2.The First World War and its aftermath

2.The First World War and its aftermath

1 Assess the reasons why the First World War was not ‘over by Christmas’ 1914.

"The war turned out to be quite different from what most people had anticipated. It was

widely expected to be a short, decisive affair, like other recent European wars"- Explain

1. The Germans failed to achieve the rapid defeat of France: although they penetrated deeply, Paris did not fall, and stalemate quickly developed on the western front, with all hope of a short war gone. 
2. Both sides dug themselves in and spent the next four years attacking and defending lines of trenches
3. In September the faltering Germans were attacked by the French under Joffre in the Battle of the Marne (see Map 2.1); they were driven back to the River Aisne, where they were able to dig trenches. This battle was vitally important; some historians regard it as one of the most decisive battles in modern history.
4. It ruined the Schlieffen Plan once and for all: France would not be knocked out in six weeks, and all hopes of a short war were dashed.
5. The Germans would have to face full-scale war on two fronts, which they had prob ably never intended.
6. The war of movement was over; the trench lines eventually stretched from the Alps to the Channel coast (see Map 2.2).
7. There was time for the British navy to bring its crippling blockade to bear on Germany’s ports.

(a) Stalemate in the west

The difficulties of trench warfare were always the same:What were they?

• There was barbed wire in no-man’s land between the two lines of opposing trenches, which the attacking side tried to clear away by a massive artillery bombardment; but this removed any chance of a quick surprise attack since the enemy always had plenty of warning.

• Reconnaissance aircraft and observation balloons could spot concentrations of troops on the roads leading up to the trenches.

• Trenches were difficult to capture because the increased firepower provided by magazine rifles and machine-guns made frontal attacks suicidal and meant that cavalry were useless.

• Even when a trench line was breached, advance was difficult because the ground had been churned up by the artillery barrage and there was more deadly machinegun fire to contend with.

• Any ground won was difficult to defend since it usually formed what was called a salient - a bulge in the trench line. The sides, or flanks, of these salients were vulnerable to attack, and troops could be surrounded and cut off.

• During the attack on Ypres in 1915, the Germans used poison gas, but when the wind changed direction it was blown back towards their own lines and they suffered more casualties then the Allies, especially when the Allies released some gas of their own.

(e) 'Unrestricted' submarine warfare (began January 1917 )

German success came in April 1917, when 430 ships were lost; Britain was down to about

six weeks’ corn supply, and although the USA came into the war in April, it was bound

to be several months before their help became effective. However, the situation was saved

by Lloyd George, who insisted that the Admiralty adopt a convoy system. A convoy was

a large number of merchant ships sailing together, so that they could be protected escorting warships. This drastically reduced losses and meant that the German gamble had failed. The submarine campaign was important because it brought the USA into the war.

The British navy therefore, helped by the Americans, played a vitally important role in the

defeat of the Central Powers; by the middle of 1918 it had achieved its three aims

QUESTIONS

1 Assess the reasons why the First World War was not ‘over by Christmas’ 1914.

2 Explain why the 1919 Peace Settlement provoked so much opposition among the

Germans.

3 To what extent was the Paris Peace Settlement shaped by the principle of selfdetermination?

ANSWER:  These settlements may seem harsh, but it has to be remembered that much of what was agreed had already happened; on the whole they did keep to the spirit of self-determina¬

tion. More people were placed under governments of their own nationality than ever

before in Europe, though they were not always as democratic as Wilson would have liked

(especially in Hungary and Poland). However, there were some deviations from the

pattern; for example the three million Germans (in the Sudetenland) who now found them¬

selves in Czechoslovakia, and the million Germans who were placed under Polish rule.

The Allies justified this on the grounds that the new states needed them in order to be

economically viable. It was unfortunate that both these cases gave Hitler an excuse to

begin territorial demands on these countries.