War 2

Why did Germany lose? - Failure of the Schlieffen plan → “Sire, we have lost the war” -Von Moltke September 1914 BUT war continued for 4 years after that - Not always obvious that Germany were going to lose Losing the moral high ground - Don’t necessarily have all the support from your people back home - Those fighting against you have more to fight against more vindication - Invasion of Belgium - August 1914 - Zeppelin air raids - 1915 - lost moral high ground b/c brought civilians into it - Sinking of the Lusitania - 1915 - passenger ship which was also transporting ammunition (never been acknowledged that it was carrying munitions) - Re-declaring unrestricted submarine warfare - 1917 - merchant ships and passenger ships are all fair game for the Germans Economics of War Germany - Regional tax system → unable to raise large sums of money for war effort - Bonds priced very low - No war profit taxes until 1916 - Hindenburg Programme 1916 - too little too late! - Armaments and economic policy - Double munition supply and triple output of machine guns and artillery by 1917 - Material efficiency - Compulsory military service/conscription for men between 16 and 50 - all women in that age band could be conscripted to work in factories etc. Britain - DORA - Defense Of the Realm Act - Brought in 5 days after war outbreak - Nobody was allowed to: - Talk about naval or military matters in public - Spread rumours about military matters - Buy binoculars - Trespass on railway lines or bridges - Melt down gold or silver - Whistle for a taxi - Loiter near bridges or tunnels - Light bonfires or fireworks - Give bread to wild animals, horses, or chickens - Use invisible ink when writing abroad - Buy brandy or whisky in a railway refreshment room - Ring church bells - Buy alcoholic drinks for others - Go on strike - The government could: - Take over any factory or workshop - Imprison without trial - Take over any new land - Censor newspapers - Stop and search any person or vehicle and their bags - Extend working hours without increasing wages - Ration all consumer goods - Pass laws without having parliament vote on them - Fine, imprison, or even execute people for breaking any terms of DORA British Naval Blockade - 1915-1919, blocked supply chains into Germany especially for food - “Britain's greatest contribution to the allied cause was the largely unseen economic pressure occasioned by naval supremacy through the imposition of a blockade of Germany” Eric Osborne - Aimed to starve Germany into submission - K-bread (1914), war bread (1914), turnip winter, food rationing (1916), sawdust flour (1918) - All caused malnourishment/undernourishment - in 1916 80,000 German children died of malnourishment - Youth crime rates grew in Germany only because children were stealing food - Overall 750,000 people died in Germany alone as a result of food shortages ← does NOT include other kinds of deaths - By 1918 they were on the verge of revolution - Strikes all over Germany by 1916 David Lloyd George - 1915 - minister of munitions - Solved munitions crisis (Shell Scandal of 1915 - shells/munitions are of terrible quality) - Munitions of war act - Prevents munitions factory workers from resigning without consent (no quitting!) - All men must fight - Centralized production - Everyone needs to chip in in fighting or factories (even women! Economize manpower!) - Mobilized faster than Germany - Dec. 1916 - Prime Minister - Centralized economy (DORA) - Conscription (DORA) - Heading toward victory by 1916 Italy Arrives - 1915, April, declares war on Central Powers - Opens up 3rd front - Splits Central Power forces The USA Arrives! - Jan 1917 - Zimmermann telegram - British cryptographers found and decoded a telegram from Germany to the German Ambassador to Mexico saying that if Mexico joined them and helped them defeat the allies, they would give American territory to Mexico - Sparked America to officially join war - April 1917 - formal declaration of war - Morale, resources - Jan 1918 50K US troops arrive in France - 50K more every week! - Total of 2 million US troops served on Western Front - Americans are enthusiastic and healthy Russian Surrender! - November 1917 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 - Took away 25% of Russia’s population, 25% of railway systems, 70% of the industry, including 26% of iron and steel production and 89% of coal mines. - Russia fined 6 billion Marks - Part of the