In 1917, the ‘battle of Cambrai’ began. Haig ordered 100 tanks although he still did not think that they were the wonder weapon and neither did the Germans. The Allies’ new weapon was the tank and the new German weapon was the pillbox. It was a box of concrete with holes in it big enough for a few machineguns to fire at the approaching Allies. In the pillbox, there would be replacement machine gunners just in case the other ones were killed. Straight away Ludendorff, the German commander’s offensive pushed the Allies forty miles back, but this was too far too fast and there were over one million German casualties. After the Somme, the British had become a much better artillery force, and in the final months of the war, the British became very effective at using artillery. When Haig broke through the Hindenburg line, he had more limited objectives that were more achievable. The end of the War in Europe Began with a British drive (August 8-11) into the German lines around Amiens, the Allies began the offensive that three months later resulted in German capitulation. During the last week of August and the first three days of September, British and French forces won the Second Battle of the Somme and the Fifth Battle of Arras, and drove the Germans back to the Hindenburg line. A particularly strong German salient was then reduced by American troops (September 12-13) in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and more than 14,000 prisoners were taken. In October and early November, the British moved towards Cambrai and the Americans advanced partly through the Argonne Forest. The latter thrust broke the German lines between Metz and Sedan. As a result of these offensives, Ludendorff requested his government to seek an armistice with the Allies. The German government initiated armistice talks (October) with the Allies, but they failed when President Wilson insisted on negotiating only with democratic governments. The British advance meanwhile made rapid progress in northern France and along the Belgian coast, and on November 10, US and French troops reached Sedan. By the beginning of November the Hindenburg, line had been completely broken, and Germans were in rapid retreat on the entire western front. The defeat of the German army had domestic political repercussions that were catastrophic to the established German government. The German fleet mutinied; an uprising dethroned the king of Bavaria; and in November, Emperor William II abdicated and fled to the Netherlands. The German republic was proclaimed on November 9. An armistice commission had already been dispatched to negotiate with the Allies. At 5 a.m. on November 11, an armistice was signed in the Forest of Compiègne between Germany and the Allies on terms laid down by the Allies; at 11 the same morning hostilities ended on the western front.
Haig did have a few successful battles, one being the Hindenburg line breakthrough. In this battle, his repetitive tactics took the Germans completely by surprise, the allied bombardment simply blew the German front line away and then the cavalry and infantry made the breakthrough with ease. In the ‘battle of the Somme’, you could argue that Haig won or lost. He won because his objectives were achieved the Germans were worn down, and German resources were used up, but at what cost, is the use of a German resources and a few experienced German casualties really worth six hundred and twenty thousand British casualties compared to four hundred and fifty thousand. The Allies took six miles, but is that worth one hundred and seventy thousand, casualties that are more allied then the Germans had? When you say this, the way I did it seems like the success of the Somme is not worth the losses. However, when you look at the bigger picture it seems that the successes of the Somme were much more important then they are portrayed. Despite the dreadful conditions and serious tactical failings, the campaign as a whole does contain evidence of a “learning curve”, particularly in the employment of artillery, which would contribute to the remarkable victory in 1918. If it were not for the Somme, the soldiers would not have been as good as they were with artillery and it could be said that they would not have broken through the Hindenburg line, and if they had not broken through then the end and the winner of the war could be very different now. The resultant of the battle of Verdun was a draw, with the same number or casualties and no ground lost or gained. However, if the Germans had had a lot more of their most experienced soldiers that were lost at the Somme, then Verdun would have been captured. Verdun is a very good place to have strategically and if the Germans would have captured this then it would have taken many casualties to get it back. More so then the Somme I daresay. The Germen’s resources were running low and they could not get more resources to the frontline, Haig’s tactics were wearing them down and using up their resources, so Haig’s tactic was a very useful one to use at the time even if it cost men. Haig did achieve his objectives in the end. He did wear down the Germans and he did inflict heavy losses on them. He relieved the French at Verdun, which pleased them and saved a good battleground. In my opinion, I would say that the ‘Battle of the Somme’ was a success. I think what it did for the contribution of bringing a war to an end was huge. I also think that if the Somme had not occurred then the Allies would not have won the war. This is because the Allies would not have gained the experienced needed to fight and beat the Germans at Verdun, because the Germans would have taken Verdun if it were not for the Somme, I would trade six hundred and twenty thousand allied lives for the consequences of the Somme. Therefore, I would say the Somme was a success.
