World War IWorld War I

Causes Militarism (Wilson): military,

reporting directly to a king, not to elected civilian governments, controlled Germany, Austria, Russia and Turkey with goal of military power and glory regardless of the people

Arms Race: Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, tried to challenged British naval power, producing bigger and more powerful battleships; new technology produced more lethal artillery and individual weapons, all giving developed nations confidence in their own military power.

Further causes: Nationalism: waves of nationalism, especially

in Austria and the Ottoman Empire (Serbs, Slavs, Germans) wanting independent nations of their own + national pride wouldn’t let nations back down if they were insulted by another nation.

Economic Imperialism (Marxist): great powers empires competing for economic control would result, inevitably, in world conflict (Hobson): American variation: arms producers and dealers pushed the war to make greater profits. Argument vs this last: arms manufacturers had no more influence on government decisions than all the other industries that might be hurt by the war

Above all, false confidence:

Germans: their two wars happened so fast, (7 weeks) they felt invincible. They welcomed frischer und frohlicher Krieg (“fresh and joyous war”), an adventure for their “iron youth,” unbeatable.

French and British: war was a romantic escapade, Mortal Combat, not grim reality: they would defeat Germany before Christmas. The French even had their own plan, Plan #XVII, a lightning offensive designed to regain the provinces of Alsace Lorraine, lost to Germany in 1870.

                                                               

        

1. Name the alliances that provided the setup for war

                              

"Some damn foolish thing in the Balkans,"

2. Who said it? How was it prophetic?

3. What happened as the spark for war?

                

Bosnian assassins in Serbia South Slav Nationalism 7 assassins in large plot sponsored by Black Hand, directed by

head of Serbian intelligence (executed)– 27 yr old Bosnian carpenter with bomb (didn’t because gendarme near

and afraid it would ruin plot) escaped– 17 yr old with pistol; didn’t shoot because afraid of hitting empress;

16 yr sentence; history prof– 20 yr old threw bomb; got next car; swallowed poison capsule,

jumped into canal; saved, imprisoned; died of TB in prison– 18 yr old lost nerve (nearsighted: claimed didn’t see car) served in

prison, became school principal– 24 yr old originator of plot: no weapons, though he’d furnished the

weapons for the plot: executed– 19 yr old, didn’t act: said afraid of hurting women and children and of

implicating innocent friend standing with him; died in prison– Gavril Princip, 17, heard bomb and thought plot successful; by time

found out failure, car already by him. Then mistake of driver had the open car turning around where he was walking. He shot twice, was captured, died of TB in prison

The Black Hand 1908, two days after Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, many

men, some of them ranking Serbian ministers, officials and generals, founded a semi-secret society -- Narodna Odbrana (National Defense) to recruit and train partisans for a possible war between Serbia and Austria.

– undertook anti-Austrian propaganda and organized spies and saboteurs to operate within the empire.

– so effective that in 1909 Austria pressured the Serbian government to stop– Russia was not ready to stand fully behind Serbia, so Belgrade forced to

comply. – From then on, Narodna Odbrana concentrated on education and propaganda

within Serbia, trying to fashion itself as a cultural organization. Ten men, on May 9, 1911, formed a new secret organization to continue

the terrorist actions Ujedinjenje ili Smrt (Union or Death), The Black Hand

– By 1914, several hundred members, perhaps as many as 2500, including Serbian army officers. The goal of the group was the creation of a Greater Serbia (Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, etc) by use of violence, if necessary\

• trained guerillas and saboteurs and arranged political murders. • organized at the grassroots level in 3 to 5-member cells. Above them were district

committees. Above them, was the Central committee in Belgrade• The decision to kill the Archduke was apparently initiated by Apis, and not

sanctioned by the full Executive Committee. Those involved probably realized that their plot would invite war between Austria and Serbia, not World War.

Dominoes: interlocking alliances Franz Josef of Austria is persuaded to declare war on

Serbia to retaliate for the assassination of the Archduke.

Russia, with a contracted alliance, must rush to Serbia’s defense.

Germany promises a “blank check” to help Austria, knowing this action threatens to cause war with Russia, but gambling that France and Britain will not support their ally.

