WW1 Europe: Practices of War and the Impact on the Outcome Notes

Key Questions

1. Which alliance had the strongest armed forces at the outbreak of the war?
2. Why did the war development into a stalemate?
3. To what extent did technological developments break this stalemate?
4. What was the role of the mobilisation of human and economic resources on the outcome of the war?

The Combatants of the War

1. Central Powers (1914)

Population & Army Strength

1. Total population: 115 million people across member states.
2. Initial mobilisation (1914):
   1. 146 army divisions (1.4 million soldiers in the field at the start of the war).
3. German Army strengths:
   1. Advanced system of command and control, faster orders, more flexibility in troop deployment.
   2. Could rapidly reposition forces between different fronts because of internal lines of communication and geographic adjacency between allies.
   3. Close cooperation between Germany and Austria-Hungary allowed coordinated military operations.

Total Mobilization During the War

1. Germany: 11 million soldiers mobilized over the course of the war.
2. Austria-Hungary: 7.8 million soldiers.
3. Ottoman Empire (Turkey): 2.9 million soldiers.
4. Bulgaria: 1.2 million soldiers.

Naval Strength

1. German High Seas Fleet:
   1. 14 Dreadnought-class battleships (modern capital ships).
   2. 22 older battleships still in service.
   3. Advanced artillery fire control systems and communication technology for better accuracy and coordination.
2. Naval strategy allowed concentration of forces in the North Sea, as Germany had relatively few colonies to defend compared to Britain.

2. Allied Powers (1914)

Population & Army Strength

1. Combined population (France, Russia, Britain): ~265 million.
2. Initial mobilization (1914):
   1. 212 army divisions (2.8 million soldiers in the field).
3. Army composition:
   1. Russia & France: conscript armies, large numbers but varying quality.
   2. Britain: volunteer army in 1914, smaller in size but highly professional.

Limitations & Challenges

1. Russia:
   1. Serious shortages of weapons, ammunition, and equipment.
   2. Many soldiers lacked basic gear (e.g., some sent to the front without rifles initially).
   3. Out-dated command, communication, and control systems made coordination slow and ineffective.
2. France:
   1. Well-equipped and organised but geographically distant from Russia, making joint operations with their ally slow and difficult.
3. Britain:
   1. Small standing army in 1914 but could draw on vast manpower from the empire.
   2. For example:
      1. Canada: 6,000 soldiers in August 1914 → 500,000 sent overseas by 1918.

British Royal Navy (1914)

1. Maintained a modified two-power standard, meaning its navy was meant to be at least as strong as the next two largest navies combined.
2. Fleet size at outbreak of war:
   1. 20 Dreadnought-class battleships.
   2. 39 older battleships.
3. Responsibilities:
   1. Protecting an extensive global empire and colonial trade routes.
   2. Ensuring safe shipping lanes for vital imports of food and raw materials (Britain was not self-sufficient).
4. Strategic advantage:
   1. Alliance with France allowed French naval forces to patrol the Mediterranean.
   2. This freed the Royal Navy to focus on the North Sea and confront the German High Seas Fleet directly.

Total Mobilization During the War

1. All Allied Powers combined: 42 million soldiers.
   1. Russia: 12 million.
   2. France: 8.4 million.
   3. Britain & Empire: 8.9 million.
   4. Italy: 5.6 million.

3. United States (Joined 1917)

Army Strength

1. April 1917: 200,000 soldiers (including National Guard).
2. Selective Service Act (1917) introduced conscription, leading to rapid growth.
3. Mobilised 4.3 million soldiers during just 19 months of active involvement.

Naval Strength

1. 1914 fleet included:
   1. 10 Dreadnought-class battleships.
   2. 23 older battleships.
2. Naval Expansion Act (1916): planned to double the size of the US Navy over several years.

Strategic Developments of the War

1. Opening Moves (July–August 1914)

Collapse of Diplomacy

1. Late July 1914: Final diplomatic efforts to prevent war failed.
2. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand a month earlier had already triggered a chain of ultimatums and military preparations.
3. 1 August 1914: Germany declared war on Russia, referred to as throwing the “iron dice”, marking a decisive step into all-out war.

Leaders’ Perspective

1. Political and military leaders claimed they were reacting to unavoidable circumstances rather than initiating war.
2. Kaiser Wilhelm II insisted that “the sword had been forced into Germany’s hand.”
3. Once Germany acted, the alliance system, national interests, and mobilisation timetables pushed Europe into war with unstoppable momentum.

