1.
German Empire
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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
2.
World War I
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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
3.
Serbian Campaign of World War I
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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
4.
Macedonian Front
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The expedition came too late and in insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia, and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece. The Macedonian Front remained quite stable, despite local actions, until the great Allied offensive in September 1918, which resulted in the capitulation of Bulgaria and the liberation of Serbia. Following the asassination of the Crown Prince by a Bosnian Serb, after the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, the decisive factor in the Balkans became the attitude of Bulgaria. Bulgaria occupied an important position on the Serbian flank and its intervention on either side of the belligerents would be decisive. Bulgaria and Serbia had fought each other twice in the thirty years, in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. Bulgaria had suffered defeat in 1913 and the Bulgarian government and people felt that Serbia had stolen land which rightfully belonged to Bulgaria. After the victory of the Serbian army in the Battle of Kolubara in December 1914, on 15 October 1915, two Bulgarian armies attacked, overrunning Serbian units, penetrating into the valley of the South Morava river near Vranje up to 22 October 1915. The Bulgarian forces occupied Kumanovo, Štip, and Skopje, and prevented the withdrawal of the Serbian army to the Greek border, for a year, the Allies had repeatedly promised to send serious military forces to Serbia, while nothing had materialized. But with Bulgarias mobilization to its south, the situation for Serbia became desperate, the main reason for the delay was the lack of available Allied forces due to the critical situation in the Western Front. The Entente used Greek neutrality as an excuse, although they could have used the Albanian coast for a deployment of reinforcements. The Entente also delayed due to protracted secret negotiations aiming at bringing Bulgaria into the Allied camp, in the event the lack of Allied support sealed the fate of the Serbian Army. Against Serbia the Central Powers marshalled the Bulgarian Army, a German Army, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians began their attack on 7 October with a massive artillery barrage, followed by attacks across the rivers. Then, on 11 October, the Bulgarian Army attacked from two directions, one from the north of Bulgaria towards Niš, the other from the south towards Skopje, the Bulgarian Army rapidly broke through the weaker Serbian forces which tried to block its advance. With the Bulgarian breakthrough, the Serbian position became hopeless, their army in the north faced either encirclement and enforced surrender. Marshal Putnik ordered a full Serbian retreat, southwards and westwards through Montenegro, the Serbs faced great difficulties, terrible weather, poor roads and the need for the army to help the tens of thousands of civilians who retreated with them. Only c.125,000 Serbian soldiers reached the Adriatic coast and embarked on Italian transport ships carried the army to Corfu. Marshal Putnik had to be carried during the retreat, he died just over a year later in a French hospital. The French and British divisions marched north from Thessaloniki in October 1915 under the joint command of French General Maurice Sarrail, however, the War Office in London was reluctant to advance too deep into Serbia
5.