However, the Somme was not Haig’s only battle. The second battle of his was the third ‘Battle of Ypres’, or the battle of Passchendaele. The first part of this attack was brilliant and succeeded brilliantly. Haig took the village of Messines, which was important because its heights commanded miles of German territory, Haig’s second success. The conditions for the second phase were terrible, but Haig can hardly be blamed for that. It was Lloyd Georges fault for delaying the Haig’s attack. Lloyd George was the British Prime minister at the time. If Lloyd George had let Haig attack straight away it would have been in the good whether and a lot less men would have died. However, since the rain had made the ground so bad, the bombardment made the ground into a swamp. The second phase of the operation was another success for Haig. He pushed the Germans back five miles and inflicted heavy losses on them of two hundred and fifty thousand men. The Germans used Mustard gas, pillboxes that also inflicted heavy losses on the Allies of two hundred and fifty thousand as well, but the same number of casualties were lost and Haig gained five miles. Therefore, the battle must be a success. In addition, the bombardment wore the enemies down and wasted more German resources. The British troops also learned a lot after Messines. In the Battle of Cambrai, the British opened the attack with a raid by nearly 100 tanks. This was the first tank raid on such a scale in military history, and, but for lack of reserves, the British might have achieved a breakthrough. As it was, the British drove a five mile salient into the German lines. German counter-attacks, however, compelled the British to yield most of the newly won ground. Therefore, this was not a success for Haig as all he did was lose many tanks. No ground was won or lost and there was no gain in casualties. This was Haig’s first failure and it was not a big one. Then came Ludendorff’s massive offensive, which pushed the Allies back forty miles. This may seem like a failure but it is not because the Germans advanced too far too quickly and there were one million German casualties and not many allied casualties. During the last week of August and the first three days of September, British and French forces won the Second Battle of the Somme and the Fifth Battle of Arras, and drove the Germans back to the Hindenburg line. A particularly strong German salient was then reduced by American troops (September 12-13) in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and more than 14,000 prisoners were taken. In October and early November, the British moved towards Cambrai and the Americans advanced partly through the Argonne Forest. The latter thrust broke the German lines between Metz and Sedan. As a result of these offensives, Ludendorff requested his government to seek an armistice with the Allies. The German government initiated armistice talks (October) with the Allies, but they failed when President Wilson insisted on negotiating only with democratic governments. The British advance meanwhile made rapid progress in northern France and along the Belgian coast, and on November 10, US and French troops reached Sedan. By the beginning of November the Hindenburg line had been completely broken, and Germans were in rapid retreat on the entire western front, and so the end to Haig’s massive success on the western front. Haig’s views on a war of attrition were good ones because his ruthless tactics were based around this view. If he did not think as he did then he would have had completely different tactics and they might not have been as effective as his proper ones were. Haig also captured Vimy Ridge and made an advance of six miles, this was a huge success because Vimy was very well fortified and a good place to have for the Hindenburg breakthrough.
For Haig though the biggest bonus of his tactics was how it tied in with ‘War at sea’. The British Grand Fleet had created a blockade of German ports. This cut of the German supplies coming in from other countries. This was only a small concern for the Germans at first as they had plenty of supplies, resources and ammunition. However, Haig’s tactics on the Western front used up a great deal of the German supplies, resources and especially ammunition as did the Russians on the Eastern Front by establishing the Eastern Front so early and dividing the German troops. The shortage of food and other supplies became so great in Germany it led to a state of civil war, which eventually led to surrender. Therefore, in conclusion I think that the tactics that Haig used were vital for bringing an ending to the First World War. I also think that if it were not for Haig then the Allies would not have had as good a chance at winning the war, because the Germans were much more experienced and skilled soldiers then the Allies were as they had been preparing for the war for a long time. Haig’s simple repetitive tactics of attrition suited our unqualified and inexperienced troops.
How important was the War at Sea in leading to the end of World War 1?
Both Germany and Britain believed that naval warfare was going to be of utmost importance as to the outcome of the war. Even before the war, there was a frantic naval race in which both sides attempted to out number the other. Both sides realised, however, that the dominance of the seas was going to remain with Britain and that it would be unlikely that the Germans would be successful in battle. For this reason, the two sides both attempted to avoid such meetings and instead turned to other measures, in particular ruining each other’s trade with other countries. Germany’s tactic was a U-boat campaign and the British relied purely on a powerful fleet. At the outset of war, the main British fleet was called the Grand Fleet and consisted of 20 dreadnoughts and numerous other ships, including battle cruisers, cruisers, and destroyers. The Grand Fleet was based principally at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands north of Scotland. A second British fleet, consisting of older ships, was used to guard the English Channel. The German fleet, the High Seas Fleet, consisting of 13 dreadnoughts, was based on the North Sea ports of Germany. Although there was very little fighting at sea, the sea campaigns were incredibly important because whoever controlled the seas controlled the supplies, and the supplies were the key to winning the war, if you had them you would win and if you didn’t then you would lose.
During 1914, no major naval engagements between the belligerents took place in the Atlantic. In the Battle of Helogland Bight, the British raided the German naval base at Helgoland, an island off Germany in the North Sea, sinking three German ships. German submarines sunk several British naval units, including the super dreadnought Audacious (October 27); and a daring attempt by German submarines to raid Scapa Flow caused the British naval units stationed there to withdraw to bases on the west coast of Scotland.
In the South Pacific a squadron of German cruisers under the command of Admiral Maximilian von Spee did considerable damage to installations at the French island of Papeete and the British-held Fanning Island (September and October 1914)and defeated a British squadron off the headland of Coronel, Chile (November 1). In the Battle of Coronel and on December 8 the squadron was defeated with the loss of four out of its five ships in the Battle of Falkland Islands by a British squadron under Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee. During 1914 and the early part of 1915 German cruisers did considerable damage to British shipping in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere until captured or otherwise put out of commission.
