How important was Haig's tactics on the Western Front in bringing an end to the First World War.
How important was Haig's tactics on the Western Front in bringing an end to the First World War when compared to: a) War at Sea b) The Eastern front c) American entering the war d) Technological factors? In 1914, the people of Britain greeted the war with enthusiasm. Everyone agreed it would all be over by Christmas and they were certainly gripped by war fever. Images of brave young men were portrayed and heroic soldiers ending up victorious. The general reaction was that the war would be over in a few 'lightning marches' and a great battle would settle the matter. The Great War will always be remembered as a War of many battles. There were battles on land, at sea and in air. During this time, nobody had ever witnessed such a fierce and brutal war, but more significantly, allies and individual countries had no experience in this type of warfare before. As the war dragged on, and more experience gained, it seemed have better tactics than your opponent would be the only way of unlocking the stalemate. After the break out of World War One, it was clear that the victor was always going to need to be the side strongest on all its fronts. With so many countries participating in it, and more gradually entering, vulnerable areas of possible attack were on the increase. In War, a failure on one front for a country would usually cause a crisis for the country itself, trying
In 1915 a British Newspaper printed a letter from a 'Lady Reader' who claimed, "The women of Britain will tolerate no such cry
In 1915 a British Newspaper printed a letter from a 'Lady Reader' who claimed, "The women of Britain will tolerate no such cry as Peace." Do you think that the young men of Britain would agree with the Lady Reader during the Great War, 1914-1918? In August 1914 Great Britain declared war on the Germany because on 4 August Germany invaded Belgium. Britain had a treaty with Belgium dating back to 1839 so the British Foreign Minister Lord Grey felt justified in Britain honouring this treaty. The invasion of Belgium forced the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France and Russia) to declare war on the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). There had been a build up of pressure in Europe after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophie on 18 June 1914 in Sarajevo. He was assassinated by a Slav called Princip who wanted Serbia, an influential state in the area, to be independent. Austria-Hungary, which had thousands of Serbs in its empire who also wanted to be independent, saw this as a chance to crush Serbia and they declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. Russia was friendly with Serbia because it had a long history of rivalry with Austria-Hungary and both Russian's and Serbs were Slavs so Russia felt that they had to help Serbia. Russia mobilised its troops but Germany, who had a treaty with Austria-Hungary, warned Russia not to help
Superpower Relations and the Thaw in the Cold War
The Post-Stalin Thaw and the bid for Peaceful Co-Existence? 953-1961 In the 1950s the Cold War, although in many ways the same, was changing in character * Globalization of the Cold War * Nuclear Arms Race * Stalin’s death in ’53 and the Thaw However, a more thorough relation of tensions – détente – was not to emerge until after the shocks of the Berlin crisis ’61 and more particularly the Cuban Missile Crisis ‘62 Timeline of coexistence and confrontation characterising 1953 – 61 951 – Churchill elected PM, and in a surprise move from his reputation as a ‘Cold War warrior’ pressed for a summit with the Soviet Union to end the Cold War. November 1952 – Election of Eisenhower, reflecting a ‘hardening of US attitudes’ March 1953 – Death of Stalin, the politburo avoided one person consolidating power and confirmed the collective leadership of Malenkov, Molotov, Beria, Bulganin and Khrushchev. Policy of destalinisation introduced July 1953 – End of the Korean War. It had a traumatising effect on the US population with 32,629 US killed, 103,284 injured and the deaths of 3m aprox. Korean civies. * American anger was reflected in the policies of Dulles – rollback and massive retaliation * Limitations of these policies demonstrated by the lack of a US response to Soviet suppression of protest in East Germany (1953) and more
Women and the Second World War Sources Questions
. 2. Study Source A. According to Source A, why were women needed to help with the war effort? Before World War II, not many women worked, and there were certain jobs that people believed women couldn't or shouldn't do. Women didn't have any kind of military role before the war. Most women were used to getting married, having children and bringing them up, and having a husband around the place who would usually be the sole wage earner - in other words, only the man would go out to work. Of course, once the war broke out, the majority of men were away fighting in some way. So this had a big effect on family lives, and the lives of women. The jobs still had to be done after all. So the purpose of this source is to persuade women to do their vital bit for the war. To get involved in the armed forces, and to work in fields in which men had previously worked. Source A is a broadcast on the BBC Home Service by a member of the women's Institute in May 1941. It is aimed at women to persuade them to do their crucial bit for the war. It is an appeal aimed at women, and has a few elements of propaganda. The authors tone and attitude to the situation Britain faced was very positive, as she knows it's a great opportunity for women to work together and show that they are able to do any job that a man is capable of doing. The broadcasters main aim is to make sure she brings an emotional
Why did Iraq invade Kuwait?