Armies on the Move

1. All major powers began moving troops toward their respective frontiers.
2. Railways allowed for rapid initial troop movements, but trains could only take armies so far, men and horses had to continue on foot.
3. France: Rushed the bulk of its forces east toward Alsace-Lorraine.
4. Britain: Landed the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France and moved south-east toward the Belgian frontier.
5. Germany: Sent over 1 million soldiers west, initiating the Schlieffen Plan, which aimed to capture Paris in 41 days.
6. Large-scale engagements would take around two weeks to begin due to the slow pace of marching armies.

2. Belgium and the Schlieffen Plan

Belgium’s Strategic Position

1. The right wing of the German army was to sweep through Belgium on its way to Paris.
2. Belgium’s army was small compared to the major powers but had invested heavily in fortified defences, especially around Liège.
3. These forts controlled the most accessible invasion route from Germany into France.

German Assault on Liège

1. German Second Army: Over 300,000 soldiers advanced on Liège.
2. Belgian Defenders: About 70,000 troops manned 12 forts.
3. The Germans captured the city quickly, aided by Zeppelin bombing raids, one of the first uses of aerial bombardment in history.

Siege of the Forts

1. To destroy the forts, Germany deployed massive siege howitzers, including the famous “Big Bertha”:
   1. Calibre: 420 mm
   2. Shell weight: 770 kg
   3. Range: 12 km
2. Within 11 days, all forts had fallen, leaving Belgium open for the continuation of the Schlieffen Plan.

3. The Battle of the Frontiers (August 1914)

French Plan XVII in Action

1. Plan XVII: French strategy to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine, lost in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).
2. Based on the doctrine of the offensive, boldness, élan (fighting spirit), and rapid attack.
3. 7 August 1914: French launched operations to retake Mulhouse in Alsace.
4. 14 August 1914: Main French offensive into Lorraine began, initially pushing Germans back and retaking towns such as Mulhouse.

German Counteroffensive

1. French advance was uneven, leaving gaps between units.
2. 20 August: German Sixth and Seventh Armies launched counteroffensives, exploiting these gaps.
3. Heavy fighting occurred in multiple areas, including:
   1. Sambre River
   2. Ardennes region
4. By 24 August, French forces had been decisively defeated and their advance halted.

Outcome of the Battle of the Frontiers

1. Plan XVII failed completely.
2. French losses: ~200,000 casualties (including 75,000 dead).
   1. 22 August: 25,000 French soldiers killed in a single day, one of the deadliest in French military history.
3. German success at this stage suggested the Schlieffen Plan was working as intended.

4. The Battle of the Marne (5–12 September 1914)

German Advance and the Great Retreat

1. After defeating Belgian resistance and halting the BEF at Mons, German armies continued their sweep through Belgium and northern France.
2. The BEF and French armies conducted a Great Retreat toward Paris.
3. However, German forces became overextended:
   1. Supply lines grew longer.
   2. More troops had to be diverted to protect these lines.
   3. Overall fighting strength weakened as they advanced.

Paris Prepares for Defence

1. Belgian resistance bought time for Paris’ military governor, General Gallieni, to assemble a defensive force.
2. Aerial reconnaissance spotted the German First Army wheeling in front of Paris, rather than around it, exposing its right flank to the French Sixth Army.

French and British Counterattack

1. General Joffre ordered the Sixth Army to strike the exposed German flank.
2. General von Kluck, commanding the German First Army, turned to face the attack, creating a 50 km gap between the German First and Second Armies.
3. Joffre urged the BEF and French Fifth Army to drive into the gap, cutting the German advance in two.

Collapse of the Schlieffen Plan

1. Fighting between 5–12 September stopped the German advance.
2. 9 September: German Chief of Staff von Moltke, hampered by poor communications and an incomplete picture of events, ordered a withdrawal to defensive positions 65 km to the rear.
3. The failure to capture Paris within 41 days meant the Schlieffen Plan had failed.

5. The Race to the Sea (September–October 1914)

Attempt to Outflank the Enemy

1. Both sides tried to outflank each other’s northern wing in order to threaten encirclement.
2. French and British forces moved north and west; Germans countered in the same direction.

Extension of the Front

1. Series of attack, counterattack, and entrenchment moves gradually extended the fighting line.
2. By late October, the front stretched:
   1. 700 km from the Swiss Alps to the English Channel.
   2. Continuous trench systems were forming.
3. The war on the Western Front would now be defined by stalemate and trench warfare.
4. The Schlieffen Plan’s failure condemned both sides to a long war of attrition.

6. Overview of Trench Warfare

Nature of the Stalemate

1. Western Front became a massive, complex system of entrenchments.
2. Defensive technologies were generally stronger than offensive ones for most of the war.
3. Advantage favoured the Germans, who were defending captured territory from August–September 1914.