The year 1915 was notable for the submarine blockade Germany instituted around Great Britain. This was the German naval policy. The Germans announced that they would sink any ship without warning. Their aim was to starve Britain into surrender by sinking all the supply ships bringing in food and weapons. The most famous sinking was by a German submarine on of the British passenger liner Lusitania on May 7. The ship was going from New York to Liverpool. The German’s had stated that this ship was likely to be destroyed as it was carrying weapons and ammunition to Britain. About 13 km off the coast of Ireland the Lusitania was spotted by Captain Scweiger, of Germany’s U-boat 20. He then fired two torpedoes at it. It sunk within eighteen minutes, taking 1098 of her 1906 passengers and a crew to the bottom of the sea. This also caused the loss of many American lives, leading to a controversy between the United States and Germany that almost started war between the two nations. The firm stand taken by the United States forced Germany to modify its method of submarine warfare to the satisfaction of the American government. In March 1916, however, the German sinking in the English Channel by submarine of the French steamer Sussex, with the loss of American lives, led to another controversy between Germany and the United States, a virtual US ultimatum compelling Germany temporarily to cease its unrestricted submarine warfare. In 1917, not only did the United States enter the war, but also the Germans failed in their attempt to drive Great Britain to surrender through the destruction by submarine of the British and Allied shipping on which it depended for food and other supplies. At the outset, the German submarine campaign seemed likely to succeed. Towards the end of 1916, German submarines were destroying monthly about 300,000 tons of British and Allied shipping in the North Atlantic; in April 1917, the figure was 875,000 tons. Because the Germans had calculated that the destruction of 600,000 tons monthly for six consecutive months would be sufficient to force Great Britain to capitulate, they were doubly certain of victory after April. Great Britain, however, roused itself to unprecedented efforts to fight the submarine menace. By the adoption of a convoy system of screening fleets of merchant vessels with warships, especially destroyers and submarine chasers, and by the use of hydroplanes for spotting submarines and depth charges for destroying them, Great Britain, as the summer advanced, rendered the German submarine campaign less and less effective. By the autumn, although large numbers of Allied ships were still being sunk, the Germans were sustaining heavy losses in submarines. At the same time, the Allied nations, especially the United States, were rapidly building new shipping. By the outset of 1918, the Allies were turning out more new ships than the Germans were destroying, and the German effort to end the war by submarine warfare had clearly failed. In the end, the Germans had sunk 2,371,000 tonnes of merchant shipping. To combat the U-boat the British tried using underwater mines and nets, mines that exploded when they came into contact with the hulls of ships or submarines.
British naval policy was clear, "to cut Germany off from all supplies by sea, and to starve her by withholding food and raw materials", and at the same time allow business as usual during alterations to the map of Europe. This plan was executed in a number of ways, the British Fleet avoided battles and any attempt to destroy the German Fleet and mines were laid out across the English Channel as early as October 2nd. Britain acted as a barrier between the North Sea and Germany and declared the North Sea a war zone. This meant that no trade could reach Germany’s short coast by any means. For this reason Germany were cut off from all outside trade from Allies or more importantly neutrals who were now solely able to trade with Britain. Germany could do little to help them out of this position but they could attempt to hamper British trade. Their fleet, in order to reach the North Sea in the first place would have to pass the Grand Fleet of the British and considering the strength of the British this was an unlikely event. Besides the bulk of its naval unit was made of ships purely for use in battles. It did have cruisers but they were few in number and built to a poor standard, the possibility of German ships passing Britain was a relatively unlikely one. They had few colonies and so ships could not be brought in by them, thus making passing Britain by unnecessary. Germany had to pass Britain but at the same time be undetected if they were to attempt to cut British trade. Their answer was U-boats.
This is what a typical German U-boat in WW1 looked like.
The most important naval engagement of the war was the Battle of Jutland. This happened on May 31 and June 1, 1916, between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet. The British Grand Fleet was under the command of Admiral John Rushworth Jellicoe, and the German High Seas Fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Reinhard von Scheer. Von Scheer’s plan was to send a small number of his ships into the North Sea to act as bait for the British Grand Fleet. The German High Seas Fleet would follow 80 kilometres behind, so that when the British Grand Fleet chased the small number of ships he would be able to trap them. Unluckily for Sheer, however, his plan had already been ruined in 1914 when a drowned German sailor was washed up onto a Russian beach. In his pocket was a book containing all of Germany’s radio codes. The Russians then gave the book to the British Allies who where then able de-code German radio messages, so when they heard Scheer giving his coded radio orders they were able to make plans of their own.
Scheer sent his bate on May the 31st, about 121 km (75 mi) off the Danish coast of Jutland in the Skagerrak. The first phase of the battle began when, at 3:48 p.m. on May 31st, the battle cruisers and destroyers of Vice Admiral David Beatty made contact with a squadron of German battle cruisers. Both sides opened fire simultaneously, and the action lasted for 55 minutes. At 4:43 p.m., the German squadron was joined by the remainder of the High Seas Fleet. Beatty, who was still waiting for Jellicoe to bring up the rest of the Grand Fleet, fought a delaying action until the British supporting force could reach the scene. With the arrival of the Grand Fleet, a contest of high naval strategy began between Jellicoe and Scheer. Jellicoe manoeuvred the German fleet into a V formed by British ships. Elements of the two fleets engaged each other intermittently throughout the late evening and early morning. Due to a series of British blunders, including confused orders and poor intelligence reports, and thanks to a brilliant retreat manoeuvre by Scheer, the German fleet escaped under cover of darkness, bringing the battle to an end. Out of a total of 110 German vessels engaged in the battle, Scheer lost 11. German casualties totalled 1,545 men; the British lost 14 of 149 ships and 6,274 men. Although the material and human losses of the British were the greater, the German fleet made no further attempts to break the Allied blockade of the German coast. Allied supremacy on the North Sea remained unchallenged for the duration of the war.
Losses at the battle of Jutland.
After the battle of Jutland no more battles of real significance occurred. This is important enough to be considered relevant to the outcome of the war as it meant that the German Navy did little to help its troops on the front. British dominance of the sea meant that for the rest of the war troops could be transferred across the Channel to France, which resulted in Germany,’s losing of the war. The battles that occurred were really irrelevant, as Germany never wanted to fight at sea, as they stood little chance in succeeding in any of them. Battles at sea were not the important factors, the important factors to both sides was the threat of war at sea.
