World War One- Great War???

1. World War One- Great War??? • What is the difference between strategic planning and tactical planning? • What was the Schlieffen Plan? • What inaccurate assumptions was it based on? • In what way was the Schlieffen plan ahead of its time? • What happened on August 3, 1914? • What were the size of the opposing sides at the outbreak of hostilities? • What was Plan 17 and how did it go? • How did Russia interfere with Germany’s plans? • How did Germany respond to Russia’s incursion into East Prussia?

2. What was the impact on the western offensive? • How did the British disrupt Germany’s plans? • Describe the Battle of the Marne. What was its outcome? • What was the “race to the sea”? and what was its outcome? • Why did the war on the Western front become a stalemate? • How did changes in technology create the “trench war”? • Describe a basic trench system. What were some of the differences between Allied and German trenches? • What was life like in the trenches? • What did the Germans and Austrians focus on during 1915? Were they successful? • What happened at Gallipoli? • What happened at Verdun? What were the results?

3. What role did the machine gun and artillery play in accounting for the huge casualties of most battles? • How were innovations in tactic outpaced by technological innovations? What were some of these innovations? • What was the purpose of the Somme offensive of 1916? • How did the Allies plan to break through the German lines? • What were some of the reasons the attack stood little chance of success? • How many British soldiers were killed on the first day alone? Why? • Why were raw conscripts ordered to attack at walking pace, line abreast? • Why is the Somme often held up as a prime example of the futility of WWI engagements? • What is a “creeping barrage?” • Why was the tank not overly effective at the Somme? • What is a “War of Attrition?”

4. Who was Sir Douglas Haig? • Why has he, and many other generals, been criticized for their handling of the war? • Why are German generals usually given more credit than their Allied counterparts? Is this justified? • What do those who defend Allied leadership have to say on behalf of the “donkeys”? • What was the prevailing law of the sea regarding neutral and enemy shipping? • Why had the European nations insisted that noncontraband material be allowed safe passage? • What was Allied practice in reality? • What was the rationale behind an economic blockade? • How did Germany respond to the Allied blockade? • What was the position of neutral countries, such as the United States, regarding the blockades? • Describe what happened to the Lusitania. Was the United States justified in its outrage?

5. How did Germany hope to utilize its navy’s surface fleet in 1915 and 1916? • What happened at the Battle of Jutland? • Why was the blockade of Germany not overly effective early in the war? • Why was it more effective in 1917? • How did it affect the course of the war? • What were U-boats? • How did Germany use its U-boat fleet early in the war? • What was “unrestricted U-boat warfare” and how was it employed in 1915? • How did the sinking of the Lusitania affect German policy? • Why did Germany resume unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917? What was it counting on? • How did the Allies combat the U-boat menace? • What were the most important developments and elements of the war at sea?

6. How did the Allies convince Italy to enter the war? • What was the irredenta? • What was the Allied plan for the Ottoman Empire once it was destroyed? • How did the Germans try to incite domestic instability within their enemies’ countries? • What was the Zimmerman Telegram? • How did the Allies foment dissent within opposing countries? • What was the Balfour Declaration? • On which side did Japan enter the war? • What was its policy toward China? • What were Germany’s war aims? • When did the people of Russia revolt against the Tsar’s government? • What were some of the basic reasons for the revolt?

7. What sort of government replaced Nicholas II in March of 1917? • Did they keep Russia in the war? Why? • Who were the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks? • Who was generally accepted as the leader of the Bolsheviks? • How did he fit into a German plan to get Russia out of the war? • What was the Bolshevik position regarding continued Russian participation in the conflict? • What did the Bolshevik’s do in November of 1917? • What were the terms of the Brest-Litovsk treaty? • What was the impact of Russia’s withdrawal from the war on the Western Front?

8. What was the combined strength of the major powers’ air services at the start of the war? • What was the total number of planes in service by 1918? • What was the primary military function of the airplane early in the war? • What did this lead to? • Describe the technological development of the airplane throughout the war. • When did Britain create the RAF? Why? • How did industrial capacity affect the war in the air? • What was a zeppelin? • What was the purpose of strategic bombing? • Why was it not overly effective in WWI? • What lessons did military planners take from the air campaign? • http://www.history.com/shows/dogfights/videos/dogfights-spad-13#dogfights-spad-13

9. What did Woodrow Wilson claim was the reason for the American entry into the war? • How could the battles of 1917 be used to support criticism of Allied generals? • How did American business benefit from the American entry into the war? • Why did General Ludendorff gamble everything on Germany’s 1918 spring offensive? • Where did he focus his opening attacks? • What new “infiltration” tactics did the German army employ to break through Allied lines? • Who became commander of all Allied forces at this time? Why?

10. How successful was the German offensive? • What were the strategic implications of Ludendorff’s inability to end the war in the spring and summer of 1918? • What happened on August 8th? • To what end did this offensive eventually lead? • What did the Allies do on 8 August, 1918? • When did Germany ask for an Armistice? Was the Kaiser around to sign the cease-fire? • Why did Ludendorff and the German army’s leadership press the Kaiser to bring in a democratic government? • What other reasons contributed to the creation of a German republic? • What trouble would this cause in the future? • What was happening with Germany’s allies during the fall of 1918? • How did the final six months of the war differ, tactically, from the previous years of fighting?

11. What was the “planned economy” and why were countries slow to implement it? • How did governments eliminate some of the cornerstones of the free market economy such as competition and profit? Why? • Was the rationalization of production limited to just the management side of business operations? • What was the Defence of the Realm Act? • What was rationing and how did it work? • How did the war affect the role of women outside the home? • Who were the WRENs and the WAACs? • Did governments force people to work in specific trades? • Why did governments control all foreign trade? • How did they manage exports and imports?

12. How did neutrality affect the United States’ exports during the first few years of the war? • How did the war affect America’s status as a creditor nation? • What was Germany’s “war socialism”? • Why did Germany’s economy have to become so rigidly controlled? • What effects did inflation have on many people in the participant nations? • Because of the heavy borrowing by European countries what were they going to have to do in order to pay back the debts? Why was this a challenge?

13. What was propaganda and what was its purpose? • By what means was propaganda spread throughout society? • How did governments portray enemy nations in their propaganda? • How were one’s own soldiers portrayed in propaganda? • Propaganda • What was censorship and what was its purpose? • What were conscientious objectors? • How were they treated in Great Britain? • C.O. Profile • What was the total number of soldiers killed during the war?