World War I

"The Great War" redirects here. For other uses, see The Great War (disambiguation).

World War I
File:WW1 TitlePicture For Wikipedia Article.jpg Clockwise from top: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and a Sopwith Camel biplane
Date 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 Location Europe, Africa and the Middle East (briefly in China and the Pacific Islands) Result Allied victory. End of the German Empire, the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Creation of many new countries in Eastern and Central Europe.
Belligerents
Allied Powers: Russian Empire France United Kingdom Italy United States et al.	Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing	Franz Josef I Conrad von Hötzendorf Wilhelm II Erich von Falkenhayn Paul von Hindenburg Reinhard Scheer Erich Ludendorff Mehmed V İsmail Enver Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Ferdinand I
Casualties and losses
Military dead: 5,520,000 Military wounded: 12,831,000 Military missing: 4,121,000	Military dead: 4,386,000 Military wounded: 8,388,000 Military missing: 3,629,000

World War I, also known as WWI (abbreviation), the First World War, the Great War, and "The War to End All Wars," was a global military conflict which took place primarily in Europe between 1914 and 1918. More than nine million soldiers died and millions of civilian perished. The conflict had a decisive impact on the history of the 20th century.

The Allied Powers, made up of France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States, defeated the Central Powers, composed of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire.

Fighting took place along the Western Front, within a system of trenches and fortifications separated by an area known as no man's land. These fortifications ran from the North Sea to Switzerland. On the Eastern Front, the vast eastern plains and limited rail network, prevented a trench warfare stalemate. But the scale of the conflict was just as large. The Middle East and the Italian Front saw heavy fighting as well. Hostilities also occurred at sea and, for the first time, in the air.

The war caused the disintegration of four empires: the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian. Germany lost its overseas empire and states such as Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia gained independence.

World War I marked the end of the old world order, which had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars. The result of the conflict was an important factor in the outbreak of World War II.

Causes

Main article: Causes of World War I

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student, killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie Chotek, in Sarajevo. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, a group whose aims included the unification of the South Slavs and independence from Austria-Hungary (see also: the Black Hand). The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that escalated into a full-scale war. Austria-Hungary demanded action by Serbia to punish those responsible. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, when it deemed it had failed to comply. Major European powers were at war within a matter of weeks. This was due to overlapping agreements for collective defense and the complex nature of international alliances at that time. The conflict, however, also had deeper complex causes.

Arms races

The naval race between Britain and Germany was intensified by the 1906 launch of HMS Dreadnought. It was a revolutionary warship, which rendered all previous ships obsolete. (Britain maintained a large naval lead over Germany.) Paul Kennedy pointed out that both nations believed in Alfred Thayer Mahan's thesis that command of the sea was vital to great nation status.

The naval strength of the powers in 1914
Country	Personnel	Large Naval Vessels	Tonnage
Russia	55,000	4	348,000
France	67,000	10	731,000
Britain	209,000	29	2,205,000
TOTAL	331,000	43	3,264,000
Germany	79,000	17	1,019,000
Austria-Hungary	16,000	3	249,000
TOTAL	95,000	20	1,268,000
Source: Ferguson 1999 p 85

David Stevenson described the armaments race as "a self-reinforcing cycle of heightened military preparedness." David Herrman viewed the shipbuilding rivalry as part of a general movement in the direction of war. Niall Ferguson, however, argued that Britain's ability to maintain an overall lead, signified it was not a factor in the oncoming conflict.

Plans, distrust and mobilization

Closely related is the thesis adopted by many political scientists that the mobilization plans of Germany, France and Russia automatically escalated the conflict. Fritz Fischer emphasized the inherently aggressive nature of the Schlieffen Plan, which outlined a two-front strategy. Fighting on two fronts meant Germany had to eliminate one opponent quickly, before taking on the other. It called for a strong right flank attack, to seize Belgium and cripple the French army by pre-empting its mobilisation.

After the attack, the German army would rush east by railroad and quickly destroy the slowly mobilizing Russian forces.

France's Plan XVII, envisioned a quick thrust into Germany’s industrial heartland, the Ruhr Valley. This would cripple Germany's ability to wage war.

Russia’s Plan XIX, foresaw a mobilisation of its armies against both Austria-Hungary and Germany.

All three blueprints created an atmosphere where speed was of the determining factors for victory. Elaborate timetables were prepared. Once mobilisation had begun, there was little possibility of turning back. Diplomatic delays and poor communications exacerbated the problem.

Militarism and autocracy

President Woodrow Wilson of the United States and others blamed the war on militarism. Aristocrats and military elites had too much control over Germany, Russia and Austria, it was argued. War was a consequence of their desire for military power and disdain for democracy. This theme figured prominently in anti-German propaganda. Consequently, supporters of this theory called for the abdication of rulers such as Kaiser Wilhelm II. They advocated an end to aristocracy and militarism. This was used to justify Americans entry into the war, when Czarist Russia surrendered in 1917.

Wilson hoped the League of Nations and disarmament would secure a lasting peace. He also acknowledged that variations of militarism, in his opinion, existed within the British and French Empires.

There was some validity to this view, as the Allies consisted of Great Britain and France, both democracies, fighting the Central Powers, which included the autocracies of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. Russia, one of the Allied Powers, was an empire until 1917, but it was opposed to the subjugation of Slavic peoples by Austro-Hungary. Thus, the view of the war as one of democracy versus dictatorship had some validity, but it lost credibility as the conflict dragged on.

Economic imperialism

Vladimir Lenin asserted that imperialism was responsible for the war. He drew upon the economic theories of Karl Marx and English economist John A. Hobson, who predicted that unlimited competition for expanding markets would lead to a global conflict. This argument was popular in the wake of the war and assisted in the rise of Communism. Lenin argued that the banking interests of various capitalist-imperialist powers orchestrated the war.

Trade barriers

Cordell Hull believed that trade barriers were the root cause of both World War I and World War II. He designed the Bretton Woods Agreements to reduce trade barriers and eliminate what he saw as the cause of the conflicts.

Ethnic and political rivalries, both old and new

A Balkan war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was considered inevitable, as Austria-Hungary’s influence waned and the Pan-Slavic movement grew. The rise of ethnic nationalism coincided with the growth of Serbia, where anti-Austrian sentiment was perhaps most fervent. Austria-Hungary had occupied the former Ottoman province of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had a large Serb population, in 1878. It was formally annexed it in 1908. Increasing nationalist sentiment also coincided with the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Russia supported the Pan-Slavic movement. It was motivated by ethnic and religious loyalties and a rivalry with Austria, dating back to the Crimean War, but recent events, such as the failed Russian-Austrian treaty and a century-old dream of a warm water port also motivated St. Petersburg.

Germany's position as a central European power, led to the conclusion that the only viable defense was an active offensive, thus the formulation of the Schlieffen Plan. At the same time, the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, influenced the French policy of revanchism or revenge. France allied itself with Russia and a two-front war now became a distinct possibility for Germany.

See also: Powder keg of Europe

Contemporary justifications, politico-moral

Commentators before and during the war, offered various justifications for the conflict. An introduction to contemporary views may be found in Henri Bergson's The Meaning of the War, Life & Matter in Conflict (London, 1915, also available at Project Gutenberg).

