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studyingforibhistoryexams · 2 years ago

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The course of wwi: a brief summary

1914

The western front The German advance was held up by unexpectedly strong Belgian resistance - it took 2 weeks to take Brussels. Britain entered the war to defend Belgium and prevent German dominance of Europe, as well as preventing the capture and use of the French nacy against them. Niall Ferguson: British intervention is "the biggest error in modern history". Rejects the idea that Britain was forced to act in 1914 to secure its borders and the Channel ports as it had tolerated the exact same situation "when Napoleon overran the European continent, and did not immediately send land forces to Europe ... if Britain had not gone to war in 1914, it would still have the option to intervene later." Britain was unprepared to intervene in 1914 and so it wasn't at all in their best interest as it was a recipe for distastrous losses. England's entry into the war transformed a Continental conflic into a world war, which they badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. THE BATTLE OF MARNE - ally win The Germans continued advancing into France and approaching Paris. The French commander Joffre commdnded his armies to stop retreating, resulting in battle in which a gap opened up in the German lines, forcing them to retreat as not doing so would risk the enemy flanking them from all sides. Trenches were dug as a result and both sides moved further north trying to outflank each other, ultimately ending in a stalemate. Saw the ruin of the Schlieffen plan. - Germany fought a war on two fronts, which was never the intention - Gave the British Navy time to bring its crippling blockade to bear on Germany's ports. - The war of movement was over - trench warfare

The eastern front The Russians mobilised quicker than Germany expected, but then made the mistake of invading both Austria-Hungary and Germany at the same time. They had successes against Austria-Hungary, occupying Galicia, but were defeated twice by Germany (who had brought Hindenburg out of retirement) THE BATTLE OF TANNENBERG - CP win Russian forces invaded East Prussia and pushed the Germans back until the battle of Tannenberg when the Russian army of General Samsanoc was encircled and defeated by the Germans. Never again did Russian troops seriously threaten the German border, although they did tie down huge numbers of German troops on the Eastern front. - Russia lost vast amounts of equipment and ammunition, which had taken years to build up. Although they had 6 and a quarter million men mobilised by the end of 1914, a third of them were without rifles. Serbs drove out an Austrio-Hungarian invasion in fine style at the end of 1914, resulting in Austio-Hungarian morale reaching rock bottom.

The war in the air Air power did not play a decisive role in the war, but there were huge technological developments in air craft during the war. Initially, aircraft were used solely for reconnaissance. This remained a significant function during the war. The importance of aerial reconnaissance was shown at the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914 when, as a result of information provided by German/ Austro-Hungarian Rumpler Taube aircraft, outnumbered German troops were able to correctly predict Russian troop movement in order to encircle and defeat the advancing Russian army.

1915

The western front Stalemate and a war of attrition. BATTLES OF YPRES: high casualties, minimal territory gained. Poison gas used by Germans, but when the wind changed directions, it was blown back towards their own lines and suffered more casualties than the Allies. Especially when the allies released some gas of their own. Poison gas introduced: rarely decisive in battle and military effectiveness was limited due to the introduction of gas masks. Casualties were less than 1% of total WWI deaths. The psychological impact of its usage was much greater.

Trench warfare: Advancing infantry must cross no-man's land to attack, and enemy trenches were protected by rolls of thick barbed wire, which made them easy targets for machine-gune or sniper fire. Military technology available gave the advantage to the defenders. Casualty numbers were frequently devastatingly high and decisive breakthroughs were rare. Commanders have frequently been accused of incompetence and callousness.

Machine guns: mainly used for defensive purposes since they lacked manoeuverability. Excellent against infantry (soldiers marching on foot). Later in the war, technological developments led to the creation of machine guns that could be carried by one person, allowing them to be used for offensive purposes.