Brusilov Offensive
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Historian Graydon Tunstall called the Brusilov Offensive the worst crisis of World War I for Austria-Hungary and the Triple Ententes greatest victory, but it came at a tremendous loss of life. The offensive involved a major Russian attack against the armies of the Central Powers on the Eastern Front, was launched on 4 June 1916 and it took place in an area of present-day western Ukraine, in the general vicinity of the towns of Lviv, Kovel, and Lutsk. The offensive was named after the commander in charge of the Southwestern Front of the Imperial Russian Army, under the terms of the Chantilly Agreement of December 1915, Russia, France, Britain and Italy committed to simultaneous attacks against the Central Powers in the summer of 1916. Russia felt obliged to lend troops to fight in France and Salonika, the Russians also initiated the disastrous Lake Naroch Offensive in the Vilno area, during which the Germans suffered only one-fifth as many casualties as the Russians. This offensive took place at French request, in the hope that the Germans would transfer more units to the East after their attack on Verdun. General Aleksei Brusilov presented his plan to the Stavka, the Russian high command, Brusilovs plan aimed to take some of the pressure off French and British armies in France and the Italian Army along the Isonzo Front and, if possible, to knock Austria-Hungary out of the war. As the Austrian army was engaged in Italy, the Russian army enjoyed a significant numerical advantage on the Galician front. Gen. Alexei Evert, commander of the Russian Western Army Group, Tsar Nicholas II had taken personal command of the army in September 1915. Evert was a supporter of Nicholas and the Romanovs. The objectives were to be the cities of Kovel and Lviv, although Stavka had approved Brusilovs plan, his request for supporting offensives by neighboring fronts was denied. Mounting pressure from the western Allies caused the Russians to hurry their preparations, Brusilov amassed four armies totaling 40 infantry divisions and 15 cavalry divisions. He faced 39 Austrian infantry divisions and 10 cavalry divisions, formed in a row of three lines, although later German reinforcements were brought up. Brusilov, knowing he would not receive significant reinforcements, moved his reserves up to the front line and he used them to dig entrenchments about 300 by 90 metres along the front line. These provided shelter for the troops and hindered observation by the Austrians, the Russians secretly crept to within 91 metres of the Austrian lines and at some points as close as 69 metres. Brusilov prepared for an assault along 480 kilometres of front. The Stavka urged Brusilov to considerably shorten his attacking front to allow for a much heavier concentration of Russian troops, Brusilov insisted on his plan and the Stavka relented. The initial attack was successful and the Austro-Hungarian lines were broken, Brusilovs tactical innovations laid the foundation for the German infiltration tactics used later in the Western Front. On 8 June forces of the Southwestern Front took Lutsk, the Austrian commander, Archduke Josef Ferdinand, barely escaped the city before the Russians entered, a testament to the speed of the Russian advance
6.
Battle of Cambrai (1917)
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The Battle of Cambrai was a British offensive and German counter-offensive battle in the First World War. Major General Henry Tudor, Commander, Royal Artillery of the 9th Division, fuller, a staff officer with the Tank Corps, was in the process of looking for a place to use tanks as raiding parties. General Julian Byng, commander of the British Third Army, decided to both plans into the attack. Despite British success on the first day, mechanical unreliability, German artillery and infantry defences exposed the frailties of the Mark IV tank, on the second day, only about half of the original number of tanks were available. Numerous developments since 1915 matured at Cambrai, such as predicted artillery fire, sound ranging, infantry tactics, infantry-tank co-ordination. The techniques of warfare continued to develop and played a vital part during the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918. The German defences were formidable, Cambrai having been a stretch of front thus far enabled the Germans to fortify their lines in depth. Tudors plan sought to test new methods in combined arms, with emphasis on combined artillery and infantry techniques, Tudor advocated using the new sound ranging and silent registration of guns to achieve instant suppression fire and surprise. Despite efforts to preserve secrecy, the Germans had received sufficient intelligence to be on moderate alert, the attacking force was six infantry divisions of the III Corps on the right and IV Corps on the left, supported by nine battalions of the Tank Corps with about 437 tanks. In reserve was one division in IV Corps and the three divisions of the Cavalry Corps. Initially, there was success in most areas and it seemed as if a great victory was within reach. On the right, the 12th Division advanced as far as Lateau Wood before being ordered to dig in, the 20th Division forced a way through La Vacquerie and then advanced to capture a bridge across the St Quentin canal at Masnières. The bridge collapsed under the weight of a tank halting the hopes for an advance across the canal, in the centre the 6th Division captured Ribécourt and Marcoing but when the cavalry passed through late, they were repulsed from Noyelles. On the IV Corps front, the 51st Division was held at Flesquières and this left the attacking divisions on each flank exposed to enfilade fire. The commander of the 51st Division, George Montague Harper had substituted his own drill for the standard one laid down by the Tank Corps. Flesquières was one of the strongest points in the German line and was flanked by other strong points and its defenders under Major Krebs acquitted themselves well against the tanks, almost 40 being knocked out by the Flesquières artillery. There is little evidence for Krügers actions, although it is possible that he may have been responsible for as many as nine tanks, twenty-eight tanks were lost in the action, through German artillery-fire and breakdowns. Haig concluded that skirmishing infantry was needed, to bring the artillery crews under small-arms fire to allow the tanks to operate, the Germans abandoned Flesquières during the night
7.
