World War 1 - Research Paper Example

?World War I From time immemorial people have ‘segregated’ themselves into different territories or kingdoms or nations. In different period of history, certain nations had the motivation to top or 'dominate' other countries, particularly through its armed forces. Nations had normally used their armed forces to protect their territorial integrity and also to gain domination over other nations by annexing their territories. Among these two objectives, the wish to gain dominance over other nations has pushed many countries on the path of war. When many nations of the world have this objective and the other group of nations tries to protect their territory from these nations, it would result in World Wars. Along with these two objectives, many other factors have also pushed nations to align among themselves, so to fight against other alliances. Thus, when many nations grouped among themselves to fight other groups, it resulted in World Wars. Our world got shaped both geographically and historically by two global conflicts that happened in twentieth century. This paper will first discuss and analyze the factors which contributed to the outbreak of the First World War, then will discuss how it happened, and how various countries got involved, ending with how the interests of these countries were impacted, and how the war came to an end. Overview World War I or the Great War, as it was predominantly called till the start of the Second World War, was the first global war as many nations got involved. It started off on 28 July 1914 and continued till 11 November 1918, with the participating nations siding with either one of the two alliances. The war was propagated by two major alliances, the Entente Powers and the Central powers. The Entente Powers were mainly comprised of United Kingdom, France, Russia, along with other associated countries or empires. The Central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and other associated empires like the Ottoman Empire. It took place mainly in the continent of Europe, between the European countries, although other fronts were opened in other continents of Asia, Africa, Australia, etc. Early Causes: Formation of Alliances (1850’s to 1907) Central Powers or Triple Alliance With major European territories getting evolved and actualizing into nations in the 19th Century, there begin various political and military machinations to garner more territories and importantly strengthen each nation’s existing territories. The key thing the major European nations did was to enter into various political and military alliances within other European nations and territories, so that a balance of power can be maintained throughout Europe. This process was first initiated by Germany. In October 1873, then German Chancellor Bismarck tried to form a League of the Three Emperors uniting the kingdoms of Austria–Hungary and Russia with Germany. However, Germany could not actualize that alliance because Austria–Hungary and Russia had differences of opinion regarding the Balkan policy. So, leaving out Russia, Germany and Austria–Hungary formed a grouping called the Dual Alliance in 1879. This alliance became a Triple alliance, when Italy became part of it in 1882. To further strengthen this alliance, and to remove Russia out of the equation particularly in relation to the Balkan region, Germany’s new Chancellor Wilhelm II in 1890 avoided renewing the Reinsurance Treaty, which Germany signed with Russia. Entente Powers or Triple Entente With Germany strengthening his position, other major European powers of Russia, France and Britain became threatened and initiated alliances among themselves. Firstly in 1892, two years after the breakdown of its relations with Germany, Russia entered into an alliance with France. “Germany's western and eastern neighbours, France and Russia, signed an alliance in 1894 united by fear and resentment of Berlin.” (Sheffield). Russia and France’s aim to counter the German led Triple Alliance, got a major boost when United Kingdom became part of their alliance. Actually, UK entered into a separate alliance with France and Russia, and these bilateral agreements were united to form a single alliance. That is, in 1904, the United Kingdom sealed an alliance with France called the Entente Cordiale with negotiations being led by the French statesman Leon Gambetta and the then-Prince of Wales, Albert Edward. Then in 1907, the United Kingdom and Russia came together under an alliance called the Anglo-Russian Convention, thus these two bilateral agreements were interlocked to form the Triple Entente. (formbyrollofhonour.org). One of the main reasons, why UK joined the alliance to counter Germany is because of Germany’s increasing naval supremacy. From mid-1890s, Germany under Wilhelm II started developing its Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial German Navy, utilizing sizable amount of economic resources. They did that mainly to counter UK’s supremacy in the naval front, and so UK indeed became threatened by this actions of Germany. “In 1898, Germany began to build up its navy, although this could only alarm the world's most powerful maritime nation, Britain.” (Sheffield 2008). Because of this development only, UK abandoned its policy of remaining aloof from the entanglements of the major continental powers, and joined Russia and France to form Triple Entente. So, as the major European nations strengthened their positions through various alliances and even took intimidating stances against their opponents, Europe became divided, thereby