In 1917, the Germans again resorted to unrestricted submarine warfare, convinced that this method was the only one that would defeat Great Britain. The plan not only failed to force the capitulation of Great Britain, but also caused the United States to declare war against Germany. The attacks of German submarines on British convoys in the Atlantic and in the North Sea caused much loss of shipping. As a result, in April 1918, the British attempted to block the German submarine bases at Ostende and Zebrugge in Belgium; they succeeded in blocking Zebrugge and partially succeeded in Ostende. Therefore, the British Grand Fleet had created a blockade of German ports. This cut off the German supplies coming in from other countries. If it was not for this cut then the Germans would have had plenty of resources and Haig would not have been able to wear the Germans down so Haig’s tactics would not have been so effective. However, the blockade and Haig’s ‘wearing down’ tactics worked well together. The shortage of food and other supplies became so great in Germany it led to a state of civil war, which eventually led to surrender.
The battle of Ypres was strategically very important because if the Germans got control of it they would gain controls the channel ports Ostende and Zebrugge. When in control of these ports the Germans could easily stop the supplies getting through to the Allies and possibly invade England Haig’s aims were to capture the high ground and to secure channel ports at Ostende and Zebrugge. He succeeded in his aims and secured the ports only with the help of the blockade keeping the Germans from the resources they so desperately needed.
In conclusion, I think that war at sea was a very important factor in the war and that it contributed greatly to the outcome. Without the blockades of the ports then Haig would not have been as successful as he was, maybe not even successful at all. So without a doubt war at sea was important to bringing the war to an end but was it as important as Haig’s tactics? In addition, Haig’s tactics and the Eastern Front wore down the Germans resources because they were being divided between the Eastern front because of its early establishment by the Russians and the Western Front because of Haig’s tactics that wore down the Germans. Then it gets even worse for the Germans as the blockade stops the resources needed and creates a civil war in Germany, thus leading to their surrender. So could it be that without the blockade the Germans could have continued fighting and had the resources that they needed to win the war?
How important was war on the Eastern Front in leading to the end of
World War 1?
The term the ‘Eastern Front’ usually applies to the fighting between Russia and Germany but can also be applied to battles against Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey. Russia had ensured the failure of the Schlieffen Plan. The Germans aimed to defeat France in six weeks so that they could send their armies to fight Russia. They assumed that Russia would not be ready in that time because they were so poorly equipped and badly trained. Schlieffen also thought that Germany would be safe for those six weeks; he had definitely not anticipated a Russian attack or advance. However, in agreement with the plans of the Allies, the Russians established themselves and the Eastern Front very quickly, far too quickly for the Germans. Therefore, the Russians went on the offensive at the very beginning of the war, thus dividing German troops and resources which greatly helped the Allies on the Western Front and which also worked well with the blockade at the war at sea. The Germans were using up far too many resources then they had. With this early establishment of the Eastern Front, Haig’s tactics that wore the Germans resources down greatly and on top of this, the Germans could hardly even get the Resources they needed because of the blockade.
The Russian armies were extremely badly equipped, some did not have guns and some did not even have boots. Nevertheless, in August 1914, two Russian armies advanced into East Prussia, and four Russian armies invaded the Austrian province of Galicia. In East Prussia a series of Russian victories against numerically inferior German forces had made the evacuation of that region by the Germans imminent, when a reinforced German army commanded by General Paul von Hindenburg decisively defeated the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg, fought on August 26-30, 1914. The four Russian armies invading Austria advanced steadily through Galicia; they took Przemysl and Bukovina, and by the end of March 1915 were in a position to move into Hungary. In April, however, a combined German and Austrian army drove the Russians back from the Carpathians. In May the Austro-German armies began a great offensive in central Poland, by September 1915 had driven the Russians out of Poland, Lithuania and Courland, and had also taken possession of all the frontier fortresses of Russia. To meet this offensive the badly equipped and badly trained Russians withdrew their forces from Galicia. The Russian lines, when the German drive had ceased, lay behind the Dvina River between Riga and Dvinsk (Daugavpils), and then ran south to the Dnestr River. Although the Central Powers did not force a decision on the eastern front in 1914-1915, the Russians lost so many men and such large quantities of supplies that they were subsequently unable to play any decisive role in the war. In addition to the Battle of Tannenberg, notable battles on this front during 1914-1915, centred on Masuria were the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes (September 7-14, 1914), and the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes (February 7-21, 1915), both German victories. In 1916, a Russian offensive, led by General Aleksey Alekseyvich Brusilov, destroyed two Austrian armies. German reinforcements soon drove the Russians back. In March 1917, the Tsar abdicated and the Provisional Government took over and continued with the war, but did so quite ineffectively. During 1917 there were only relatively minor engagements on the Eastern Front, until, after the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917, Vladimir Ilich Lenin decided to make peace with the Central Powers on March 3, 1918, this went with his ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ thesis. As a result, immense areas of former Russian territory—including Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Baltic States and Poland—were placed under German occupation. In addition, without having to worry about fighting the Russians, all the German troops were able to move to the other fronts, so the in the end the Russians did not help that much at all. All they did was distract the German troops for a while.
Therefore, In general, the events on the Eastern Front were not that successful. They started off well and then went down hill from there. In the end they had lost a lot of ground, including all their frontier fortresses, sustained many more casualties then the enemies and lost a load of supplies to the enemies. Therefore, I think that it is fair to say that the events on the Eastern Front with the Russians were pretty disastrous. However, there were a few good things that came out of it. It worked well with Haig’s tactics and was at sea. The Germans could not get the resources that they needed on the Western Front because they were being divided with the Eastern Front. Then it gets even worse for the Germans as the blockade stops the resources needed and creates a civil war in Germany, thus leading to their surrender.
One of the biggest campaigns on the Eastern Front was the Gallipoli campaign. It started when Turkey joined the war on the side of the Germans. This, of course, was a serious blow to the Allies. Mostly because the Turkish navy closed the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles were the narrow straight rivers that linked up the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea. The Dardanelles were particularly important because this was the only way the Allies could get through to Russia with food, artillery; ammunition etc, without these Russia would starve, and most definitely be killed by the impressive German army. This was also the time that Russia needed the resources the most with the premature establishment of the Eastern Front.