July crisis and declarations of war

Main article: Causes of World War I

Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian government used the assassination as a pretext to deal with the Serbian question. Germany supported the action. On July 23, an ultimatum was sent to Serbia with demands so extreme that it was rejected. The Serbians, relying on support from Russia, ordered mobilization. Austria-Hungary issued a declaration of war on July 28. Initially, Russia ordered partial mobilization, directed at the Austrian frontier. On July 31, after the Russian General Staff informed the Czar that partial mobilization was logistically impossible, a full mobilization was ordered. The Schlieffen Plan, which relied on a quick strike against France, could not afford to allow the Russians to mobilize without launching an attack. Thus, the Germans declared war against Russia on August 1 and on France two days later. They immediately launched an invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium. This violated Belgium's neutrality and led to a British declaration of war against Germany on August 4. With this, five of the six European powers were now involved in the first continental European conflict since the Napoleonic Wars.

Chronology

Opening hostilities

European military alliances in 1914. The Central Powers are depicted in purplish-red, the Entente Powers in grey, and neutral countries in yellow

Confusion among the Central Powers

The strategy of the Central Powers suffered from miscommunication. Germany had promised to support Austria-Hungary’s invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Germany, however, envisioned Austria-Hungary directing the majority of its troops against Russia, while Germany dealt with France. This confusion forced the Austro-Hungarian Army to divide its forces between the Russian and Serbian fronts.

African campaigns

Main article: African theatre of World War I

Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French and German colonial forces in Africa. On August 7, French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of Togoland. On August 10, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa. Sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the remainder of the war.

Haut-Rhin, France, 1917.

Serbian campaign

Main article: Serbian Campaign (World War I)

The Serbian army fought the Battle of Cer against the invading Austrians, beginning on August 12. The Serbians occupied defensive positions on the south side of the Drina and Sava rivers. Over the next two weeks Austrian attacks were thrown back with heavy losses. This marked the first major Allied victory of the war. Austrian expectations of a swift victory were dashed. As a result, Austria had to keep sizable forces on the Serbian front, which weakened their efforts against Russia.

German forces in Belgium and France

Main article: Western Front (World War I)

French postcard depicting the arrival of 15th Sikh Regiment in France during World War I. The post card reads, "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten German hooligans".

Initially, the Germans had great successes in the Battle of the Frontiers (August 14–August 24). Russia, however, attacked in East Prussia and diverted German forces intended for the Western Front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg (August 17–September 2). This diversion exacerbated problems of insufficient speed of advance from rail-heads not allowed for by the German General Staff. Originally, the Schlieffen Plan called for the right flank of the German advance to pass to the west of Paris. However, the capacity and low speed of horse-drawn transport hampered the German supply train, allowing French and British forces to finally halt the German advance east of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 5–12), thereby denying the Central Powers a quick victory and forcing them to fight a war on two fronts. The German army had fought its way into a good defensive position inside France and had permanently incapacitated 230,000 more French and British troops than it had lost itself. Despite this, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance for an early victory.

Asia and the Pacific

Main article: Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I

New Zealand occupied German Samoa (later Western Samoa) on August 30. On September 11, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of Neu Pommern (later New Britain), which formed part of German New Guinea. Japan seized Germany’s Micronesian colonies and after Battle of Tsingtao, the German coaling port of Qingdao, in the Chinese Shandong peninsula. Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the German territories in the Pacific.

Early stages

In the trenches: Infantry with gas masks, Ypres, 1917

Trench warfare begins

Main article: Western Front (World War I)

Military tactics in the early part of World War I failed to keep pace with advances in technology. New technology allowed the building of impressive defenses, which out of date tactics could not break through. Barbed wire was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances; artillery, vastly more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with machine guns, made crossing open ground a nightmare. The Germans introduced poison gas. It soon became a weapon used by both sides. Poison gas never won a battle. Its effects were brutal, however, causing slow and painful deaths. It became one of the most feared and remembered horrors of the war. Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics for breaking through entrenched positions, without massive casualties. Technology, however, began to yield new offensive weapons. The tank was a wartime invention designed to break the trench warfare stalemate. Both Britain and France were the primary users of tanks, while the Germans employed captured Allied tanks, as well some of their own design.

After the First Battle of the Marne, both Entente and German forces began a series of outflanking maneuvers to try to force the other to retreat, in the so-called Race to the Sea. Britain and France soon found themselves facing entrenched German forces from Lorraine to Belgium’s Flemish coast. Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended occupied territories. One consequence was that German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy: Anglo-French trenches were only intended to be “temporary” before their forces broke through German defenses. Some hoped to break the stalemate by utilizing science and technology. In April 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas, for the first time, in violation of the Hague Convention. They opened a 6 kilometer (4 mile) hole in the Allied lines, when British and French colonial troops retreated. Canadian soldiers closed the breach at the Second Battle of Ypres. At the Third Battle of Ypres, Canadian forces took the village of Passchendaele.

On July 1 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British Army saw the bloodiest day in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties and 19,240 dead. Most casualties occured in the first hour of the attack. The entire offensive cost the British Army almost half a million dead.

Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years, though protracted German action at Verdun throughout 1916, and the Entente’s failure at the Somme, in the summer of 1916, brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts at frontal assault—with a rigid adherence to unimaginative maneuver—came at a high price for both the British and the French poilu (infantry) and led to widespread mutinies especially during the time of the Nivelle Offensive in the spring of 1917.

Canadian troops advancing behind a Canadian Mark II tank at the Battle of Vimy Ridge

Throughout 1915–17, the British Empire and France suffered far more casualties than Germany. However, while the Germans only mounted a single main offensive at Verdun, each failed attempt by the Entente to break through German lines was met with an equally fierce German counteroffensive to recapture lost positions. Around 800,000 soldiers from the British Empire were on the Western Front at any one time. 1,000 battalions, occupying sectors of the line from the North Sea to the Orne River, operated on a month-long four-stage rotation system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 9,600 kilometers (6,000 miles) of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for about a week before moving back to support lines and then further back to the reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the Poperinge or Amiens areas.

In the British-led Battle of Arras during the 1917 campaign, the only military success was the capture of Vimy Ridge by Canadian forces under Sir Arthur Currie and Julian Byng. It provided the allies with a great military advantage and had a lasting impact on the war. The Battle of Vimy Ridge is considered by many historians to be one of the founding myths of Canada.

Naval War

Main article: Naval Warfare of World War I

At the start of the war, the German Empire had cruisers scattered across the globe. They were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The British Royal Navy systematically hunted them down. At the Battle of the Falkland Islands, in December 1914, Germany lost 2 armoured cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 2 transports ships.

Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain initiated a Naval Blockade, preventing supplies from reaching German ports. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies. As well, Britain's control of the sea, unable it to board the merchant ships on the high seas and confiscate their cargoes. The strategy minimised casualties for ships belonging to neutral nations. As a result, no neutral country ever made a serious effort to end the blockade.

The 1916 Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, or "Battle of the Skagerrak") developed into the largest naval battle of the war. Remarkably, it was the only full-scale clash of battleships. The Battle of Jutland was fought on May 31–June 1, 1916, in the North Sea off Jutland. The Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, squared off against the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, led by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. The engagement was a standoff, as the Germans, outmaneuvered by the larger British fleet, managed to escape. Strategically, however, the British asserted their control of the sea and the bulk of the German surface fleet remained confined to port for the duration of the war.

German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest and Germany modified its rules of engagement. After the infamous sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners. Britain armed its merchant ships. Finally, in early 1917 Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes, before the U.S. could transport a large army overseas.

