9.1.3. Fighting the War -T-

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

9.1.3: World War 1: Fighting the War

9. The Time of World Wars

people in this lesson

Wilson

president

USA

Nicholas II

emperor (tsar)

Russia

Lenin

revolutionary

Russia

Word Duty

U-boat: German submarine

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: peace treaty between the new government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, signed in March 1918

total war: when every civilian in a country has to focus on winning the war

to abdicate: (for a king / emperor:) to give up the throne (and all power)

armistice: (Dutch: wapenstilstand) agreement by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting. Synonym: a truce

KEY WORDS

Important dates in this lesson:

1915

        May:        Lusitania is sunk

1916

        Feb. :       Battle of Verdun

       June:        Battle of the Somme

1917

        Feb:         February revolution in Russia. Tsar Nicholas abdicates Russian throne

        Apr:         USA declares war on the Central Powers

        Oct:         October Revolution in Russia. Lenin in power.

1918

        March:     Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

        Nov. 9:     Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates

        Nov. 11:   Armistice. End of WW1

In this lesson:

New Weapons are developed

• In order to break the stalemate, both the Centrals and Allies develop new weapons, leading to:
• senseless slaughters at the battles of Verdun and the Somme river.

1917: a decisive year: 

• The United States joins the war
• Russia surrenders after the Russian Revolution

1918: the end of the war

• 11 / 11 / 1918, 11 a.m.: Armistice

Introduction

For years, armies on the Western Front were locked in mortal combat. Millions of soldiers fought under terrible conditions in the trenches. During the war, new weapons were invented and used. Nevertheless, the balance of power was not much disrupted until the decisive year of 1917.

German soldiers opening chlorine gas cannisters to poison the enemy

New weapons

Because of the combination of militarism and the industrial revolution, huge advances were made in the production of weapons; these were developed in an attempt to get through to enemy trenches. An example for this is the aeroplane. They were mainly used for scouting, but armed with machine guns and small bombs they could also inflict damage on enemy soldiers and supplies. Many air battles were fought, but the aeroplane did not play an important role in warfare until World War II.

Another modern weapon was the submarine, such as the U-Boat. This was not a new invention but the Germans were the first to use submarines on a large scale to challenge the superior British naval fleet. In determined attempt, they tried to stop every ship that sailed towards England.

The First World War is also infamous for the use of chemical weapons. Gasses such as chlorine, tear gas and mustard gas were put in bombs and shot into enemy trenches. The gasses burned eyes, nose and lungs and caused suffocation. Attacks using gas did not cause many deaths compared to other weapons, but the psychological effect of its use was great.

British soldiers and their horses wearing gas masks

Thousands of soldiers were blinded by the gas

WWI ZEPPELINS: NOT TOO DEADLY, BUT SCARY AS HELL

WW1 saw the first aerial "dogfights"

The German Manfred von Richthoven , nicknamed the Red Baron, was the most successful fighter pilot during World War I. It is said he won more than 80 air battles before he was shot down .

German U-boats terrorized Allied ships 

The first tanks were seen in 1916

Flamethrowers were used to flush enemy soldiers out of their trenches

Despite having new and destructive weapons at their disposal, the strategies and mindset of the generals did not change much. They expected to fight in an oldfashioned way. For example, at the outbreak of the war, the French soldiers went to battle wearing traditional blue coats and red trousers, which made them highly visible and thus easy targets. Horses were used at the start of the war and generals ordered massive attacks on enemy trenches, even though the enemy used machine guns, resulting in the deaths of millions.

From left to right: British, French and German soldiers in 1914, at the start of WW1.

Every army adapted its uniforms during the war

Battles at Verdun and the Somme

The best examples of the senseless slaughter took place at the Battle of Verdun and the Somme Offensive. In 1916, both Germany and the Allies prepared an attack to break through the stalemate. The Germans were first to launch a wave of attacks. On 21st February, they charged the French defences at Verdun, but the French resisted heavily. For ten months, the battle went on until the Germans called off the attack. It is estimated that about 350,000 soldiers died at the Battle of Verdun.

German soldiers attack Verdun. Notice the "Flammenwerfer" (flamethrower) being used by one of the soldiers.

The massacres got worse when French and British troops raised their armies to full strength. At the River Somme, they assaulted the German trenches with blunt and overwhelming force. On the first day of the attack the British lost 57,450 men, which made it the darkest day in the history of the British army. The British deployed their new secret weapon during the battle of the Somme: the tank. This armoured vehicle ran on caterpillar tracks and was designed to cross trenches and break through barbed wire.

The appearance of the tank on the battlefield was spectacular, but could not bring an end to the war: tanks were only used in small numbers, had poor mobility and mechanical problems. After the Somme Offensive, the Allies had taken more than ten kilometres of land; this at the cost of more than a million soldiers’ lives makes it one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

One of the new british tanks ditched after failing to cross a German trench.