The eastern front Russia had mixed fortunes: successes against Austria-Hungary, defeats against Germany, and the capture of Poland. THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN - ally loss The allies launched an assault on Ottoman forces to provide a morale boost through an easy success, knock the Ottomans out of the war, open allied supply routes to Russia through the Dardanelles, and weaken Germany by opening another front to their south. The Gallipoli campaign was a total failure: 1st attempt: Anglo-French naval attack failed when ships ran into a series of mines, which ruined the surprise element so that no advancements could be made as the Turks had strengthened their defences. 2nd attempt: British, with New Zealand and Australian troops launched an amphibious assault. They made little progress despite being 1/2 million and eventually had to concede defeat. Consequences: A blow to Allied morale, it was the last chance of helping the Russians via the Black sea - supplying Russia was greatly diminished ITALIANS JOINED THE ALLIES (May 1915) Italy was promised Austrian territory, Tyrol, Trieste etc... and joined the war on the side of the Allies (The secret treaty of London). The Allies hoped that Italy, by keeping thousands of Austrio-Hungarian troops occuptied, would relieve the pressure on the Russians. But the Italians made little headway and their efforts were to no avail: the Russians were unable to stave off defeat.

1916

The western front VERDUN - Ally win An important French fortress town against which the Germans launched a massive attack (in February). They hoped to draw all the best French troops to its defence, destroy them and then carry out a final offensive to win the war. The French helf Verdun, losing about 316k men, as the Germans intended, but they did so too, losing about 280k men and no territorial gains to show for it.

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME - Ally win A series of attacks by the British to break the stalemate and draw German forces from Verdun, and keep them fully committed so they would be unable to send reinforcements to the eastern front against Russia. British troops walked into deadly machine-gun fire, yet the Commander-in-Chief Haig did not call off the attack. The allies made only limited advances ( 1-11 km along a 50 km front), but the real importance of the battle was the blow to German morale. Casualties: German: 650k; British: 418k; French: 194k. The Allied generals, especially Haig came under severe criticism for persisting with suicidal fronal attacks. A German officer remarked that the British army were "lions led by donkeys". John Terraine: given the fact that the British had no experience of trench warfare, and that they were the junior partners to the French, Haig learned remarkably quickly and proved to be an imaginative and even visionary commander - (a bit of a stretch really...) Contributed to the Allied victory as Hindenburg himself admitted in his memoirs that Germany could not have survived many more campaigns with heavy losses like those at Verdun and the Somme.

LLYOYD GEORGE BECOMES PRIME MINISTER (December) Lloyd George's contribution to the Allied war effort and the defeat of the Central Powers was invaluable. His methods were dynamic and effective. In 1917, he set up a war cabinet so that quick decisions could be taken.

The eastern front THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE (June-September) - Ally win? Russians under Brusilov attacked the Austrians in response to a plea from Britain and France for some action to divert German attention away from Verdun and relieve the Italians who were hardpressed fighting Austria-Hungary in Northern Italy. The Russians were initially highly successful and made rapid progress, advancing 160 km, however the momentum of the advance faltered by July due to insufficient supplies and reinforcements, which meant it was impossible to maintain the gains. Ended in September. For Russia, the offensive meant: great casualties (1 million), great strains and great costs The offensive had a detrimental impact on morale on the Russian homefront where discontentment against the war and the government's management of it was increasing due to the substantial privations borne by the population. - REVOLUTION? The offensive did, however, fatally cripple Austria-Hungary's military, which could no longer operate without substantial help from Germany.

The war at sea There were no series of naval battles between the rival dreadnought fleets as both sides were cautious and dared not risk any action which might result in the loss of their main fleets. Number of dreadnoughts in 1914: Germany: 17 Britain: 29 The three aims of the Allies in using their navies: - To blockade the Central Powers, preventing goods from entering or leaving, slowly starving them out. i.e. Block CP/ starve them - To keep trade routes open between Britain, their empire and the rest of the world, so that the Allies themselves would not starve. i.e. trade with empire = no starvation - To transport British troops to the continent and keep them supplied via the channel ports. i.e. transport and supply troops. The Allies were successful in all the above points The naval blockade on Germany had devastating effect on vital food, fuel and raw materials into Germany, which contributed significantly to the German defeat in 1918.

GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE - CP loss Germany declared the seas around Britain a war zone and that shipping there would be targetted by German U-boats and sunk without warning. This included attacking civilian ships (that, as suspected by the Germans, carried arms and ammunitions), significantly, the civilian chip Lusitania was sunk with 128 Americans dying as a result. In response, President Wilson warned Germany that another such attack would be "deliberately unfriendly". Germany, to avoid trouble with the USA, refrained for 2 years from making full use of their U-boats. THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND Admiral von Scheer tried to lure part of the British fleet out from its base so that that section could be destroyed by the numerically superior Germans. However, more British ships came out than had been anticipated. After a few hours of furious combat, the Germans decided to retire to base, firing torpedoes as they went. Germany technically won on account of their lesser loss of dreadnoughts, 11 to Britain's 14, but failed to destroy British sea power. In desperation at the food shortages caused by the British blockade, the Germans embarked on 'unrestricted' submarine warfare, and this was to have fatal results for the war as it saw the entry of the US.

UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE - CP loss Germany attempted to sink all enemy and neutral merchant ships in the Atlantic; although they knew that this was likely to bring the USA into the war. The Germans hoped that Britain and France would be starved into surrender. Lloyd George saved the situation by insisting that the Admiralty adopt a convoy system - a large number of merchant ships sailing together, so that they could be protected by escorting warships - this drastically reduced the losses and meant that the Germans had failed. The submarine warfare was significant because it brought the USA into the war.

1917

The western front The stalemate continues... several attempts were made to break the stalemate, but none was decisive.

The eastern front Disaster! Russia's retreat resulted in the entire weight of the German forces against the Western Front. Without the USA, the Allies would have been hard pressed. Britain captured Baghdad and Jerusalem from the Turks, giving them control of vast oil supplies. BATTLE OF CAPARETTO October 1917 - CP win German and Austrio-Hungarian troops launched a major offensive against Italian forces in Northern Italy. Italy suffered a crushing defeat with at leas t 300k dead/wounded/captured. The Central Powers took control over a large portion of Northern Italy and the Italian government contemplated leaving the war. Britain and France were forced to rush reinforcement to prevent a complete collape of Allied lines there.

The Entry of the USA (April) The Zimmerman telegram was intercepted by Britain on its route to Mexico, in it Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico wherein Mexico would declare war on the USA, promising it Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in return. When presented with the telegram, the USA promptly joined the Allies. The USA made an important contribution to the Allied victory by supplying Britain and France with food, merchant ships and credit - though actual military help came slowly. 1917: one American division in action 1918: half a million men were involved in action Most important were the psychological boost which the American potential in resources of men and materials gave the allies, and the corresponding blow it gave to German morale.

1918

The eastern front: THE TREATY OF BRETSK-LITOVSK Germany and its allies agreed to an armistice with Russia on harsh terms, after which Russia withdrew from the war. Russia lost: 2.6 million km^2 of territory including Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Ukraine. 75% of its iron ore and 90% of its coal Almost half of its industry 55 million people Almost half of its best agricultural land Most of this territory was placed under Germany's control.

The western front THE LUDENDORFF OFFENSIVE - CP loss A last desperate attempt to win the war before too many US tropps arrived, and before discontentment in Germany led to revolution. Made use of new infantry and artillery tactics to break the stalemate: infiltration tactics. - Hurrican barrage (short, intensive artillery bombardment) employed to saturate Allied lines with explosive and gas shells 30 minutes before the infantry attack began - Followed by the rapid movement of small detachmentsof stormtrooper infantry. These were armed with light-weight sub-machine guns and grenades with the objective of penetrating and infiltrating weak points, while avoiding strong point which could then be isolated and attacked by troops with heavier weapons. - A second wave of infantry were sent to consolidate the capture of the Allied line. The advance initially made significant progress, advancing 65km the first week - The Germans broke through on the Somme in March and in May were only 65km from Paris. Under the command of the French Marshal Foch, the Allies managed to hold on as the German advance lost momentum, largely due to a lack of reserve forces and sufficient supplies to exploit the initial success. The Germans were forced to draw back in the face of Allied counterattacks. ALLIED COUNTER-OFFENSIVE: involved hundreds of tanks attacking in short jabs at several different points along a wide front instead of massing on one narrow front. Forced the Germans to withdraw their entire line. The Armistice - signed 11. November Though Germany itself had not been invaded, Ludendorff was convinced they would lose in a year and insisted that the German government ask President Wilson for an armistice. He hoped to get less severe terms based on the 14 point, by asking for peace, he would save Germany from invasion and preserve the army's discipline and reputation.

