The First World War: 1914 - 1918

1. The First World War: 1914 - 1918

2. The Schlieffen Plan

3. The Schlieffen Plan: the theory • The Head of chiefs, Von Schlieffen, realised that Germany had to fight on two fronts if she went to war with Allies • Russian country was large, poorly organised and slow to mobilise • He didn’t expect the British to join in, they had signed an aggression pact with Belgium, Kaiser called it, ‘A scrap of paper’ and wouldn’t oblige • The German left army would keep the main French army occupied • He planned a outflanking manoeuvre, the right part of the German army would swing through Belgium and attack Frances weakly defended Belgium-French boarder • France had been obliged not to build forts along their boarder with Belgium as she was an ally, it would be seen as an act of aggression • The right arm would then swing around and down surrounding Paris, cutting it off from the rest of France • They would then attack, from behind, the German-French boarder to relieve the left part of the German

4. The Schlieffen Plan: why it failed • Von Schlieffen died meaning that the plan changed • The head of chiefs that replaced him preferred a more bolder frontal attack, this weekend the outflanking army • Belgium refused access through her lands, the Germans invaded, this lead to Britain declaring war on Germany • The Belgium's put up more resistance than expected, advance held up, giving Briton the time she needed to send the BEF over • Russia quicker than expected to mobilise and invaded Germany within a week, 100,000 Germans had to be moved to the Russian front • They sent over the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) roughly 160,000 men strong, Kaiser called it ‘A contemptible little army’ • The German right army turned in before Paris leaving their flank exposed to the BEF and French 6th and 7th army, the German army was 30 km from Paris but exhausted • The counter-attack at Marne meant that the offensive ground to a halt, this is known as a stalemate • Both sides settled down for trench warfare hardly moving more that a couple of miles until November 1917

5. Arrival and activities of BEF • The BEF was, the British Expeditionary Force, sent over to France to aid her against Germany • It was only 160,000 men strong, this was small compared to the 6.5 million strong invading German army • The BEF was deployed on France’s left flank to fight the outflanking German army • The BEF made first contact at the river Mons, the BEF did manage to halt the Germans • Eventually the Germans overwhelmed them with sheer numbers as they out numbered the British • The British retreated to Marne where half the army stood and fought to give the other half a chance of escape, the other half eventually pulled back • 30 km before Paris the German army, thinking that they had gone past the French capital, turned in exposing their flank • The French 6th and 7th armies with the BEF alongside, counter-attacked at Marne where the German army was pushed back to the river Mons where both side dug in for the precursor to Trench Warfare

6. Belgian resistance • The Germans had expected Belgium to allow them through their lands as Germany was 6 times the size and had a10 times bigger army than her • The Belgium refused and fought the Germans invading • They had two strong forts in the north west of Belgium that would have to be destroyed with heavy siege artillery • That meant that the German army was again split on two fronts • Further weakening the attacking right flank • The two forts were bombarded for 10 days before they surrendered to the Germans • The Belgium Government went into exile in Briton where they organised Belgium resistance

7. Battle of the Marne and the race for the sea • Allies counter-attacked on September 1914 • At the battle of Marne the BEF and French 6th and 7th armies pushed back the German army to the river Mons • The Germans were pushed back to their staring positions one week earlier • The German army held the British back and dug in • Both sides now raced to outflank the other in a desperate race • It was called ‘The Race To The Sea’ • Both sides dug in forming a network of trenches that run all the way from the Belgian coast to the Swiss Alps

8. Winter 1914-15 and trenches • Both sides settled down for winter as they knew it wouldn’t end before Christmas • The Schlieffen plan had failed and Germany was now fighting on two fronts, France/Russia • The head of chiefs committed suicide as communications were slow • British and French barrages often destroyed the telephone wires to HQ • The German army was exhausted and in no state able to attack • The Head of chiefs was replaced • He ordered the German army to dig in deep and prepare for a war of attrition • A trench is when soldiers dig into the ground and reinforce it with wood, sand bags and corrugated iron • Both sides were using the machine gun which was a brilliant defensive weapon, it could kill 100 men and fight off an attack • Because the German supply lines were overstretched, German soldiers didn’t receive their winter clothing, more died of frostbite than of fighting that winter of 1914