Russia is allied by treaty with France and England, so when Russia goes to war, France and England must go, too. Germany’s invasion of Belgium, the neutrality of which is guaranteed by Britain, impels the British into the war.

More nations join the fray…

Everyone wants a piece of the Ottoman Empire. Besides, Turkey had signed a secret treaty with Germany: she joined the Central Powers

Italy had been allied to Germany and Austria since the 1880’s, but had signed a secret treaty with France and wanted parts of southern Austria. Though Germany and Austria wanted Italy to come into the war with them, Italy argued that their treaties with those countries were defensive, and Austria had attacked Bosnia first. Italy joined the Triple Entente later.

Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and attacked Serbia from the south.

Objectives of major participants:

Germany: Belgium as vassal, with domination (through Belgian ports) of the seas, challenging Britain (Wilhelm read influential book stating the nation that dominates the seas, dominates the world: navies all important) Empire in Africa and Asia, gain more territory, especially in Russia

Austria: avenge shooting of Franz Ferdinand, stabilize the empire, win parts of Russia and Turkey (Balkans)

Turkey: reassert claims in Balkans; hold on to Empire Bulgaria: take as much of Balkans as can secure

Britain: curtail German expansion into Belgium; ensure security of empire through naval domination; balance of power in Continental Europe, with no repeat of domination of one power isolating Britain; increased influence/territory in Turkish Mid East

France: vengeance for Franco Prussian War, reassert claims over Alsace/Lorraine, claim Turkish territory in Mid East and N. Africa

Italy: take part of Austrian empire adjacent to Italy

Later the war becomes a struggle between autocracy and democracy

At first, Triple Alliance included Russia, an autocracy of autocracies.

Russia was defeated; the Revolution replaced the autocratic czar (temporarily) with limited representative government; when Lenin took over, Russia withdrew from war = only democratic powers remained

US now could safely make a case to its people to join the war to “make the world safe for democracy.”

As the war progressed, France and Britain (which extends suffrage to all males) become more democratic, therefore generated more support for the war in their people

In Germany the opposite: support for the war crumbled; military dictatorship ousted the Kaiser, who at least was constitutional in his rule

An Allied victory led to the maintenance and even extension of liberal democracy in Europe. A German victory would have snuffed it out. – When the German army appeared to be on the verge of

victory in spring 1918, the Kaiser crowed that this was the vindication of monarchy and autocracy over democracy.

German Plan: “Schlieffen Plan”

Getting Ready: Assumed it would take Russia 6 weeks to get ready for

war; so no E Front until then Immediately conquer France; then Russ and Britain

would be unlikely to want to continue Use 90% of German forces to attack France in long

pinscher movement through Holland and Belgium into N. France and on to Paris

When Moltke takes over from Schlieffen as war minister, changes to just moving through Belgium (plains of Flanders), assuming Belgian armies could not stop Prussia/German, could take France to Paris before other countries ready to help

HOWEVER:

Putting the Plan into Action: Invasion of Belgium

August 1914: the Germans gave the Belgians two choices: give up or fight: the king went to the front and took control and FOUGHT

Belgian resistance held the Germans much longer than the Germans expected

The Belgians were defeated, but spoiled the Schlieffen plan

Other shocks for Germany:

Russians got ready for war much more quickly than Germany anticipate;

Belgians put up much more resistance than planned: bog down the German invasion

British also prepared much more quickly than anticipated; transported troops, etc to support French against German forces

German invasion forces are bogged down, forced to fight much more fiercely

Armament and the War: determining the kind of fighting

A new kind of war: Romanticized (“we’ll be home for

Christmas after teaching the enemy a lesson”)

BUT new technology = new warfare; unfortunately old generals fought in the old way (“over the top”), sacrificing millions of lives

Trenches with months of fighting accomplishing nothing

Total War: not just polite fighting on battlefields, total destruction of entire areas, cities, etc, and many civilian casualties

5,000 cubic feet Nurse Balloons; hangar, Okla. City

German weather balloons leaving hangar

Anthony Fokker testing the

synchronization mechanism of a

machine gun mounted on a German plane

The biplane replaced the balloon for

observing enemy positions in the

trench warfare of World War I. By

the end of the war, the

Germans were acquiring 4,000 photos a day as part of the planning for their last great offensive of 1918,

and the US Army made over one million prints in the last four months of the war..