justification that the Allies used for their harsh treatment of Germany in the Treaty of Versailles The End of 1917 - Taking Stock - Stalemate on the Western Front - Allies are in trouble! - Russian withdrawal from war - Unrestricted U-Boat warfare seriously affects supply chains - French Army recovering from a mutiny in the summer - USA had declared war in April but troops had still not arrived in Europe 1918 - 11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month - ceasefire/armistice (remembrance day) - Sort of a snowball effect - things moved very fast Ludendorff/Spring Offensive - March 1918 - German commander General Ludendorff decided to take advantage of allied problems and gamble on one major offensive - Why? - Better weather conditions - Americans haven’t come yet but they know they’re on their way - want to try and get as much as they can before America arrives - British Naval Blockade - Working by 1918 - Failure of the U-Boat campaign of 1917 - failed due to convoy system and brought USA into the war - Russian withdrawal meant that he could transef 1 million troops from Eastern Front to Western Front - German Allies - Austria was in a stalemate in Italy and was running out of resources, Turkey was being pushed out as well - Offensive began in late March 1918 and focused on the British at Amiens - Started with huge bombardments and gas attacks which were followed by smaller bands of specially trained and lightly equipped “storm troops” - Struck during heavy fog across the entire front line - Germans were trained to attack with speed and along the whole of the front line so the allies couldn’t mass their defence in a single place - Broke through the line in many places and was very effective - Germans advance up to 64 km in some places and Paris was now in range of heavy gunfire - Offensive went well but by August they had run out of time and resources - Germans had ended trench warfare but the allies now had the benefit of American troops - Allied troops were backed up by latest war tech which were now ready to counterattack - Germany had lost lots of people, their troops were exhausted and had poor morale and discipline - Germans had a much greater area to defend - Germans were rapidly losing their superiority of numbers Battle of the Piave River - June 1918 - Last attack by A-H army, intended as a follow-up to the successful Battle of Caporetto in 1917 - Involved A-H, USA, France, UK, Italy - Italians lost 85,000 men and A-H lost over 100,000 Allied Drive to Victory! - August - the Allies hit back along the whole front. Canadians, Australians, Americans, Belgians, French, and British troops all burst through German defences and forced them back - By late Sept. they had reached the Hindenburg line. - By October the Germans were in full retreat - 400,000 German troops were taken prisoner - By late october the coast of Belgium had been liberated - Revolution in Germany which created a new German gov’t - met with allies to negotiate an armistice - Came into effect at 11:00 a.m. 11/11/1918 The Battle of Vittorio Veneto - October-November 1918 - Italian offensive against A-H - Boost popularity and secure territorial gains - Strategically significant as it split A-H army in two The Kiel Mutiny - German Navy planned to launch a final suicide attack upon the British Royal Navy at the end of Oct. 1918 - Sailors at Kiel and Wilmershaven heard of the plans and refused to follow orders - Plan abandoned but unrest continued - Workers’ and sailors’ councils were formed (industrial workers at Kiel soon followed) - Only U-Boat crews stayed loyal - Revolts spreaded by early November - On 9 November a group of parliamentary socialists declared a revolution against the Kaiser - this finally sealed the fate of both the Kaiser and the war Revolution! - November 1918-August 1919 - Not a traditional revolution - No sustained social agitation - Kaiser abdicates - Causes - Failure in WWI (Kaiser blame) - Food and financial hardships - Spanish Flu 1918 killed between 20 and 40 million people - Russian revolution helped to cause discontent and Germans saw how the Russian revolution worked - Kiel mutiny caused government breakdowns - King Ludwig III forced to step down in November 1918 - Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in November as well - Social Democratic Party rises - 2 hours after declaration of new government, Karl Leibknecht, a radical socialist, announced the