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World War I

191418

War between the Central European Powers (Germany, Austria-

Hungary, and allies) on one side and the Triple Entente (Britain andthe British Empire, France, and Russia) and their allies, includingthe USA (which entered 1917), on the other side. An estimated 10million lives were lost and twice that number were wounded. It wasfought on the eastern and western fronts, in the Middle East, inAfrica, and at sea.

Underlying causes

Nationalism and trade barriers

By the early 20th century, the countries of Western Europe hadreached a high level of material prosperity. However, competitionfor trade markets and imperial possessions worldwide had led to agrowth of nationalistic sentiment. This nationalism created greatpolitical tension between the single-nation states such as France andGermany, and threatened the stability of multi-nation states such asAustria-Hungary. These tensions were reflected in jingoisticpropaganda, an arms race between the major powers, and tradebarriers and tariffs which exacerbated tensions further.

German militarism and expansionismIn Germany, the close involvement of the military aristocracy inpolitics and commerce gave these tensions a militaristic slant.Germany's existence as a unified state dated only from 1870, and itslate start in the European scramble for world empires promptedsome Germans to look to territorial expansion in Europe itself as ameans of making up lost ground. This attitude built on a deep-seatedGerman fear of 'the Russian menace'.

Even the least militaristic of Germans understood the need foraccess to raw materials, ready-made trade markets, and outlets incolonial possessions for their country's surplus people that theempire had brought to Britain. The small German colonial empirehad to be guarded by a powerful navy, but the expansion of theGerman navy was regarded as a direct threat in Britain. Similarly,German diplomatic efforts to recover the stability of Bismarck's dayin Europe by combining Central Europe into a formidable blocexacerbated fears of German expansionism in France and Russia.

British fearsIn 1902 Lord Lansdowne, British foreign secretary, abandoned theprevious British policy of isolation. He concluded the Anglo-

Allied infantryin World War I

armisticecelebration,New York

Armistice Daycelebrations

FokkerTriplane

Italian troops,World War I

trenches

World War I

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Japanese Treaty, relieving Britain of large naval commitments in thePacific, and the 'Entente Cordiale' with France 1904.

Outbreak of war

Assassination in SarajevoWidespread nationalistic unrest in the Balkan provinces of theAustro-Hungarian Empire had resulted in strained relations betweenAustria-Hungary and Serbia, regarded as sponsor of the nationalistmovements. While visiting Sarajevo, capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 28 June 1914Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir of the Austro-Hungarian emperor,was assassinated by a Bosnian student, Gavrilo Prinzip, backed bythe Serbian nationalist Black Hand organization.

The Austro-Hungarian government sought to punish Serbia for thecrime and Germany promised support, despite the danger ofinvolving Russia, ultimate patron of the Balkan nationalistmovements. Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum23 July, requesting a reply within 48 hours. Serbia, on Russianadvice, agreed to all the demands except two which conflicted withits authority as a sovereign state. Austro-Hungarian armies near theSerbian border were mobilized.

Austrian attack on Belgrade

Russia mobilized its forces against Austria-Hungary 29 July. On thesame day Austrian artillery bombarded the Serbian capital,Belgrade, while the German High Seas Fleet was transferred fromthe Baltic to the North Sea. News of the Russian mobilizationreached Berlin 31 July; Germany demanded that Russianmobilization should cease, and asked France for a notification by 1p.m. the following day that it would remain neutral in the event of aRusso-German war, despite treaty obligations to Russia. Long-established German war plans envisaged a crushing blow againstFrance as a precursor to concentration against a Russian invasion.

BelgiumSir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, asked for renewedassurances that Belgian neutrality (guaranteed by a treaty of 1839)would be respected. France gave these guarantees, but Germany'sanswer was evasive and Britain formally notified Germany 1August that it could not ignore a threat to Belgian neutrality. Thefollowing day German troops entered Luxembourg, and shortly afterthere were skirmishes between French and German troops in

Alsace.

Meanwhile, Germany demanded the right of passage through

infantry

World War Inews report

World War I:military

casualties

The EmbattledIsland: Britainin the WorldWars

Death of an Air

Ace, 1918Great War andthe Shaping ofthe 20thCentury

Great WarStatistics

Maps andPictures of the

Western FrontVersaillesTreaty Contents

World War IDocumentArchive

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Belgium to counter possible French moves. Asquith, the Britishprime minister, issued orders for mobilization 2 August and thefollowing day Belgium rejected the German demand and Germanydeclared war on France. Germany invaded Belgium 4 August.Britain demanded German withdrawal: there was no formal reply,

and so from midnight on Tuesday 4 August 1914 Britain andGermany were at war.