The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, with they herding merchant ships into convoys, escorted by destroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets. The accompanying destroyers might sink a submerged submarine with depth charges. The losses to submarine attacks became quite small. But the convoy system slowed the flow of supplies. The solution to the delays was a massive program to build new freighters. Troop ships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.

The First World War also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918.

Southern theatres

Ottoman Empire

Main article: Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers. The secret Ottoman-German Alliance was signed in August 1914. It threatened Russia’s Caucasian territories and Britain’s communications with India via the Suez Canal. The British and French opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns. In Gallipoli, the Turks successfully repelled the British, French and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs). In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the disastrous Siege of Kut (1915–16), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured Baghdad in March 1917. Further to the west, in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, initial British setbacks were overcome when Jerusalem was captured in December 1917. The Egyptian Expeditionary Force, under Field Marshal Edmund Allenby, broke the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918.

Russian armies generally had the best of it in the Caucasus. Vice-Generalissimo Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Turkish armed forces, was ambitious and dreamed of conquering central Asia. But he was a poor commander. He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus, in December, 1914, with 100,000 troops. Insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter, he lost 86% of his force at the Battle of Sarikamis.

The Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, General Yudenich, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus with a string of victories.

In 1917, Russian Grand Duke Nicholas assumed command of the Caucasus front. Nicholas planned a railway from Russian Georgia to the conquered territories, so that fresh supplies could be brought up for a new offensive in 1917. But, in March 1917, (February in the pre-revolutionary Russian calendar), the Czar was overthrown in the February Revolution and the Russian army began to fall apart.

Italian participation

Main article: Italian Campaign (World War I)

Italy had been allied with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882. Italy, however, had its own designs on Austrian territory in Trentino, Istria and Dalmatia. Rome had a secret 1902 pact with France, effectively nullifying its alliance. At the start of hostilities, Italy refused to commit troops, arguing that the Triple Alliance was defensive in nature, while Austria-Hungary was the aggressor. The Austro-Hungarian government began negotiations to secure Italian neutrality. It offered the French colony of Tunisia in return. Italy, however, joined the Entente in April 1915 and declared war on Austria-Hungary in May. Fifteen months later, it declared war on Germany.

Militarily, the Italians had numerical superiority. This advantage, however, was squandered (along with the size and quality of its artillery, which by 1917, rivaled the British and French). Generalissimo Luigi Cadorna insisted on attacking the Isonzo front. Cadorna, a staunch proponent of the frontal assault, had dreams of breaking into the Slovenian plateau, taking Ljubljana and threatening Vienna. It was a Napoleonic plan, which had no realistic chance of success, in an age of barbed wire, poison gas and machine guns. Cadorna unleashed eleven offensives (Battles of the Isonzo) with total disregard for his men's lives. The Italians also went on the offensive to relieve pressure on other Allied fronts. On the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the mountainous terrain, which favoured the defender. After an initial strategic retreat, the front remained largely unchanged, while Austrian Kaiserschützen and Standschützen and Italian Alpini engaged in bitter hand to hand combat throughout the summer and winter. The Austro-Hungarians counterattacked in the Altopiano of Asiago, towards Verona and Padua, in the spring of 1916 (Strafexpedition). But they made little progress.

Beginning in 1915, the Italians mounted eleven offensives along the Isonzo River, north of Trieste. These became known collectively as the Battle of the Isonzo. All eleven offensives were repelled by the Austro-Hungarians, who held the higher ground. In the summer of 1916, the Italians captured the town of Gorizia. After this minor victory, the front remained static for over a year, despite several Italian offensives. In the fall of 1917, thanks to the improving situation on the Eastern front, the Austrians received large numbers of reinforcements. These including German Storm Troops. The Central Powers launched a crushing offensive on October 26, spearheaded by the Germans. They acheived a victory at Caporetto. The Italian army was routed and retreated more than 100 km (60 miles). They were able to reorganise and stabilize the front at the Piave River. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarians repeatedly failed to break through, in a series of battles on the Asiago Plateau. They were decisively defeated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Austria-Hungary surrendered in November, 1918.

War in the Balkans

Main articles: Balkans Campaign (World War I), Serbian Campaign (World War I), and Macedonian front (World War I)

Faced with Russia, Austria-Hungary could spare only one third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Serbian counterattacks, however, succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first ten months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats, however, scored a coup by convincing Bulgaria to join in attacking Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary. Troops from the Balkans invaded Serbia, as well as fighting Russia and Italy. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. The Serbs occupied Macedonia.

Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month. The attack began on October, when the Central Powers launched an offensive from the north. Four days later the Bulgarians joined the attack from the east. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into Albania. They halted only once, to make a stand against the Bulgarians. The Serbs suffered defeat near modern day Gjilan in Kosovo. Serbian forces were evacuted by ship to Greece.

In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece, to offer assistance and to pressure the government to declare war against the Central Powers. Unfortunately for the Allies, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro-Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos, before the allied expeditionary force could arrive.

The Salonica Front proved static. It was joked that Salonica was the largest German prisoner of war camp of the war. Only at the end of the conflict were the Entente powers able to break through, which was after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians suffered their only defeat of the war, at the battle of Dobro Pole. Days later, however, they decisively defeated British and Greek forces at the battle of Doiran. Thus, Bulgaria avoided occupation. Bulgaria signed an armistice on September 29, 1918.

Eastern Front

Initial actions

Main article: Eastern Front (World War I)

While the Western Front had reached stalemate, the war continued in the east. Initial Russian plans called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back from East Prussia by Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia’s less developed industrial base and ineffective military leadership was instrumental in the events that unfolded. By the spring of 1915, the Russians had retreated into Galicia, and in May, the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland’s southern frontiers. On August 5, they captured Warsaw and forced the Russians to withdraw from Poland. This became known as the “Great Retreat” in Russia and the “Great Advance” in Germany.

Russian Revolution

Main article: Russian Revolution of 1917

Dissatisfaction with the Russian government’s conduct of the war grew, despite the success of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive in eastern Galicia. The success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces to support the victory. Allied and Russian forces revived only temporarily with Romania’s entry into the war on August 27. German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers on December 6. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia, as the Tsar remained at the front. Empress Alexandra’s increasingly incompetent rule drew protests and resulted in the murder of her favourite, Rasputin, at the end of 1916.

Vladimir Ulianov (Lenin)

In March 1917, demonstrations in St Petersburg culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak Provisional Government. It shared power with the socialists of the Petrograd Soviet. This arrangement led to confusion and chaos both at the front and at home. The army became increasingly ineffective.

The war and the government, became more and more unpopular. Discontent led to a rise in popularity of the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin. He promised to pull Russia out of the war and was able to gain power. The triumph of the Bolsheviks in November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused to agree to the harsh German terms. But when Germany resumed the war and marched with impunity across Ukraine, the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. It took Russia out of the war and ceded vast territories, including Finland, the Baltic provinces, parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers.

The publication by the new Bolshevik government of the secret treaties signed by the tsar was hailed across the world, either as a great step forward for the respect of the will of the people, or as a dreadful catastrophe which could destabilise the world. The existence of a new type of government in Russia led to the reinforcement in many countries of Communist parties.

