

• Taxation increased by 30%

• Rationing of sugar, butter, tea, and meat (Ministry of Food)

German homefront

• War bonds: later collapsed as the war became a lost cause

• War Food Office: rigidly regulated supply and distribution

  • Ave. food prices rose by more than 400% between 1914 and 1918

  • British blockade led to a reduction in crucial raw materials and food availability

  • 300,000 Germans died from starvation in 1918

• Tax: increased by only 6% (less gov. income)

• Strikes: 250,000 Berliners went on strike in January 1918

• Disunity between the left and the right

• Kiel Mutiny (1918): German navy refused to go to battle

Arms production stats

Tanks: B+F more than 5000, G 20

Machine guns: B more than 120,000, G 13,000

US involvement

Causes

• The sinking of the Lusitania (1915): result of German unrestricted submarine warfare, US did not immediately declare war

• Zimmermann Telegram (1917): G proposed a military alliance with Mexico, promising to return territories lost to the US. However, it was intercepted by Britain and passed to the US, causing the latter to declare war in 1917

Effects

• US provided weapons, warships, loans, troops

• Practically unlimited shells for the Allies

• US troops contributed greatly to the Hundred Days Advance