Defensive Technology

1. Relied heavily on the shovel and barbed wire, later reinforced with concrete.
2. The machine gun was particularly effective early in the war for defence.
3. Additional defensive/attack technologies included:
   1. Flamethrowers
   2. Trench mortars
   3. Poison gas
   4. Mines
   5. Tanks (the only one with real potential to breach defences)

Strategic Limitations

1. Traditional strategies (feints, outflanking, encirclement) required mobility, which trenches eliminated.
2. Continuous front from the Alps to the Channel made flanking impossible.
3. Aircraft technology was insufficient for moving troops over the lines.
4. Amphibious landings were highly dangerous and logistically complex.
5. Breaking through enemy lines became the only viable option for both sides.

7. The Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915)

Introduction of Poison Gas

1. First use of poison gas in the west by Germans.
2. 22 April 1915: 170 tonnes of chlorine gas released in the Ypres sector.
3. Targeted French colonial troops; caused 10,000 Allied casualties within minutes.
4. Created a large gap in Allied lines, exploited only to a depth of 3 km.

Canadian Resistance

1. Second gas attack (24 April) targeted newly arrived Canadian troops.
2. Canadians used improvised gas masks; gave some ground but blunted the attack.
3. Suffered 6,000 casualties (including 1,000 dead), nearly the entire peacetime Canadian army.

Outcome

1. Germans halted offensive on 24 May 1915.
2. Germans took key high ground north and east of Ypres, shrinking the salient.
3. Ypres and a 5 km × 8 km pocket around it remained in Allied control.
4. Casualties:
   1. Allies: 70,000
   2. Germans: 5,000

8. The Battle of Verdun (February–October 1916)

German Strategy & Objectives

1. Planned by German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn.
2. Aim: attack with such ferocity that the French could not surrender, instead forcing them to “bleed white” through massive casualties.
3. Operation codename: Operation Judgment.
4. Resources:
   1. 8 divisions plus reserves along a 13 km front.
   2. 1,200 artillery pieces, including massive siege guns used in Belgium in 1914.
   3. 2.5 million shells stockpiled.

Opening of the Battle

1. Attack postponed due to weather, allowing French to reinforce.
2. Began on 21 February 1916 with a devastating artillery bombardment – 100,000 shells per hour.
3. Plan: advance cautiously to maximise enemy casualties rather than seize territory.

French Defence

1. Led by General Pétain, who adopted the doctrine of active defence – contest every metre, counterattack later.
2. Terrain: ring of forts and hills around Verdun became the focus.
3. Village of Vaux changed hands 13 times in March 1916.
4. Single supply road into Verdun (the “Sacred Way”) remained open.

Outcome

1. From April, Germans attacked along the whole front, drawing themselves into a battle of attrition.
2. By June: German casualties equalled French, around 200,000 each.
3. Fighting lasted until December; both sides lost 350,000 men each.

9. The Battle of the Somme (July–November 1916)

Allied Strategy & Build-up

1. Aim: breach German lines with massive artillery bombardment followed by infantry waves and cavalry exploitation.
2. Target area: central sector from Verdun to Amiens, most suited for large offensives.
3. British and French planned a joint attack along the Somme River.
4. British “New Army” had grown to nearly 2 million men.

Logistics & Resources

1. Construction of 17 new railheads.
2. 1,500 artillery pieces and 3 million shells.
3. 11,200 km of buried telephone cable and 69,000 km above ground.
4. Thousands of carrier pigeons.
5. 100,000 horses, accommodation for 400,000 men, and 300 water trucks.

Battle Plan

1. Week-long bombardment to destroy German barbed wire and artillery.
2. Massive mines planted 18 m under German lines detonated at start.
3. Infantry advance behind a creeping barrage.
4. General Haig expected an 11 km advance on Day 1; General Rawlinson predicted a smaller gain.

Problems & Reality

1. Date moved forward to 1 July 1916 to relieve pressure on Verdun.
2. Bombardment failed to cut barbed wire; creeping barrage moved too fast.
3. German dugouts survived, and machine gunners emerged to mow down advancing troops.
4. Some penetrations occurred, but most attackers were stopped in no man’s land.
5. Casualties on Day 1: 60,000 British (20,000 dead) out of 100,000 attackers – the worst single day in British military history.

Outcome

1. Fighting continued until November.
2. Furthest British advance: 12 km.
3. Casualties:
   1. British: 420,000
   2. French: 194,000
   3. German: 500,000

10. Passchendaele (July–November 1917)

Context Before the Battle

1. By mid-1917, the Allies were approaching exhaustion:
   1. Russian Army was collapsing under the strain of prolonged warfare.
   2. Russian Provisional Government, in power since the tsar’s February abdication, was faltering.
   3. French Army morale was critically low, fifty divisions in the trenches mutinied, refusing to continue perceived futile assaults.