To help the Russian Allies Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, had devised a plan to help Russia and eventually win the war. He had planned a bold invasion of Turkey. Churchill first stage of the plan was to capture the Gallipoli peninsula, north of the Dardanelles using the Royal Navy alone. Then by attacking Gallipoli, he would first capture the Turkish capital, Constantinople, and so knock Turkey out of the war. Secondly, he would re-open the supply route to Russia. Churchill had also hoped that the defeat of Turkey would have other positive effects. He thought that the neutral countries close to Turkey, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria would join the Allies, allowing them to surround Austria-Hungary for an all out attack. Austria’s defeat would leave Germany isolated and unable to continue fighting and so ending the war. However, this was a very imaginative plan, as described by a politician afterward, and quite unrealistic. Especially with the difficult position, the Allies were in at the start of 1915. There was a stalemate on the Western Front, Russia were under attack by all the central powers and had supplies to fight back because of the closing of the Dardanelles.
Nevertheless, Churchill’s plan was gone ahead with and a fleet of British and French ships began the attack on Gallipoli in February 1915. The Turks, however, had put mines in the water and three battleships were blown up when they sailed into the Dardanelles. The rest of the fleet rapidly retreated. Although Winston Churchill claimed that the whole attack could be carried out by the Navy, the Allies now decided to send a small army to Gallipoli. So a force of British and Anzac troops gathered together and put under the command of Sir Ian Hamilton. None of them had ever practised landing on an enemy coast before and Hamilton was sent out to Gallipoli without proper maps for planning the invasion. He was also very slow in making his preparations when he got there. When the Anzacs finally landed in Anzac Cove on the 25th April the Turks wee ready for them. Thousands were mowed down by machine gun fire as they left their landing craft. Those who made it through the sea were pinned down on the beaches by shellfire from the cliffs above. The Allies attacked again in August at Sulva Bay but this attack was another disaster. Twenty thousand Allies were put ashore, only a thousand Turks barred their way and they did not even have machine guns. The commander Stopford did not go ashore, he fiddled around, relaxed and let the men relax as well, with hardly any Turks between them and victory. When the order to advance had been given two days later, the Turks had brought up reinforcements and halted the attackers. Both sides had dug trenches and, like on the Western Front there was a stalemate. In the trenches, the Allies were plagued by disease, insects, water shortages and hunger. In Britain, the generals leading the campaign were criticised and Sir Ian Hamilton was sacked. The new commander Sir Charles Monroe realised that conquering Gallipoli was impossible and ordered a complete withdrawal. This was the only success because they evacuated without the loss if a single life. The Gallipoli campaign had cost the Allies 200,000 casualties and the Dardanelles were still closed to allied and Russian ships. Russia now faced the prospect of a slow starvation. However, the invasion did waste German resources that were vital for the cause on the Western Front. Then again, in my opinion the campaign did not waste that many supplies and the loss of resources that we suffered and the loss of lives were simply not worth the resources that they lost.
It is hard to find any decisive contributions that were made by the Russians, because there weren’t any. The only thing the Russians did was use up a few German resources at the cost of many lives. Even though eventually lack of resources did lead to the Germans surrender, the contributions of the Russians were minimal. In fact, if it were not for the Russians then the Allies would not have lost so many supplies and men trying to save them from starvation by opening the Dardanelles. Those men lost for the Russians could have spent the time fighting somewhere else, e.g., the Western Front. All the Russians did was cost the Allies time, men and much needed resources. However, on the other hand you could argue that if it had been for the Russians fighting early on the Eastern front, dividing the German troops then the Allies would have faced early defeats and lost lots of ground. It is then possible to argue that if the Allies would have had lost then maybe that would have led to the collapse of the Western front for the Allies and that would have meant victory for the enemies for sure. However, with the extra men that the Allies would have had from not giving men to the Russian cause may have helped the Allies more then the Germans on the Western Front.
In conclusion, I think that the contribution to the war by the Russians was there, but it just was not vital. The Russians did make a contribution by dividing the enemy’s forces up when it was needed the most on the Western Front. In addition, the supplies that they made the enemy use up were important for success but not vital.
How important was America’s entry into the war in 1917 to it ending?
On April the 6th 1917, America declared war on Germany. The British people believed that America should have joined the war long ago because they spoke the British language and they shared many other things in common. The American, however, thought differently. They believed that the war was merely a distant European quarrel that they had not helped to make and which ad nothing to do with them. Their President, Woodrow Wilson, therefore kept America neutral. However, America could not separate themselves from Europe completely. America’s businessmen were making huge profit by selling guns to the Allies and the government was lending them money. By 1917, these war loans had amounted to two billion dollars, so while Woodrow Wilson said that America was neutral he had already made them financially involved with the Allies. Although it was not just the money that drew America into the war onto the side of the Allies. America’s ships in the Atlantic Ocean were being attacked and sunk by the German U-boats. Americans had already suffered when the Germans sunk the liner Lusitania, killing 128 American passengers. Anti German feeling swept through the country and many people demanded that America go to war with Germany. After the Lusitania sinking, the German cut back there U-boat attacks for over a year, but by 1917, they were desperate for a quick victory. They could only do this by starving Britain and France of supplies. Therefore, the U-boats went out again with the orders to attack any ship of any nationality sailing in British waters. The British called this unrestricted submarine warfare. Within eight weeks, they had sunk eight American ships. America made strong protests but Germany continued with there unrestricted submarine warfare. America had finally had enough when the Zimmerman Telegram was printed in the Newspapers. Arthur Zimmerman, Germany’s foreign minister, sent a telegram to one of his agents in Mexico, suggesting that Mexico should make an alliance with Germany and attack America’s Southern states such as Texas and Arizona if America were to join with the Allies. This was the last straw and the American president Woodrow Wilson had no choice but to go to war with Germany.