9. Deadlock on the Western Front

10. The trench system • The trenches were dug in a dog tooth style to reduce the effect of artillery [¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬] • There would be about 5 lines of barbed wire • Sand bags would line the top along the entire trench • There would be a firing step where a lookout would look from, or when attacking fire from • Either corrugated iron or wood would reinforce the walls to stop it collapsing • These trench systems would stretch for miles and miles • There was a fighting trench, support trench and a reserve trench • The fighting trench saw most of the action • The support trench would act as a second line of defence should the enemy break through • The reserve trench was where HQ was and where the artillery was placed , only having a skeleton crew to man the trench • These were all connected by communication trenches

11. Trench system blueprints • [¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬] f fighting trench • | | | | c communication trenches • [¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬] s support trench • | | | | c communication trenches • [¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬]_[¬] r reserve trench

12. Life in the trenches • There was a stand to at 4-6 am, this was when the enemy was most likely to attack • One officer would stay on duty for the next two hours before swapping with another officer, there was 6 officers taking 2 hour shifts • The soldiers would have breakfast after the stand to • Would sit around in their trenches, playing card games, killing lice and rats, and waiting • Trench warfare was mostly a waiting game, after a while the morale of the troops would wear thin, causing some to fake illness or desertion • From 6-8 there was another stand to before the night shift began for the officers • The soldiers would retire to their bunks, cleaning their weapons after a day soaked in mud and rain • Trench foot was rife among the soldiers, as every day they would walk through muddy water that had built up in the trenches • Lice was another uninvited guest in the trench, they were a constant problem, the soldier resorted to frying, then eating them as there was hardly any meat which was rare to eat

13. New weapons • Artillery • Heavy artillery meant that soldiers out in the open were likely to be killed • These were guns that could fire an explosive shell at the enemy for great distances • The shell was mainly used to soften enemy trenches, create holes in barb wire and damage fortresses • Machine guns • these were good defensive weapons • Two of them could stop an entire attack of over 300 hundred men • It could fire 8 bullets a second, 480 a minute • These news weapons were cheap to produce and replace and cut down on the need for manpower

14. Methods • Over the top • This is the most common method used in WW1 • There would be a 1-7 day bombardment of enemy trenches • This meant that the enemy knew there was going to be an attack, it was a big alarm bell • Once the bombardment had stopped, ¾ of the men in the trenches would run over no-mans-land and try to overrun the enemy trench • This method caused many casualties without much success • The battle of the Somme is a good example, 41,000 British servicemen lost their lives on the first day of conflict • Gas, tanks, artillery barrages

15. Reasons fordeadlock • Both sides (): • Had large and evenly balanced armies • Had modern transport, trains, trucks • Had heavy industry  modern weapons • Had mainly defensive weapons • Couldn’t be used on the offensive • Generals on () at loss to new form of warfare • Expected war of movement (cavalry) • Needed develope new tactics  break stalemate

16. Gallipoli

17. Reasons for the Gallipoli campaign • Turkey joined the triple alliance • She declared war on the triple entente • Invaded British held territory in north Africa • Invaded Southern Russia opening second front • Reasons for Gallipoli • Constantinople, Turkish capital, was accessible by sea • The allies planned to occupy the capital, force turkey to surrender and aid the Russians • Open up another front and attack Austro-Hungary • The French and British sent an invasion force up the red sea to invade Constantinople

18. Failure of the Dardanelles campaign • The French-English, 18th march 1915, sent a fleet up Dardanelles • To destroy the Turkish forts on either side of the river • There was an expeditionary force being sent to attack Constantinople week later • The Turkish had heavily mined the channel 10 days before, the French lost 4 cruisers • None of the forts were destroyed • The operation was a complete disaster • This gave the Turkish forces a massive morale boost in the area

19. Gallipoli landings • 25th April 1915, British Imperial and French forces land on the Gallipoli peninsular • The aim: • To knock Turkey out of the war • To give allied forces control of Dardanelles • Open a year round supply line to Russia • What happened • They landed at cape hells • Soldiers from Austrailia landed at Anzac coast • Land both sides to prevent retreat and rienforcements from Turkey • Landed further north than planned • Raced for high ground, Turkish win • British forces pushed back to landings • Turkish victory, demoralised the British troops