Western Front 1914Initial German operations were conducted according to the carefullyprepared Schlieffen Plan, which specified the advance of the mostpowerful German armies through Belgium, pivoting on theArdennes, while lighter forces in Alsace and Lorraine fell back ifnecessary before the French. This would bring the French armiesout of their prepared positions, making the heavy blow through

Belgium and northern France more dangerous and more difficult tostop.

The German aim was to capture Paris and to trap the advancingFrench armies in the east between the German defences to theirfront and the successful German armies in their rear. France wouldquickly be forced to surrender and Germany could deal in turn withRussia, the real object of its war plans.

Belgian resistance held up the Germans for two days at Lige, but

the city was occupied 7 August and the surrounding forts a weeklater. German troops then overran half of Belgium, occupyingBrussels 20 August. Belgian forces withdrew northwards toAntwerp. The fortress of Namur, the last barrier between theGerman advance and the French frontier, was quickly reduced byGerman siege artillery.

Marshal Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, orderedoffensives into Alsace and Lorraine 10 August but these made littleheadway. The small British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under SirJohn French reached France to find that there was no effectiveFrench plan against a German advance through Belgium. TheFrench 5th Army was driven back from Charleroi 22 August and the3rd and 4th armies retreated the same day. French's BEF was leftisolated near Mons, and attacked 24 August by a German force twoor three times larger than expected. Driven back with heavycasualties, the BEF began a long retreat through northern France,while Joffre struggled to keep his armies together and to transfertroops to the left flank for a counterattack. By Friday 28 August, the

British 2nd Corps had reinforced Sir Douglas Haig's 1st Corps in theBEF.

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To the west, German cavalry now swept across Belgium as far asthe River Lys and south towards Lille and Arras in an attempt to cutcommunications between the BEF and its bases at Boulogne andDieppe. French moved his base south to St Nazaire, leaving theChannel ports open to the Germans. However, the German

commander-in-chief, Helmuth von Moltke, remained intent ondestroying the French armies northeast of Paris, in the hope ofdictating peace on German terms before the autumn.

Joffre at last launched a counteroffensive 5 September east of Paris,which developed into the first Battle of the Marne 69 September.By the end of the week, the Germans had been forced back onto aline running from the River Oise to Verdun. In Lorraine theGermans were also pushed back from Nancy to beyond the RiverMeurthe. The Allies followed up by attacking the German positions

along the Aisne 13 September, but were unable to dislodge theenemy from the high Chemin des Dames. German attempts tooutflank Verdun left them with a large salient at St Mihiel whichthey held for most of the war.

The lines now began to stabilize between Reims and the Alps asboth sides settled into entrenchments. In northern France andFlanders, successive outflanking manoeuvres by both sides, knownas the 'race to the sea', extended these trench lines towards the NorthSea.

The Germans besieged Belgian-held Antwerp 28 September andtook the city 10 October. The Belgians retreated westward andattempted with Allied support to stem the German advance in theBattle of Yser 1531 October. Their decision to open the sluices atDixmude, flooding the country over which the Germans wereadvancing, proved crucial. Although the Germans capturedDixmude itself, they were unable to cross the river.

Meanwhile the French succeeded in driving the Germans back fromArras, although the town itself was reduced to ruins. The finalGerman attempt to break the Allied line 1914 came at the firstBattle of Ypres, in which Britain's last regular army troops weredecimated, but neither side made the decisive breakthrough. Withthe arrival of French reinforcements 17 November the Germansgave up their attempts to break through and the line settled down forthe winter. On all sides, casualties had been far greater thanexpected.

Eastern Front 1914As German troops were invading France and Belgium, the Russian1st and 2nd armies, under General Pavel Rennenkampf and

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Aleksandr Samsonov respectively, launched a powerful offensiveagainst East Prussia. By 25 August the light German defensiveforces were in retreat, and there was intense alarm in Berlin. Paulvon Hindenburg was appointed to overall command in the east, withEric Ludendorff as his Chief of Staff; they organized a dramatic

redeployment and counterattack in the Battle of Tannenberg 30August, destroying the Russian 2nd Army utterly and drivingRennenkampf back over the frontier. Any advantage Russia hadgained by mobilizing more swiftly than expected had been lost.