After the Russians dropped out of the war, the Entente no longer existed. The Allied powers led a small-scale invasion of Russia. The intent was primarily to stop Germany from exploiting Russian resources and, to a lesser extent, to support the Whites in the Russian Civil War. Troops landed in Archangel (see North Russia Campaign) and in Vladivostok.

1917–18

In the trenches: Royal Irish Rifles in a communications trench on the first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916.

Events of 1917 would prove decisive in ending the war, although their effects would not be fully felt until 1918. The British naval blockade began to have a serious impact on Germany. In response, in February 1917, the German General Staff convinced Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg to declare unrestricted submarine warfare, with the goal of starving Britain out of the war. Tonnage sunk rose above 500,000 tons per month from February to July. It peaked at 860,000 tons in April. After July, the reintroduced convoy system became extremely effective in neutralizing the U-boat threat. Britain was safe from starvation and the German industrial output fell.

The victory of Austria-Hungary and Germany at the Battle of Caporetto, led the Allied at the Rapallo Conference to form the Supreme Allied Council, to coordinate planning. Previously, British and French armies had operated under separate commands.

In December, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia. This released troops for use in the west. Ironically, German troop transfers could have been greater if their territorial acquisitions had not been so dramatic. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the final outcome was to be decided on the Western front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war. But they held high hopes for a quick offensive. Furthermore, the leaders of the Central Powers and the Allies became increasingly fearful of social unrest and revolution in Europe. Thus, both sides urgently sought a decisive victory.

Entry of the United States

Main article: American Expeditionary Force

File:Wilson announcing the break in the official relations with Germany.jpg

President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany on February 3 1917

The United States pursued a policy of isolationism, avoiding conflict whilst trying to broker a peace. This resulted in increased tensions with Berlin and London. When a German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania in 1915, with 128 Americans aboard, the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson vowed that "America was too proud to fight" and demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships. Germany complied. Wilson unsuccessfully tried to mediate a settlement. He repeatedly warned that America would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare, in violation international law and American ideas of human rights. Wilson was under pressure from former president Theodore Roosevelt, who denounced German acts as "piracy." In January 1917, after the Navy pressured the Kaiser, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. Berlin's proposal to Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the U.S. angered Americans (see Zimmermann Telegram). After submarines sank seven American merchant ships, Wilson called for war on Germany, which Congress declared on April 6, 1917.

The United States was never formally a member of the Allies, but became a self-styled "Associated Power". America had a small army, but it drafted 4 million men and by summer 1918 was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. Germany had miscalculated that it would be many more months before they would arrive or that the arrival could be stopped by U-boats.

The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, several destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, and several submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of U.S. Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted American units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines, and not waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The Americans rejected the first proposition, and accepted the second. The AEF had its own slice of the Western Front, but used French and British artillery, aircraft and tanks. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Force (AEF) commander, refused to break up American units to be used as reinforcements for British Empire and French units (though he did allow African American combat units to be used by the French). Pershing ordered the use of frontal assaults, which had been discarded by that time by British Empire and French commanders because of the large loss of life sustained throughout the war.

German Spring Offensive of 1918

Main article: Spring Offensive

For most of World War I, Allied forces were stalled at trenches on the Western Front

German General Erich Ludendorff drew up plans (codenamed Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive sought to divide the British and French forces with a series of feints and advances. The German leadership hoped to strike a decisive blow before significant U.S. forces arrived. Before the offensive began, Ludendorff made a seemingly fatal mistake, by leaving the elite Eighth Army in Russia and sending over only a small portion of the German forces to the west.

Operation Michael opened on March 21 1918. British forces were attacked near Amiens. Ludendorff's wanted to split the British and French armies. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometers (40 miles). For the first time since 1914, maneuver was achieved on the battlefield.

British and French trenches were penetrated using novel infiltration tactics, also named Hutier tactics, after General Oskar von Hutier. Until now, attacks had been characterised by long artillery bombardments and massed assaults. However, in the Spring Offensive, the German Army used artillery only briefly and infiltrated small groups of infantry at weak points. They attacked command and logistics areas, and bypassed points of serious resistance. More heavily armed infantry then destroyed these isolated positions. German success relied greatly on the element of surprise.

The front moved to within 120 kilometers (75 miles) of Paris. Three heavy Krupp railway guns fired 183 shells on the capital, causing many Parisians to flee. The initial offensive were so successful that Kaiser Wilhelm II declared March 24 a national holiday. Many Germans thought victory was near. After heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or motorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains.

American divisions, which Pershing had sought to field as an independent force, were assigned to the depleted French and British Empire commands on March 28. A supreme command of Allied forces was created at the Doullens Conference. General Foch was appointed as supreme commander of the allied forces. Haig, Petain and Pershing retained tactical control of their respective armies.

Following Operation Michael, Germany launched Operation Georgette against the northern Channel ports. The Allies halted the drive with limited territorial gains for Germany. The German Army to the south then conducted Operations Blücher and Yorck, broadly towards Paris. Next, Operation Marne was launched on July 15, attempting to encircle Reims and beginning the Second Battle of the Marne. The resulting Allied counterattack marked their first successful offensive of the war. By July 20, the Germans were back at their Kaiserschlacht starting lines, having achieved nothing. Following this last phase of the war in the West, the German Army never again regained the initiative. German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many highly trained stormtroopers.

Meanwhile, at home Germany was crumbling. Anti-war marches become frequent and morale in the army fell. Industrial output was 53% of 1913 levels.

Allied victory: summer and autumn 1918

Main articles: Hundred Days Offensive and Weimar Republic

American engineers returning from the front during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in September 1918

The Allied counteroffensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive began on August 8 1918. The Battle of Amiens developed with III Corps Fourth British Army on the left, the First French Army on the right, and the Australian and Canadian Corps spearheading the offensive in the centre. It involved 414 tanks of the Mark IV and Mark V type, and 120,000 men. They advanced 12 kilometers (7 miles) into German-held territory in just seven hours. Erich Ludendorff referred to this day as the "Black Day of the German army”.

The offensive lost momentum due to supply problems. British units had encountered problems with all but seven tanks and trucks ran out of fuel. On August 15, General Haig called a halt and began planning a new offensive in Albert. The Second Battle of the Somme began on August 21. Some 130,000 U.S. troops were involved, along with soldiers from Third and Fourth British Armies. It was an overwhelming success. The Second German Army was pushed back over a 55 kilometer (34 mile) front. By September 2, the Germans were back to the Hindenburg Line, their starting point in 1914.

The Allied attack on the Hindenburg Line (the Meuse-Argonne Offensive) began September 26. 260,000 American soldiers went “over the top”. All initial objectives were captured, except the U.S. 79th Infantry Division, which met stiff resistance at Montfaucon and took an extra day to capture its objective. The US Army stalled because of supply problems, as its inexperienced headquarters had to cope with large units and a difficult landscape.

At the same time, French units broke through in Champagne and closed on the Belgian frontier. The most significant advance came from Commonwealth units, as they entered Belgium (liberation of Ghent). The German army had to shorten its front and use the Dutch frontier as an anchor to fight rear-guard actions. This probably saved the army from disintegration, but was devastating for morale.

By October, it was evident that Germany could no longer mount a successful defense. They were increasingly outnumbered, with the few new recruits. Rations were cut. Ludendorff decided, on October 1, that Germany had two ways out—total annihilation or an armistice. He recommended the latter at a summit of senior German officials. Allied pressure did not let up.

