Figure 51 Lack of Movement on Western Front
(Shaded Areas with arrows Show Changes in the Front)
This view of the war is not universal. Numerous historians now take a new view, saying the Allied generals did a good job of trying to cope with a new military situation. They point out the generals changed tactics, increased the bombardment by artillery, fielded new weapons, and perfected new artillery techniques. One technique, the walking barrage, involves falling artillery shells creating a literal moving box of explosions around the advancing troops, protecting them all the way to the enemy trenches. New weapons, like aircraft, helped in observation to better assess enemy capabilities. The invention of tanks, pushed by Winston Churchill, tested by the Royal Navy’s Landships Committee, and fielded in 1916 helped break the stalemate. Meanwhile, by 1918 the Germans invented a new assault technique called infiltration, which entailed the first attackers bypassing enemy strongholds for reduction by follow-on troops. In the last German offensives of the war these methods proved effective, but not war winning. By 1918, the British developed combined arms tactics which coordinated tanks, artillery, aircraft, and infantry into a team that crashed in unison through the defensive trench networks. Thereafter, they effectively followed up the assault with reserves, achieving deep penetrations into enemy territory. The British tactics were war winning. These combined arms assaults moved the front miles each day instead of yards. Unfortunately, the new techniques were discovered in 1918, which was far too late for most of the men.
There was a collective condemnation of the war at the time, even before the fighting ended. “We saved the world,” proclaimed the Allied generals; however, the surviving troops and grieving families thought otherwise. WWI destroyed the world rather than saved it, and the public knew it. Civilian governments discovered the generals had lied about casualties and the effects of the Allied frontal assaults on Germany. When the war’s trivial causes surfaced an antiwar movement arose condemning the diplomats, government leaders, and generals directing the Western Democracies into such a futile, murderous, and destructive war, and then refusing to end it.
This historical survey adopts the old view that Europe’s leadership was hollow. In defense of this older view, please take note of one fact: On the very last day of the war, after the armistice was signed, with fewer than three hours to go before the war’s end, the Allied generals ordered an attack on German positions causing casualties in excess of ten thousand men. The generals, and the men, knew the war was ending at eleven o’clock that day, but the Allied leaders ordered the assaults to begin at 9:00 AM. German positions scheduled for surrender to the Allies the next day were the targets. The men went forward, as ordered, dying for nothing. The explanation given? Germany’s utter defeat must be proven to them; thus, the large scale assaults had to be made to prove to them they were totally defeated. This is irrational to say the least. The tired, battered, hungry Germans on the front lines needed no additional proof of defeat. Why attack them? Some Germans at home, far beyond the reach of Allied guns, thought defeat came through traitors at home. How was this attack going to convince those Germans of defeat? The fact that a general even contemplated such an assault, much less carried it out, is mind boggling. Of course, the generals safely relaxed miles away as bullets ruptured their soldier’s bodies. This is the proof that the historians new view of the generals is mistaken in the extreme.
These incompetent generals were murderers. Each of these “hero” generals needed a swift hanging. Because such men go unpunished (except by historians) those following them often remain callous towards the lives of their troops. Until their last days on earth, these generals contended they saved the world for democracy, obviously believing their own vapid propaganda.
The Russian Front
In August 1914, the Germans on the Eastern Front faced the realization that the Russians were able to mobilize faster than anyone thought possible. Two massive Russian armies advanced to the frontier while thin lines of Germans maneuvered to stop them. In carrying out the terms of the alliance with France, the Tsar launched an instant offensive against Germany and her partner Austria–Hungary. The German staff received nervous calls for help and, anxious about the unexpected swiftness of the Russian attack, pulled units from the west, consequently reducing German combat power in the advance on Paris. The Germans experienced serious problems in the east for a while, but a new set of German generals arrived and turned the tide. Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff became the team eventually giving the Germans victory over Russia. The costly conquest came with new infiltration methods of assaulting the enemy and a brilliant performance by German troops and their leaders in the field. Hindenburg and Ludendorff’s triumphs earned them promotions, and they eventually earned the command leadership of all Germany’s armies.
The Eastern and Western Fronts are dissimilar because in the east flanks existed. Trenches did not extend continuously across the landscape. This war required maneuvers over huge expanses of land, often in subzero weather. On this front, Austria-Hungary (Austria) engaged Russia along with their German ally; however, the Austrians failed miserably in every endeavor. The Austrians found themselves quickly defeated by Russia in the early battles, and soon threatened with complete defeat. Germany sent troops to their aid. Stretched thin by failure in France, pressure from Russia, and now the need to help Austria, Germany began to falter.
The German problems in the east included the landscape and immense numbers of Russian troops. Russian troops, mostly ill-trained peasants, were tough beyond all imagination. The Czar’s troops withstood endless hardships and continued fighting. Russia’s main problems revolved around leadership and logistics. Russian officers displayed ineptitude of the first order (with some notable exceptions), often throwing soldier’s lives away for little gain. For example, at the start of the war, in battles around Tannenberg, two Russian armies made good ground, threatening to defeat the outnumbered Germans. Unfortunately, the two Russian commanders despised one another and refused to cooperate in their individual advances. Excellent German leadership prevailed, after a narrow escape or two, and defeated each large Russian army separately.