creating an atmosphere which could ignite into a war anytime. “Europe was divided into two armed camps: the Entente Powers and the Central Powers, and their populations began to see war not merely as inevitable but even welcome.” (Sheffield 2008). Immediate Cause (1907-1914) Although, the last of the alliances were formed and the eventual division of Europe happened by 1907 itself, only war-like tension remained and minor skirmishes happened for the next 7 years. Even the continuous crisis in the Balkans between 1911 and 1914, involving the Balkan League and Turkey, followed by one in which Bulgaria fought Serbia, Greece and Rumania, were localized and did not escalate into a European war. (Joll 1992). So, it was only in 1914, with the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip in the streets of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, the war-like tensions transformed into a real war. As Ferdinand was the heir to the throne, his assassination worked as a catalyst, with Austria-Hungary taking strong stance against Serbia. Although, diplomatic maneuverings called the July Crisis took place between the two major alliances, it did not lead to conciliation. That is, “wanting to finally end Serbian interference in Bosnia, Austria-Hungary delivered the July Ultimatum to Serbia, a series of ten demands intentionally made unacceptable, intending to provoke a war with Serbia.” (alliedtroops.com). Serbia for his part accepted only eight out of the ten demands, thus pushing Austria-Hungary to fire the first salvo of the First World War on 28 July 1914. The motivation on the part of Austria-Hungary to initiate the war at any coast, regardless of the response of Serbia, can be discerned from the statement of Strachan, “Whether an equivocal and early response by Serbia would have made any difference to Austria-Hungary's behaviour must be doubtful.” (alliedtroops.com). Initiation and the theatre of actions of the War (1914-1919) Initial Attacks When Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, the Russian Empire under Tsar Nicholas II came to the aid of Serbia, as Serbia was its protege in the Balkans and also mainly to impose its role in the Balkans. It ordered a partial mobilization of its forces into Serbia to back the Serbian forces. Germany did not expect Russia to come in support of Serbia, and when they did that with the aid of French troops as well, Germany entered the war in support of his alliance partner, Austria-Hungary. “Although Russia was allied with Serbia, Germany did not believe that she would mobilize and offered to support Austria if necessary. However, Russia did mobilized and, through their alliance with France, called on the French to mobilize” (brindle-at-war.net). Thus, within a week of the initial attack, Germany mobilized his troops on 30 July 1914, and declared war on Russia the same day. France, already sucked into the war through Russia, under directions from its Prime Minister, Rene Viviani started attacking German positions keeping in mind the conquest of its area of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War. UK under the leadership of H.H. Asquith and King George V as the monarch, also entered the war. “UK declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, following an "unsatisfactory reply" to the British ultimatum that Belgium must be kept neutral.” (Hance 2009, p.346). Confrontations in 1914 When Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, its leaders Emperor Franz Josef, titular commander Archduke Friedrich von Osterreich-Teschen, and the head of the General Staff, Count Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf believed the Germany would safeguard its northern flank from attacks by Russia. However, Germany under Wilhelm II thought that Austria-Hungary will themselves cover all their flanks, thus allowing Germany to mainly attack France. Although, this initial confusion made Austro-Hungary to divide its army between the Russian as well as the Serbian fronts, when Germany started attacking Russia, there was some coordination. However, Austria-Hungary’s offensive into Serbia did not yield complete victory due to the tough resistance of the Serbian army. By taking defensive positions along the rivers of Drina and Sava, the Serbian army attacked the Austrian-Hungarian troops from August 12 1914 for two weeks, causing heavy losses and pushing them back. This marked the first major victory of the war for the Entente powers and dashed Austro-Hungarian hopes of a swift victory, even pushing them to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, and in a way weakening its efforts against Russia. (paralumun.com). German army planned to attack France by entering through Belgium on August 4 1914, as part of the slightly changed version of the Schlieffen Plan, thus bringing into the war the neutral Belgium. However, the German advance through Belgium did not go as smoothly as the Germans had hoped, because the Belgian army put up a good fight, even destroying the railway lines, thereby slowing the transport of German supplies. (historyonthenet.com). British troops for their part also pitched in to thwart the German advance through Belgium, by sending a section of the forces to the Belgian town of Mons. Although, the British forces were also able to held off the Germans for some time, they were forced to make a retreat, and Germany advanced into France. In the Battle of the Frontiers, the German army achieved victory over both the French army and the British Expeditionary Force. “On August 22, in the Battle of the Frontiers, 27,000 French