. Why Did Iraq Invade Kuwait? By 1990, Iraq had spent eight years at war with Iran and was £50 billion in debt. Explaining why Iraq invaded Kuwait, Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi foreign minister said: "The leadership was focusing domestically on rebuilding the country, those cities and towns that had been destroyed during the war... improving the standard of living for people in Iraq." Iraq may have invaded Kuwait because of the oil policy pursued by Kuwait. Kuwait was deliberately producing oil far beyond its OPEC quota. This brought down the price of oil per barrel into the low $ teens. Iraq needed the price of oil to stay high per barrel because it was vital to its recovery after the war it had just had with Iran. Iraq tried to reverse this policy with the help of Saudi Arabia and Egypt but to no avail. Each one-dollar drop in the price of oil cost the Iraqi nation one billion dollars. So Iraq could claim that Kuwait was waging an economic war upon Iraq. Iraq saw their invasion of Kuwait as a defensive move, one to stop Iraq losing all its money from the falling oil prices. Iraq also considered Kuwait as a part of Iraq. After failing to invade Iran, Saddam Hussein may have thought it would be easier to conquer weaker nations. Iraqi troops preparing for their invasion of Kuwait 2. Why Did The Coalition Attack Iraq? Iraq had invaded Kuwait and Kuwait had called for help
To What Extent Have The Attempts For A Palestinian State Been Blocked By The Actions of Israel And The United States of America ?
To What Extent Have The Attempts For A Palestinian State Been Blocked By The Actions of Israel And The United States of America ? In November 1947, the aims of the Jewish Zionist movement were achieved when the United Nations announced under Resolution 181 that the former British mandate of Palestine would be partitioned into two states ; a Jewish and an Arab state. The controversy rooted in the creation of Israel in historic Palestine, which is their sacred homeland enshrined in the Torah, was because the state was created at the expense of the Palestinian people, who had been the indigenous inhabitants for centuries. The partition plan was disregarded by Israel as they took over most of the Arab state in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and then captured the last two enclaves; the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Six-Day war. This total disregard and ignorance of International law set a precedent for the Israeli's illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories. Since 1967, Israel and the USA have formed an alliance which has been formed upon the shared value that a Jewish state must exist in security, yet also based upon the total denial of Palestinian rights and statehood, and because of this, have blocked every single diplomatic route for a viable Palestinian state. The role that Israel Has played has been pivotal in establishing the environment in which a sovereign
How useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam?