Meanwhile, Austro-Hungarian offensives from Galicia were drivenback by four Russian armies in a series of battles involving over amillion troops on each side. The offensive against Lublin producedonly a temporary Russian withdrawal while in eastern GaliciaRussian armies under Nikolai Russky and Aleksei Brusilov overran

Austria's eastern borders and threatened Lemberg. Hindenburgadvanced into Russia on a broad front between Wirballen andAugustov in an attempt to relieve the pressure on the Austrians. ButBrusilov captured Lemberg 3 September, and the whole Austrianarmy group then fell back behind the Vistula and the San rivers.Von Auffenburg, who had defended Lemberg, withdrew to thefortress of Przemysl, and the whole of the rest of Galicia was inRussian hands by the time of the battle of the Marne in the west.Meanwhile Hindenburg continued his advance until he reached theNiemen; he was checked there and the forced to retreat 27

September, with the Russians inflicting heavy losses.

Russian cavalry again crossed the German frontier by 1 October,and Hindenburg was called south to repel a Russian advance onCracow. Russian success here would have opened the door toSilesia and to Vienna. Russky was now in command in Poland, andIvanov, with Brusilov and Dmitriev as his lieutenants, in Galicia.Hindenburg attacked along the radial railway lines leading toWarsaw from Thorn, Kalisch, and Czestochowa, while the

Austrians advanced through Galicia. However, a surprise Russiancounterattack forced back the German left and threatened theircentre.

By 3 November the Germans were in retreat, even abandoningLdz. The Austrians were more successful, recovering Jaroslaw,relieving and resupplying Przemysl, and threatening Lemberg, butthe German retreat in the north compelled the Austrians to retirealso. The Russian advance on Cracow was resumed, and by 9November their cavalry had reached the outskirts of the city.

Hindenburg redeployed his forces and attacked up the Vistula fromThorn 18 November, threatening the right flank of the Russian

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advance. Although the Russian centre was broken by GeneralAugust von Mackensen and the left forced back upon Ldz, thewedge driven into the Russian line was not wide enough and theGermans narrowly escaped encirclement. Reinforcements wererushed to Mackensen, and the Russians withdrew from Ldz 6

December to prepare for the anticipated German assault on Warsaw.The German advance was held outside the city.

Balkan Front 1914Austria's difficulties were not confined to the Russian front. Its'punitive expedition' against Serbia was also disastrouslyunsuccessful: fierce Serbian counteroffensives under the ableMarshal Radomir Putnik defeated the invaders at the battle of theDrina September 1915, and by 6 December the Austrian armies hadbeen driven from Serbia with over 80,000 casualties, leaving

Belgrade once more in Serbian hands.

War at sea 1914Allied control of the seas could not guarantee all coasts againstGerman raids, but it did ensure freedom of movement for Alliedshipping, and it allowed the Allies to receive supplies fromanywhere in the world, while denying the Central Powers access toworld markets. The German High Seas Fleet had withdrawn to itsbases on the outbreak of war, and the German plan was to weardown the Royal Navy by a war of attrition with submarines and

mines. The first serious British naval action was the battle ofHeligoland Bight 28 August, in which three German light cruisersand a destroyer were sunk.

The Germans fared little better in the Far East, where they wereforced out of their Chinese naval base at Qingdao November 1914and Australian and New Zealand troops occupied their colonies inthe Pacific. Admiral Maximilian von Spee set out across the Pacific,detaching two of his cruisers, the Knigsberg andEmden, to support

German forces in East Africa and to raid British commerce in theIndian Ocean. The Knigsberg sank HMS Pegasus at Zanzibar 20September, but was soon blockaded in the Rufigi River. TheEmdenbombarded Madras (now Chennai) 18 September and sank aRussian cruiser in Penang 18 October. TheEmden was eventuallysunk off the Cocos Islands by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney9 November 1914.

Von Spee reached the South American coast and found shelteramong the many inlets and islands. He defeated a British squadron

off the Chilean coast at Coronel 1 November, an action that causedsevere alarm among the British public. Spee's squadron wasoverwhelmed by a more powerful British force under Admiral Sir

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Doveton Sturdee at the Falkland Islands 8 December. The last shipof his squadron was sunk March 1915: all German cruisers outsidetheir own harbours had now been destroyed.

War in Africa 1914The smallest German colony in Africa, Togoland, surrendered to theAllies 27 August. The Cameroons repulsed the first Allied attackbut by 27 September a joint British and French operation hadcaptured the capital, Duala, and the whole coastline. The conquestof German Southwest Africa (now Namibia) was much moredifficult, and was delayed by a serious Boer revolt in South Africa.A joint British-South African campaign in German East Africa metwith serious reverses during 1914, and it was to take the Allies fouryears to secure its final surrender.

