1.
Impero tedesco
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
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Deutsches Heer (1871-1919)
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The Imperial German Army was the name given to the combined land and air forces of the German Empire. The term Deutsches Heer is also used for the modern German Army, the German Army was formed after the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership in 1871 and dissolved in 1919, after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. When operating together, the units were known as the Federal Army, Prussia formed the North German Confederation and the treaty provided for the maintenance of a Federal Army and a Federal Navy. Further laws on military duty also used these terms, through these conventions and the 1871 Constitution of the German Empire, an Army of the Realm was created. The contingents of the Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg kingdoms remained semi-autonomous, the Constitution of the German Empire, dated April 16,1871, changed references in the North German Constitution from Federal Army to either Army of the Realm or German Army. After 1871, the armies of the four kingdoms remained relatively distinct. German Army was used in legal documents, such as the Military Penal Code. Württemberg and Saxon units were numbered according to the Prussian system, the commander of the Imperial German Army, less the Bavarian contingent, was the Kaiser. He was assisted by a Military Cabinet and exercised control through the Prussian Ministry of War, the Chief of the General Staff became the Kaisers main military advisor and the most powerful military figure in the Empire. Bavaria kept its own Ministry of War and General Staff, saxony also maintained its own Ministry of War and the Ministry of War of Württemberg also continued to exist. Command of the Prussian Army had been reformed in the wake of the defeats suffered by Prussia in the Napoleonic Wars, the General Staff system, that sought to institutionalize military excellence, was the main result. It provided planning and organizational work during peacetime and wartime, the Prussian General Staff, proven in battle in the Wars of Unification, became the German General Staff upon formation of the German Empire, given Prussias leading role in the German Army. During wartime, the staff of the Army inspectorates formed field army commands, during World War I, a higher command level, the army group, was created. Each army group controlled several field armies, Germany was divided into army inspectorates, each of which oversaw three or four corps. There were five in 1871, with three more added between 1907 and 1913, the corps consisted of two or more divisions and various support troops, covering a geographical area. The corps was responsible for maintaining the reserves and Landwehr in the corps area. By 1914, there were 21 corps areas under Prussian jurisdiction, besides the regional corps, there was also a Guard Corps, which controlled the elite Prussian Guard units. A corps usually included an infantry battalion, a heavy artillery battalion, an engineer battalion, a telegraph battalion
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Prima guerra mondiale
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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Campagna di Serbia
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The Serbian Campaign of World War I was fought from late July 1914, when Austria-Hungary invaded the Kingdom of Serbia at the outset of World War I, until the wars conclusion in November 1918. The front ranged from the Danube River to southern Macedonia and back north again, the Serbian Army declined severely towards the end of the war, falling from about 420,000 at its peak to about 100,000 at the moment of liberation. The Kingdom of Serbia lost more than 1,200,000 inhabitants during the war, according to estimates prepared by the Yugoslav government in 1924, Serbia lost 265,164 soldiers, or 25% of all mobilized people. By comparison, France lost 16. 8%, Germany 15. 4%, Russia 11. 5%, Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian crisis of 1908–09 by annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878. This angered the Kingdom of Serbia and its patron, the Pan-Slavic, Russian political manoeuvring in the region destabilised peace accords that were already unravelling in what was known as the powder keg of Europe. In 1912 and 1913, the First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro and the fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting Treaty of London further shrank the Ottoman Empire by creating an independent Principality of Albania and enlarging the territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and this began a period of diplomatic manoeuvring among Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France, and Britain called the July Crisis. When Serbia agreed to eight of the ten demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on 28 July 1914. The dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia escalated into what is now known as World War I, and drew in Russia, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Within a week, Austria-Hungary had to face a war with Russia, Serbias patron, the result was that Serbia became a subsidiary front in the massive fight that started to unfold along Austria-Hungarys border with Russia. Serbias strategy was to hold on as long as it could and hope the Russians could defeat the main Austro-Hungarian Army, with or without the help of other allies. Serbia constantly had to worry about its hostile neighbor to the east, Bulgaria, with which it had fought several wars, the standing peacetime Austro-Hungarian army had some 36,000 officers and non-commissioned officers and 414,000 soldiers. During the mobilization, this number was increased to a total of 3,350,000 men of all ranks and