The Great War

06 October (continued 08 October) 2004 (Lecture #17)

• Global in the sense that it involved all major powers and spread to peripheral countries (Africa, Turkey, Iraq)
• Population: Russia has the biggest population (US 2^nd)
• Money: US has the most; UK, France, and Germany have a fair amount too
• Military Force: Russia huge but poorly trained; France and Germany large

o US tiny force – isolated for Europe’s pressures

1914: Schlieffen Plan

• Not enough men devoted to the attack through Belgium to Paris
• Logistics fail – no railways in Belgium for military movement
• Tracks (new invention) fail: tires stick in the mud and not enough of them
• Germans form a defensive line and the French and British line up on the other side
• Trench system evolves (by 1917 you could walk from Switzerland to the English Channel in a trench)
• US exports grow from $1B in 1913 to $6B in 1917

o US has manpower at home concentrated on making goods

• German U-boats sink US shipping but eventually stop when the US threatens to enter the war

1915: Year of Frustration – war spreads

• Gallipoli – lands strait blocking Allied passage to Russia (needed to get Russia supplies)

o British fleet cannot break through (too many mines)

o Amphibious assault fails (equal number of German forces in better positions)

1916:Year of Exhaustion

• Gas used by Germans – huge impact, but its potential is not exploited

o No longer effective (both sides issue gas masks)

• Verdun – huge German attack; 8-mile long concentrated attack

o Cannot overwhelm the rear trench network; 1M men dead

• Somme – Allied offensive (huge) after Verdun; figure the Germans are weak now

o Allies gain eight miles of territory at a cost of 1.2M men (60k each)

• Eastern front a deadlock (Russia cannot break into Germany; focuses on Austria-Hungary)
• Kaiser fires his head general; hires von Hindenburg (charismatic) and Ludendorf as #2 (military genius)
• New technologies

o Aircraft – brand new; used for picture taking, dog fighting, and extremely limited bombing

o Zepplins used to bomb the UK (ineffective: easy to shoot down)

§ Wood frame and primitive engine – cannot carry much weight

o Armor – British develop first and use in small numbers with limited effectiveness

§ Germans develop in time to meet large tank attacks

o Chemical Gas – Germans use well but fail to exploit before both sides get gas masks and nullify gas effectiveness

1917

• French try a frontal attack with 1.2M men and lose half
• Field Marshall Peitan takes charge – introduces decimation

o Decimation – if a unit flees, 1/10 of its men are shot and the rest must carry a noose (so they can be hung if they run)

• US enters the war due to the Zimmerman Note

o Russia sues for peace at this time

o Germany tries to invade one last time but stops

§ British and French hold their ground in hopes of US aid

§ US arrives and is the final touch – Germans fall back to work

§ Allies overrun weak defenses and Germans sue for peace before the Allies even get to Germany

Conclusions

• Enormously destructive – new modern weapons favor defenders
• Germany loses because it engages in a war of attrition