soldiers died on that single day in an offensive thrust to the east of Paris, towards the German borders.” (pbs.org). However, by September second week, the French with the fullest support of the British forces, impeded the German advance at the east of Paris, in what was to be known as the First Battle of the Marne. The Russian army for their part entered Prussia in August second week and started attacking the German positions there. But, there were not able to achieve success because of the draining of their suppliers. Due to the “differences in railway gauge between Russia and Prussia it was difficult for the Russians to get supplies through to their men”, on the other hand, the Germans used “their railway system to surround the Russian Second army at Tannenberg” (historyonthenet.com). Thus, Germany was able to defeat Russia by September 2, 1914 in a series of battles inside Prussia, in what was to be collectively known as the First Battle of Tannenberg. Apart from these main theaters of action, war took place in other countries in 1914. For example, in the month of November 1914, Russia launched attack on Turkey, due to the supported provided by Turkey (under the secret agreement between Germany and the Ottoman Empire) to the German attack on Russia. Britain and France also joined Russia in waging war on Turkey. Clashes involving the colonial forces of British and French against German colonial forces happened in Africa as well, with French and British troops invading the German protectorate of Togoland. Confrontations in 1915 United Kingdom also became a target of attack, when the Germans used their airships called Zeppelins to launch attacks on London in early 1915. Although, the British troops were able to challenge those attacks, Germany was able to cause major causalities and destruction of infrastructures. In 1915, the main theatre of action between the Central powers and the allies was Dardnelles, in particular Gallipoli in Turkey. In February 1915, “Russians appealed for help from Britain and France to beat off an attack by the Turkish”, and the “British navy responded by attacking Turkish forts in the Dardenelles.” (historyonthenet.com). Then from April to Aug 1915, British Navy continuously attacked the Turkish positions in Gallipoli, and even succeeded in landing number of ground troops there. Australia also became part of the British campaign as it sent Australian army men to fight the Turks in Gallipoli. A key event of the First World War happened in 1915 only, and that is the attack of a British ship by German U-Boats, which only made United States to take a strong stance against Germany. USA remained neutral and followed the policy of isolationism without overtly supporting any of the two. However, this policy was put under stress, when the German U-boats sank a British passenger liner called Lusitania on May 7, 1915, killing close to 1000 civilians aboard, out of which 128 were Americans. Confrontations in 1916 The only large-scale naval battle of the First World War referred to as the Battle of Jutland happened in the middle in 1916, between the German and British navy. The German navy was confined to their ports due to a naval blockade imposed by the British. So, the Germans planned to split imposing the British fleet, by destroying ship by ship. However, the British admiral, David Beatty, aware of those German tactics instead “sent a smaller force to lure the German's into the range of Admiral Jellicoe's main fleet.” (historyonthenet.com). Although Beatty's idea actualized, and Germans moved up, the confrontation was brief, as the Germans withdrew quickly. There was also a change of guard in UK, with Prime Minister HH Asquith resigning and being succeeded by David Lloyd George. The other key battle, which happened full of 1916 was the Battle of Verdun. In that battle, Germany’s army launched a large-scale attack on the French positions at Verdun to score a decisive victory. However, the fighting continued for close to nine months, with either side achieving an outright advantage. Confrontations in 1917 In 1917 only, Germany launched both its naval forces as well as it air forces in optimal ‘force’ on UK. Germany stepped up its U-boat campaign against the allies’ ships, and sunk sizable number of military, merchant and even passenger ships. In the mid part of 1917, they also initiated air strikes against the UK installations, particularly focusing on London. They attacked the capital city of London as a symbolic attack, and mainly put UK air forces on the defensive. “The Germans hoped that by making raids on London and the South East, the British Air Force would be forced into protecting the home front rather than attacking the German air force.” (historyonthenet.com). In the April of 1917, French troops also suffered heavy losses to get a minor advantage. “French launch disastrous offensive at Chemin des Dames, advancing only 500 yards at the cost of 250,000 plus casualties.” (pbs.org). These heavy losses prompted the French soldiers to go on a mutiny or strike, thereby refusing to be part of the continued offensive. There was also a change of rule in Russia, with the Bolshevik socialists under the command of Lenin, overthrowing Kerensky's government. With political instability in Russia, the Russians forces were forced to sign an Armistice with Germany at Brest-Litovsk, with most of the terms being demeaning and negative to Russia. “The terms of the treaty were harsh: Russia had to surrender Poland, the Ukraine and other regions. They had to stop all Socialist propaganda directed at Germany and pay 300 