Battle of World War I

Battles of World War I

The Conflict Grinds to a Halt Early on, Germany’s Schlieffen Plan worked brilliantly. By the end of August, the Germans had overrun Belgium and swept into France. By September 3, German units were on the edge of Paris. A major German victory appeared just days away. The French military then came into possession of intelligence that told them the exact direction the Germany army was about to take.

         On September 5, the Allies attacked the Germans northeast of Paris, in the valley of the Marne River. Every available soldier was hurled into the struggle. When reinforcements were needed, more than 600 taxicabs rushed soldiers from Paris to the front. After four days of fighting, the German generals gave the order to retreat. “It was an inspiring thought,” a British officer later wrote, “that the time had now come to chase the German.” By September 13, the Germans had been driven back nearly 60 miles.

         Although it was only the first major clash on the Western Front, the First Battle of the Marne was perhaps the single most important event of the war. The defeat of the Germans left the Schlieffen Plan in ruins. A quick victory in the west no longer seemed  possible. In the east, Russian forces had already invaded Germany. Germany was going to have to fight a long war on two fronts. Realizing this, the German high command sent thousands of troops from France to aid its forces in the east. Meanwhile, the war on the Western Front settled into a stalemate.

War in the Trenches By early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire. This set the stage for what became known as trench warfare. In this type of warfare, soldiers fought each other from trenches. And armies traded huge losses for pitifully small land gains.

         Life in the trenches was pure misery. “The men slept in mud, washed in mud, ate mud, and dreamed mud,” wrote one soldier. The trenches swarmed with rats. Fresh food was nonexistent. Sleep was nearly impossible.

         The space between the opposing trenches won the grim name “no man’s land.” When the officers ordered an attack, their men went “over the top” of their trenches into this bombed-out landscape. There, they usually met murderous rounds of machine-gun fire. Staying put in the trench, however, did not ensure one’s safety. Artillery fire brought death right into the trenches. “Shells of all calibers kept raining on our sector,” wrote one French soldier. “The trenches disappeared, filled with earth…the air unbreathable. Our blinded, wounded, crawling, and shouting soldiers kept falling on top of us and died splashing us with blood. It was living hell.”

         The Western Front had become a “terrain of death.” It stretched nearly 500 miles from the North Sea to the Swiss border. A British officer described it in a letter:

Imagine a broad belt, ten miles or so in width, stretching from the Channel to the German frontier near Basle, which is positively littered with the bodies of men and scarified with their rude graves; in which farms, villages and cottages are shapeless heaps of blackened masonry; in which fields, roads and trees are pitted and torn and twisted by shells and disfigured by dead horses, cattle, sheep and goats, scattered in every attitude of repulsive distortion and dismemberment.

Valentine Fleming, quoted in The First World War

         Military strategists were at a loss. New tools of war—machine guns, poison gas, armored tanks, larger artillery—had not delivered the fast-moving war they had expected. All this new technology did was kill huge numbers of people more effectively.

         The slaughter reached a peak in 1916. In February, the Germans launched a massive attack against the French near Verdun. Each side lost more than 300,000 men.

         In July of 1916, the British army tried to relieve the pressure on the French, British forces attacked the Germans northwest of Verdun, in the valley of the Somme River. In the first day of battle alone, more than 20,000 British soldiers were killed. By the time the Battle of the Somme ended in November, each side had suffered over half of million casualties.

         What did the warring sides gain? Near Verdun, the Germans advanced about four miles. In the Somme valley, the British gained about five miles.

Even as the war on the Western Front claimed thousands of lives, both sides were sending millions more men to fight on the Eastern Front. This area was a stretch of battlefield along the German and Russian border. Here, Russians and Serbs battled Germans, Austrians, and Turks. The war in the east was a more mobile war than that in the west. Here too, however, slaughter and stalemate were common.