Meanwhile, news of Germany’s impending military defeat spread throughout the German Armed forces. The threat of mutiny was rife. Admiral Reinhard Scheer and Ludendorff decided to launch a last ditch attempt to restore the “valor” of the German Navy. Knowing the government of Max von Baden would veto any such action; Ludendorff decided not to inform him. Nonetheless, word of the impending assault reached sailors at Kiel. Many rebelled and were arrested, refusing to be part of a naval offensive which they believed to be suicidal. Ludendorff took the blame—the Kaiser dismissed him on October 26. The collapse of the Balkans meant that Germany was about to lose its main supplies of oil and food. The reserves had been used up, but the Americans kept arriving at the rate of 10,000 a day.

With power coming into the hands of new men in Berlin, further fighting became impossible. With 6 million German casualties, Germany moved toward peace. Prince Max von Baden took charge of a new government. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the vain hope that better terms would be offered than with the British and French. Instead Wilson demanded the abdication of the Kaiser. There was no resistance when the social democrat Philipp Scheidemann on November 9 declared Germany to be a republic. Imperial Germany was dead; a new Germany had been born: the Weimar Republic.

End of war

This photograph was taken after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. The location is in the forest of Compiègne. Foch is second from the right.

The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice on September 29 1918. On October 30, the Ottoman Empire capitulated.

On October 24 the Italians began a push which rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, which marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of Austria-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague and Zagreb. On October 29 the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice. But the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine and Trieste. On November 3 Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce to ask for an Armistice. The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Allied Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian Commander and accepted. The Armistice with Austria was signed in the Villa Giusti, near Padua, on November 3. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy.

Following the outbreak of the German Revolution, a republic was proclaimed on November 9. The Kaiser fled to the Netherlands. On November 11, an armistice with Germany was signed in a railroad carriage at Compiègne. At 11:00am on November 11 1918 — the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month — a ceasefire came into effect. Opposing armies on the Western Front began to withdraw from their positions. Canadian George Lawrence Price is traditionally regarded as the last soldier killed in the Great War: he was shot by a German sniper and died at 10:58.

A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on June 28, 1919. Later treaties with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and The Ottoman Empire were signed. However, the latter treaty with the Ottoman Empire was followed by strife (the Turkish Independence War) and a final peace treaty was signed between the Allied Powers and the country that would shortly become the Republic of Turkey, at Lausanne on July 24 1923.

Some war memorials date the end of the war as being when the Versailles treaty was signed in 1919; by contrast, most commemorations of the wars end concentrate on the armistice of November 11 1918. Legally the last formal peace treaties were not signed until 1923. Some also treat the Versailles treaty as the prelude to World War II.

Further information: [[:World War I casualties]]

Prisoners of war

About 8 million men surrendered and were held in POW camps during the war. All nations pledged to follow the Hague Convention on fair treatment of prisoners of war. In general, a POW's rate of survival was much higher than their peers at the front. Individual surrenders were uncommon. Large units usually surrendered en mass. At the Battle of Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered. When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915, 20,000 Russians became prisoners. Over half of Russian losses were prisoners (as a proportion of those captured, wounded or killed); for Austria 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost between 2.5 and 3.5 million men as prisoners.) From the Central Powers about 3.3 million men became prisoners.

Germany held 2.5 million prisoners; Russia held 2.9 million, and Britain and France held about 720,000. Most were captured just prior to the Armistice. The U.S. held 48,000. The most dangerous moment was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes gunned down. Once prisoners reached a camp, in general, conditions were satisfactory (and much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations. Conditions were terrible in Russia, starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike; about 15-20% of the prisoners in Russia died. In Germany food was in short supply, but only 5% died.

The Ottoman Empire often treated POWs poorly. Some 11,800 British Empire soldiers, most of them Indians, became prisoners after the Siege of Kut, in Mesopotamia, in April 1916; 4,250 died in captivity. Although many were in very bad condition when captured, Ottoman officers forced them to March 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) to Anatolia. A survivor said: "we were driven along like beasts, to drop out was to die." The survivors were then forced to build a railway through the Taurus Mountains.

The most curious case occured in Russia, where the prisoners from the Czech Legion of the Austro-Hungarian army, were released in 1917. They re-armed themselves and briefly became a military and diplomatic force during the Russian Civil War.

War crimes

Armenian Genocide

Main article: Armenian Genocide

The ethnic cleansing of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is widely considered a genocide. The Turks accused the (Christian) Armenians of preparing to ally themselves with Russia, and saw the entire Armenian population as an enemy within their empire. The exact number of deaths is unknown; most estimates are between 800,000 and 1.5 million. Turkish governments since that time have consistently rejected charges of genocide, typically arguing either that those Armenians who died were simply in the way of a war or that killings of Armenians were justified by their individual or collective support for the enemies of the Ottoman Empire. These claims have often been labeled as historical revisionism by western scholars.

Rape of Belgium

Main article: Rape of Belgium

In Belgium, German troops, in fear of French guerrilla fighters, or francs-tireurs, massacred townspeople in Andenne (211 dead), Tamines (384 dead), and Dinant (612 dead). The victims included women and children. On August 25, 1914 the Germans set fire to the town of Leuven and burned the library of 230,000 books, killing 209 civilians and forcing 42,000 to evacuate. These actions brought worldwide condemnation.

Economics and manpower issues

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased for three Allies (Britain, Italy, and U.S.), but decreased in France and Russia, in neutral Netherlands, and in the main three Central Powers. The shrinkage in GDP in Austria, Russia, France, and the Ottoman Empire reached 30 to 40%. In Austria, for example, most of the pigs were slaughtered and, at wars end, there was no meat.

All nations had increases in the government’s share of GDP, surpassing fifty percent in both Germany and France and nearly reaching fifty percent in Britain. To pay for purchases in the United States, Britain cashed in its massive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily on Wall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916, but with war imminent with Germany, he allowed a massive increase in U.S. government lending to the Allies. After 1919, the U.S. demanded repayment of these loans, which, in part, were funded by German reparations, which, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and the loans were never repaid.

One of the most dramatic effects was the expansion of governmental powers and responsibilities in Britain, France, the United States, and the Dominions of the British Empire. In order to harness all the power of their societies, new government ministries and powers were created. New taxes were levied and laws enacted, all designed to bolster the war effort; many of which have lasted to this day.

At the same time, the war strained the abilities of the formerly large and bureaucratised governments such as in Austria-Hungary and Germany. Here, however, the long-term effects were clouded by the defeat of these governments.

Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, industry needed to replace the lost laborers sent to war. This aided the struggle for voting rights for women.

As the war slowly turned into a war of attrition, conscription was implemented in some countries. This issue was particularly explosive in Canada and Australia. In the former it opened a political gap between French-Canadians — who claimed their true loyalty was to Canada and not the British Empire — and the English-speaking majority who saw the war as a duty to both Britain and Canada. Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden pushed through a Military Service Act that caused the Conscription Crisis of 1917. In Australia, a sustained pro-conscription campaign by Prime Minister Billy Hughes, caused a split in the Australian Labor Party and Hughes formed the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1917 to pursue the matter. Nevertheless, the labour movement, the Catholic Church and Irish nationalist expatriates successfully opposed Hughes' push to introduce conscription, which was rejected in two plebiscites.

