World War I, 1914-1916.

AS and A Level History

Jason C. Faulkner

History 335

Europe, 1900-1945

July 7, 2004

Lesson II: World War I, 1914-1916

Von Schlieffan Plan: The Schlieffan Plan was named after Alfred von Schlieffan, the German Army Chief of Staff. This plan was devised in 1905 in order to counter act a joint attack. The threat of this joint attack came with the signing of the Entante Cordiale by the British and the French, and later Russia, so Germany understood that if they were to attack one of these two countries they would encounter a multiple threat. The Schlieffan plan entailed using most of the German army to defeat France before Russia and Great Britain could ready themselves for war. The Schlieffan Plan was put into effect on August 1914 when Germany attacked Belgium and Luxembourg.
Plan XVII: Plan XVII was devised by the French in 1913 to recapture the territories of the Alsace and Lorraine. This plan called for an advance by the French armies into Alsace and Lorraine and two of the armies would surround the Metz-Thionville fortress, which was controlled by the Germans since 1871. The other two armies would advance into Luxembourg and Belgium. The only backfire to this plan was that the French commander in chief, Joseph Joffre miscalculated where the Germans would first attack. He also underestimated the amount of strength that the Germans had placed on their frontlines. Thus Plan XVII was left destroyed.
Hindenburg: General Paul von Hindenburg was a retired officer who was recalled to the Eastern front as Commander of East Prussia. Hindenburg had won an incredible victory at Tannenberg, in August 14 where he overcame a larger army and eventually won the battle. He was later promoted to Commander and Chief of the German armies in the east.
Ludendorff: General Erich Ludendorff served as the Head of Deployment for the German armies. He worked hand in hand with General Paul von Hindenburg in carrying out the Schlieffan Plan. Ludendorff is given much credit for carrying out the strategies the aided in the victory at Tannenberg.
1st Battle of the Marne: This battle was orchestrated in September of 1914. The battle brought the German advance into France, which was brought about by the Schlieffan Plan, to a halt and it put the France/British armies, and the German armies into a stalemate thus evoking trench warfare throughout the western front of Europe.
Race to the Sea: The term “Race to the Sea” refers to the phase of military strategy when the German armies were halted at the Battle of the Marne. Since the British and the French were able to thwart the oncoming German attack both armies “dug in” into trenches. Thus began the trench warfare. The armies dug trenches that reached close to 400 miles. The armies pressed their attacks further north until they reached the city of Flanders. Here, the countryside seemed to open up giving room for evasive military maneuvers.
Tannenburg: This battle took place in August of 1914. This is renounced as the most impressive German victory in the First World War. This war came when General Hindenburg, and Ludendorff attacked the Russian army twice. The first of these attacks came on August 26. The German army killed and captured close to 100,000 Russian soldiers. The next German victory would come during the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. The German army again came away victorious killing close to 100,000 Russian soldiers. The German soldiers titled the victory “The Battle of Tannenburg” after a Slavic victory over the Teutonic Knights, which occurred five hundred years before.
Gallipoli: This Campaign focuses upon the Eastern Front of the battle. This campaign was fought to determine who controlled the Dardanelles Straits. The Entante Powers sought the Dardanelles as a strategic location for their cause. The Dardanelles served as a gateway to the Mediterranean Sea and would be a viable resource for either side. There was much hesitance in whether or not to involve Turkey into this war since they remained neutral at during this point in the war. However, Turkey did eventually embrace with the Alliance powers thus giving control of the Straits to Germany. The British and French armies would then attack fortresses that were located on the Straits in February of 1915. The campaign of the Entente forces to capture Gallipoli eventually failed and the troops were evacuated from the region.
Jutland: This battle is considered as one of the greatest Battleship battles during World War I. This battle began as a British blockade of Germany. The German vice Admiral Reeinhard Scheer believed he could weaken the British blockade by luring them into the open sea. Scheer called upon another German fleet to attack the blockade in order to distract them and to get some of the German ships past the blockade. The effort somewhat worked due to the fact that a few ships broke past the blockade but the bulk of the German navy was forced back into the blockade thus enforcing the stalemate.
Lusitania: The Lusitania was a luxury cruise ship that was setting sail from New York to Kinsale Head, Great Britain. Upon sailing this journey the Lusitania was on course to travel through an area where the German submarine U20 was located. The Lusitania was disguised as a passenger luxury liner but was actually much more. This ship was armed with 12 six-inch guns and it carried with her 1,248 boxes of three-inch shells, 4927 boxes of cartridges, and ten and a half tons of explosives that were all used as the United States way of secretly aiding Great Britain throughout the war. The Germans knew that this ship was much more than a luxury liner so on May 7, 1915 she was shot by the German submarine. One torpedo ran through her hull setting off two explosions. The first being that of the torpedo and the second being the explosion of the munitions located within her hull. One Hundred and thirty nine Americans died during the attack upon this ship. This event was significant because it sparked much rage within the United States and was deemed as one of the major factors that led to the United States entering into the war.

II. Answer all of the following:

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II. Answer all of the following:

1. The first year of World War I one riddled with mostly plans of attacking. One of the most important plans of the time was Germany’s von Schlieffan Plan. This plan was named after the German army chief of Staff, Alfred von Schlieffan. This plan involved swiftly attacking the French army before Russian and Great Britain had a chance to fortify their armies. In order to carry out this plan Germany was forced to place a large percentage of its forces into the eastern front in order to have enough arms to defeat the French within the required timely fashion. This plan eventually failed because the German officer miscalculated the amount of time it would take for the British and Russian armies to fortify themselves. In a quick amount of time the British armies were ready with aid along with the Russian army and they were able to put a halt to the German invasion. This was particularly evident during the First Battle of the Marne. Although the French forces were pushed back the French armies evaded a defeat and both armies dug in and began using the strategy of the trench warfare.