this vast manpower allowed the Austro-Hungarian army to replace its losses regularly and keep units at their formation strength. According to some sources, during 1914 there were on average 150,000 men per month sent to replace the loses in the field army, during 1915 these numbers rose to 200,000 per month. However, with the beginning of the Russian general mobilization, Armeeoberkommando decided to move the 2nd Army to Galicia to counter Russian forces, furthermore, the Austro-Hungarian defeats suffered during the first invasion of Serbia forced AOK to transfer two divisions from the 2nd Army permanently to Potioreks force. By 12 August, Austria-Hungary had amassed over 500,000 soldiers on Serbian frontiers, with the departure of the major part of the 2nd Army to the Russian front, this number fell to some 285,000 of operational troops, including garrisons. Apart from land forces, Austria-Hungary also deployed its Danube River flotilla of six monitors, many Austro-Hungarian soldiers were not of good quality. About one-quarter of them were illiterate, and most of the conscripts from the subject nationalities did not speak or understand German or Hungarian
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Battaglia di Verdun
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The Battle of Verdun, fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916, was the largest and longest battle of the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies. The battle took place on the north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. The German 5th Army attacked the defences of the Fortified Region of Verdun, poor weather delayed the beginning of the German attack until 21 February, but the Germans enjoyed initial success, capturing Fort Douaumont in the first three days of the offensive. Afterwards the German advance slowed, despite many French casualties, by 6 March, 20 1⁄2 French divisions were in the RFV and a more extensive defence in depth had been constructed. Pétain ordered that On ne passe pas were to be made, by 29 March, French artillery on the west bank had begun a constant bombardment of German positions on the east bank, which caused many German infantry casualties. In March, the German offensive was extended to the bank of the Meuse. The Germans were able to advance at first but French reinforcements contained the short of their objectives. In early May, the Germans changed tactics and made local attacks and counter-attacks, part of the fort was occupied, until a German counter-attack recaptured the fort and took numerous prisoners. The Germans changed tactics again, alternating their attacks on banks of the Meuse and in June captured Fort Vaux. The Germans continued the offensive beyond Vaux, towards the last geographical objectives of the plan, at Fleury-devant-Douaumont. The Germans drove a salient into the French defences, captured Fleury, a German attempt to capture Fort Souville in early July was repulsed by artillery and small-arms fire. In August and December, French counter-offensives recaptured much of the ground lost on the east bank and recovered Fort Douaumont, the Battle of Verdun lasted for 303 days and became the longest and one of the most costly battles in human history. After the German invasion of France had been halted at the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, the war of movement ended at the Battle of the Yser and the First Battle of Ypres. The Germans built field fortifications to hold the ground captured in 1914, in late 1914 and in 1915, offensives on the Western Front had failed to gain much ground and been extremely costly in casualties. Falkenhayn offered five corps from the reserve for an offensive at Verdun at the beginning of February 1916. After the war, the Kaiser and Colonel Tappen, the Operations Officer at Oberste Heeresleitung, in the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive, the German and Austro-Hungarian Armies attacked Russian defences frontally, after pulverising them with large amounts of heavy artillery. In the north, a British relief offensive would wear down British reserves, to no decisive effect, hints about Falkenhayns thinking were picked up by Dutch military intelligence and passed on to the British in December. The Fortified Region of Verdun lay in a salient formed during the German invasion of 1914, in a directive of the General Staff of 5 August 1915, the RFV was to be stripped of 54 artillery batteries and 128,000 rounds of ammunition
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Campagna di Romania
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The Romanian campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Romania entered the war in an attempt to seize Transylvania, a region with majority Romanian population, despite initial successes, the Romanian forces suffered several setbacks, and by the end of 1916 only Moldavia remained under Allied control. On 10 November 1918, just one day before the German armistice and after all the other Central Powers had already capitulated, by then, about 220,000 Romanian soldiers had been killed, about 6% of total Entente military deaths. The Kingdom of Romania was ruled by kings of the House of Hohenzollern from 1866, while Carol wanted to enter World War I as an ally of the Central Powers, the Romanian public and the political parties were in favor of joining the Triple Entente. Romania remained neutral when the war started, arguing that Austria-Hungary itself had started the war and, consequently, in the same time, Germany started encouraging Austro-Hungary to make territorial concessions to Romania and Italy in order to keep both states neutral. In return for entering the war on Allied side, the Romania demanded support for its claims to parts of Transylvania. The Romanians greatest concerns in negotiations were the avoidance of a conflict that would have to be fought on two fronts and written guarantees of Romanian territorial gains after