birth of the “Free Republic of Germany” (Spartascism) - Christmas 1918 - communist revolution attempt (didn’t work) - Communist party (KPD) officially formed on Dec. 30 1918 - January 1919 - armed takeover of Berlin - Freikorps (nationalist anticommunist forces) fights back against Spartacists - Street fighting for 3 days - 100 Spartacists and around 17 Freikorps were killed - Government had to rely on Freikorps (basically mercenaries) to win which leads to lack of trust of government Effects - Armistice 11th Nov (short term) - Unstable political landscape (Spartacists Vs. Freikorps) (medium-term) - Formation of the Weimar Republic and rise of Nazi Party (long term) The Eastern Front and Russia Pre WWI - Russia had had a very expensive war with Japan to try to get their port - Japan defeated them very badly Breakout of War - 1914 - Russians believed that the war was a good thing to do and that it would be quick - “The war will be over by Christmas” - Feeling of national pride - signing up to fight - People quickly learned the reality of war - no more excitement/enthusiasm - “The Russian Steamroller” entered the war in 1914 with high expectations of success - By 1916 the Russian army was in turmoil - Suffered huge defeats and people were becoming unhappy with the Tsar and his leadership Battle of Tannenberg - Within a month the Russian steamroller had lost almost ¼ million men - Russians took Germans by surprise and advanced fairly quickly - Russia was losing massive numbers of troops in each battle because they didn’t have the technology to help out (tanks, machine guns, etc.) - The Tsar mobilised the Russian army quickly and attacked Germany to take pressure off Western allies - Russian 1st army quickly defeated 8 divisions - Rennenkampff and Samsonov didn’t like each other - Germans intercepted an uncoded message from Rennenkampff to Samsonov - Germany moved battalions over to attack Samsonov (2nd army) knowing that Rennenkampff wasn’t going to come to his aid - Germans under Ludendorff launched a decisive attack on Russian left flank - Russians were driven into lakes and swamps - Germans started to feel sorry for them - same as Battle of the Somme - Germany took over 92,000 Russian soldiers captive after the Battle of Tannenberg (many died) - Russian soldiers were deserting en masse State of the Russian Army - Didn’t have enough weapons - Poorly planned, due to need to advance quickly - Not prepared for such a long campaign - Bad organization - Bad discipline - Battle of Masurian Lakes - another defeat - 200k dead within first two battles The Brusilov (June) Offensive (Advance) - Brusilov was the exception to the incompetence of the Russian army - Series of significant victories against the Austrians - Caused Germany to abandon their plans to push the Western front line and instead sent troops to help the Austrians against the Russians - Battle of Lutsk 4th June 1916- intended to relieve some pressure on the French at Verdun (like Battle of the Somme) - Austrian troops outnumbered by about 50k - 2000 artillery guns in 200 miles - 26k POWs on the first day - impressive because the Russians hadn’t been doing well - Advanced 75 km - 130k casualties on Austrian side - Worked in taking pressure off of French at Verdun and allowed them to counterattack - Big morale boost - Gained almost 100 km by end of June - Ultimately caused the army to be overstretched - Not enough infrastructure and reinforcements to hold the front line - Caused Russia to stall which allowed Germany to push them back - Start of Russia’s decline in WWI - Did lots of damage to A-H army 1917 - Things in Russia are bad - February - Tsar overthrown by Duma (duma=parliament) - July - failed offensive - October - Second Russian Revolution (Bolsheviks) - Russia sues for peace (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 1918) Impact of war - Tsar Nicholas II took control of army after string of defeats in 1915 - When Nicholas was at the front the government was under control of Rasputin and Tsarina Alexandra (German) - By 1916 over 15 mil men and 60% of horses were sent to the front - Food and fuel shortages - Agriculture systems crumbled due to lack of workers - Harsh winters in 1916-17 increased suffering - Increased unemployment - Inflation but no fixed income rise - people are becoming poorer and poorer - Collapse of railway system - Development of barter economy in black markets - Disillusionment with the Tsar