         At the very beginning of the war, Russian forces had launched an attack into both Austria and Germany. At the end of August 1914, Germany counterattacked near the town of Tannenberg. During the four-day battle that followed, the Germans crushed the invading Russian army and drove it into full retreat. Germany regained East Prussia and seized numerous guns and horses from the enemy. More than 30,000 Russian soldiers were killed.

         Russia fared somewhat better against the Austrians. Russian forces defeated the Austrians twice in September 1914, driving them deep into Austria. Not until December of that year did the Austrian army—with German assistance—manage to turn the tide. In a 17-day battle near Limanowa, Austria defeated the Russians and drove them eastward. Two weeks later, the Austrian army pushed the Russians out of Austria-Hungary.

Russia’s War Effort Weakens By 1916, Russia’s war effort was near collapse. Unlike the nations of Western Europe, Russia had yet to become industrialized. As a result, the Russian army was continually short on food, guns, ammunition, clothes, boots, and blankets. Moreover, the Allies were unable to ship supplies to Russia’s ports. In the north, a German naval fleet blocked the Baltic Sea. In the south, the Ottomans still controlled the straits leading from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

         The Russian army had only one asset—its numbers. Throughout the war the Russian army suffered enormous battlefield losses. More than 2 million Russian soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured in 1915 alone. And yet the army continually rebuilt it ranks from the country’s enormous population. For more than three years, the battered Russian army managed to tie up hundreds of thousands of German troops in the east. Thus, Germany could not hurl its full fighting force at the west.

         Germany and her allies, however, were concerned with more than just the Eastern or Western Fronts. As the war raged on, fighting spread beyond Europe to Africa, as well as to Southwest and Southeast Asia. In the years after it began, the massive European conflict indeed became a world war.

A Truly Global Conflict

Geographical widening of the war actually had begun soon after the conflict started. Japan entered the war on the Allies’ side. The Ottoman Turks and later Bulgaria allied themselves with Germany and the Central Powers. That widened the conflict further. By early 1915, the only major neutral power left besides the United States was Italy. And Italy joined the Allies in April. None of these alliances gave an advantage to either side. But they did give military leaders more war zones in which to try to secure victory.

Fighting Rages Beyond Europe As the war dragged on, the Allies desperately searched for a way to end the stalemate. A promising strategy seemed to be to attack a region in the Ottoman Empire known as the Dardanelles. This narrow sea strait was the gateway to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople. By securing the Dardanelles, the Allies believed that they could take Constantinople, defeat the Turks, and establish a supply line to Russia. They might even be able to mount an offensive into the Austrian heartland by way of the Danube River.

         The effort to take the Dardanelles strait began in February 1915. It was known as the Gallipoli campaign. British, Australian, New Zealand, and French troops made repeated assaults on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the western side of the strait. Turkish troops, some commanded by German officers, vigorously defended the region. By May, Gallipoli had turned into another bloody stalemate. Both sides dug trenches, from which they battled for the rest of the year. In December, the Allies gave up the campaign and began to evacuate. They had suffered about 250,000 casualties.

         Despite the Allies’ failure at Gallipoli, they remained determined to topple the Ottoman Empire. In Southwest Asia, the British helped Arab nationalists rise up against their Turkish rulers. Particularly devoted to the Arab cause was a British soldier named T.E. Lawrence. Better known as Lawrence of Arabia, he helped lead daring guerilla raids against the Turks. With the help of the Arabs, Allied armies took control of Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Damascus.

         In various parts of Asia and Africa, Germany’s colonial possessions came under assault. The Japanese quickly overran German outposts in China. They also captured Germany’s Pacific island colonies.

         In July 1918, the Allies and Germans clashed at the Second Battle of Marne. Leading the Allied attack were some 350 tanks that rumbled slowly forward, smashing through the German lines. With the arrival of 2 million more American troops, the Allied forces began to advance steadily toward Germany.

         Soon, the Central Powers began to crumble. First the Bulgarians and then the Ottoman Turks surrendered. In October, a revolution in Austria-Hungary brought that empire to an end. In Germany, soldiers mutinied, and the public turned on the Kaiser.