This was a great boost for the Allies, of course, because America was the richest country in the World. There was a problem though; the American’s could not join the fighting at once. Their army was too small and needed to be built up. Weapons had to be made, men trained and ships built to transport the men across the Atlantic. This would all take months. The Germans now began a race against time to win the war before the American’s came.
The early part of 1918 did not look propitious for the Allied nations. On March 3, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which put a formal end to the war between that nation and the Central Powers on terms more favourable to the latter. On May 7, Romania made peace with the Central Powers, signing the Treaty of Bucharest, by the terms of which it ceded the Dobruja region to Bulgaria and the passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary, and gave Germany a long-term lease on the Romanian oil wells.
After the United States entered the war in April 1917, it moved rapidly to raise and transport overseas a strong military force, known as the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), under the command of General John J. Pershing. By June 1917 more than 175,000 American troops were, training in France, and one division was actually in the lines of the Allied sector near Belfort; by November 1918, the strength of the AEF was nearly 2 million. From the spring of 1918, US troops played an important part in the fighting. This force quickly broke the stalemate on the Western Front. During 1918, the Allies, including the US troops, also brought the campaigning in Palestine to a successful conclusion. In September, the British forces broke through the Turkish lines at Megiddo and routed the Turkish army and the German corps that was assisting it; after being joined by Arab forces under Lawrence, the British took Lebanon and Syria. In October, they captured Damascus, Aleppo and other key points, while French naval forces occupied Beirut, and the Turkish government asked for an armistice. An armistice was concluded on October 30, and by its terms, the Turks were obliged to demobilize, break relations with the Central Powers and permit Allied warships to pass through the Dardanelles. This was incredibly important in helping to end the war and without the help of the US then maybe this would not have happened.
Beginning with a British drive (August 8-11) into the German lines around Amiens, the Allies began the offensive that three months later resulted in German capitulation. During the last week of August and the first three days of September, British and French forces won the Second Battle of the Somme and the Fifth Battle of Arras, and drove the Germans back to the Hindenburg line. A particularly strong German salient was then reduced by American troops (September 12-13) in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and more than 14,000 prisoners were taken. In October and early November, the British moved towards Cambrai and the Americans advanced partly through the Argonne Forest. The latter thrust broke the German lines between Metz and Sedan. As a result of these offensives, Ludendorff requested his government to seek an armistice with the Allies. The German government initiated armistice talks (October) with the Allies, but they failed when President Wilson insisted on negotiating only with democratic governments. The British advance meanwhile made rapid progress in northern France and along the Belgian coast, and on November 10, US and French troops reached Sedan. By the beginning of November the Hindenburg line had been completely broken, and Germans were in rapid retreat on the entire western front. The defeat of the German army had domestic political repercussions that were catastrophic to the established German government. The German fleet mutinied; an uprising dethroned the king of Bavaria; and in November, Emperor William II abdicated and fled to the Netherlands.
The German republic was proclaimed on November 9. An armistice commission had already been dispatched to negotiate with the Allies. At 5 a.m. on November 11, an armistice was signed in the Forest of Compiègne between Germany and the Allies on terms laid down by the Allies; at 11 the same morning hostilities ended on the western front. This incredible breakthrough broke the stalemate on the Western Front; this was an important factor in ending the war. It might not have happened without the help of the Americans, but we can’t let the Americans get all the credit because if it were not for Haig’s tactics then the Hindenburg line would not have been broken. It was his bombardment that blew the line away. The Allies broke through on the Western Front causing many German casualties, on the Balkan front in 1917. After the Allied troops had fought several inconclusive engagements at Monastir, at Lake Presba, and on the Vardar River, the Allies initiated an effort to oust the Greek king, Constantine, claiming that his pro-German sympathies and his aid to the Central Powers made it impossible for the Allies to conduct successful operations in the Balkan region. In June, the Allies began an invasion of Greece, and at the same time exerted diplomatic pressure on Constantine to abdicate. He did so on June 12; Venizelos became premier of the government formed under Alexander, the son of Constantine; and on June 27 the Greek government declared war on all four Central Powers. At the outset, the German submarine campaign seemed likely to succeed. Towards the end of 1916, German submarines were destroying monthly about 300,000 tons of British and Allied shipping in the North Atlantic; in April 1917, the figure was 875,000 tons. Because the Germans had calculated that the destruction of 600,000 tons monthly for six consecutive months would be sufficient to force Great Britain to capitulate, they were doubly certain of victory after April. Great Britain, however, roused itself to unprecedented efforts to fight the submarine menace. By the adoption of a convoy system of screening fleets of merchant vessels with warships, especially destroyers and submarine chasers, and by the use of hydroplanes for spotting submarines and depth charges for destroying them, Great Britain, as the summer advanced, rendered the German submarine campaign less and less effective. By the autumn, although large numbers of Allied ships were still being sunk, the Germans were sustaining heavy losses in submarines. At the same time, the Allied nations, especially the United States, were rapidly building new shipping. By the outset of 1918, the Allies were turning out more new ships than the Germans were destroying, and the German effort to end the war by submarine warfare had clearly failed. It was after all these victories when the American troops came in 1918. They brought a lot of much needed resources that really did speed up the ending of the war but the defeat of the Central Powers would have probably happened without the help of the Americans. The Central powers were already on the back foot, but still could have continued fighting. If the Americans had not have had come then I cannot see the outcome of the war being any different. However, it is fair to say that the Americans did speed up the end of the war, but they did not help the Allies cause considerably.