In Britain, rationing was finally imposed in early 1918 and was limited to meat, sugar and fats (butter and oleo), but not bread. The new system worked smoothly. From 1914 to 1918 trade union membership doubled, from a little over four million to a little over eight million. Work stoppages and strikes became frequent in 1917-18 as the unions expressed grievances regarding prices, liquor control, pay disputes, “dilution”, fatigue from overtime and from Sunday work, and inadequate housing. Conscription put into uniform nearly every physically fit man, six million out of ten million eligible in Britain. Of these, about 750,000 lost their lives and 1,700,000 were wounded. Most deaths were to young unmarried men; however, 160,000 wives lost husbands and 300,000 children lost fathers. [Havighurst p 134–5]

Technology

See also: Technology during World War I

French Nieuport 17 C.1 fighter, 1917

The First World War began as a clash of 20th-century technology with 19th-century tactics and the inevitable appalling casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies — now numbering millions of men — had modernised significantly and were making use of such technology as wireless communication, armored cars, tanks, and tactical aircraft. The infantry was reorganised such that 100-man companies were no longer the main unit of maneuver, in favour of the squad of 10 or so men under the command of a junior NCO. Artillery also had undergone a revolution; in 1914, cannons were positioned on the front lines and fired using open sights directly at their targets; by 1917, indirect fire with guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was responsible for the majority of casualties inflicted, and counter-battery artillery missions became commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging enemy artillery.

Much of the war’s combat involved trench warfare, where hundreds often died for each yard of land gained. Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred during the First World War. Such battles include Ypres, Vimy Ridge, Marne, Cambrai, Somme, Verdun, and Gallipoli. During the war, the Haber process of nitrogen fixation was employed to provide the German forces with a continuing supply of powder for the ongoing conflict in the face of British naval control over the trade routes for naturally occurring nitrates. Artillery was responsible for the largest number of casualties during the First World War, which consumed vast quantities of explosives. The large number of head-wounds caused by exploding shells and shrapnel forced the combatant nations to develop the modern steel helmet. The French, who introduced the Adrian helmet in 1915, led this effort. It was quickly followed by the Brodie helmet, worn by British Empire and U.S. troops, and in 1916 by the German Stahlhelm, the distinctive steel helmet that with improvements continued in use throughout World War II.

There was chemical warfare and aerial bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1907 Hague Convention, and both of which had extremely limited effects in tactical terms.

Chemical warfare was a major distinguishing factor of the war. Gases used included chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene. Only a small proportion of total war casualties were caused by gas, but it achieved harassment and psychological effects by masking speech and slowing movement. Effective countermeasures to gas were quickly created in gas masks. Even as the use of gas increased, its effectiveness in creating casualties was quite limited.

The most powerful land weapons of the Great War were naval guns weighing hundreds of tons apiece (nicknamed Big Berthas by the British); they could be moved on land only by railroad. The largest U.S., British, and French rail guns were severely out-ranged by the German Krupp, Max E, and Paris Guns.

Fixed-wing aircraft were first used militarily during the First World War. Initial uses consisted of reconnaissance and ground attack. To shoot down enemy planes, anti-aircraft machine guns were used, and, more effectively, fast fighter aircraft. Strategic bombing aircraft were created principally by the Germans and British, though the former used Zeppelins to this end as well.

Towards the end of the war, aircraft carriers were used in combat for the first time, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a raid against the Zepplin hangars at Tondern in 1918.

German U-boats (submarines) were used in combat shortly after the war began. Alternating between restricted and unrestricted submarine warfare during the First Battle of the Atlantic, they were employed by the Kaiserliche Marine in a strategy of defeating the British Empire through a tonnage war. The deaths of British merchantmen and the invulnerability of U-boats led to the development of several countermeasures: depth charges (1916), hydrophones (passive sonar, 1917), blimps, hunter-killer submarines (HMS R 1, 1917), ahead-throwing weapons, and dipping hydrophones (both abandoned in 1918). To extend their operations, the Germans proposed supply submarines (1916). Most of these would be forgotten in the interwar period until World War II revived the need.

Trenches, the machine gun, air reconnaissance, barbed wire, and modern artillery with fragmentation shells helped bring the battle lines of World War I to a stalemate by making massed infantry attacks deadly for the attacker. The infantry was armed mostly with magazine fed bolt-action rifles, but the machine gun, with the ability to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, blunted infantry attacks as an offensive doctrine. The British sought a solution and created the tank, and with it mechanised warfare. The first tanks were used during the Battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916; mechanical reliability issues hampered their mobility, but the experiment proved its worth as protection against enemy weapons, particularly the machine gun. Within a year, the British were fielding tanks by the hundreds and showed their potential during the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 by breaking the Hindenburg Line, while combined arms teams captured 8000 enemy soldiers and 100 guns. Light automatic weapons also were introduced, such as the Lewis Gun and Browning automatic rifle, combining the firepower of the machine gun with the portability of the rifle.

Manned observation balloons floating high above the trenches were used as stationary reconnaissance points on the front lines, reporting enemy troop positions and directing artillery fire. Balloons commonly had a crew of two personnel equipped with parachutes; upon an enemy air attack on the flammable balloon, the balloon crew would parachute to safety. At the time, parachutes were too bulky to be used by pilots in aircraft, and smaller versions would not be developed until the end of the war. Recognised for their value as observer platforms, observation balloons were important targets of enemy aircraft. To defend against air attack, they were heavily protected by large concentrations antiaircraft guns and patrolled by friendly aircraft. Blimps and balloons helped contribute to the stalemate of trench warfare in World War I, and the balloons contributed to air-to-air combat among aircraft defending the skies and maintaining air superiority because of the balloons' significant reconnaissance value. The Germans conducted air raids on England and London during 1915 and 1916 using airships intending to damage British morale and will to fight, and to cause aircraft to be reassigned away from the front lines.

Another new weapon sprayed jets of burning fuel: flamethrowers. First used in war by the German army, and later adopted by other powers during WWI (it was invented prior to this, and simple models have existed since ancient times). Although not of high tactical value, they were a powerful, demoralizing weapon and caused much terror on the battlefield. It was a dangerous weapon to wield as their heavy weight made operators vulnerable targets. Despite Hollywood portrayal, however, there was little actual danger of the fuel tank exploding if shot or punctured.

Opposition to the war

Main article: Opposition to World War I

The trade union and socialist movements had declared before the war their determined opposition to a war which they said could only mean workers killing each other in the millions in the interests of their capitalist employers. Once the war was declared, however, the vast majority of socialist and trade union bodies decided to back the government of their respective countries and support the war. The few exceptions were the Russian Bolsheviks, the Italian Socialist Party, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg and their followers in Germany, and very small groups in Britain and France. Other opposition came from conscientious objectors - some socialist, some religious - who refused to fight in the war. In Britain 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status, and many suffered years of prison, including solitary confinement and bread and water diets, to oppose the war. Even after the war in Britain, many job offers were marked "No conscientious objectors need apply" .

Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the war. Eugene Debs in the United States objected and was thrown in jail for a speech in 1918. Bertrand Russell in Britain was also jailed for writing an anti-war article in 1915.

Aftermath

Main article: Aftermath of World War I

The direct consequences of World War I brought many old regimes crashing to the ground, and ultimately, would lead to the end of 300 years of European hegemony in the world.

File:Beaumont hamel newfoundland memorial.jpg

The Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont Hamel.