million roubles for the repatriation of Russian prisoners.” (historyonthenet.com). United States’ Entry and the end of the War (1918-1919) Along with the incident of Lusitania sinking, other events caused by German’s aggressiveness led USA to enter the war at a very crucial stage, thus orienting the war in the favor of the Entente powers, against the German alliance. That is, when the Germans made a strategic withdrawal behind the Hindenburg line in 1917 and shifted its troops to the Western Front, the American troops played an important role, bringing an end to the war. The Entente powers’ attack at Amiens is considered as the beginning of the downfall of the Central powers. That is, as the British Armies attacked from the North and French Armies from the south forward, Germans made a strategic withdrawal behind the Hindenburg line along the western front. The Hindenburg Line was an extensive system of defenses constructed by the Germans in its northeastern border with France. The Germans withdrew behind the line planning to launch more static trench warfare. “The beginning of 1917 saw the Germans make a strategic withdrawal to their Hindenberg line with the promise of more static trench warfare in prospect” (catnaps.org). However, in the final analysis, this plan did not work out for the Germans, as the Americans provoked by the German’s actions made a big dent in that plan. With the Germans taking defenses behind the line, the attempt to take over the Hindenburg Line was launched with the American soldiers playing the central role. Named the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, it is considered as the final offensive of the First World War and also the biggest operation as well as the victory of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). The AEF consisted of nine divisions of the USA First Army, which were commanded by General John J. Pershing and then by Lt. General Hunter Liggett. As the Americans started attacking the Hindenburg defenses, they faced stiff resistance from the Germans. To counter the resistance, more than 1,200,000 U.S. soldiers were inducted into war arena. “Spring of 1918 saw Germany intensifying its offensive on the Western front with some initial success. The allied counter-attacks at the Marne and Amiens in August, however, turned the initiative against them, pushing the Germans away from the protection of their Hindenberg Line and freeing up north-western France and Belgium” (catnaps.org). With strategic planning and continuous assaults, all the divisions of the AEF were successful in attaining their initial objectives, breaking the defenses of the Hindenburg line. So, AEF went "over the top" of the Hindenburg Line and gave the Entente powers an upper hand in the War, which eventually ended German’s resistance, lead to their surrender and the conclusion of the First World War, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Although, Americans made a late entry into the war, they made a major impact, countering the German’s strategic withdrawal behind the Hindenburg line. Conclusion The beautiful earth has been a place of incessant activities. Activities in the sense, people have been carrying out various activities using their physical as well as the mental part. Although, these activities have transformed the earth from a primitive place to an advanced one, the human activities have also caused destructions. That is, people individually or importantly in the form of groups and countries have been indulging in aggressive activities, which have led to the destruction of many human lives, as well as other infrastructures. As a direct result of the unprecedented suffering caused by WWI, several groups and governments proposed plans to prevent the recurrence of a similar war. President Woodrow Wilson put forward the concept of the League in his “Fourteen Points” speech in January 1918. “The world” he stated, “must be made fit and safe to live in.” (cited by Torricelli and Carroll 1999, p.43). Even though First World War ended officially, its repercussions simmered for many years leading to the initiation of Second World War. References alliedtroops.com. World War I Information. http://www.alliedtroops.com/world_war_i/encyclopedia.htm (accessed on November 25, 2011) brindle-at-war.net. World War One Timeline. http://www.brindle-at-war.net/ww1/index.htm (accessed on November 25, 2011) catnaps.org. The setting for the two battles at Bullecourt, northern France. http://www.catnaps.org/bulle/context.html (accessed on November 25, 2011) formbyrollofhonour.org. The 1914-18 War. http://www.formbyrollofhonour.org/a-lesson-in-history (accessed on November 25, 2011) Hance, John. 2009. Chaos, Confusion, and Political Ignorance: June 28-August 5, 1914: The Untold Truth about the Start of World War II. Dorrance Publishing. historyonthenet.com. World War One – Timeline. http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/WW1_timeline.htm (accessed on November 25, 2011) Joll, James. 1992. The Origins of the First World War. Longman Pub Group. paralumun.com. World War One. http://www.paralumun.com/warone.htm (accessed on November 25, 2011) pbs.org. WWI Timeline: 1914. http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/timeline/time_1914.html (accessed on November 25, 2011) Sheffield, Gary. 2008. The Origins of World War One. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/origins_01.shtml (accessed on November 25, 2011) Torricelli, Robert G and Carroll, Andrew. 1999. In our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, Kodansha International Ltd, New York. Read More