The Armed Stalemate

Section 17.86

Introduction

Introduction• The Schlieffen Plan

– Germany was capable of a two front was

– Good rail lines– First defeat France– Use a sweeping

motion of tremendous army thru Belgium

– Follow victory in France with a was against Russia

– Russia was expected to be slow to mobilize

• What is inherently stupid about this plan (especially Belgium)?

The War on Land 1914 – 1916• 8/3/14 Germany attacked

France• 78 infantry divisions opposed

72 French, 5 Brit, 6 Belgian• Early efforts were successful• But then Russia attacked

Germany from the east & pushed toward Prussia

• Germany responded by moving troops from France to east Prussia

• France detected the weakening of German lines and counter attacked

• IE. So much for Schlieffen

Battle of the Marne (1st)• Fought from September 5 to 12,

1914• Changed the whole character of the

war• Germans were forced to retreat• Each side shifted to flanking

strategies• France was able to maintain supply

and communication lines• Germans were unable to control

port cities• Germans did win on the eastern

front (battle of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes) where over 200 thousand Russians were captured

• But idea of quick war is dashed

Trench warfare

Trench warfare• Armies became almost

immobile• Western Front

– Dug out thousand mile + line of trenches

• No machinery to advance (tanks came at the end of the war)

• “Over the Top”• War became a Stalemate

(along fronts)• No Man’s Land

Western Front

Gallipoli• 1915• Britain and France attacked

Turkey at the peninsula of Gallipoli– Objective was to take

Constantinople (not Istanbul yet) to free wheat blocked in the Black Sea, re-establish communications with Russia, and stop Turkey from advancing on Russia

• After almost a year and the loss of 145,000 men the campaign was abandoned– Symbol of futility & stupidity of

war

1916• Attention returned to France• The Battle of Verdun• Germany launched an all out

offensive near Verdun• French brass committed a

limited number of troops (under Petain) to the effort and maintained their position on the Somme

• French troops under Petain valiantly resisted the German onslaught

• After six months the campaign was abandoned by the Germans

• Over 300,000 casualties taken by each side

Note how much territory was gained

The battle of the Somme (July-October 1916)• British offensive which highlighted

the futility of WWI• Weeklong artillery bombardment was

used to soften up German resistance• Germans remained underground and

relatively unaffected by the bombardment

• Brits lost 60 thousand on 1st day• Advanced only 1 mile after week• After month they advanced only 2.5

miles• 1st used of the tank by Brits

– Had little impact (too few)• After four months the death toll was

staggering– Germany 500,000 casualties– Britain 400,000 casualties– France 200,000 casualties

The Somme

The War at Sea• Britain and France imposed a naval

blockade against the Central Powers• International law (1909) dictated that

materials entering ports of belligerents categorized in 2 classes– contraband, and non-contraband

• Contraband– Munitions and war oriented raw

materials

• Non-contraband– Foodstuffs, cotton

• Protections of non-contraband imports was determined at an international conference in London

• Britain chose to ignore the protections on non-contraband imports

The War at Sea• Economic warfare was employed by

England and France to starve out the Central Powers

• Allies announced a new international law and the distinction between contraband and non-contraband ended

• Americans, Dutch, and Scandinavians were the most affected by British and French blockades

• Americans protested and defended the rights of neutrals and “freedom of the seas”

• Demanded free trade with neutrals and freedom of the seas

The War at Sea• Submarine warfare• Germans relied on submarines to disrupt British

shipping• Germany declared the waters around Britain a war

zone and proceeded to sink ships at an alarming rate• The Lusitania

– 5/19/1915 British passenger liner was sunk with 118 Americans aboard

– Ship that did carry munitions of war manufactured in US

• Germans had published warnings in NY newspapers to Americans

• America protested the act and a brief hiatus was taken by the Germans against passenger craft

• Attacks resumed soon after with an attack on the Arabic in August

• Further protests by America caused Germany to reduce attacks for two years

• Battle of Jutland– Germans planned to engage the British in small

skirmishes– British attacked in force and Germans moved into

protective mined waters– Germans showed strength though they were

outnumbered– British remained dominant at sea

Diplomatic Maneuvers and Secret Agreements• In the face of the stalemate both sides

looked for allies• The Ottoman Empire joined Germany

and Austria-Hungary (out of fear of Russia)

• Bulgaria also joined (Serb haters)• Italy joined the Allies

– Formally a member of Triple Alliance but had drifted away

• Public was split as to which side to join

Secret Treaty of London 1915• Italy would receive from Austria

– Trentino, south Tyrol, Istria, city of Trieste, Dalmatian Islands

• Italy would receive from Germany– Libya, Somalialand

• Italy would receive from the Ottoman Empire– Small portions left over from the

partition

Ottoman Empire• Allies made plans for a final partition of the

Ottoman Empire• Britain would take control over

Mesopotamia• France would take control over

southeastern Asia Minor• Russia would take control over Kurdistan

and Armenia• Germany worked to stir up discontent by

minorities within its enemies borders– Promised an independent Poland (embarrass

Russia)– Stirred up Ukraine– Got sultan to also be caliph and declared a

holy war against the Brits in N. Africa– Sir Roger Casement, Irish nationalist, land in

Ireland from German sub and started Easter Rebellion of 1916

Zimmermann telegram

• Aggravated relations with Mexico in 1916

• Relations with Germany were deteriorating

• German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to German minister at Mexico City– If U.S. went to war with Germany,

Germany would form an alliance with Mexico

– Mexico would get back its “lost” territories

• Britain intercepted the telegram and informed Washington

• Pushed the U.S. toward the Allies and away from the Central Powers

Disruption in the Ottoman Empire• Allies worked to stir up discontent by

minorities within the Central Powers– Promised to restore Alsace-Lorraine to France– Promised independence to the Poles– Promised independence to the Czechs, Slovaks,

and South Slavs– Hope was given for an independent Arab nation

• British Colonel T.E. Lawrence led an insurrection in the Hejaz (Jordan) against the Turks

• Balfour note of 10/31/1917– British promised support for the Zionist

movement & the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine after Ottoman Empire fell

– condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities there.

– even thou this conflicted with their promise for Arab nationalism

– I wonder if this will lead to some problems down the road? Theodor Herzl

Balfour note of 10/31/1917• Foreign Office,

November 2nd, 1917.

Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerelyArthur James Balfour

Armenia• Christians who were

subjected to genocide in 1894 at the hands of the Turks

• Turks, fearing they sympathized with Russia, ordered their deportation in 1915 supposedly to be resettled in Syria and Palestine

• in atmosphere of crisis and hatred hundreds of thousands died

• Surviving Armenians became a scattered population

• Small Armenian Republic remains today (independent after 1991)

Japan in China• Japan declared war on

Germany• Captured German

positions in China and German islands in the Pacific (Marshalls and Carolines)

• Japan pushed its position in China with the 21 Demands

• Control of Manchuria is moving toward Japan

• Japan is quietly building an empire in the east while the west is destroying itself

German expansionism

German expansionism

• was largely focused in Europe

• Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg (1914) drew up goals that included– Lithuania and the Baltic

coast to be dependencies– Poland (parts annexed,

remainder joined with Austria)

– Belgium to be dependency– French Lorraine (iron rich) to

be annexed– Central Africa acquired

Peace without Victory• Result of the intricate

relations established was an unattainable “peace without victory”

• Wilson was faced with a maze of intrigue and little of it appealed to the U.S.

• Wilson followed a neutrality policy while Europe proceeded to destroy itself