Stalemate and Slaughter

1. Stalemate and Slaughter McKay 895-899, Palmer 17.86

2. You will be home before the leaves fall from the trees.Wilhelm II Addressing German soldiers departing for the front in WWI (August 1914)

3. Triple Alliance /Central Powers Germany/ Austria-Hungary/ Italy Italy refused to fight for Alliance (Germany started the war) Ottoman Empire joined Triple Alliance became The Central Powers Triple Entente / Allies France Great Britain Russia After Russia withdrew from War the US joined in 1917 Triple Entente became known as the Allies The Alliances

4. Introduction • The Schlieffen Plan • German plan to conduct a 2 front war • Good rail lines • First defeat France • Use a sweeping motion of tremendous army thru Belgium • Follow victory in France with a win against Russia • Russia was expected to be slow to mobilize • What is inherently shortsighted about this plan (especially Belgium)?

5. The War on Land 1914 – 1916 • Germany attacked France (Aug) • 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 • So much for Schlieffen

6. 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 began!!!!!

8. 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) • Never gained more than 3 miles in 1915 • No Man’s Land

9. Western Front

10. 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 • Churchill's plan • The “soft underbelly of Europe” • After almost a year and the loss of 145,000 men the campaign was abandoned • Symbol of futility & stupidity of war

11. Let’s Review • Wilhelm II new policy to make Germany a world power • Bismarck-controlled alliance b/t Germany, Russia, and Aust-Hungary • Bismarck foreign policy objective • Who was in the Dual Alliance • Telegram in which Wilhelm praised Afrikaners defeat of British • Territory annexed by Austria-Hungary which caused 1st Bosnian Crisis of 1908 • What happened in the Sarajevo Crisis • What is meant by the term “Blank Check” • Germany’s plan to fight a two front war

12. 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 • British Poet Siegfried Sassoon • I am staring at a sunlit picture of Hell.

14. All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) • We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off…still the little piece of convulsed earth in which we lie is held. We have yielded no more than a few hundred yards of it as a prize to the enemy. But on every yard there lies a dead man.

15. The Somme

16. The War in the Air & at Sea • Airplanes used for recon in beginning • Later used mounted machine-guns • Germans- 47 thousand planes • Brits- 55 thousand • Flying Aces- new romantic war image emerged • Britain and France imposed a naval blockade against the Central Powers • Germans used U-Boats effectively • Battle of Jutland- only major naval battle (draw) • International law (1909) dictated that materials entering ports of belligerents categorized in 2 classes • Contraband • Munitions and war-oriented raw materials • Non-contraband • Foodstuffs, cotton, medicine • Britain ignored protections on non-contraband

17. 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 • British passenger liner was sunk with 118 Americans aboard May 1915 • 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

19. Secret Treaty of London • In the face of the stalemate both sides looked for allies • 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 • Secret Treaty of London 1915 • GB promised Italy • Trentino, south Tyrol, Istria, city of Trieste, Dalmatian Islands from Austria • Libya, Somaliland from Germany • Small portions left over from the partition from the Ottoman Empire

20. 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, asked for German munitions • Five-day Easter Rebellion of 1916 was crushed

21. Zimmermann telegram • Aggravated relations b/t US and 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

22. Disruption in the Ottoman Empire • Allies worked to stir up discontent by minorities within the Central Powers • 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

23. 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

24. Armenian Genocide • forced mass evacuation & systematic murder of nearly 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire • 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 • TeskilatiMahsusa • Special organization used to force Armenian evacuations • Filled with freed murders and criminals • did not provide facilities or supplies • prevented deportees from supplying themselves • allowed others & participated in robbing, rapping & kill of Armenians • Surviving Armenians became a scattered population • Small Armenian Republic remains today (independent after 1991)