SPAD XIII

SE5

Handley-Page Bomber

This is the official German photograph of the Baron Manfred von Richthofen, better know as the Red Baron. Von Richtofen, Germany's highest ace, with 80 kills, was himself shot down and died on April 21, 1918. He was shot down by a Sopwith Camel flown by Captain A. Roy Brown, a 24 year old Canadian aviator. An infantry unit also claimed they had shot Richtofen down.

London air raid damage

                                 

               

Big Bertha, Howitzer L/14, manufactured by Krupp, the German industrial power, had a range of 122 km. It bombarded Paris for 20

months during 1917.

Effects of French shellfire on German positions

Machine Gun, Cal. .30, M1917/M1917A1 (1917). The M1917 water-cooled .30 cal. machine gun was

developed by John Browning. The M1971A1 was the Army's standard until mid-1950s. The M1917 water-cooled machine gun saw service with the last U.S.

troops to enter France near the end of World War I. It was tripod mounted, but was also used as an aircraft

gun. The M1917 had a rate of fire of 450 spm.

Although commercial pistols were purchased and issued to

General Officers, some standard Army issue pistols

were specially modified for use by General Officers

Pistol, Semi-automatic.45 Cal., M1911

Pistol, .45 Cal., Revolver, M1917 (1917). During World War I, due to a shortage of M1911 pistols, the Army

procured Colt New Service and Smith & Wesson hand ejector cal. .45 six-

round double-action revolvers. These pistols were standard issue until

World War II, when they were only issued to Military Police and security

personnel.

M1918A2 (1940) was fully-automatic, but selective at either Slow (300-450 spm) or Fast (500-650 spm) rates of fire. The M1918A2 was originally issued with a spike

based removable stock rest which fitted in a hole in the buttstock.

Photo of the British Mark I Tank in 1916

Photo of the British Mark I Tank in 1916

"Tanks in Action" - Edward Handley-Read

                          

Trench Warfare

"Humanity - Stretcher-Bearer Post, 9th Field Ambulance" - Gilbert Rogers (Official War Artist)

After two years of war, the battle lines of the Western front (noted in yellow) had barely changed from the first days of stalemate. This was modern warfare. The Eastern front was a different story, where battles more resembled

fluid engagements of the 19th century.

                                     

        

Fanciful German depiction of First Ypres

The First Chemical Warfare: Gas

Germans used first, then Allies used it Many different kinds of chemicals, especially:

– Teargas—first gas to be used (Germans), but not destructive enough

– Chlorine—acidic gas attacks the lungs– Phosgene—attacks ALL mucus/moist areas– Mustard gas—attacks skin, doesn’t need to be

breathed in

Aerial View—gas attack

German gas attack on

Allied trenches

Aftermath: gas attacks

Stalemate After the First Battle of the Marne, both Entente and German forces

began a series of outflanking maneuvers to try to force the other to retreat, in the “race to the sea.”

– Britain and France found themselves facing entrenched German positions from Lorraine to Belgium's coast.

– Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended occupied territories, so German trenches were much better

– In April 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time, opening a four mile wide hole in the Allied lines closed by Canadian soldiers at both the 2nd Battle of Ypres (the first time a colonial force drove back a European power), and 3rd Ypres (where over 5000 Canadian soldiers were gassed to death), earning German respect.

Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years, though protracted German action at Verdun throughout 1916, and the Entente's failure at the Somme, in the summer of 1916, brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse.

– Futile attempts at frontal assaults, at terrible cost to the French infantry, led to mutinies

– News of the Russian Revolution gave hope to socialists among the troops. Red flags were hoisted and the Internationale was sung on several occasions. At the height of the mutiny, 30,000 to 40,000 French soldiers participated.

Throughout 1915-17, the British Empire and France suffered many more casualties than Germany, but both sides lost millions of soldiers to injury and disease.