1917: a decisive year

In 1917, two significant events changed the course of the war: 

• the Russian Revolution led to Russia surrendering to Germany.
• The USA joined the war on the Allies' side.

Why did the United States of America get involved in the war? President Wilson had promised the Americans that their country would not be involved. Why did he change his mind?

Money played an important role here. US banks had given huge loans to the Allied countries. Wilson feared that these countries would not be able to pay their debts if they lost the war.

Wilson also feared that democracy in Europe would perish if the autocratic leaders of Germany and Austria-Hungary defeated the democratic countries France, Belgium and Britain.

Thirdly, German U-Boats kept attacking unarmed passenger and merchant ships. In 1915, they torpedoed the British ocean liner ‘The Lusitania’. It sank immediately and 1,200 people lost their lives, among them 128 Americans. This led to massive anti-German sentiment in the United States. 

British propaganda poster in response to the sinking of The Lusitania. Dated 1915.

Yet, the immediate cause was a fresh German insult which led Wilson to declare war on Germany and its allies.

What had happened?

In January 1917, the British intercepted a letter that was sent from Germany to Mexico. The letter, a telegram, was written by the German foreign minister Zimmermann in a secret code to prevent the Allies from learning its content. 

However, the British were able to decode the telegram and they sent it to president Wilson. The telegram showed that the Germans asked the Mexicans to join the war on the German side by attacking America. Germany promised to help Mexico take back land the United States had taken from Mexico in the 19th century. These places were Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Germany wanted Mexico to enter the war so America would be too busy to help the enemies of Germany. President Wilson published the telegram so the people would know about it. Wilson asked the United States Congress for a Declaration of War against Germany. Congress accepted the request on April 2, 1917. The United States of America announced war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Americans were already angry over German submarines sinking ships, but this "Zimmermann Telegram" is what made America come into the war.

President Woodrow Wilson asking Congress to declare war on Germany on April 2, 1917

The "Zimmermann Telegram": the direct cause for the USA to declare war on the Central Powers.

The encoded letter

The decoded letter

The letter published

Russia is leaving the war

Another major event happened in 1917 in Russia. 

The situation in Russia was dramatic. The Russian army was not able to stop the advancing Germans, resulting in a massive amount of casualties. Russian soldiers were poorly trained, equipped and fed. Czar Nicolas II, who was also the supreme commander of the Russian army, was blamed for the defeats.

The bad military situation, together with great poverty and hunger in the the Russian cities, resulted in the Russian Revolution (next chapter). 

Czar Nicolas II was forced to abdicate.

The Germans increased the chaos in Russia by helping a Russian revolutionary communist named Lenin, who lived in Switzerland because he was exiled from Russia, to get back to St. Petersburg.

Lenin and his followers seized power in Russia in October 1917.  As agreed with the Germans, Lenin signed a peace treaty with Germany: the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Germany and Russia were no longer enemies. Now the Germans could send all their troops to the Western Front.

At the Peace Conference in Brest-Litovsk (arrival of the Russian delegation)

The price of peace was very high for Russia. It had to give up large parts of Russian territory to the Central Powers

The end of a total war

World War I was the first total war, which means that everything in a country is focused on winning the war. Factories constantly worked to make weapons; food and fuel were rationed so it could be sent to the front, and a constant stream of propaganda was broadcast to keep the spirits up on the home front. Men had to fight, so women had to replace them in the factories. A country began to run as if it was a machine. But total war was not enough for the Central Powers: from the moment that the United States joined the conflict, the end of the war became a real prospect. More than a million fresh military personnel and innumerable supplies were shipped from the USA to the Allies in Europe, which provided a big moral boost. Germany and the other Central Powers could not compete with the Allies once the Americans joined them. Besides that, there was now discontent in Germany. The German emperor was forced to abdicate his throne. In November 1918, the Germans at last surrendered. At 11am on 11th November (‘the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month’), Germany signed an armistice in railway carriage No. 2419D, in Compiègne Forest, close to Paris. The Great War had come to an end. The Allies were victorious.

Soldiers celebrating the armistice, Nov 11, 1918.

When Hitler defeated France at the start of World War II, he took the same railway carriage No. 2419D from a museum to the Compiègne Forest site and forced the French to surrender in it.

Signing of the armistice in the railway carriage at Compiegne, November 11, 1918, the German Secretary of State Matthias Erzberger (1875-1921) and the French general Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) standing in the centre.

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1. which new weapons were developed during the war
2. what happened during the battles of Verdun and the Somme
3. why 1917 was a decisive year for the war (2 reasons)
4. why the USA joined the war (causes & direct cause)
5. who Lenin was
6. what the effects of the Russian Revolution were for the war
7. that World War I was a total war.
8. why the Germany (and its allies) eventually lost the war

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