New Technology
At the start of the war, many of the allied generals did not think the machine gun was an important weapon. To them it was still a recent and untested invention. The Germans, however, could see its usefulness right from the start. A water-cooled machine gun fires 600 bullets a minute. Soldiers on the attack could be mown down in minutes by a hail of lead. The machine gun worked well for the Germans straight away but not for the allies. When the allies learnt of this weapon and started using it themselves a stalemate occurred. This is because defence became more effective then offence. It became much easier to defend then attack so nobody wanted to attack. To defend all you had to do was sit and wait for soldiers to run at you, then you would fire rapidly into them and they would all die in minutes. To attack was much harder because you had to run across the ground, which had already been churned up by the bombardment making it harder to move, avoid enemy machine gun bullets, while shooting and killing the enemies. After that, you had to climb in to their trenches and kill them all. Crossing the battlefield was impossible anyway with the machine gun mowing down anyone in sight.
During 1915 the Generals did all they could to break the stalemate on the Western Front. Their main tactic for doing this was using huge amounts of weapons and constantly upgrading, the weapons used. The most favoured weapon by the Generals was the big guns, the heavy artillery. They were the ones that fired the shells and caused the bombardment. They had enormous power; the German howitzers could fire shells that exploded shrapnel thirteen kilometres. These bombardments were the tactic invented to combat machine guns; it was thought that the bombardments would blow away all the barbed wire, machine guns and men on the frontline. Artillery bombardment caused more casualties then any other weapon. The big guns fired a huge number of shells. In 1915, 400,000 were used every month on the Western Front alone. These were important for Haig’s tactics because, as you know, he used the bombardment first then the cavalry then the infantry. Sometimes his bombardments would last for weeks. The place when the bombardment was most successful was on the Hindenburg line, the bombardments simply blew it away and as you know the Hindenburg line breakthrough was the most important event in winning the war. Without the bombardments then none of Haig’s tactics would have worked, so I think that it is fair to say that the use of heavy artillery was incredibly important.
Poison gas was another new weapon used in the WW1. It was first used on April 22nd 1915 by the German troops at the second Battle of Ypres. The Germans released poison gas, which wafted over on the wind to the British trenches. Chlorine gas worked by suffocating the lungs. Men would drop clutching their chests in agony, as they were violently sick. They all died a slow death of unbearable pain. From that time, gas attacks became a regularly used feature in the war. Their aim was to disable enemy troops so your own infantry charge would be successful. Soon after scientists started inventing other gasses such as mustard gas, which had a perfumed smell, but was much more lethal then chlorine. The effects of mustard gas did not show until a few hours after the gas attack. Then the victim’s body began to rot, their skin blistered and their eyes bulged out. The lining of the lungs was stripped raw. The pain was so great that many victims were strapped to their bed. The victim’s would become blind and after four to five weeks of unbelievable pain, they would die. However, gas attacks were not that much successful because, fortunately, both sides stopped using gas because scientists, as well as improving gas, they also found a way to stop it. They invented very effective gas masks, helmets with breathing masks were introduced and by 1917, everyone had them. As a result, gas had only killed 3000 British troops in the whole war. The use of gas proved to quite ineffective.
The new weapon of 1915 was invented by a designer of farm machinery. The tank basically was an armour-plated tractor, which moved six kilometres an hour and had both cannons and machine guns. For security reasons it was code-named the tank. When tanks were first used in a battle, the Germans were so scared they turned and fled. Lloyd George believed that tanks would be the wonder weapon that would win the war for the Allies. Haig ordered 100 tanks for the Battle of the Somme, the tanks first battle. Fifty tanks were sent into the battle, most broke down and others were stuck in the mud, but they were good for morale at home. Newspapers were filled with exaggerated stories about how great the tank was. It was strongly believed at home that the tank was the new wonder weapon that would win the war for the Allies. Haig ordered another thousand tanks for the Battle of Passchendaele, but the shelling before had created a sea of mud and most of the tanks sunk. In the battle of Cambrai, the British opened the attack with a raid by nearly 400 tanks. This was the first tank raid on such a scale in military history, and, but for lack of reserves, the British might have achieved a breakthrough. As it was, the British drove an 8-km (5-mi) salient into the German lines, just because of the Tank, but the cavalry did not follow otherwise a breakthrough might have occurred. German counter-attacks, however, compelled the British to yield most of the newly won ground. The tanks were excellent for attack but could not hold the position and the Germans kept capturing the tanks. After Cambrai they had captured so many that they could use them against the Allies. The tanks were definitely not much of a help on the Western Front, as they did not gain any ground. They were, however, brilliant for morale at home because of the huge amounts of propaganda surrounding them, many people were positive that they would bring victory for the Allies. Therefore, I conclude that the tanks contribution was minimal because, although morale at home helps a bit, it does not help the causes on the frontlines.