No other war had changed the map of Europe so dramatically—four empires disappeared: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and the Russian. Four defunct dynasties, the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburg, Romanovs and the Ottomans together with all their ancillary aristocracies, all fell during the war. France was badly damaged, with 1.4 million soldiers dead, not counting other casualties. In addition, a major influenza epidemic that started in Western Europe in the latter months of the war killed millions of people in Europe and then spread elsewhere around the world. Overall the influenza epidemic killed at least 50 million people.

Peace Treaties

After the war, the Allies imposed a series of peace treaties on the defeated Central Powers. The 1919 Versailles Treaty ended the war with Germany. Germany was kept under a food blockade until it signed the treaty, which declared that Germany was responsible for the war and therefore had to pay all its costs. The treaty required Germany to pay enormous annual cash reparations, which it did by borrowing from the United States, until reparations were suspended in 1931. The “Guilt Thesis” became controversial in Britain and the United States. It caused enormous bitterness in Germany, which nationalist movements, especially the Nazis, exploited in the 1920s. (See Dolchstosslegende). Due to this treaty, one of the worst economic collapses in history took place in Germany, resulting in widespread famine, and inflation.

The Ottoman Empire was to have been partitioned by the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 but the treaty was never ratified by the sultan and was rejected by the Turkish republican movement. This led to the Turkish Independence War and ultimately the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

Austria-Hungary was also partitioned, largely along ethnic lines. The details were contained in the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the Treaty of Trianon.

New national identities

Poland reemerged as an independent country, after more than a century. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were entirely new creations. Russia became the Soviet Union and lost several regions such as Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia which became independent countries. The old Ottoman Empire was soon replaced by Turkey and several other countries in the following years in the Middle East.

In the British Empire the war unleashed new forms of nationalism. In Australian and New Zealand popular minds, the First World War, specifically Gallipoli became known as the nations' “Baptism of Fire”, as it was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it is one of the first cases in which Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of the British Crown. Anzac Day commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps is a defining moment.

This effect was even greater in Canada. Canadians proved they were their own country and not just subjects of the British Empire. Indeed, many Canadians refer to their country as a nation “forged from fire”, as Canadians were respected internationally as an independent nation from the conflagrations of war and bravery. When Canada entered the war it was simply a Dominion of the British Empire, when the war came to a close Canada was an independent nation. Canadian diplomats played a significant role in negotiating the Treaty to end WWI, and Canada placed her own signature to the treaty whereas other Dominions were represented by Britain's signature. Canadians commemorate the war dead on Remembrance Day. However the French Canadians did not see it that way, creating a permanent chasm that continues to split the country. See Conscription Crisis of 1917.

Social trauma

The experiences of the war led to a sort of collective national trauma afterwards for all the participating countries. The optimism of the 1900s was entirely gone, and those who fought in the war became what is known as “the Lost Generation” because they never fully recovered from their experiences. For the next few years, much of Europe began its mourning; memorials were erected in thousands of villages and towns. The soldiers returning home from World War I suffered greatly, since the horrors witnessed in that war had never before been seen in history. Although it was then commonly called shell shock, it is now known that many returning soldiers suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

This social trauma manifested itself in many different ways. Some people were revolted by nationalism and what it had supposedly caused and began to work toward a more internationalist world, supporting organisations such as the League of Nations. Pacifism became increasingly popular. Others had the opposite reaction, feeling that only strength and military-might could be relied upon for protection in a chaotic and inhumane world that did not respect hypothetical notions of civilisation. “Anti-modernist” views were a reaction against the many changes taking place within society. The rise of Nazism and fascism included a revival of the nationalistic spirit of the pre-war years and, on principle, a rejection of many post-war changes. Similarly, the popularity of the Dolchstosslegende was a testament to the psychological state of the defeated, as acceptance of the scapegoat mythos signified a rejection of the “lessons” of the war and therefore, a rejection of its popular resulting perspective. Certainly a sense of disillusionment and cynicism became pronounced, with nihilism growing in popularity. This disillusionment towards humanity found a cultural climax with the Dadaist artistic movement. Many people believed that the war heralded the end of the world as they had known it, including the collapse of capitalism and imperialism. Communist and socialist movements around the world drew strength from this theory and enjoyed a level of popularity they had never known before. These feelings were most pronounced in areas directly or particularly harshly affected by the war, especially within Europe.

Lt. Col. John McCrae of Canada, who wrote the poem In Flanders Fields, died in 1918 of pneumonia

In 1915, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of Canada wrote the memorable poem In Flanders Fields as a salute to those who perished in the Great War. It is still recited today, especially on Remembrance and Memorial Day.

Other names

World War I has also been called “The Great War” (a title previously used to refer to the Napoleonic Wars) or sometimes “the war to end all wars” until World War II. “War of the Nations” and “War in Europe” were commonly employed as descriptions during the war itself and in the 1920s. In France and Belgium it was also sometimes referred to as La Guerre du Droit ('the War for Justice') or La Guerre Pour la Civilisation / de Oorlog tot de Beschaving ("the War to Preserve Civilisation"), especially on medals and commemorative monuments. The term used by official histories of the war in Britain and Canada is First World War, while American histories generally use the term World War I.

In many European countries, it appears that the current usage is tending back towards calling it "the Great War" / la Grande Guerre / de Grote Oorlog / der Grosse Krieg, due to the growing historical awareness that, of the two 20th-century world wars, the 1914-1918 conflict was the more momentous in causing social and political change and upheaval, as well as being prime cause of the Second World War.

Basic bibliography

See also List of World War I books

• Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I (1998)
• Cruttwell, C. R. M. F. A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 (1934), general military history
• Ellis, John and Mike Cox. The World War I Databook: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants (2002)
• Esposito, Vincent J. The West Point Atlas of American Wars: 1900-1918 (1997), despite the title covers entire war; online maps from this atlas
• Falls, Cyril. The Great War (1960), general military history
• Fussell, Paul. The Great War and Modern Memory (1975), on literature
• Gray, Edwyn A. The U-Boat War, 1914-1918 (1994)
• Haber, L. F. The Poisonous Cloud: Chemical Warfare in the First World War (1986)
• Halpern, Paul G. A Naval History of World War I (1995)
• Hardach, Gerd. The First World War 1914-1918 (1977), economics
• Henig, Ruth The Origins of the First World War (2002)
• Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (1996)
• Higham, Robin and Dennis E. Showalter, eds. Researching World War I: A Handbook (2003), historiography, stressing military themes
• Howard, Michael. The First World War (2002), short (175 pp) general military history
• Hubatsch, Walther. Germany and the Central Powers in the World War, 1914-1918 (1963)
• Joll, James. The Origins of the First World War (1984)
• Keegan, John. The First World War (1999), general military history
• Kennedy, David M. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1982), covers politics & economics & society
• Kennett, Lee B. The First Air War, 1914-1918 (1992)
• Lee, Dwight E. ed. The Outbreak of the First World War: Who Was Responsible? (1958), readings from multiple points of view
• Lyons, Michael J. World War I: A Short History (2nd Edition), Prentice Hall, (1999)
• Morton, Desmond, and J. L. Granatstein Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914-1919 (1989)
• Pope, Stephen and Wheal, Elizabeth-Anne, eds. The Macmillan Dictionary of the First World War (1995)
• Robbins, Keith. The First World War (1993), short overview
• Silkin, Jon. ed. The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (2nd ed. 1997)
• Stevenson, David. Cataclysm: The First World War As Political Tragedy (2004), major reinterpretation, 560pp
• Stevenson, David. The First World War and International Politics (2005)
• Stokesbury, James. A Short History of World War I (1981)
• Strachan, Hew. The First World War: Volume I: To Arms (2004): the major scholarly synthesis. Thorough coverage of 1914; Also: The First World War (2004): a 385pp version of his multivolume history
• Taylor, A. J. P. The First World War: An Illustrated History, Hamish Hamilton, 1963
• Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August, tells of the opening diplomatic and military manoeuvres
• Tucker, Spencer, ed. The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 vol 2005), online at eBook.com
• Tucker, Spencer, ed. European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1999)
• Venzon, Anne ed. The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1995)
• Winter, J. M. The Experience of World War I (2nd ed 2005), topical essays; well illustrated
• van der Vat, Dan. The Atlantic Campaign. (1988). Connects submarine and antisubmarine operations between wars, and suggests a continuous war.
• Price, Alfred, Dr. Aircraft versus the Submarine. Deals with technical developments, including the first dipping hydrophones.

