World War I
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World War I or the First World War, 1914 - 1918, was the first war that involved nations spanning
more than half the globe, hence world war.

It was commonly called The Great War or sometimes the war to end all wars until World War II started,
although the name "First World War" was coined as early as 1920 by Lt-Col à Court Repington in
The First World War 1914-18.

Ostensibly, the triggering event for the war was the death (June 28, 1914) of the heir to the Austrian
throne, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Bosnia at the hands
of a pro-Serbian nationalist assassin (a Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip),
but the real reasons were far more complex.

Imperial interests

Following the lead of Britain under Benjamin Disraeli, even the once hesitantly imperialistic
Otto von Bismarck was eventually brought to realize the value of colonies for securing (in his words)
"new markets for German industry, the expansion of trade, and a new field for German, activity,
civilization, and capital".

The absolutist Central Powers, led by a newly unified, dynamically industrializing German Empire,
with its expanding navy, doubling in size between the Franco-Prussian War and the Great War,
were strategic threats to the markets and security of the more established Allied powers and Russia.

The Entente Cordiale was thus a gentleman's agreement between Britain and France designed to
slow further German expansionism. The Entente Cordiale, along with the Franco-Russian alliance,
served a common geopolitical interest.

France and Britain were thus forced to end their centuries of longstanding hostility. British
policymakers feared the prospect of another German military victory over France like the
Franco-Prussian War, which could have reasonably resulted in a German take-over of France's
formal colonies, a sort of reversal of the actual outcome of the Great War, after which Britain
occupied the vast majority of German and Ottoman colonies as "protectorates". This prospect
was especially frightening considering that French colonies tended to be closely situated to
Britain's; Nigeria, for instance, was surrounded by French territory, India was near French Indochina,
and so forth.

Following the death of Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1888, his son, Frederick III inherited the crown of Prussia
and the throne of German Empire. He died shortly after of cancer of the larynx, and was succeeded
by his son, Wilhelm II. A terrible diplomat and worse politician, Wilhelm II largely impeded the
aging Chancellor Bismarck's attempts to preserve the diplomatic balance of power that kept France
isolated, and hampered Bismarck's domestic realpolitik that kept conservative parties in relative
power in the Reichstag. After the 1890 elections, in which the center and left parties made major gains,
and due in part to the disaffection of the Kaiser having the same Chancellor that guided his
grandfather for most of his career, Bismarck resigned. Shortly thereafter he died, having been made
a duke by his thankful Empire, and perhaps fortunately for him, he died before he could watch
Wilhelm II destroy the diplomatic and military gains that he had achieved.

Strategic competition between Britain and German Empire following the retirement of Bismarck
would intensify the drive to consolidate existing spheres of influence and grab new colonies. Examples of these conflicts include the Moroccan Crisis of 1905 and the Tangier Crisis. These conflicts began when Kaiser Wilhelm's recognized Moroccan independence from France, Britain's new strategic partner. During the Second Moroccan Crisis, German Empire sent its navy to Morocco, testing the precarious Anglo-French Entente once again.

The specific breakdowns of the alliance system that kept Bismarck's Germany premier are almost unforgivable to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Russia had entered a defensive agreement with German Empire during Bismarck's time. Wilhelm refused to renew it for indeterminate reasons. When England,
which had long been isolationist, content to rule her overseas empire, and the oceans in general,
came out of her isolation, she sought first to ally with German Empire. It might be remembered
that the German monarchs were of the House of Hanover, which was related to or intermarried
with a great many of the German noble houses, including the Hohenzollern rulers of the German
Empire. Instead, Wilhelm, disparaging England's "Contemptible little army", rebuffed their offer,
and started a pointless naval arms race. Wilhelm thus gained the direct enmity of two of the major
powers of Europe, which allied themselves, as we will see, with Germany's third, and most
venomous, albiet weakest, enemy, France.

The network of European alliances formed along the lines of imperial interests.