Western Front 1915While the French began an offensive in the Woevre, the Britishattacked a small German salient at Neuve Chapelle March 1915.Both offensives failed to achieve significant success, and revealedthe utter inadequacy of pre-war military tactics against trench lines.The failure of a renewed Russian offensive in the Carpathians madeit essential to prevent the Germans transferring troops east, and theAllies decided on an attack towards Lille, an important railwaycentre for supplies to the German line along the Aisne and inFlanders.

Anticipating just such a move, the Germans launched an offensiveof their own in Flanders. This developed into the second battle ofYpres, and saw the first use of chlorine gas on the Western front.The German offensive slackened in late May because of Alliedattacks near Lens and Lille. Only limited Allied gains were madeand the German lines at Vimy Ridge held. New Allied offensivetactics, and new British forces, had again failed to change the hardtruth that reinforcements for the defenders could be brought up

more quickly than attacking troops could break through a trenchline.

By September 1915, the British had 1 million troops in the field,while the French had 2 million on a front stretching from Ypres tothe Somme. The Allies launched a major offensive from this front,the second battle of Champagne SeptemberOctober 1915, with theintention of breaking the German lines of communication from eastto west. The French made very small net gains while the Britishtook and held Loos, but failed to secure Lens. Attacks and

counterattacks throughout October produced little progress, and theline gradually stabilized for the winter. Sir John French wasreplaced as commander of the British Expeditionary Force by Sir

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Douglas Haig December 1915.

Eastern Front 1915During 1915 the main focus of the war shifted from the Western tothe Eastern Front. Germany saw that it could more easily defeatRussia than France, as low reserves of munitions could not quicklybe built up by limited Russian industrial capacity. The vast salientof Russian Poland was a tempting strategic prize: if the CentralPowers could make progress in Galicia, Russian forces in theCarpathians would be isolated and their armies in Poland exposed toa concerted offensive from north and south.

Moreover, the Russian centre in front of Warsaw was weakenedJanuary 1915 after requests from the Western Allies that Russiashould divert German troops from the west by attacks on the

extreme flanks of the German-Austrian lines in the east. Mackensentook advantage of this dispersal to launch a fierce attack on theRussian centre at Bolimov February 1915, but it petered out whenRussian reinforcements were brought up. After the fall of Przemysl22 March, the Russians were free to make further assaults in theCarpathians, with some initial success, but German reinforcementsand the Russian weakness in guns and material left the strategicpasses into Hungary in German-Austrian hands.

Mackensen began a fresh offensive 28 April 1 May with an

overwhelming artillery bombardment. The Russian defences werecompletely destroyed and the Germans crossed the Biala, takingGorlice and breaking Dmitriev's line. This advance compelledBrusilov to retire hastily from the edge of the Carpathians withheavy losses and by 18 May Mackensen had seized the line of theSan from Sieniawa to Jaroslav. By 20 June he had cut Russiancommunications north of Lemberg, and the capital of Galicia oncemore fell into Austrian possession 22 June. The German advanceachieved all its objects except the complete defeat of the remnant of

the Russian armies in Galicia, and they now swung round to facenorth, towards Poland.

The Germans planned to encircle the Russian position in Poland bystriking at Vilna from the north while Mackensen's Galician armiesmoved against the railway between Lublin and Kovel. Germanforces under General Max von Gallwitz advanced from the north 16July, taking Lublin and Cholm by the end of the month. Faced withthis converging offensive, the Russians decided to abandon Polandand evacuated Warsaw 5 August. Their fighting retreat left the

whole line from Brest-Litovsk to Kovno in German hands. TheGermans made further advances until Russky was restored tocommand of Russia's northern armies and succeeded in stabilizing

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the line.

Balkan Front 1915: the Dardanelles campaignThe Turkish entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers atthe end of 1914 had cut Allied supply routes to Russia and increasedthe isolation of Serbia. The arguments for a direct blow at Turkeyvia the Dardanelles were strong. An Allied offensive here wouldforestall Turkish attacks on British Egypt. Romania would beencouraged to join the war on the Allied side, and an Allied victorywould deter Bulgaria from following its inclination to join theCentral Powers. Italy's position as a member of the Triple Alliancewho had not yet taken up arms was also an important consideration.

The campaign began with a naval attack 19 February 1915, whichserved only to alert the Turks that a major offensive was likely.

Three squadrons of British and French ships were sent up the straits,only to meet Turkish floating mines and artillery batteries whichtook a heavy toll: one French and two British battleships were lost.