20. Gallipoli, deadlock and life in trenches • The British had been fought to stand still by the defending Turkish army • Both sides dug trenches that were hastily built and offered little or no protection • `When there was thunderstorm on the 6th of july that lasted 3 days • Trenches were flooded, drowning the men • Corpses off no-mans-land now came into the trench poisoning the water • Both sides suffered many losses after each battle, the allies eventually were forced to retreat • As Bulgaria had entered the war on the central powers side

21. Reasons for failure of campaign • Channel too heavily mined for ships to pass through, lose 4 cruisers 6 troop transports • Landed at Gallipoli instead, closest that they can get to Constantinople • Stalemate with Turkish troops • Turkish push back the battle weary troops • Mass evacuation • Total disaster as it give confidence boost to Turkish forces in north Africa

22. Evacuation • 4 months of campaigning, little gained • Krithia main capture target, unachieved, heavy losses, trench warfare • New landing Suvla Bay • Sending troops to seize heights to over look Hells bay • To force Turkish retreat, splitting of forces • But the commander held his troops on the beach giving Turkish time to prepare trenches • The British were pushed back

23. The Somme and Passchendaele

24. Reasons for the Somme • Germany was attacking Verdun as they saw that it was a symbol of French resistance • The Germans intended to bleed France dry • BEF and French 4th and 5th army ordered to attack Somme to relieve the pressure at Verdun • The French knew if they lost Verdun that they would probably lose the war • The army was close to mutinying because of recent defeats and trench warfare • The allies hastily planned the invasion of the some and didn’t plan for many failures

25. The first day of the Somme • The bombardment lasted two whole days • It was one of the most veracious bombardments of the whole war • British commanders and officers boosted how they would walk into the trenches after the bombardment • Bombardment failure • The bombardment failed to create holes in the German barbed wire • Had failed to destroy and kill the German soldiers and positions • 20,000 British service men died on the first day of combat • 450,000 would be the total figure of dead after the attack was called off

26. Key features of Somme • The failure of the artillery bombardment highlighted the weaknesses of barrages • No amount of shells could kill a German soldier dug deep into the ground • A different weapon would have to be invented to break the deadlock • The amount of losses was devastating and massively brought BEF morale to an all time low • Press censorship was at a loss, they showed clips of the devastation back on the home front • The propaganda branch turned this disaster to their advantage at saying how evil and menacing the German soldiers were • How they could thousands of men and not even bat an eyelid • How these vermin needed to be rid of from this world • This encouraged more people to help out with the war

27. Passchendaele • Passchendaele or otherwise know as the battle of Ypres's is another example of massive loss of life • 265,000 British servicemen lost their lives in the space of, July – mid-November, 4 months • The attack became quickly bogged down with a gain of only 7 km

28. Successes and failures • The invention of the Tank in 1915 and it’s use in 1917 was a massive new development on the battlefield • The Mark I wasn’t successful • the Mark V was very successful and lead the allied counter-attack after the Ludendorff spring offensive • Over the top was a successful failure • Massive loss of life caused by over the top meant that both nations avoided it later in the war • When USA joined, they used tactics the British had used in 1914 and refused to allow the British to teach them the knew methods • This caused more losses to USA than Briton in the last year of the war

29. Responsibility of Haig • Sir Donald Douglas Haig was in charge of the BEF • He was the planner behind the somme and Ypres's • He was the face behind Britons campaign for recruitment • The most famous one was ‘Your country needs you’ and ‘Briton Needs you, don’t let her down’

30. The War at Sea

31. German threat to Britain in the North Sea • In the pre-war armament plan by the Germans, they built up there fleet so that it could rival Briton’s • They also invented the U-boat • An underwater vessel designed to sink ships from underneath the waves with torpedoes • The British public afraid of this new threat as they were an island with her navy as her main army • Requested 10 new dreadnoughts be built • This greatly improved the power of the navy and morale of the home front • When war broke out the German navy did bombard some British coastal towns, but they were sunk by British BB’s • The British navy emplaced and long range blockade of German ports, this starved Germany • The German fleet tried to break the Blockade on the 8th may 1916 • The British lost 16 ships to Germany’s 11, but the German fleet fled to port where they remained for the rest of the war