The Balance of Power

At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe had a delicate balance of power, which was
undermined by a series of events:

1914:

The outbreak of the conflict is often attributed to the alliances established over the previous
decades - Germany-Austria-Italy vs. France-Russia; Britain and Serbia being aligned with
the latter. In fact none of the alliances was activated in the initial outbreak, though Russian
general mobilisation and Germany's declaration of war against France were motivated by
fear of the opposing alliance being brought into play.

Britain's declaration of war against German Empire (August 4) was officially the result not of
her understandings with France and Russia (Britain was technically allied to neither power),
but of Germany's invasion of Belgium, whose independence Britain had guaranteed to uphold
(1839), and which stood astride the planned German route for invasion of Russia's ally France.

German Empire's plan (named the Schlieffen plan) to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance
involved delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with the more
slowly mobilised Russian army. The German plan involved demanding free passage across
Belgium and Luxembourg. When this was denied, Germany invaded, occupying Luxembourg
rapidly but encountering resistance before the forts of the Belgian city of Liège. Britain sent an
army to France, which advanced into Belgium.

The delays brought about by the resistance of the Belgians, French and British forces and the
unexpectedly rapid mobilisation of the Russians upset the German plans. Russia attacked in
East Prussia, diverting German forces intended for the Western Front, allowing French and
British forces to halt the German advance on Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914)
as the Central Powers (German Empire and Austria-Hungary) were forced into fighting a war on
two fronts.

Entry of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October - November 1914, threatening
Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via
the Suez canal. British action opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli (1915) and
Mesopotamia campaigns, intially the Turks were successful in repelling enemy incursion.
But in Mesopotamia, after the disasterous Siege of Kut the British reorganized and captured
Baghdad in March 1917. Further to the west in Egypt, initial British failures were overcome
with Jerusalem being captured in December 1917 and the Egyptian Expeditionary Force
under Edmund Allenby going on to break the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo.

Italian Participation

Italy, until now notionally allied to German Empire and Austria-Hungary but with her own
designs against Austrian territory in South Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia, joined the Allies in May 1915,
declaring war against Germany fifteen months later. Italian action along the Austrian border
pinned down large numbers of enemy troops, though the crushing German-Austrian
victory of Caporetto (October 1917) temporarily invalidated Italy as a major threat.

The Fall of Serbia

After repulsing three Austrian invasions in August-December 1914, Serbia fell to combined
German, Austrian and Bulgarian invasion in October 1915. Serbian troops continued to hold
out in Albania and Greece, where a Franco-British force had landed to offer assistance and
to pressure the Greek government into war against the Central Powers.

Early stages: from romanticism to the trenches

Both the Battle of the Somme and Passchendaele also on the Western Front resulted in enormous
loss of life on both sides but minimal progress in the war. It is interesting to note that, when
the British attacked on the first day of the battle of the Somme, and lost massive amounts of
men to a continuous hail of machine-gun fire, they did succeed in gaining some ground.
This caused the German command to order its soldiers to re-take this ground, which resulted
in similar losses for the Germans. Hence, instead of a lopsided engagement, with only British
soldiers attacking, which would have resulted in large amounts of casualties only for the
British, the volume of attacks was rather evenly distributed, which caused even distribution
of the casualties.

Poison Gas

Not even an initially devastating array of new weapons achieved the required victory: poison gas
(first used by the Germans on Canadian soldiers at Ypres on April 22, 1915), liquid fire introduced
by the Germans at Hooge on July 30, 1915) and armoured tanks (first used by the British on t
he Somme on September 15, 1916) each produced initial panic among the enemy, but failed
to deliver a lasting breakthrough.

Use of poison gas in World War I

Aircraft and U-Boats

Military aviation achieved rapid progress, from the development of (initially primitive)
forward-firing aerial machine-guns by the German air force in the autumn of 1915 to the
deployment of bombers against London (July 1917): more dramatic still, at least for Britain,
was the use of German submarines (U-boats, from the German Unterseebooten) against
Allied merchant shipping in proscribed waters from February 1915. Germany's decision to lift restrictions on submarine activity (February 1, 1917) was instrumental in bringing the
United States into the war on the side of the Allies (April 6). The sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania was a particularly controversial "kill" for the U-boats.