Spring Offensive
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The Germans had realised that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the overwhelming human and matériel resources of the United States could be fully deployed. They also had the advantage in numbers afforded by the nearly 50 divisions freed by the Russian surrender. There were four German offensives, codenamed Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau, once this was achieved, it was hoped that the French would seek armistice terms. The other offensives were subsidiary to Michael and were designed to divert Allied forces from the offensive on the Somme. No clear objective was established before the start of the offensives and once the operations were underway, the Allies concentrated their main forces in the essential areas, while leaving strategically worthless ground, devastated by years of combat, lightly defended. The Germans were unable to move supplies and reinforcements fast enough to maintain their advance, the fast-moving stormtroopers leading the attack could not carry enough food and ammunition to sustain themselves for long and all the German offensives petered out, in part through lack of supplies. By late April 1918, the danger of a German breakthrough had passed, the German Army had suffered heavy casualties and now occupied ground of dubious value which would prove impossible to hold with such depleted units. In August 1918, the Allies began a counter-offensive with the support of 1–2 million fresh American troops and using new artillery techniques, the German government and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, nominally the Chief of the General Staff, were not party to the planning process. Eventually it was decided to launch Operation Michael near Saint-Quentin, at the hinge between the French and British armies, and strike north to Arras, the main reason for the choice was tactical expediency. The ground on this sector of the front would dry out much sooner after the winter and spring rains and it was also a line of least resistance as the British and French armies were weak in the sector. However, these remained only secondary and weaker operations, subordinate to Michael, the constant changing of operational targets once the offensive was underway gave the impression the German command had no coherent strategic goal. Any capture of an important strategic objective, such as the Channel ports, the success of Operation Michael led German infantry to advance too far from its supply bases and railheads. The stormtrooper units leading the advance carried supplies for only a few days, the advance was slowed by supply shortages, which gave Allied commanders more time to reinforce the threatened areas and to slow the advance still more. The stormtrooper tactic was to attack and disrupt enemy headquarters, artillery units, each major formation creamed off its best and fittest soldiers into storm units, several complete divisions were formed from these elite units. The Germans also failed to arm their forces with a mobile force, such as cavalry. This tactical error meant the infantry had to keep up a tempo of advance. Notwithstanding the effectiveness of the stormtroopers, the following German infantry often made attacks in large traditional waves, to enable the initial breakthrough, Lieutenant Colonel Georg Bruchmüller, a German artillery officer, developed the Feuerwalze, an effective and economical creeping barrage scheme. There were three phases, first, a bombardment on the enemys command and communications, then, destruction of their artillery
8.