the war, the Allies were to send 300 tons of provisions on a daily basis. According to the Romanian account, most of these clauses, with the exception of those imposed on Romania, according to British military historian John Keegan, before Romania entered the war, the Allies had secretly agreed not to honour the territorial expansion of Romania when the war ended. In 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Thomson, a fluent speaker of French, was sent to Bucharest as British military attaché on the initiative of Lord Kitchener to bring Romania into the war. Once there, he formed the view that an unprepared and ill-armed Romania facing a war on two fronts would be a liability, not an asset, to the Allies. This view was brushed aside by Whitehall, and Thomson signed a Military Convention with Romania on 13 August 1916, within a few months, he had to alleviate the consequences of Romania’s setbacks and supervise the destruction of the Romanian oil wells to deny them to Germany. The Romanian government signed a treaty with the Allies on 17 August 1916 that pledged to declare war on Austria-Hungary by 28 August, the Romanian ambassador in Vienna actually transmitted the declaration of war on 27 August. Germany, caught by surprise, responded with a declaration of war on Romania the next day, the dates of the Bulgarian and Ottoman declarations of war are disputed. Ian Beckett says that Bulgaria did not issue a declaration of war prior to its attack of 31 August, other sources place the declaration on 30 August or 1 September. The Ottoman declaration took place either on 29 August,30 August or 1 September, within two days of her own declaration, according to one source, Romania found herself at war with all the Central Powers. The Romanian army was large, with over 650,000 men in 23 divisions. Meanwhile, the German Chief of Staff, General Erich von Falkenhayn, had correctly reasoned that Romania would side with the Allies, thus everything seemed to depend on whether Rumania was ready to make any sort of use of her momentary advantage. The Romanians in Austria-Hungary entered the war from the very beginning, although most Transylvanian Romanians were loyal to the Empire, over time, reactionary sentiments emerged, especially after Romania joined the war
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Battaglia di Caporetto
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The Battle of Caporetto in 1917, took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid, on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. The battle was named after the Italian name of the town, Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian forces opposing them. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers, the use of poison gas by the Germans also played a key role in the collapse of the Italian Second Army. In August 1917 Paul von Hindenburg decided that to keep the Austro-Hungarians in the war, erich Ludendorff was opposed to this but was overruled. In September three experts from the Imperial General Staff, led by the chemist Otto Hahn, went to the Isonzo front to find a suitable for a gas attack. They proposed attacking the quiet Caporetto sector, where a road ran west through a mountain valley to the Venetian plain. The Austro-Hungarian Army Group Boroević, commanded by Svetozar Boroević, was prepared for the offensive, in addition, a new 14th Army was formed with nine Austrian and six German divisions, commanded by the German Otto von Below. The Italians inadvertently helped by providing weather information over their radio, foul weather delayed the attack for two days but on 24 October there was no wind and the front was misted over. Knowing that their gas masks could protect them only for two hours or less, the defenders fled for their lives, though 500–600 were still killed, then the front was quiet until 06,00 when all the Italian wire and trenches to be attacked were bombarded by mortars. At 06,41,2,200 guns opened fire, at 08,00 two large mines were detonated under strong points on the heights bordering the valley and the infantry attacked. Soon they penetrated the almost undefended Italian fortifications in the valley and they made good use of the new German model 08/15 Maxim light machine gun, light trench mortars, mountain guns, flamethrowers and hand grenades. The attackers in the valley marched almost unopposed along the excellent road toward Italy, the Italian army beat back the attackers on either side of the sector where the central column attacked, but Belows successful central penetration threw the entire Italian army into disarray. Forces had to be moved along the Italian front in an attempt to stem von Belows breakout, at this point, the entire Italian position was threatened. The Italian 2nd Army commander Luigi Capello was commanding while bedridden with fever, realizing that his forces were ill-prepared for this attack and were being routed, Capello requested permission to withdraw back to the Tagliamento. He was overruled by Cadorna who believed that the Italian force could regroup, finally, on 30 October 1917, Cadorna ordered the majority of the Italian force to retreat to the other side of the Tagliamento. It took the Italians four full days to cross the river, by 2 November, a German division had established a bridgehead on the Tagliamento. About this time, however, the success of the attack caught up with them. The German and Austro-Hungarian supply lines were stretched to breaking point, even before the battle, Germany was struggling to feed and supply its armies in the field
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Quarta battaglia di Ypres