Russia: defeat and revolution

Following her initial success in stalling enemy invasion (August 1914), Russia's less-developed economic and military organisation proved unequal to the combined might of Germany and Austria-Hungary. In May 1915 the latter achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw on August 5.

Russia unsettled

Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew despite the success of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive in eastern Galicia, when Russian success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces in support of the victorious sector commander. Allied fortunes revived temporarily with Romania's entry into the war on August 27: German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania, and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers on December 6.

Abdication of the Tsar

In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak centrist government, whose continued adherence to the Allied cause provoked opposition led by the Bolshevik ("majority") wing of the divided Social-Democratic Party. The triumph of the latter in November foreshadowed Russia's removal from the war, allowing Germany to turn her full military might on the West with the Russo-German Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918).

Entry of the United States

Early in 1917 Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. President Woodrow Wilson then requested that the United States Congress declare war. This was done on April 6, 1917. (Only one member of Congress, Jeanette Rankin of Montana, voted against the war).

The United States Army and the National Guard had mobilized in 1916 to pursue the Mexican "bandit" Pancho Villa, which helped speed up the mobilization. The United States Navy was able to send a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, and a number of destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, to help guard convoys. However, it would be some time before the United States forces would be able to contribute significant manpower to the Western and Italian fronts.

The British and French insisted that the United States emphasize sending infantry to reinforce the line. Throughout the war, the American forces were short of their own artillery, aviation, and engineering units.

German Offensive of 1918

The entry of the U.S. into the war the previous year had made the eventual arrival of U.S. troops certain, while Russia's withdrawal and the Italian disaster at Caporetto allowed the transfer of German troops to the West. Four successive German offensives followed, that of May 27 yielding gains before Paris comparable to the first advance.

On March 21 1918 Germany launched a major offensive, "Operation Michael", against British and Commonwealth forces. The German army developed new tactics involving stormtroopers, infantry trained to attack and take trenches.

The Allies reacted by appointing French Field Marshal Foch to coordinate all Allied activity in France, and then generalissimo of all Allied forces everywhere.

The German offensive moved forward 60 km and pressed the British lines so much that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, issued a General Order on April 11 stating "With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end." However, by then, the German offensive had stalled because of logistical problems. Counterattacks by Canadian and ANZAC forces pushed the Germans back.

Allied victory

The American Expeditionary Force, under General John Pershing, entered the battle lines in significant numbers in April 1918. At the Battle of Belleau Wood, from June 1 to June 30, 1918, the Second Division, including the United States Marine Corps, helped clear out the German offensive threatening Paris.

On July 18, 1918, at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, French and American forces went on the offensive.

The British Army, using a large number of tanks, attacked at Amiens on August 8 causing such surprise and confusion that German commander-in-chief, General Ludendorff, said it was "the blackest day of the German army."

On September 16 the First United States Army, which had recently been organized from the American Expeditionary Force, eliminated the Saint-Mihel salient, which the Germans had occupied since 1914. This salient threatened the Paris-Nancy railroad line. American forces were short of artillery support, which was provided by the French and British. This also was the first use of the U.S. Tank Corps, led by Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton. Four days later, the salient was cleared out.

On September 26 American forces began the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which continued until the end of the war. A key German observation post on Hill 305 in Montfaucon d'Argonne was captured on September 27. Approximately 18,000 Americans fell during this offensive. This was the first offensive conducted by the United States as an independent army. General Pershing's general thrust was the Rhine River, which he expected to breach early in 1919.

On October 24 the Italian Army, with very limited American assistance, began the Vittorio Veneto offensive against Austria Hungary, which lasted until November 4.