Around 800,000 soldiers from the British Empire were on the Western Front at any one time. 1,000 battalions, in sectors from the North Sea to the Orne River, rotated, fighting for a month, then withdrawing, replaced by another unit, unless fighting in a battle

The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches. Average soldier at the front: 114 days/year of actual fighting;

remainder of year on leave, away from front, or just sitting around in trenches being bored (Germans: piano in trenches so could drink beer and sing)

Result: “live and let live” philosophy in some trenches where the Germans facing the British might not be so willing to kill. (Germans write note of bomb coming, Brit eating with Germans when smelled cooking, “he never did anything to me” --Brit when asked by officer why not killing guy with gray hair and beard that popped up

– Brit memo to officers to reanimate troops against Germans because if no snipers or bombing, wouldn’t fight

– False reports of fighting to get officers off their backs

(Of course, still animosity: Germans hated and feared Scot Highlanders; French and German really hostile, etc.

The War in Russia Russia’s first plan: Attack Galicia (Austria) and East Prussia at the same

time East Galicia: some Russian victories

– Success in Austrian Galicia was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit forces to support victorious commanders

– German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units; Russian gains reversed

– Transylvania and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers The German army with superior equipment and training, beat the Russians

in a series of defeats on the border of East Prussia– Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew

Conditions in Russia worsened. The Czar was at the front and didn’t realize what was happening

– Alexandra’s increasingly incompetent rule roused hostility in all classes of Russians, resulting in the murder of Alexandra's favorite Rasputin.

– In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg ended in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II

– A weak Provisional Government, headed by Kerensky, shared power with the Marxist Petrograd Soviet.

• This division of power led to confusion and chaos, both on the front and at home,• The army couldn’t effectively resist Germany.

Russia leaves the War: Consequences

Lenin and the Bolsheviks succeeded in taking advantage of weakness and confusion of the Russian revolution to seize power in St Petersburg

In December 1917, Lenin signed an Armistice with the Central Powers, ending Russian participation with the Allies and giving up ¼ of Russia’s territory to Germany

– The withdrawal of Russia freed up German troops from the eastern front for use in the west.

– Ironically, German troop transfers could have been greater if their territorial acquisitions had not been so dramatic.

With both German reinforcements and new American troops pouring into the Western Front, the final outcome of the war was to be decided in that front.

– The Central Powers knew that they could not win a long, drawn out war now that American forces were certain to be arriving in increasing numbers

– They planned a rapid offensive in the West, using their reinforced troops and new infantry tactics.

– Rulers of both the Central Powers and the Entente became more fearful that further stalemate might bring on national revolutions. Both sides urgently sought a decisive, rapid victory on the Western Front.

Southern Front: Italy Beginning in 1915, the Italians mounted 11 major offensives

all repelled by the Austro-Hungarians, In one year’s fighting, the Italians had had one minor victory, capturing the town of Gorizia..

In the fall of 1917, thanks to victories on the Eastern front, the Austrians received large reinforcements, including German assault troops, and launched a crushing offensive that resulted in the victory of Caporetto: the Italian army was routed, but after retreating more than 100km, it was able to reorganise and hold.

In 1918, the Austrians repeatedly failed to break the Italian line, and, decisively defeated in the Battle of Vettorio Veneto, surrendered to the Entente powers in November.

Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff had a deep hatred for the Italians because of Italian betrayal (going against prior alliances with Austria to fight with the Triple Entente in 1915). – His hatred for Italy blinded him in many ways, and he made many

foolish tactical and strategic errors during the campaigns in Italy.

Eastern Front: conventional warfare The Ottoman empire threatened the British Empire, cutting

off India and the East via the Suez Canal. So British Empire began fighting in the South with Gallipoli

and Mesopotamian campaigns.– At Gallipoli, the Turks successfully threw back the ANZAC'S

(Australian New Zealand Army Core), forcing withdrawal. – In Mesopotamia (Iraq), by contrast, British Empire forces captured

Baghdad in March 1917. – Sinai Peninsula/Palestine: British failures reversed, captured

Jerusalem being captured – Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Field Marshall Allenby, with

help from Arabs promised an independent nation by Lawrence, defeated Ottoman

– Russian armies generally defeated Turkish forces in the Caucusus. • The commander of Turkish armed forces (Enyer Pasha—ambitions, but

not a good soldier) launched an offensive with 100,000 troops against the Russians in the Caucasus in December of 1914. Insisting on a frontal attack against Russian positions in the mountains in the heart of winter, Enver lost 86% of his forces.