Russia’s poor leadership displayed itself in several ways. Their equipment and supply system often did not hold up when it counted (logistics). The Russians could build up for an offensive well enough, but after the attack started supplies always dwindled quickly. Nonetheless, Russia played a key role in the Alliance, pulling numerous German units away from the Western Front, and often mauling them in the process. Russia wrecked the Austria-Hungarian armed forces causing Germany to expend critical resources in efforts to prop up their faltering ally.
The War at Sea
The war on land and the fight at sea turned against Germany by 1917. At sea, the German East Asian Cruiser Squadron under Admiral Spee won victories in the east and off the coast of South America in 1914 against superior English sea forces, but England swiftly hunted down the German cruisers and hammered them under the waves. Britain immediately initiated a total blockade of Germany, and soon nothing entered the nation, causing German civilians and troops to starve. The British blockade, as invoked, violated international law; nonetheless, this was total war making everything cricket according to the English Navy. At the Battle of Jutland, fought on May 31 to June 1, 1916, the German surface fleet tried to ambush a smaller British force, but ended up being ambushed themselves and nearly destroyed. The British broke the German codes early on and knew of German plans before their execution. Only excellent maneuvering saved the German High Seas Fleet. Since Britain lost more ships than Germany the Kaiser proclaimed victory. Such a claim was pure propaganda. The German fleet never again put to sea in force. All that manpower and firepower sat idle for the rest of the war.
The Germans, in desperation, then turned to submarines, and for a few months huge numbers of English merchant ships plunged to the ocean floor. Over 860,000 tons sank due to enemy action in April of 1917. The German submarin
e threat virtually ended after England countered with convoys and better underwater detection. Germany’s surface navy failed; thus, Germany would starve. Germany’s undersea navy failed; thus, Britain would not starve. Britain’s propaganda made every German sinking of a neutral ship an act of piracy and a slaughter of innocents by the demon Huns; however, while Britain broadcast German evils thousands of German civilians, including children, died of hunger because of the British blockade. The inability of Germany to make effective use of propaganda overseas hurt its cause immensely. At sea, and in propaganda, the English victory was total.
New Technology
World War I became increasingly vicious. The use of technology for killing saw manifold increases. Germany introduced poison gas to the battlefield (which availed them nothing), being immediately matched by Allied use of poison gas (who likewise achieved nothing). Air power became important for observing and bombing the enemy. Allied troops dug tunnels under the German lines and exploded large mines (which also achieved nothing). At sea, the Germans began unrestricted submarine warfare, often destroying neutral shipping bound for England thus angering the world (not good). Germany used large airships and Gotha bombers to bomb London and Paris (no real impact). Flamethrowers, hand grenades, smaller machine guns, and new artillery shells invented by the warring parties to win the war, only increased the slaughter. Each side hoped to slaughter the other with new technology, but their adversaries quickly picked up the new instruments of war and threw them back into the inventor’s face. All this became increasingly deadly and very expensive. In the final analysis, Allied technology won the war with tanks and airplanes superior to the Central Powers’ and produced in much larger quantities. Tanks were the major land innovation. The Allies thought them up, learned how to best use them, and then produced them in large enough numbers to smash German trench lines. Early on the Germans produced outstanding aircraft, but over time, the Allies produced more and better aircraft, wrestling the skies from the Kaiser. As a result the Allies had better reconnaissance information, and continually harassed the German troops and supply lines bombing and strafing everything that moved. The Allies won with war winning technology combined with new tactics.
Figure 52 Tanks on the Western Front, Vimy 1917
The Eastern Front and Revolution
On the Eastern Front, Russian problems amplified. Inept Russian leadership regularly turned victory into defeat. Russian troops fought with outdated weapons and seldom received supplies of clothing or food needed to keep going. During 1915, Russia suffered 3.8 million casualties, and by 1917 they lost 2.3 million dead and 5 million injured. The government came under intense pressure to do quit, and when they refused the Bolshevik Revolution started in October 1917 overthrowing the Russian Czar, murdering the royal family, and starting a bloody civil war leading to a communist government controlled by Vladimir Lenin (1870 to 1924). The communists sued for peace with Germany. Germany extracted a harsh settlement from Lenin, but he needed Russia out of the war. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed on March 3, 1918, took Russia out of the war and massively increased the power and strategic advantages of the Central Powers.