Collapse of Austria-Hungary and Germany

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Timeline

End of the War

The fighting ended in 1918 with an armistice agreed on November 11. The consequences of the War were long lasting. The June 1919 Treaty of Versailles put an official end to the war with Germany. The humiliating treaty required that Germany accept the sole responsibility for the war and pay heavy reparations. Thus it prepared the ground for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of World War II. It included a clause that would create a League of Nations, an international organization that should prevent a new war. The U.S. Senate never ratified the treaty, however, despite Woodrow Wilson's campaign to support the treaty and his idea for a League of Nations. The U.S. instead negotiated a separate peace with Germany (August 1921) which included no requirement to join the League.

Allied Soldiers Killed:

The First World War was different from prior military conflicts: it was a meeting of 20th century technology with 19th century mentality and tactics. This time, millions of soldiers fought on all sides and the casualties were enormous, mostly because of the more efficient weapons (like artillery and machine guns) that were used in large quantities against old tactics. Although the First World War led to the development of air forces, tanks ,and new tactics (like the Rolling barrage and Crossfire), much of the action took place in the trenches, where thousands died for each square metre of land gained. The First World War also saw the use of chemical warfare, and aerial bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1909 Hague Convention. The effects of gas warfare were to prove long-lasting, both on the bodies of its victims (many of whom, having survived the war, continued to suffer in later life) and on the minds of a later generation of war leaders (Second World War) who, having seen the effects of gas warfare in the Great War, were reluctant to use it for fear that the enemy would retaliate and might have better weaponry.

A deadly war

Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred in this war. See Ypres, Vimy Ridge, Marne, Cambrai, Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli. See Wars of the 20h Century for various totals given for the number that died in this war. For instance, is it proper to consider the Influenza pandemic (see below) as part of the overall death count for the war, given the important part the War played in its transmission?

Aftermath

Revolutions

Perhaps the single most important event precipitated by the privations of the war was the Russian Revolution. Socialist and explicitly Communist uprisings also occurred in many other European countries from 1917 onwards, notably in Germany and Hungary.

As a result of the Bolsheviks' failure to cede territory, German and Austrian forces defeated the Russian armies, and the new communist government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. In that treaty, Russia renounced all claims to Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (specifically, the formerly Russian-controlled Congress Poland of 1815) and Ukraine.

Influenza pandemic

A separate, but related event was the great influenza pandemic. A new strain of Influenza, originating in the U.S.A. (but misleadingly known as "Spanish Flu") was accidentially carried to Europe with the American forces. The disease spread rapidly through the both the continental U.S. and Europe, reaching, eventually, around the globe. The exact number of deaths is unknown, but in excess of 20 million people worldwide is not an overestimate. See also: Spanish Flu

Social trauma: The experiences of the war lead to a sort of collective national trauma afterwards for all the participating countries. The optimism of 1900 was entirely gone and those who fought in the war became what is known as "the Lost Generation" because they never fully recovered from their experiences.

Geopolitical consequences

Nearly 15 percent of the land area of the German Empire was ceded at Allied insistence to various countries. The largest confiscated part of Germany was given to Poland; this part was called the "Polish Corridor" because of its access to the sea. In addition the western powers helped Poland gain another huge chunk of land in Ukraine. Britain occupied the vast majority of German and Ottoman colonies as "protectorates".

Russia also lost substantial land. The countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were created to accomodiate ethnic groups. Also, land was taken for addition to Poland, and Romania.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken into many pieces. The new republics of Austria and Hungary were established, disavowing any continuity with the empire. Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia formed the new Czechoslovakia. Galicia was transferred to Poland and South Tyrol and Trieste were to Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina were joined with Serbia and Montenegro to form Yugoslavia. Transylvania became part of Romania.

Because of the intermixed population and partly because of the interests of great powers, the new borders did not always follow ethnic divisions. The new Yugoslav peoples had large minorities in virtually all neigbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands of Germans continued to live in the newly created countries. A quarter of ethnic Hungarians found themselves living outside of Hungary.

Less concrete changes include the growing assertiveness of Commonwealth nations. Battles such as Gallipoli for Australia and New Zealand, and Vimy Ridge for Canada led to increased national pride and a greater reluctance to remain inferior to the British.

Memorials:

For more details on the subject, consult these histories:

The war inspired many great novels and poems. They include:

See also

World War II, Seven Years' War