World War I provided a great stimulus to the production and military use of aircraft, including the aeroplane and airship, or dirigible balloon, and the tethered balloon, the evolution of air warfare, and the tethered balloon. Aircraft were used for two principal purposes: observation and bombing. For observation of stationary battlefronts extensive use was made by both belligerents of small tethered balloons; for scouting at sea, dirigible balloons were extensively used, and aeroplanes were used for scouting coastal waters. In connection with military operations on land, aeroplanes were used to observe the disposition of the troops and defences of the enemy and for bombing the enemy's lines or troops in action. A special feature of the war was the raids conducted by means of dirigibles or aeroplanes on important enemy centres far removed from the battlefront. The first German aeroplane raid on Paris took place on August 30, 1914; and the first German air raid on England was on Dover on December 21, 1914. During 1915 and 1916, the German type of dirigible known as the zeppelin raided eastern England and London 60 times. The first German aeroplane raid on London took place on November 28, 1916, and such raids were frequent during the remainder of the war. The object of the German raids on England was to bring about withdrawal of British planes from the western front for the defence of the homeland; to handicap British industry; and to destroy the morale of the civilian population. The raids caused much loss of life and damage to property but accomplished little of military value. From the middle of 1915 aerial combats between planes or squadrons of planes of the belligerents were common. The Germans had superiority in the air on the western front from about October 1915 to July 1916, when the supremacy passed to the British. Allied supremacy gradually increased thereafter and with the entrance of the United States into the war became overwhelming. In April 1918, the United States had three air squadrons at the front; by November 1918, it had 45 squadrons comprising nearly 800 planes and more than 1,200 officers. The total personnel of the American air service increased from about 1,200 at the outbreak of the war to nearly 200,000 at the end. Among the noted aeroplane fighters, or aces, were the American Eddie Rickenbacker, the Canadian William Avery Bishop and the German Baron Manfred von Richthofen. In conclusion, I think that the role war in the air played in bringing an end to the war was limited. I do not think that it played hardly any role in the war at all.
Therefore, in conclusion on new technology, apart from heavy artillery and the machine gun the role it played was insignificant. The gas did nothing except kill 3000 British troops in the whole war and a 1500 Germans. It did not cause any breakthroughs and did nothing for bringing an end to the stalemate, which would end the war quicker. The tanks hardly did anything; all they did was kept the morale at home up, which helped a bit, but it did not help the causes on the frontlines. The war in the air did not do much at all except help on positioning. However, the heavy artillery helped a great deal to bring an end to the war because it brought about many breakthroughs, not just on the western front, it broke through the Hindenburg line, it caused many casualties. I think that the use of bombardments were a big contribution to ending the war, but not as big as some. I think that the use of machine guns hindered the ending of the war not brought it about, because they created a stalemate on the Western Front. Neither side would attack because they would have been killed instantly. On a whole, I do not think that new technology was a big factor in the war because it did not really do much for the fighting, even if the heavy artillery did.
Conclusion
Haig’s tactics on the Western Front kept constant pressure on the Germans by using up so many of their resources. Also the Russians used up many of the German resources to early for the Central to deal with. They simply did not have enough resources to split up. And the one of the only way they could get more was through their naval bases, which were being blockaded by the British Grand Fleet. The Germans did not even have enough resources to keep the people of their country alive let alone enough to fund a war on two fronts. The blockade stopped the resources the Germans so desperately needed and created a state of civil war in Germany, thus leading to their surrender. So could it be that without the blockade the Germans could have continued fighting and had the resources that they needed to win the war. I can’t tell wither they would have won the war or not but my opinion is that they would not have. However, it is possible to claim that the main factor for Germany losing the war was the lack of resources they had and the most important factor for ending the war is the one that caused the lack of resources. This is hard to tell though because one of the factors on it own would not have worked without the other two.
Haig put a lot of faith in new technology ordering a thousand tanks overall and making heavy artillery a constant feature in his tactic of bombardmentcavalryinfantry. The bombardment was also the most important feature in his tactics. The bombardment would last up to two weeks when the cavalry and infantry would be over in days. Haig’s ordering of the tanks did help end the stalemate and did not help speed up the end of the war. It probably slowed the ending of the war as it made ground and then lost it again, but I suppose that this did use up precious German resources. On the other hand, the use of heavy artillery helped immensely bring about the ending of the war. Mostly by the amount of casualties it caused, but also because of the important breakthroughs it helped to bring about, such as the Hindenburg line, Passchendaele etc. If Haig had not have used new technology then the breakthroughs probably would not have occurred and if it had not been for these important breakthroughs then I think that the stalemate would have had gone on for a much longer time, even with the arrival of the Americans.
The war at sea affected the Western Front greatly because if it had not been for the blockade then the Germans would have had most of the resources they needed and, without a doubt, would have defeated the Allies on the Western Front because they were a much better fighting force then the Allies. This is because they had more experience and training. It also had an effect on the other fronts for the same reasons.
The Americans brought a lot of much needed resources that really did speed up the ending of the war but the defeat of the Central Powers would have probably happened without the help of the Americans. The Central powers were already on the back foot, but still could have continued fighting. If the Americans had not have had come then I cannot see the outcome of the war being any different. However, it is fair to say that the Americans did speed up the end of the war, but they did not help the Allies cause considerably. The resources that the Americans brought helped on the Western Front. They helped breakthrough the Hindenburg line and that was the event that caused defeat for the Central Powers. It is quite probable that the Central Powers would have been defeated anyway but the American resources did speed it all up.
Overall, I would say that Haig’s tactics were the most important factors in bringing the war to an end. His tactics drained the German resources the most and if it had not been for them then the Allies would not have achieved the Hindenburg line breakthrough and the blockade would not have worked as well. The blockade would have been pointless without Haig’s tactics because the Germans would still have had enough resources. In addition, he was the only one to have faith in the new technology and if it had not been for him then no one would have used them. He was the one who used the heavy artillery first and they brought about many breakthroughs. These vital breakthroughs would not have occurred if it would not have been for him and his tactics. His tactics on the Western Front used up the German resources so they were not as well equipped for fighting Russian on the Eastern Front. If they had had all the resources that they needed for fighting Russia then they would have been defeated for sure and quickly allowing the Germans to got back troops on to the Western Front again. The amount of resources he made the Germans use up led to a state of civil war in Germany and eventually led to surrender. Therefore, I believe that Haig’s tactics were the most important in bringing and to the war when compared to The War at Sea, the Eastern Front, America entering the war and new Technology.