Why did the Central Powers lose the war? 1. Facing war on two fronts was a strain on the Germans 2. Allied sea power was decisive 3. The German submarine campaign failed in the face of convoys protected by British, American and Japanese destroyers. It brought the USA into the war. 4. The entry of the USA brought vast new resources to the Allies 5. Allied superior commanders 6. The continuous strain of heavy losses on the Germans - lost their best troops in the 1918 offensive and the new troops were young and inexperienced. The spanish flu didn't help... Morale was LOW. 7. Germany was badly let down by its allies and was constantly having to help out the Austrians and Bulgarians.

The combination of military defeat and dire food shortages produced a great war weariness, leading to mutiny in the navy, destruction of morale in the army and revolution at home.

#wwi

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aradxan · 2 years ago

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Seen walking on Santa Monica Pier by D B Morton The Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California, United States. It contains a small amusement park, concession stands, and areas for views and fishing.[2][3] History Santa Monica has had several piers; however, the current Santa Monica Pier is made up of two adjoining piers that long had separate owners. The long, narrow Municipal Pier opened September 9, 1909,[6] primarily to carry sewer pipes beyond the breakers[7] and had no amenities. The short, wide adjoining Pleasure Pier to the south, also known as Newcomb Pier, was built in 1916 by Charles I. D. Looff and his son Arthur, amusement park pioneers.[8] Attractions on the Pleasure Pier eventually included the Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome building (which now houses the current carousel and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places), the Blue Streak Racer wooden roller coaster (which was purchased from the defunct Wonderland amusement park in San Diego), the Whip, merry-go-rounds, Wurlitzer organs, and a funhouse. The Philadelphia Toboggan Company built the Carousel, PTC #62, in 1922. It features 44 hand-carved horses. It was rebuilt in 1990 inside the Hippodrome. A calliope provides musical accompaniment. The La Monica Ballroom opened on July 23, 1924. Designed by T. S. Eslick with a Spanish façade and French Renaissance interior, it was the largest dance hall on the west coast, accommodating 5,000 dancers on its 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) hard maple floor. Country music star Spade Cooley began broadcasting his weekly television show from the ballroom in 1948, where the program remained until 1954. In the summer of 1955, the Hollywood Autocade opened at the La Monica with one-hundred famous and unusual cars, including Jack Benny's Maxwell and a Rumpler Drop Car.[9] From 1958 until 1962, the ballroom served as a roller skating rink; first as Skater's Ballroom, and later as the Santa Monica Roller Rink, where the speed skating club won many state and regional championships.[citation needed] The La Monica Ballroom was demolished in 1963. The Pleasure Pier thrived during the 1920s but faded during the Great Depression. During the 1930s, most of the amusement park facilities were closed down and its attractions sold off.[10] A breakwater was built in 1934 that provided docking for up to 100 fishing and pleasure boats near the pier.[11] The bridge and entry gate to Santa Monica Pier were built in 1938 by the federal Works Project Administration, and replaced the former grade connection. The Newcomb Pier was privately owned until it was acquired by the city in 1974.[12][13] During the 1960s and 1970s, various plans were proposed that would entail removal of the pier. The most extensive included the construction of an artificial island with a 1,500-room hotel. It was approved by the City Council, but citizens formed "Save Santa Monica Bay" to preserve the pier.[14] The order to raze the pier was revoked by the city council in 1973. Within that same year, the Carousel and Hippodrome were locations for the film The Sting. Storms swept away the protective breakwater in 1982.[11] During storms in early 1983, the pier experienced a significant loss. On January 27, there were reported swells of 10-feet during this winter storm.[citation needed] When the storm was over, the lower deck of the pier was destroyed.[15] The City of Santa Monica began repairs on March 1, 1983, when another storm rolled in. A crane which was being used to repair the west end was dragged into the water and acted as a battering ram against the pilings. Over one-third of the Pier was destroyed.[11] On June 18, 2009, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment issued a safe eating advisory for any fish caught from Santa Monica Pier to Ventura Harbor due to elevated levels of mercury and PCBs.[16] https://flic.kr/p/dfjzng

#IFTTT #Flickr

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