• The Russian commander, victorious against the Ottomans forces, drove the Turks out of much of present-day Armenia, tragically provided a context for deportation of the population in eastern Armenia.

The War in the Balkans After repelling three Austrian invasions during August-December

1914, Serbia fell to Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, (the latter of which joined the Central Powers in September, 1915) in October 1915.

– The Serbian army was defeated at Kosovo, then retreated into Albania and Greece.

– In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and pressure the Greek government into war against the Central Powers, BUT the pro-allies government had just been dismissed by the pro-German king of Greece, who prevented official Greek entry into the war until 1917.

The northern Greek (Salonica Front): Allies had no success, joked that Salonica was the largest German prisoner of war camp.

– At the very end of the war, when most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had left and the Front was held by the Bulgarians alone, were the Entente powers able to break through, forcing Bulgaria's signing an armistice on September 29, 1918.

The Lusitania Germany declared unrestricted sub

warfare against allied shipping, especially British

America was shipping war material and food to Europe and making TONS of money.Despite German warnings, the Lusitania, a passenger liner, sailed from New York toward London in 1915.

Off the coast of Ireland, a German sub spotted the liner, then fired a torpedo.

The initial explosion set off a violent second blast. The ship sank in 18 minutes. 1,195 of the 1,959 on board, including 123 Americans, died.

Outrage was great on both sides of the Atlantic (riots in England)

America enters the war German miscalculation overcame US “isolationist” public opinion:

– Immediately after the Lusitania sank, Germany promised to restrict their sub warfare, but then early in 1917, Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted sub warfare, reminding all of their hostility over Lusitania

– The Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted about the same time. The telegram encouraged the Mexican government to declare war against the US if the US came into the war against Germany: then after the war, Germany would make sure Mexico recovered all territories surrendered to the US during the 19th Century.

After further U-boat attacks on American merchant ships, Wilson had Congress declare war on Germany in April, 1917.

Germany thought it had time before large numbers of American troops would arrive in Europe, and that the U-boats would prevent their arrival.

– BUT the United States had full military-related production, aiding the Entente for quite some time, and had loaned the Allied powers money

– The Germans decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, despite the threat of U.S. intervention, gambling that they would win the war before America could make an impact on the battlefield.

American contribution to the war was important, particularly increasing US infantry in Europe. Significant numbers of American troops only arrived in Europe in the summer of 1918.

The US Navy immediately started escorting European convoys in the Atlantic. Several regiments of marines were also dispatched to France. – However, the United States not able to contribute manpower

to the Western and Italian front until later in the wars. The British and French wanted the United States to

send its infantry to reinforce their troops already on the battlelines; the Americans were short of artillery, etc. General Pershing resisted breaking up American units and using them as reinforcements for British Empire and French units. Pershing ordered the use of frontal assaults, and the AEF suffered a very high rate of casualties..

Over four months in 1918 the German army launched five major assaults at different parts of the allied line. The Allies called up American troops to assist British and French in the area just south of Belgium’s border on the way to Paris.

Germans, knowing where untested American troops were placed, attacked there with ferocity, expecting easy victory.

General Ludendorff attacked the Allied Northern Front on 27 May 1918. – He knew that inexperienced American Expeditionary Forces, moved up from training areas were

placed astride a strategic highway and assumed they’d be “easy pickings.”– Allied armies began retreating, and a French officer advised the Marines to join them. A Marine

officer replied: "Retreat, hell. We just got here." – The Marines were expected to defend Bois de Belleau, three square miles of rocks, wood, filled

with entrenched 1,200 elite soldiers from the 461st Imperial German Infantry. On 4 and 5 June, Marines held their positions along the highway. On 6 June, the Fifth

Marines counterattacked against the woods and Hill 142. By day's end, the edge of Belleau Wood and Hill 142 were taken at the expense of over 1,000 casualties.

– For four days, Marines hammered their way through the woods. On the 13th, the Germans counterattacked. The entrenched Marines started to drop the enemy at 400 yards with concentrated rifle fire.