Movies, novels, poetry, etc.

See main article Literature of World War I

Poetry and songs

• Children's Crusade (2000), Song by Sting
• All Together Now (1990), Song by The Farm
• No Man's Land (also known as The Green Fields of France and Willie McBride) (1976), song by Eric Bogle
• And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (1972), song by Eric Bogle
• They (1918), poem by Siegfried Sassoon
• Base details (1918), poem by Siegfried Sassoon
• Anthem for Doomed Youth (1917), poem by Wilfred Owen
• Dulce et Decorum Est (1917), poem by Wilfred Owen
• Disabled (1917), poem by Wilfred Owen
• Over There (1917), theme song of the war by George M. Cohan
• In Flanders Fields (1915), poem by John McCrae [1]
• On Receiving News of the War (1914), poem by Isaac Rosenberg

Books and novels

• Le Feu (Under Fire) (1916), novel by Henri Barbusse
• Storm of Steel, autobiography of Ernst Jünger. First published 1920 and revised several times through 1961
• Rilla of Ingleside (1920), novel by L.M. Montgomery, an account of the war as experienced by Canadian women of the time.
• Three Soldiers (1921), novel by John Dos Passos
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922), by T. E. Lawrence
• The Good Soldier Švejk (1923), satirical novel by Jaroslav Hašek
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), novel written by Erich Maria Remarque
• Death of a Hero (1929), novel by Richard Aldington
• A Farewell to Arms (1929), novel by Ernest Hemingway
• Goodbye to All That (1929), autobiography of Robert Graves
• The Memoirs of George Sherston semi-autobiographical series of three novels by Siegfried Sassoon
• Testament of Youth (1933), memoir by Vera Brittain
• Paths of Glory (1935), novel by Humphrey Cobb
• Hussar's Picture Book (1972), memoir by Pál Kelemen
• Joe's War: Memoirs of a Doughboy (1983), autobiography by Joseph N. Rizzi
• Regeneration (1991), The Eye in the Door, (1993); The Ghost Road, (1995) novels by Pat Barker
• Birdsong (1993), novel by Sebastian Faulks
• No Graves As Yet (2003), first volume of a trilogy of novels by Anne Perry
• Deafening (2003), book written by Francis Itani
• A Long, Long Way (2005), novel by Sebastian Barry
• To the Last Man (2005), novel by Jeff Shaara
• Turn Right at Istanbul novel by Tony Wright
• A World Undone (2006), novel by G. J. Meyer

Films, plays, television series and mini-series

• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), movie directed by Rex Ingram, based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
• Mare Nostrum (1926), movie directed by Rex Ingram, based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
• Wings (1927), directed by William A. Wellman, tells the story about two fighter pilots; only silent movie to win the Academy Oscar.
• Journey's End (1928), play written by R. C. Sherriff
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), movie directed by Lewis Milestone, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque (1929)
• Hell's Angels (1930), movie directed by Howard Hughes
• Grand Illusion (1937), directed by Jean Renoir
• Sergeant York (1941), movie directed by Howard Hawks
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), directed by Michael Curtiz
• Paths of Glory (1957), movie directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb (1935)
• Marš na Drinu (1961), Serbian war film about a Serbian artillery battalion in the Battle of Cer
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962), movie covering events surrounding T. E. Lawrence in the pan-Arabian Theater, starring Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, and Omar Sharif and directed by David Lean
• World War I (1964), CBS News documentary narrated by Robert Ryan
• The Great War (1964), TV series by Correlli Barnett and others of BBC
• Doctor Zhivago (1965), movie by David Lean, based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, deals with Russia's involvement in the war and how it led to that country's Revolution.
• The Blue Max (1966), movie directed by John Guillermin, titled after the Prussian military award, or Pour le Mérite
• Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), movie directed by Richard Attenborough, from the 1963 musical play by Joan Littlewood
• Johnny Got His Gun (1971), movie directed by Dalton Trumbo
• Gallipoli (1981), movie directed by Peter Weir
• Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, (1985), play by Frank McGuinness
• The Lighthorsemen (1987), movie directed by Simon Wincer
• Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), TV series by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
• Regeneration (1997), movie directed by Gillies MacKinnon, based on the novel by Pat Barker (1991)
• The Lost Battalion (2001), movie and screenplay directed by Russell Mulcahy
• A Very Long Engagement (2004), movie directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on the novel by Sebastien Japrisot (1991)
• Joyeux Noël (2005), Based on the 1914 Christmas truce.
• Passchendaele (2006), movie directed by and starring Paul Gross
• Flyboys (2006), Movie directed by Tony Bill, tells the story of American pilots who volunteered for the French military before America entered World War I.

See also

• List of World War I veterans
• Surviving veterans of World War I
• War memorials
• World War One - Medal Abbreviations

External links

• A Guide to World War I Materials at the Library of Congress
• Chronology World War I World History Database
• A multimedia history of World War I
• The War to End All Wars on BBC
• “The Heritage of the Great War” with numerous pictures (many in color!)
• Royal Engineers Museum The Royal Engineers and the First World War
• GenealogyBuff.com — World War I Casualty Reports for the U.S. Army 1918
• The British Army in the Great War
• A history of opposition to the war in Britain
• The French Army in the Great War
• World War I — Wars And Battles
• Encyclopedia of the First World War
• Trenches on the Web
• Online World War I Records & Indexes
• World War I Document Archive
• The Medical Front WWI
• World War I Naval Combat
• Wanted! 500 000 Canadians for WWI — Illustrated Historical Essay
• Memoirs of the Great War — A personal account in diary format of one man’s experiences throughout the Great War
• War diaries of TF Littler A personal account, war postcards and propaganda comic postcards
• Mediatheque Autochromes — French site with many color photographs from WWI
• The World War I Years — NVR’s Film & Discussion Series in Public Libraries
• WWW-VL: Military History: The Great War 1914-1918
• WWI links
• Chailey 1914-1918 - A Sussex community's response to the First World War
• canadiansoldiers.com
• World War I Poster Collection hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries' Digital Collections
• German submarine industries WWI
• Documents of World War One
• First World War in the News
• The Great War in a Different Light Photographs, illustrations, postcards, artists, period newspaper and magazine articles/excerpts, complete war-time books. Material in English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish