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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. 1914
1.1. The western front
1.2. The eastern front
2. 1915
2.1. Stalemate in the west
2.2. The east
2.3. Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary (May 1915)
3. 1916
3.1. The western front
3.2. David Lloyd George becomes British prime minister (December 1916)
3.3. In the east
4. THE WAR AT SEA
5. 1917
6. THE CENTRAL POWERS DEFEATED
6.1. The German spring offensive. 1918
6.2. The Allied counter-offensive begins (8 August)
6.3. Why did the war last so long?
6.4. Why did the Central Powers lose the war?
6.5. Effects of the war
7. THE PROBLEMS OF MAKING A PEACE SETTLEMENT
7.1. War aims
8. THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES WITH GERMANY
8.1. The terms
8.2. Why did the Germans object, and how far were their objections justified?
9. THE PEACE TREATIES WITH AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
10. THE SETTLEMENT WITH TURKEY AND BULGARIA
11. VERDICT ON THE PEACE SETTLEMENT
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LANGUAGE
The First World War and its aftermath
Chapter – 2
Table of Contents
1914
The western front
- German advance held up by unexpectedly strong Belgian resistance, taking over two weeks to capture Brussels.
- Delay gave British time to organize, leaving Channel ports free for British Expeditionary Force to land.
- Germans intended to approach Paris from the west but found themselves east of Paris, advancing within twenty miles.
- French government withdrew to Bordeaux; German troops slowed by supply problems and exhaustion.
- In September, Germans attacked at the Battle of the Marne, driven back to the River Aisne to dig trenches.
- Battle of the Marne crucial, some historians see it as one of the most decisive battles in modern history.
- Schlieffen Plan ruined: France wouldn’t be defeated in six weeks, making a short war impossible.
- Germany forced into full-scale war on two fronts, which they likely never intended.
- Trench warfare began; lines stretched from the Alps to the Channel coast.
- British navy’s blockade hurt Germany’s ports.
- Germans captured Antwerp, but British Expeditionary Force held Ypres, saving Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne.
- War shifted to long, drawn-out attrition instead of a quick end.
The eastern front
- Russians mobilized quicker than Germans expected but made the mistake of invading both Austria and Germanysimultaneously.
- Successful against Austria, occupying Galicia, but defeated by Germans led by Hindenburg at Tannenburg (August) and Masurian Lakes (September).
- Russians lost vast amounts of equipment and ammunition, which had taken years to build up.
- By the end of 1914, 6.25 million Russians mobilized, but a third lacked rifles.
- Russia never recovered from these defeats, boosting German self-confidence.
- Turkey‘s entry into the war worsened Russia’s situation, as Turkey could cut Russia’s main supply and trade routefrom the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
- A positive for the Allies: Serbs drove out an Austrian invasion at the end of 1914, leaving Austrian morale at rock bottom.
1915
Stalemate in the west
- Stalemate continued in the west despite several attempts to break the trench line.
- British attacked at Neuve Chapelle and Loos, French at Champagne, and Germans attacked at Ypres, but all failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough.
- Difficulties of trench warfare:
- Barbed wire in no-man’s land between opposing trenches, cleared by artillery bombardment, but no surprise attacks possible.
- Reconnaissance aircraft and observation balloons could spot troop concentrations on roads leading to trenches.
- Trenches hard to capture due to magazine rifles and machine guns, making frontal attacks suicidal and rendering cavalry useless.
- Even when a trench was breached, advancing was difficult due to artillery barrage and continued machine gun fire.
- Ground won was hard to defend, forming a salient vulnerable to attacks, risking being surrounded.
- During Ypres 1915, Germans used poison gas, but when the wind changed, it blew back towards their lines, causing more casualties than the Allies, especially when Allies released gas of their own.
The east
- Russia had mixed fortunes: successes against Austria, defeats against Germany; Warsaw and Poland captured.
- Turkish blockade of the Dardanelles hindered Russia, already short of arms and ammunition.
- Gallipoli Campaign launched to clear the Dardanelles and open supply line to Russia via the Black Sea.
- Idea strongly pressed by Winston Churchill to escape deadlock in the west by defeating Turkey, considered the weakest of the Central Powers.
- Success against Turkey could bring Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania into war on the Allied side, enabling attack on Austria from the south.
- Campaign failure: March naval attack through Dardanelles failed due to mines, ruining surprise.
- British landings at Gallipoli failed as Turkish defences were strengthened; no advance could be made (April).
- Further landings by Anzacs (April) and British (August) were ineffective; positions held with difficulty.
- December: complete withdrawal of the force.
- Serious consequences: blow to Allied morale, end of the chance to help Russia via the Black Sea.
- Failure likely led to Bulgaria’s decision to join the Central Powers.
- Franco-British force landed at Salonika in Greece to relieve Serbia, but too late; Serbia overrun by Bulgarians and Germans in October.
- 1915 was a bad year for the Allies.
- British army in Mesopotamia sent to protect Anglo-Persian oil interests, bogged down approaching Baghdad.
- Kut-el-Amara siege (Dec 1915 – Mar 1916) led to surrender of British forces.
Italy declares war on Austria- Hungary (May 1915)
- Italians hoped to seize Austria-Hungary’s Italian-speaking provinces and territory along the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.
- Secret treaty signed in London, Allies promised Italy: Trentino, South Tyrol, Istria, Trieste, part of Dalmatia, Adalia, Aegean Sea islands, and protectorate over Albania.
- Allies hoped that Italy occupying Austrian troops would relieve pressure on Russia.
- Italians made little headway, efforts were in vain.
- Russia unable to stave off defeat.
1916
The western front
- 1916 remembered for two major battles: Verdun and the Somme.
- Verdun: Germans under Falkenhayn launched attack in February, aiming to draw and destroy French troops, then carry out final offensive.
- French under Petain defended stubbornly; by June, Germans abandoned the attack.
- French losses: about 315,000 men; German losses: over 280,000, with no territorial gains.
- Somme: series of attacks, mainly by the British, starting 1 July, lasting until November.
- Aim: relieve pressure on French at Verdun, take more trench line, keep Germans committed to western front.
- Attack started disastrously: British troops walked into machine-gun fire, 20,000 killed, 60,000 injured on the first day.
- Haig (British Commander-in-Chief) did not call off the attack, it continued for over four months.
- Allied advances: limited, varying from a few hundred yards to seven miles on a 30-mile front.
- Importance: blow to German morale, recognition of Britain as a military power after introducing conscription in May.
- Losses: Germans: 650,000, British: 418,000, French: 194,000.
- Generals, especially Haig, criticized for persisting with suicidal frontal attacks.
- No alternative tactics offered, tens of thousands sacrificed for no apparent gain.
- After 1915 attack, German officer called British army “lions led by donkeys.”
- Haig criticized as epitome of Allied incompetence; W. J. Laffin called his book “British Butchers and Bunglers.”
- J. P. Harris: more balanced view, acknowledged Haig’s difficulty in handling unprecedented situations, slow to adapt, but later receptive to new strategies.
- Haig’s role in 1918 campaign contributed to final collapse of German forces.
- Somme horrors contributed to British PM Asquith’s resignation in 1916 due to criticism of tactics.
- Hindenburg admitted that Germans couldn’t have survived many more campaigns with heavy losses like Verdun and the Somme.