– On 26 June, they proudly announced that the "Woods are now United States Marine Corps' entirely." At the end of the battle, the Marine brigade had suffered 55 percent casualties, 1,062 killed and 3,615 wounded.

The action stopped the last major offensive of the war by the Germans. German soldiers later referred to the U.S. Marines, respectfully, as "Teufelhunde," Devil Dogs, because of their fierceness in battle.

Ludendorff decided that Germany had two ways out of the War—total annihilation or an armistice, communicated to high command.

Pershing's artillery continued to unrelentingly pound the exhausted and bewildered Germans, all along the Meuse-Argonne front. The Allied pressure did not let up until the end of the war.

Meanwhile, news of Germany's impending military defeat had spread throughout the German Armed forces. The threat of general mutiny was rife.

Naval commander and Ludendorff decided to launch a last ditch attempt to restore the "valour" of the German Navy. Knowing any such action would be vetoed by the government, Ludendorff decided not to inform them. Nonetheless, word of the impending assault reached sailors at Kiel. Many rebelled and were arrested, refusing to be part of a Naval offensive which they believed to be nothing more than a suicide bid. It was Ludendorff who took the blame for this—the Kaiser dismissed him.

Defeat Brings Political Change Ludendorff‘s political plan for Germany.

– Although a traditionalist conservative, he wanted a controlled political revolution, with new reforms to "democratize" Germany

– satisfied the monarchists by continuing the Kaiser's reign– L hoped democratization would show the people that the

government was prepared to change, reducing chances of a socialist revolt like Russia’s.

Ludendorff’s ulterior motive?– reforms would hand power over to the Reichstag—ruling

parties: the centre party, the liberals, and the social democrats.– they would have the obligation, authority to request armistice

because of 5,989,758 German casualties (1,773,700 killed, 4,216,058 wounded)

"The Menin Road" - Ian Strang, 1918

Destruction of US 89th Division

ammunition dump at Lucey

Valenciennes burning after

German evacuation

"Ypres, Christmas 1917" - Gilbert Holliday

Peronne during the Battle of the Somme 1916 - Robert Carlson

Trying to end the war: Allies Allied counter offensive (100 Days Offensive) at Amiens

– utilized 414 tanks of the Mark IV and V type, and 120,000 men. – The Entente forces advanced twelve kilometres into German- held

territory in just seven hours. – General Ludendorff referred to this day as "the Black Day of the

German army". 2nd Battle of the Somme—

– Allies slowed down: problems with all but seven tanks. – General Haig called a halt and began planning a new offensive,

130,000 United States troops + soldiers from British Armies. – It was an overwhelming success for the Allies. In 2 weeks, the

Germans were on the Hindenburg Line, the starting point of the War. The Allied attempt to take the Hindenburg Line (the Meuse-

Argonne Offensive) – 260,000 American soldiers went "over the top". – All divisions were successful in capturing their initial objectives,

except the one US division which met stiff resistance and was unable to progress on the first day of the battle.

– This failure allowed the Germans to recover and regroup..

Trying to End the War: Germany German Gen. Ludendorff planned a different kind of attack to throw off Allies,

break through, splitting their lines before American troops arrived.– Germans used infiltration: (before this, long artillary bombardments, then continuous

front mass attacks) artillery briefly and small groups of infantry sneaking in at weak points, attacking crucial areas and surrounding points of serious resistance. These isolated positions were then destroyed by more heavily armed infantry.

– German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 km. For the first time since 1914, tactics had returned to the battlefield.

The front line now moved to within 120 kilometres of Paris. – Germans used heavy guns to fire 183 huge shells on Paris, causing many Parisians to

flee the city. – The initial stages of the offensive were so successful that German Kaiser Wilhelm II

declared the day a national holiday. Many Germans thought victory to be close; – BUT after heavy fighting, the German offensive was halted. German casualties

between March and April 1918 were 270,000. The resulting Entente counterattack marked the Entente's first successful

offensive of the war. By July 1918, the Germans were back at their starting lines, having achieved nothing. The German Army never again held the initiative.

Meanwhile, Germany was crumbling internally. Anti-war marches were a frequent occurrence, and morale within the army was at low levels. Industrial output had fallen 53% from 1913.

