Lecture 7.docx

Lecture 7 Feb. 3, 2010"The Ordeal of World War I" ?Seminal catastrophe of the 20th century? Took an estimated 10 million lives w/o WWI?no rise of Stalin, Mussolini, Nazism/Fascism, no Hitler, no WWII or Cold War Outline: I. Failures and Stalemate --1st plan: Schlieffen plan crafted meticulously down to the last railroad cars used to make a master concept on how to win a war, developed by 1905 by Alfred von Schlieffen (who died before it could be used)?the concept was retained and was a rationale on how to deal with the constant nightmare of German politiciansdealing with war on two fronts: *Use speedknock out France first, then turn on the slower Russian empire in the East?plunge through Belgium and Northern France coming around Paris to fight a battle of encirclement and crush the French decisively?then German armies remobilize to take on Russia (all supposed to happen in 40 days) *Belgium resisted the German invasion, infuriated German officers and used drastic means to force their way through *Attack foiled at the Marne River?the French mount a furious counteroffensive aided by a small British expeditionary force; taxi cabs were mobilized to bring French forces to the front line *Schlieffen Plan failed?French mounted own plan --French plan: ?17??called for direct attacks in to Alsace and Lorraine to regain the lost territory?produced massive casualties on French side --Eastern armies mobilized faster than Germans expected and moved in to Prussia, Germans faced trauma of having German territory invaded from the outside?they were able to beat back two Russian armies, but Schlieffen plan did not call for victories on east and failures in the westnow a long drawn out conflict=inevitable --Sight of massive killing, trench were remarkably stable, unexpected rigidity to how the war was fought, it was bogged down in mud filth and the trenches?neither side moved for than 30 miles in 3 ½ years --Two Incidents: 1.) Modern War on British Side started with the Angels of Mont: Rumor that went from British foot soldiers to command that something miraculous happened?Brits opposed and frightened away a German attack and saw a ghostly archer behind German lines; ghostly reinforcements stepped up to help Brits in hour of perilbut it turned out to be a story written by a fictional character and ppl wanted to believe it so they did *many ppl felt they needed to draw on national pride and ancestral memories 2.)Germans on Nov of 1914: Langemarck saw a slaughter of young German troops involved hundreds of thousands of college students determined to overrun British lines singing German national anthem; mowed down in their thousandsBritish riflemen were disgusted and felt pity for those mowed down?German propaganda celebrated this slaughter as the spirit of German youth and national spirit (many called it tragic and a child murder) --many German officers mad about their slow advancement through Belgium; recent research shows that initial stages of the war in Belgium and northern France; German troops killed over 6000 civiliansdeliberate policy of trying to terrify civilian territory to frighten off resistance --At sea Brits employing powerful navy in an economic blockade against Germany?German navy pulled back to its ports, especially at Kiel, because of fear of what might happendon?t want a naval engagement to go the wrong way and lose naval forces (so Germany navy doesn?t play much of a war) II. The War Spreads and Becomes Total --All sides settle in to a long war --Conflict now becomes known as total war; a war of not just professional armies, but war of nations where everyone is mobilized for total victoryalso about the role of civilians; earlier line btw soldier and civilian is blurred, estimated that worldwide that 70 million men put in to uniform as soldiers and 10 million would be killed --war extended to colonies worldwide as well; Euro theater: Otto Emp joins central powers in late August 1914 --1915?Italy after bidding war, joined allies in exchange for promises of territory --In US, ppl look on with mixed emotions, many glad to be exempt from slaughterbut, many German Americans/Brit Americans felt sympathy for their fellow men --1914 Germany: 20% of German pop was in uniform or German war service; 11 million men now in vast new conflictmost countries saw women service extensively also (women work on production of munitions, etc) --In Britain the same phenomenon seen, ?Yellow Canaries? = young women who were hired for work in munitions factories and were called this because they handled toxic chemicals that go in to explosives and artillery shells and they physically yellowed the skin of these women because of prolonged contact of chemicals?women?s? lives were taken because of accidents with chemicals, and many were unable to have children after long pd of time --Brit naval powers blockade Germany, after 1915 in macro terms, the economic balance of power shifted to the allies?Germany lacked crucial resources (ersatz=?a substitute?)war bread --Pinnacle of shortages came with Turnip Winter (1916-?17) in Germany with failure of potato harvestGermans needed stable food, so turnip became an ersatz; Germans reduced to diet of 1000 calories a day --Germans suffered thru Turnip Winter; death total is debated to this day but it was a traumatic experience --Germans responded to blockade at sea with sub warfare?took restrain form; earlier laws of war for surface ships meant you had to give notice to board a ship and if resisted you could fire upon a shipbut German U-Boat captains discovered that if they surfaced next to a suspected war ship, they could find their own sub counter attacked so the result was brutal logic?German subs fired on site after declaring area around Britain was a war zonesinking of ships like Lusitania caused growing restrictions with US (they didn?t like Brits even searching their ships?led to US entering war in 1917) -Technology made defense side strong than the attack side?machine gun, 600 rounds a minute and less of a human factor because of regular traverse/didn?t have to be a trained marksmen?also barbed wire and concrete reinforced bunkers could hold off those advancing over rugged terrain --also unexpected resistance of soldiers could withstand miserable conditions and keep on fighting; trench world was horrible, massive day long artillery barrages/rats/corpses?prepared way for no man lands?also silent killer of poisoned gas --Experience of Gallipoli: peninsula right on approached on the Turkish strait?here a campaign was planned in mind of Winston Churchillseize Turkish straits to get a quick shortcut to victory; knock out turkey and go up to Berlin; Gallipoli attacked form April 1915 and on?till Jan 1916, Brit and French troops and Australian colonial troops tried to fight up beached but were unable to do so, trench warfare now in middle east circumstances (Ataturk?)ended in defeat, almost ended Churchill?s command --Goal of bombing from the air?already a fear of this back at start of WW --Zeppelins also were directed to fly over Britain from 1915 on; 51 Zep attacks took place against Brits but zeps were vulnerable to air aceslater bigger German planes succeeded in killing 1400 Britsboth sides began to build planes for strategic bombingsuspicion that gave plausibility to building larger bombing planes --Notion of bombing of civilian centers wasn?t one that started in WWII but WWI III. Battles of Materiel --horrors also included: battles of materielex: Battle of Verdun: one of biggest battles of WWI and revealed to a stunned world audience of what the war was capable of?one way to get around stalemate was to lure the French enemy in to battle on German terms where French couldn?t disengage because of national pride so they picked a place special to their enemy (Verdun)?Germans set about besieging it; here German generals having French caught in battle, wanted to bleed them white (lasted almost an entire year-thousands of field guns; territory saturated with 20 tons of shells per acre)?during 10 months of battle, casualties added up to 700,000 men even thought front only moved back and forth a couple miles IV. Home Fronts V. The Armenian Massacres Terms:Schlieffen PlanMarneAngels of Mons, LangemarckBlockade"Yellow Canaries"ErsatzTurnip WinterSubmarines/U-BootLusitaniaGallipoliWinston ChurchillAtatürkVerdun, SommeHouse of WindsorHercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)Paul von Hindenburg, Erich LudendorffPropagandaLissauer's "Hymn of Hate"Young TurksRevolutionizing