         On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to step down. Germany declared itself a republic. A representative of the new German government met with Marshal Foch. In a railway car in a forest near Paris, the two signed an armistice, or an agreement to stop fighting. On November 11, World War I came to an end.

         After four years of slaughter and destruction, the time had come to forge a peace settlement. Leaders of the victorious nations gathered outside Paris to work out the terms of peace. While these leaders had come with high hopes, the peace settlement they crafted left many feeling bitter and betrayed.

Empire Building

Empire Building: The British in India

British East India Company: The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) left Britain the major power in India. Princes who ruled portions not governed directly by Britain usually signed treaties placing their states under British protection.

         With some restrictions, the East India Company ruled India until 1857. It exported Indian cotton, silk, and sugar. Within India, it built telegraph, railroad, and irrigation systems and set up a postal service and school system. It supervised the Sepoy units (Indian soldiers) defending India. British missionaries arrived to convert Hindus and Muslims.

Status of Indians: The East India Company denied Indian equal rights and opportunities. Factory workers and servants earned low wages. Farmers get very little for their produce. Indians could not hold important government positions. Moreover, schools taught English and Western ideas, while ignoring Indian history and advanced culture. After the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the British government took over the administration of India.

British Rule: The British government appointed a viceroy (governor) to head the Indian government. An Indian Civil Service (ICS) was created. Although the ICS employed Indians and Anglo-Indians in clerical and other positions, higher level administrators were British.

European Imperialist Rule in India

DIRECTIONS: Read the information below, then decide whether this was a positive or negative effect of imperialism on India.

·      Creation of a Court System based on English laws

·      English was made the official language of India

·      British education was set, giving many the opportunity to be educated

·      British created a civil service exam (needed to pass this in order to get a government job)

·      Western medicine introduced, hospitals were built

·      Ancient Indian culture and practices were banned

·      British law outlawed the Caste System

·      Few Indians held government positions

·      British education stressed Western culture, history, and attitude

·      British encouraged production of cash crops, which led to a decrease in food crops

The Spanish American War

The Spanish American War

In the mid-1890s, there were serious social, economic, and political problems on the neighboring island of Cuba. Cuban rebels were attempting to free Cuba from Spanish control which dated back to the late 1400s. As Cuba lies only ninety miles from the tip of Florida, the United States has always taken a strong interest in the events happening there. At that time, many Americans sympathized with the efforts of the Cubans. Also, many had invested heavily in the Cuban sugar industry.

         In 1896, the Spanish government attempted to put an end to the rebel cause. General Valeriano Weyler was sent to crush the rebellion. Weyler destroyed sugar plantations and built prison camps for Cubans in rebel-held areas. News of mistreatment of the Cubans came to America. Stories were told of 100,000 captured Cubans starving to death in the Spanish camps. The atrocities were given much coverage in the American press, and in some cases reports were grossly exaggerated.

         Although many Americans were prepared to support the Cubans in their move for independence, President McKinley took a cautious stance. He had hoped the situation would be resolved in the near future, but a series of events made a simple answer impossible. One highly publicized event was the publishing of a letter that was intercepted en route to a post office in Havana, Cuba. Written by a Spanish diplomat stationed in Washington, the letter insulted McKinley and referred to him as a “weakling” and a “crowd pleaser.” The derogatory tone of the letter angered many Americans. More serious in nature, a second event involved the deaths of American sailors. On the night of February 15, 1898, an explosion ripped through the hull of the Maine, an American vessel docked in the Havana Harbor. The ship had been sent to protect Americans on the island. No one was ever to know for sure who or what had caused the explosion in which more than 250 Americans lost their lives. The tragedy stirred the American spirit, and many blamed the Spaniards. Public pressure finally forced McKinley to take action. On April 11, the President went before Congress to request a declaration of war against Spain. Two weeks later, on April 25, the United States declared war against the old colonial power. With the rallying cry, “Remember the Maine,” many Americans eagerly joined the fight.