The next strategically thought out plan was Plan XVII. This plan was devised by the French to take the cities of Lorraine and Alsace. To conquer this feat the French armies divided into four separate armies, two would surround Lorraine and Alsace while the other two armies marched to Luxembourg and Belgium in order to thwart the German attack. This plan eventually would fail because the Germans marched around Belgium and into Lorraine thus defeating the French armies. This plan also failed because the French commander, Joseph Joffre, underestimated the amount of soldiers that the German armies employed. When the Germans arrived into Lorraine and Alsace the French were greatly outnumbered.

2. The Eastern Front in 1914-1915 of this Great War began on August 17, 1914 when Russian General Rennenkampf’s first army invaded Eastern Prussia in efforts to strike first against the German army. Russia’s second army then, thereafter, attacked the German eighth army. This was achieved all the while they were fighting with two-thirds strength due to the fact that the Russians were slow mobilizing their troops. The German armies, whom were controlled by General Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorf planned a counter offensive against the Russians. The Germans won two very influential battles during the Battle of Tannenburg, which boosted German morale hand helped to thwart the Russian attack.

Not only were the Russians and Germany engaged on the Eastern Front. In the south of Poland Austrian Chief of Staff, Conrad von Hoetzendorf launched and attacks of his own upon Warsaw. This engagement met with the Austrian retreat in September.

As the winter of 1914-15 approached the Germans began to concentrate upon luring Russian forces away from the Carpathian Mountains. These mountains offered much protection and made it difficult to set up on offensive attack. With German consent the Austrian purged deep into the Russian lines in order to promote a Russian attack but Austria was then again faced with an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Russians.

Even though the Austrians fought the Russians valiantly, Germany eventually controlled the Eastern Front in May of 1915.

3. As the war continues the Allied, as well as the Axis, forces begin to seek viable resources to better their cause thus giving them a strategically based advantage. For this reason the War begins to spread all across the landscape of Europe. World War I especially began to spread in Italy, the Balkans and the Dardanelles Straits. The war spreads into Italy in May of 1914. At first the Italy did not want to become involved in the war thus refusing to fulfill it’s obligation to fight with the Central Powers. Italy believed that all of the territorial demands that she might have would eventually become met due to the fact that she stayed neutral throughout the war. Italy’s neutrality would eventually change when she declared war upon Austria Hungary in May of 1914. This would prove to be a great asset to the Entente powers because Italy maintained a powerful army.

The war, next, moved into the Balkans, which were undergoing territorial changes that were being brought upon by the Austrians. This became unbeknownst to the Italians who were unaware of the changes that were being made throughout the Balkans. The fight for the Dardanelles Straits, however, became much more important to the war. Entante powers believed that they could gain a strategically geographical advantage by controlling the Dardanelle Straits due to the fact that the Dardanelles connected to the Mediterranean Sea. The only problem with this was that Turkey, who was a neutral at the time, controlled the Straits. Nevertheless the Dardanelles was a key location to control but acquiring them would eventually become a difficult task. The Dardanielles were surrounded by steep mountains, which were heavily fortified with fortresses. The Entante Powers would attack in efforts to control the Dardanelles in February of 1915 but would fail to take them.

III. The war on the high seas was riddled with two specific events during this time period that would become very vital to the war. The first of these events was the sinking of the cruise liner Luisitania. This event occurred when the cruise liner set sail from New York to Kinsale Head, Great Britain. While upon entering New York harbor Luisitania acquired many passengers, and various other materials that were typical of a cruise ship. However, the ship also acquired her 1,248 boxes of three-inch shells, 4927 boxes of cartridges, and ten and a half tons of explosives. The ship was also rigged with 12 six-inch guns. Obviously this wasn’t the ordinary cruise ship. President Woodrow Wilson wanted a way to secretly aid the British while remaining neutral throughout the war. The Germans knew this viable information thus employing a submarine to destroy the ship upon entering its range. The German submarine U20 carried out these orders and on May 7 U20 fired one shot through the hull of the cruise ship destroying her and killing one-hundred and twenty-nine Americans.

The next infamous battle on the high seas was the infamous sea battle of Jutland. This event occurred during a British attempt to blockade the Germans. During this stalemate the German vice Admiral Reeinhard Scheer developed a plan to weaken the British blockade. To succeed in this endeavor Scheer called upon another German naval group to enter and attack the British blockade. When the German attack came a few of the German ships slipped through the blockade but for the most part, the British were able to push the Germans back and invoke the blockade upon them.

IV. The mobilization of Germany, France and England had been going on for many years before the war had officially began. France and England desperately tried to develop plans to deter the Germany onslaught. This was especially evident during the Plan XVII. Germany also developed plans of their own to attack France quickly in order to defend against the attacks of Russia and Great Britain. This was evident through their careful orchestration of the Schlieffan Plan. Another way that these countries mobilized themselves for war is the digging of the trenches that helped with their stalemates. The use of these trenches was an important part of the mobilization of their troops. It provided shelter, and a barrier between them and their enemies.

Gilbert, Martin. The First World War. (New York: Henry Holt and Company) 1994.