Other Fronts
Prior to the Russia defeat in 1917, the Allies in the west tried a few adventures to get around the stalemated Western Front by achieving victories elsewhere. Winston Churchill convinced the British government to attack Ottoman Turkey, who joined the Central Powers in November of 1914, to knock the Ottomans out of the war and open a warm-water supply line to Russia through the Bosporus. After a naval expedition failed to breach the straights using ships alone, Churchill decided on an amphibious assault to clear the Turkish forts guarding the passageway. This transpired in 1915 at Gallipoli with Australian and New Zealand troops achieving surprise landings near the Dardanelles; however, lack of aggressive exploitation resulted in a costly stalemate as bad as the Western Front. It became a disaster for the Allies and Churchill. Following a year of suffering, the British withdrew from Turkey after experiencing serious losses in men and ships. Gallipoli cost Britain’s colonials, Australia and New Zealand, 250,000 casualties. Elsewhere, Italian attacks on Austria–Hungary through mountainous terrain failed with terrible losses, and an Allied landing in the Balkans went literally nowhere. The Western Allies then paused. They were at their breaking point. The French Army mutinied in 1917 by refusing to leave their trenches for offensives. They were tired of donkey generals slaughtering them for no purpose. By putting down the mutiny and restoring the French Army General Petain of France saved the Allied cause; nonetheless, Allied troops were exhausted. When Russia quit the war immediate German exploitation might have put France and England on the ropes, but a dreadful German diplomatic move changed everything.
Over in the Middle East, then part of the Turkish Empire (Ottoman Empire), the English General Allenby began changing the world. With Arab help, he marched from Egypt across the Sinai Desert to Jerusalem, defeating the Turks everywhere along the way. Simultaneously, another British army attacked up the Tigris-Euphrates river valley for the second time in the war and finally seized Baghdad. General Allenby then prepared to invade Turkey itself, and the Turks were none too happy about these developments. Earlier in the war, they defeated a British expedition marching up the Tigris-Euphrates river valley and an English incursion launched out of Egypt. Those early victories were long past now, and the Turks worried about the English driving into Istanbul, so they sued for peace. WWI ended shortly after the Turks capitulated; thus, Allenby’s efforts went mostly unrecognized, but he had altered the world dramatically. At Versailles the Ottoman Empire would fade into history as Britain and France divided the old empire between themselves. To this day, the division of the Ottoman Empire made at the Versailles peace talks haunts the world.
Turning Point: The United States of America Enters the War
The United States stayed out of the war, even though the sinking of US ships angered Americans and turned public opinion against Germany. English propaganda played its part by depicting the Germans as beasts murdering innocents.[179] So far, this had failed to persuade the United States to join the fight. Then Germany’s foreign minister, Mr. Zimmerman, committed the ultimate act of idiocy by sending a telegram to Mexico requesting it join the war on the German side by attacking the United States.[180] In return, Mexico would regain areas lost in the Mexican-American war. Naturally, the telegram was in code, but English code breakers had been reading Germany’s code since the war broke out. Now the code breakers gave England the hammer it needed to break American reluctance to enter the war. And, once again, proving the importance of codes. Britain broke the German codes in WWII with similar outstanding results.
When the American public learned of the Zimmerman Telegram they demanded war. America’s president, Woodrow Wilson, campaigned for his second term on a peace platform; however, after the Zimmerman telegram Congress quickly declared war against Germany. Secretly, Wilson wanted to enter the war against the Germans, but American public opinion prevented the move until this moment. The United States of America entered the Great War in April 1917. This was the turning point. Germany faced her doom unless, by some strategy, she could defeat France and England before the Americans managed to arrive in force. With troops from the Russian front, new training in improved infiltration assault techniques, and new leadership at the top of the army (Hindenburg and Ludendorff),[181] and high hopes, the Germans began their last great offensive. The large German assault (series of assaults actually) initially made good headway, but then faltered without achieving even one key aim. The assaults failed because Germany lacked troops and because Ludendorff failed to focus his plan. The Americans soon arrived, turning the tide against Germany for the last time. Interestingly, Ludendorff had failed to establish a plan for what to do if the offensive failed. Just like they had in 1914 the Germans went forward assuming the plan would work even though it was a big gamble. Ludendorff pushed the attacks too far, and scarified too many men in the assaults, prob
ably because the attack had to work. Without an alternate plan he had no other choice.
As Germany starved and scraped the bottom of the manpower barrel it also stumbled in the technological war. The Allies produced tanks (a lot of them), better tactics (combined arms assaults), better aircraft (a lot more of these too), better technology for warfare at sea, more equipment, more spare parts, and better code-breaking methods—just to name a few Allied advantages.
After the last German assault bled to a halt, the Allies took the offensive all along the Western Front. For years, the Germans successfully moved troops from one location to another as each Allied campaign began. [182] Now the Allies attacked everywhere at once, and Germany’s dwindling reserves could not plug every hole. As the German Army retreated, Ludendorff lost his nerve abruptly announcing to the Kaiser that Germany must surrender at once. At the same time, mutinies were taking place in the German Navy and spreading to the populace. The news stunned the Kaiser and German civilian leadership, remembering that only a few weeks ago they were told Germany was opening a war winning offensive. Violent questioning changed nothing, as German military leadership continued to insist on capitulation. The public knew nothing of these behind the scene military and political maneuvers. As the mutinies spread, Wilhelm II abdicated and the armistice was signed; nonetheless, the English blockade continued for months, starving women and children from Germany to Syria for reasons unclear to this day. With each innocent’s death, German hatred grew because of the shortsighted English policy.
The Super Summary of World History Page 33