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In planning, execution and effects, Georgette was similar to Operation Michael, earlier in the Spring Offensive. The German attack zone was in Flanders, from about 10 kilometres east of Ypres in Belgium to 10 kilometres east of Béthune in France, the front line ran from north-north-east to south-south-west. The Lys River, running from south-west to north-east, crossed the front near Armentières in the middle of this zone. The front was held by the Belgian Army in the far north, by the British Second Army in the north and centre, the German attacking forces were the Sixth Army in the south, and the Fourth Army in the north. Both armies included substantial numbers of the new stosstruppen, trained to lead attacks with the new stormtroop tactics, the British First Army was a relatively weak force, it included several worn-out formations that had been posted to a quiet sector. The German bombardment opened on the evening of 7 April, against the part of the Allied line between Armentières and Festubert. The barrage continued until dawn on 9 April, the Sixth Army then attacked with eight divisions. The German assault struck the Portuguese Second Division, which held a front of about 11 kilometres, the Portuguese division was overrun and withdrew towards Estaires. The British 40th Division collapsed under the German attack and fell back to the north, horne committed his reserves to stem the German breakthrough but they too were defeated. The Germans broke through 15 kilometres of front and advanced up to 8 kilometres, there they were finally halted by British reserve divisions. On 10 April, the Sixth Army tried to push west from Estaires but was contained for a day, pushing north against the flank of the Second Army, also on 10 April, German Fourth Army attacked north of Armentières with four divisions, against the British 19th Division. The Second Army had sent its reserves south to the First Army and the Germans broke through, advancing up to 3 kilometres on a 6 kilometres front, the 25th Division to the south, flanked on both sides, withdrew about 4 kilometres. By 11 April, the British situation was desperate, it was on this day that Haig issued his famous backs to the wall order. On 12 April, the Sixth Army renewed its attack in the south, towards the important supply centre of Hazebrouck, the Germans advanced some 2–4 kilometres and captured Merville. On 13 April they were stopped by the First Australian Division, the British Fourth Division defended Hinges Ridge, the Fifth Division held Nieppe Forest and the 33rd Division was also involved. From 13–15 April, the Germans drove forward in the centre, taking Bailleul,12 kilometres west of Armentières, the Kemmelberg is a height commanding the area between Armentières and Ypres. On 17–19 April, the Fourth Army attacked and was repulsed by the British, on 18 April, the Sixth Army attacked south from the breakthrough area toward Béthune but was repulsed. French marshal, Foch, had assumed supreme command of the Allied forces
9.
Offensiva dei cento giorni
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The offensive essentially pushed the Germans out of France, forcing them to retreat beyond the Hindenburg Line, and was followed by an armistice. The term Hundred Days Offensive does not refer to a battle or unified strategy. The Spring Offensive of the German Army on the Western Front had begun on 21 March 1918 with Operation Michael and had petered out by July, the Germans had advanced to the river Marne but failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough. When Operation Marne-Rheims ended in July, the Allied supreme commander Ferdinand Foch ordered a counter-offensive which became known as the Second Battle of the Marne, the Germans, recognising their untenable position, withdrew from the Marne towards the north. For this victory, Foch was granted the title Marshal of France, Foch considered the time had arrived for the Allies to return to the offensive. The American Expeditionary Force, was present in France in large numbers, pershing was keen to use his army in an independent role. The Somme was chosen as a site for the offensive for several reasons. As in 1916, it marked the boundary between the BEF and the French armies, in this case defined by the Amiens–Roye road, also the Picardy countryside provided a good surface for tanks, which was not the case in Flanders. Finally, the German defences, manned by the German 2nd Army, were relatively weak, the Battle of Amiens opened on 8 August 1918, with an attack by more than 10 Allied divisions—Australian, Canadian, British and French forces—with more than 500 tanks. Through careful preparation, the Allies achieved surprise, the attack, led by the British Fourth Army, broke through the German lines and tanks attacked German rear positions, sowing panic and confusion. By the end of the day, a gap 15 mi wide had been created in the German line south of the Somme, the Allies had taken 17,000 prisoners and 330 guns. Total German losses were estimated to be 30,000 men, while the Allies had suffered about 6,500 killed, wounded, the collapse in German morale led Erich Ludendorff to dub it the Black Day of the German Army. The advance continued for three days but without the spectacular results of 8 August, since the rapid advance outran the supporting artillery. During those three days, the Allies had managed to gain 12 mi but most of that had occurred on the first day, as a result of the Germans adding reinforcements. On 10 August, the Germans began to pull out of the salient that they had managed to occupy during Operation Michael in March, haig refused and prepared to launch a fresh offensive by the Third Army at Albert, which opened on 21 August. The offensive was a success, pushing the German 2nd Army back over a 34 mi front, Albert was captured on 22 August. The attack was widened on the south, by the French Tenth Army starting the Second Battle of Noyon on 17 August, capturing the town of Noyon on 29 August. On 26 August, to the north of the initial attack, with the front line broken, a number of battles took place as the Allies forced the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line
Impero tedesco
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