Weimar Republic

Soon after, Ludendorff had a dramatic change of heart and began to claim that the very parties to whom he had handed power had lost Germany the war. He said these politicians had "stabbed Germany in the back"--later used to great effect by various German nationalist groups, including the Nazis.

Prince Von Baden was put in charge of the new German government and immediately began negotiations for a peace.

– torn between the idea of a constitutional monarchy or republic However, Philipp Scheidemann declared Germany to be a Republic,

from a balcony atop the Reichstag. Von Baden then announced that the Kaiser was to abdicate—before the Kaiser had himself made up his mind.

Imperial Germany had died, and a new Germany had been born: the Weimar Republic

The End of the War

The end of the fighting came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first of the Central Powers to sign an armistice 29 Sep 1918 after combined Allies with Greece, Serbian troops wanting revenge pushed Bulgaria back through Serbia, opening up land route to Vienna, blocking German land route to Constantinople.

British victories in Mesopotamia and Palestine (with Arab help, when promised Arab independence after the war via TE Lawrence) defeat the Ottoman Empire

Rebellion breaks out in Germany: When Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered the German High Seas Fleet against the

Entente's navies, the sailors mutinied 29 Oct ; the Kaiser is forced to abdicate (to Holland where he lives until after the German sweep into France in 1940)

Ludendorff, breaking down when he hears about the Bulgarian armistice, requests a temporary ceasefire 3 October.

On 30 Oct, the Ottoman Empire capitulated. On 3 Nov, Austria-Hungary asked for truce from the

Italian Commander and requested Armistice, peace terms. The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Entente

Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian Commander, and were accepted. – Armistice with Austria was granted to take effect at three o'clock

on the afternoon of 4 Nov. – Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the

overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

– Armistice Day, 11 a.m. 11 Nov 1918 (11-11-11-1918)

The Armistice German government reaches out to Wilson, who has

published his “peace without victory” and 14 points. Germans expect to be treated fairly.

Ludendorff changes his mind about armistice, but it’s too late: both army and German people ready to end the fighting

Civilian government negotiations: armistice, but Germany must surrender guns, all subs, most warships, Rhine

Ludendorff blames the home front for the defeat—military “stabbed in the back”

Armistice takes effect 11 am 11-11-1918 German army comes home with victory parades, with

fiction “never vanquished, never defeated”

"Facts are mere accessories to the truth, and we do not invite to our hearth the guest who can only remind us that on

such a day we suffered calamity. Still less welcome is he who would make a Roman holiday of our misfortunes. Exaggeration

of what was monstrous is quickly recognised as a sign of egotism, and that contrarious symptom of the same disease which pretends that what is accepted as monstrous was really little more than

normal is equally unwelcome."

Max Plowman from Subaltern on the Somme

Paris 1919: The Versailles Treaty Big 4 plus 33 other country’s representatives: Central

Powers brought in only after terms settled upon Big 4

– Wilson: League of Nations #1, compromises on freedom of seas and self determination for all countries

– Clemenceau: France insists on regaining Alsace Lorraine, on Germany taking blame; out for security, so insists on disarmed Germany, reparations

– Lloyd George: Britain wants no freedom of seas; protect empire (not self determination—ok, but under empires)

– Orlando: Italy wanted Austrian territory in N Italy (though had not been able to take it militarily); territory in Africa and Mid East; some of Balkans

What the Big Powers got: Britain: German African colonies;

mandates (protectorates) in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq; no declared freedom of seas

France: Alsace Lorraine; reparations from Germany; mandates in Mid East

US: Europe to repay debts from German reparations; new nations to be “democratic”; League of Nations (Wilson)

League mainly to enforce Versailles, especially war debts and reparations

Who wasn’t happy: Germany:

– Forced to take responsibility for war (to justify reparations)– Onerous reparations—but never paid even as much as

France after Franco Pruss war– Disarmed (subs and navy to Britain)

Italy:– Some territory from Austria, but not Trieste, no African/Mid

East territory Japan:

– Wanted racial equality written in—wasn’t– Wanted parts of China (kept some), islands (not)

Arabs:– Promised independent Arab state—didn’t get it– Upset about Brit (with Fr and US concurring) Balfour

Declaration