Operation Michael
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Operation Michael was a major German military offensive during the First World War that began the Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin and its goal was to break through the Allied lines and advance in a north-westerly direction to seize the Channel ports, which supplied the British Expeditionary Force and to drive the BEF into the sea. Two days later General Ludendorff, the Chief of the German General Staff, changed his plan and pushed for a due west. This was designed to separate the French and British Armies and crush the British forces by pushing them into the sea, much of the ground fought over was the wilderness left by the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The action was officially named by the British Battles Nomenclature Committee as The First Battles of the Somme,1918. The failure of the offensive marked the beginning of the end of the First World War for Germany, the arrival in France of large reinforcements from the United States replaced Entente casualties but the German Army was unable to recover from its losses before these reinforcements took the field. Operation Michael failed to achieve its objectives and the German advance was reversed during the Second Battle of the Somme,1918 in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. On 11 November 1917, the German High Command discussed what they hoped would be an offensive on the Western Front the following spring. A decision to attack was taken by General Erich Ludendorff on 21 January 1918, at the start of 1918, the German people were close to starvation and growing tired of the war. Germany had 192 divisions and three brigades on the Western Front by 21 March, out of 241 in the German Army, of these divisions,110 were in the front line,50 of which faced the shorter British front. Another 67 divisions were in reserve, with 31 facing the BEF, by May 1918,318,000 American soldiers were due in France, with another million planned to arrive before August. The Germans knew that the chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the build-up of the American Expeditionary Force was complete. The German strategy for the 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht, involved four offensives, Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau, Michael took place on the Somme and then Georgette was conducted on the Lys and at Ypres, which was planned to confuse the enemy. Blücher took place against the French in the Champagne region, although British intelligence knew that a German offensive was being prepared, this far-reaching plan was much more ambitious than Allied commanders expected. Ludendorff aimed to advance across the Somme, then wheel north-west, to cut the British lines of communication behind the Artois front, trapping the BEF in Flanders. Allied forces would be away from the Channel ports, which were essential for British supply. The British would be surrounded and surrender, the line, taken over from the French, barely existed, needing much work to make it easily defensible to the positions further north, which slowed progress in the area of the Fifth Army. During the winter of 1917–1918, the new British line was established in an arc around St. Quentin, there were many isolated outposts, gaps in the line and large areas of disputed territory and waste land
9.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
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It was fought from 26 September 1918, until the Armistice of 11 November 1918, a total of 47 days. American losses were exacerbated by the inexperience of many of the troops, the Meuse-Argonne was the principal engagement of the AEF during World War I. The logistical prelude to the Meuse attack was planned by then-Colonel George Marshall who managed to move American units to the front after the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, on 26 September, the Americans began their strike towards Sedan in the south. The next day British and Belgian divisions drove towards Ghent, and then British, the Meuse-Argonne offensive, shared by the U. S. forces with the French Fourth Army on the left, was the biggest operation and victory of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. The bulk of the AEF had not gone into action until 1918, the Meuse-Argonne battle was the largest frontline commitment of troops by the U. S. Army in World War I, and also its deadliest. Command was coordinated, with some U. S. troops attached, the main U. S. effort of the Meuse-Argonne offensive took place in the Verdun Sector, immediately north and northwest of the town of Verdun, between 26 September and 11 November 1918. However, far to the north, U. S. Quentin Canal, the American forces initially consisted of fifteen divisions of the U. S. First Army commanded by then-General John J. Pershing until October 16, the logistics were planned and directed by then-Colonel George C. Marshall. The French forces next to them consisted of 31 divisions including the Fourth Army, the U. S. S. and French contributions in troops were considerable. Most of the equipment was provided by the European Allies. For the Meuse-Argonne front alone, this represented 2,780 artillery pieces,380 tanks and 840 planes, as the battle progressed, both the Americans and the French brought in reinforcements. Eventually,22 American divisions would participate in the battle at one time or another, other French forces involved included the 2nd Colonial Corps, under Henri Claudel, which had also fought alongside the AEF at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel earlier in September 1918. The opposing forces were wholly German, during this period of the war, German divisions procured only 50 percent or less of their initial strength. The 117th Division, which opposed the U. S. 79th Division during the offensives first phase, had only 3,300 men in its ranks. For example, divisions that served on the Eastern front would have high morale, while conversely divisions that had been on the Western front had poor morale. Resistance grew to approximately 200, 000–450,000 German troops from the Fifth Army of Group Gallwitz commanded by General Georg von der Marwitz, the Americans estimated that they opposed parts of 44 German divisions overall, though many fewer at any one time. The objective was the capture of the hub at Sedan which would break the railway network supporting the German Army in France. During the three hours preceding H hour, the Allies expended more ammunition than both sides managed to fire throughout the four years of the Civil War, the cost was later calculated to have been $180 million, or $1 million per minute