32. German raids • The Germans would send squadrons of ships to raid British coastal towns of supply routes • The British countered this by decoding the German communications and sending their own squadrons against • Most of the German raids were successful as the British ships would turn up to late or be overpowered by the might of the heavy guns • When the British was successful it would be because of surprise or they had sent a BB

33. Heligoland Bight • The British intercepted a radio transmission from the Germans of a big raid about to take place • The British sent 3 squadrons and 1 force • Against Germany’s 2 scouting groups and two flotillas of torpedo boats (combined) • The British found the German raiding fleet exactly where they thought they would be • The German fleet was surprised • The admiral in charge ordered a organised withdrawal • The British ships were faster than the Germans and soon they engaged fire • The rear German cruiser was disabled and slowed to a stop • The British capital ship was badly damaged, after a signal mix up the British fleet broke off the attack and attacked the disabled German cruiser • This gave the rest of the German fleet time to escape to port, they had taken some heavy damage that took many months to repair

34. DoggerBank and Jutland • Germans lanched ¾ of thier fleet in an attempt the lift the blockade • Briton lanched her entire navy (homeland defence fleet) to counter the German threat • The commanding officer of the German fleet engaged the British fleet • The German Commanding officer called off the attack as he feared that the British main fleet was lying in wait in a trap • The Germans lost 11 ships to the British 16, both fleets retreated back to port where they remained for the rest of the war

35. The U-Boat threat • The u-boats were becoming an increasing threat to Britain’s merchant fleet • which was starting to decline as metal was in short supply, all metal was put into planes • The U-boats had declared unrestricted warfare • Any boat suspected of taking supplies to Briton was sunk • At one point in the war it was said that Briton only had 6 weeks supply left

36. Lusitania and anti-U Boat measures • In 1916 the American cruise liner Luistania was sunk by a German U-boat • Although USA didn’t declare war, Germany cancelled unrestricted warfare • In return USA didn’t declare ware on Germany • To counter the threat of U-boats, Winston Churchill lord of the admiralty, introduced convoy systems • Convoy • Merchant ships would travel together in groups • These convoys would be protected by escort vessels • The escort vessels were equipped with the latest anti u-boat equipment, sonar, hydrophone and depth charges

37. The defeat of Germany

38. US entry into war • Germany was negotiating with Mexico to declare war on USA • The UK found out and made sure Woodrow Wilson was notified • USA declared war in 1917 and sent over 1,000,000 men until wars end • The resent hostilities shown by Germany through Mexico gave USA reason to declare war on Germany

39. The Ludendorff spring offensives (1918) • Ludendorff and Hindenburg realised with the US entry, Germany would be outnumbered • With Russia Defeated, 1 million men were transferred to the eastern front where they were used in the spring offensive • Or otherwise known as the Ludendorff Offensive, this was Germany’s last gamble • The Bombardment started in spring with more that 100,000 cannons firing along 118 miles of frontline • This was the most ferocious barrage of the entire war

40. The Allied drive to victory(July-November 1918) • After the German spring offensive the Allies counter attacked in November • They broke through the German lines and continuously attacked only stopping to eat and sleep • The Germans were pushed all the back to Mons • The Ludendorff line was captured which the Germans thought to be impregnable • Although the german army was still in captured French and Belgium terriotory the Government opened peace terms with the allies • The Kaiser had fled to sweden where he lived for the rest of his life

41. Revolution in Germany • The soldiers and workers at Wilhelm went on strike refusing to take orders • Many other revolutions occurred and the army refused to suppress • The Kaiser fled to Sweden and the democrats took over • They negotiated peace with the allies hoping to gain an advantageous point in the treaty

42. Reasons for German defeat • The German economy was crippled • The German army was on the verge of defeat • Austro-Hungary and Turkey had surrendered • The British blockade was causing starvation in Germany • Poverty was gripping Germany as she had spent all her reserves of gold on the war • Germany had agreed a ceasefire with the allies • The Allies threatened that if Germany did not accept the peace treaty then they would open fire and continue the attack

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