         Even before the official declaration of war against Spain, the American fleet in the Pacific was steaming off to the Philippines, which had been a part of the Spanish empire for over 300 years. In the event that war was declared against Spain, they were to capture the enemy squadron in Manila, the Philippine capital. On May 1, 1898 just days after the official declaration of war, Commodore George Dewey and six ships arrived in Manila Bay to begin bombardment of the fleet. In a matter of hours, the United States navy had destroyed the Spanish fleet and blockaded the harbor. American troops entered the Philippine islands the day after an armistice, or agreement to stop fighting, was signed.

         Meanwhile, in Cuba, the Spanish fleet in the Atlantic was docked in Santiago Harbor. By the end of May, United States warships had arrived to blockade the Cuban harbor. The next month, on June 22, U.S. troops landed in Cuba just east of Santiago. The Americans found the going rough in the hills of Cuba, for the Spanish had strongly fortified positions. Casualties were high. Among the troops which drew heavy fire was a volunteer unit called the “Rough Riders.” It was led by Theodore Roosevelt, who had resigned his office as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to join the cause. The Rough Riders were actually a cavalry unit, but this time they fought only on foot, for their horses never made it to the island.

         Two days after Roosevelt’s men succeeded in taking Kettle Hill on the ridge overlooking Santiago, the most decisive battle of the war took place. In the battle of San Juan Hill, the Americans emerged victorious, and Roosevelt became an instant hero.

          On July 3, 1898, the Spanish attempted to move their fleet out of Santiago Harbor. The Americans opened fire, destroying all the escaping ships. On July 17, the Spanish in Santiago surrendered. With no options remaining, the Spanish government in Cuba also surrendered. Shortly after this victory, the U.S. occupied Puerto Rico, an island southeast of Cuba. Along with Cuba, the Philippines, and the island of Guam, Puerto Rico came under the protection of the United States. The war with Spain was over. With the ratification of the Treaty of Paris early in 1899, American became an imperialist country with an empire stretching from the Caribbean to the distant Pacific.

         In the election of 1900, William Jennings Bryan again represented the Democrats. McKinley proved a tough opponent, running on a platform of expanded territories and continued prosperity under a Republican Administration. Aiding the ticket was the nomination for Vice-President of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, hero of San Juan Hill. Winning easily, the Republicans remained in the White House.

Indian Nationalist Movement

An Indian Nationalist Movement

         The first Indian nationalists were upper class and English-educated. Many of them were from urban areas, such as Mumbai (then called Bombay), Chenai (Madras), and Calcutta. Some were trained in British law and were members of the civil service.

         At first, many preferred reform to revolution, but the slow pace of reform convinced many Indian nationalists that relying on British goodwill was futile. In 1885, a small group of Indians met in Bombay to form the Indian National Congress (INC). the INC did not demand immediate independence but did call for a share in the governing process.

         The INC had difficulties because of religious differences. The goal of the INC was to seek independence for all Indians, regardless of class or religious background. However, many of its leaders were Hindu and reflected Hindu concerns. Eventually, Muslims began to call for the creation of a separate Muslim League to represent the interests of the millions of Muslims in Indian society.

         In 1915, the return of a young Hindu from South Africa brought new life to India’s struggle for independence. Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in Gujarat, in western India. He studied in London and became a lawyer. In 1893, he went to South Africa to work in a law firm serving Indian workers there. He soon became aware of the racial exploitation of Indians living in South Africa.

         On his return home to India, Gandhi became active in the independence movement. Using his experience in South Africa, he set up a movement based on non-violent resistance. Its aim was to force the British to improve the lot of the poor and grant independence to India. In Gandhi’s philosophy, resisting unjust laws was the moral path, but if resistance became violent, Gandhi would withdraw support. Gandhi’s reputation for morality was so high that he was called Mahatma, or “great soul.” Ultimately, his movement would lead to Indian independence.