Essay to answer the question: How useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam? Vietnam in South East Asia had always been a desirable country. Since the 19th century, it was ruled by France and called Indo China. Apart form one rebellion in 1930, France had total control of the country until they surrendered to Germany in the Second World War in 1940. Japan, Germany's ally, took control of Vietnam and the resources in it, such as coal, rice, rubber, railways and roads. An anti-Japanese resistance organisation, which was called the Viet Minh and led by Ho Chi Minh, a communist, was formed. At the end of the war, the Viet Minh controlled the North Vietnam and had ambitions to control the rest. Japan had gone when they entered Hanoi in 1945 and declared Vietnamese independence. When war broke out between France and Vietnam in 1946 because the French wanted to regain control of Vietnam, the Viet Cong, which was a communist-supporting group against the Americans set up in the South of Vietnam, used guerrilla tactics against the French. These involved hit and run raids and other tactics that the French hadn't experienced before and made them almost impossible to beat. To begin with, the USA was sympathetic towards the Viet Minh because they viewed the situation as Vietnam wanting to have independence and they did not
Explain why America became increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam
Explain why America became increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam Before the Second World War Vietnam had been a French colony. Vietnam consisted of mainly thick jungle and most of the people who lived their were farmers growing rice on the flat, fertile land by the coast. The Japanese during the war occupied Vietnam. A strong resistance movement, Vietminh (anti-Japanese resistance movement) emerged with a communist leader, Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh inspired the Vietnamese people to fight for an independent Vietnam. When the war ended the Vietminh controlled the north of Vietnam and were ready to take control of the rest of the country. The French wanted to regain control of Vietnam again. The Vietnamese people had not fought the Japanese only then to hand over power to the French. In 1946 war broke out between the French and the Vietminh. Ho Chi Minh cleverly did not mention that he was communist so that countries such as the USA would not get involved. The French asked President Eisenhower of the United States to send American troops to help. There was even mention of using nuclear weapons. Eisenhower said 'No' to both of these requests. The United States had just ended the war in Korea in which over 40,000 American's had died. They were in no mood to see anymore Americans die in Vietnam. In 1949, Ho Chi Minh declared himself communist. This date was cleverly
Why did Mao Zedong introduce a second five year plan in 1958 and to what extent did it succeed or fail?
Modern China Assignment- History Coursework Question 1 Qu1- Why did Mao Zedong introduce a second five year plan in 1958 and to what extent did it succeed or fail? China is a gigantic country and historians can study and trace their civilisations as far back as five thousand years ago. The Manchu emperors had ruled China since 1644. At the end of the nineteenth century and leading up to the twentieth century the emperor of China, Guangxu, was dominated by his aunt, the empress Ci xii. For forty years she ruled for her nephew. China entered the twentieth century on a wave of reactionary terror, as the loose affiliation of north-east Chinese Secret Society groups known as the "Boxers" began a protracted attempt to destroy all Chinese Christian converts, and the missionaries who preached to them. Openly encouraged by a number of conservative officials, most of them from ruling Manchu minority, which had controlled the Chinese government since the seventeenth century, the Boxers entered Peking in mid 1900 and laid siege. In the meantime, pro Boxer generals and their followers in Shanxi and other northern provinces had conducted a brutal round-up and massacre of missionary families and their converts. By the terms of the vindictive Treaty Settlement that followed, several senior pro-Boxer Quing dynasty officials were executed, pro-Boxer areas were penalised, and the Chinese
Apart from the Second World War, there was peace in Yugoslavia between 1919 and 1980. Why was there peace during this period?
Question 1: Apart from the Second World War, there was peace in Yugoslavia between 1919 and 1980. Why was there peace during this period? Peace in Yugoslavia meant unity. The country was a drawing together of different groups, which held together from 1919 to the 1980. Before the First World War the Austria ruled the individual countries of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia as well as other countries such as Hungary as part of the Hapsburg Empire. The other big empire was the Turkish Ottoman Empire. All the individual areas had different ethnic groups and religions. The Croats were Roman Catholic, people living in Bosnia were mainly Muslim, as were people living in Kosovo. Serbia was a separate independent country, ruled by its own King. The Serb religion was Christian Orthodox. The Treaty of Versailles created the "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes", (Yugoslavia) following World War I (in which both Austria and Turkey were defeated). It ruled that Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia would become a united country, because it was believed that a large country would have a better chance of survival than a collection of small ones and also would provide a greater threat to nearby Germany. As Serbia had been independent before the war, its leaders believed that it should be the most important part of the new Kingdom. Serbs had huge amounts of control over the other ethnic