The main attack began 25 April with landings at Gaba Tepe (AnzacCove) and Cape Helles, but the advantage of surprise had been lost.The landings were poorly executed, confused, and costly, and littleprogress was made from the beachheads. The struggle for Gallipolisettled into a hard-fought campaign against almost impregnableTurkish positions. In a second attack 68 May naval bombardment

failed to destroy Turkish defences, and the Allies managed toadvance only a few hundred metres at a heavy cost; by the end ofMay the Allies had lost more troops at Gallipoli than the totalBritish losses in battle during the entire South African War. A thirdattack 4 June confirmed the impression that nothing short of a largearmy could master the position against brave and determinedTurkish defence.

Heavy Turkish attacks were held throughout June and July, whenAllied reinforcements arrived. A fresh assault began 6 August whenAllied forces at Cape Helles launched a general attack on Achi Babaas a diversion from the main offensive against Chunuk Bair andSuvla Bay. There was fierce fighting throughout the month, andheavy casualties; although the initial beachhead was enlarged, theAllies failed to make a significant breach in Turkish lines.

By November, it was obvious the campaign had been an expensivefailure and the Allies began to evacuate the peninsula; the finalembarkations from Suvla and Anzac took place 1819 December,

and of Cape Helles 8 January 1916.

Allied expedition to Salonika

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Both sides spent much of 1915 engaged in secret diplomacy topersuade Bulgaria to join the war, and the Bulgarians had demandedterritorial concessions as the price of their assistance. As the Alliescould satisfy Bulgarian demands only at the expense of Serbia, theirally, or Romania and Greece, potential allies, their promises were

half-hearted. Germany, on the other hand, offered SerbianMacedonia, Salonika, and Epirus an offer formalized in a secrettreaty signed 17 July 1915. A joint Austrian-German attack waslaunched against Serbia 19 September. The Greeks demanded thatFrance and Britain send 150,000 troops to Salonika 21 September.Greece mobilized 24 September and Bulgaria massed forces on theSerbian border 25 September, finally invading Serbia 11 October,two days after the Germans had captured Belgrade. The Allies'forces at Salonika were unable to turn the Bulgarian flank and failedto prevent Serbia being overrun. The decision nevertheless to

maintain an Allied presence at Salonika throughout the war tieddown large numbers of soldiers who could have been betteremployed elsewhere.

ItalyDuring the winter and spring of 1915 prolonged diplomatic effortshad been made to bring Italy into the war. Despite treaty obligationsto Germany and Austria-Hungary, Italy remained neutral whilenegotiating with both sides for territorial concessions. In the end theAllied offer of Austrian and Turkish territories proved conclusive,

and in June the first offensive by the enthusiastic but inexperiencedItalian army was launched against Austrian positions along theIsonzo. Casualties were huge, and five further offensives byDecember brought little gain.

Middle East 1915A British force from India had captured Basra November 1914, andTurkish operations December 1914 had failed to dislodge it. AsTurkish attacks continued AprilMay the British decided to advance

north. By July what had started out as a limited advance had becomea general push on Baghdad. Maj-Gen Sir Charles Townshend tookKut-al-Imara 29 July, and by 22 November British forces hadreached Ctesiphon, where a fierce battle raged for two days untilthey were forced to retreat. The surviving troops reached Kut 5December 1915, and a five-month siege began. Four Turkishdivisions surrounded the town and relief forces were unable to breakthrough. Townshend was forced to surrender 29 April 1916.

Western Front 1916

At the start of 1916, the new German commander-in-chief, Erichvon Falkenhayn, decided on an offensive against the French fortressat Verdun. His main object was a campaign of attrition to wear

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down the French army, still the mainstay of the war effort of theWestern Allies. The Germans were to employ a new tactic:powerful but limited attacks would seize the French front line, thenimmediately dig in while artillery support was brought up. Theinevitable French counterattacks could then be decimated by well-

supported and dug-in defenders, after which the process could beginagain. A short, intense bombardment began 21 February; by far thefiercest bombardment yet experienced, it obliterated the first Frenchlines, broke up the communications trenches, and even altered theshape of the hills. By 25 February the Germans had broken theFrench front at Douaumont, but were halted by the defensive tacticsof General Henri Ptain, one of the first French commandersformally to abandon the policy of swift counterattacks. The secondphase of the battle began with an attack from the northwest 2March, as German efforts shifted to the flanks of the salient; the

French fell back but again stabilized their line. The Germans made agreater effort still 11 March, but again made little progress towardsDouaumont. The third phase of the battle began on the west flank 16March, with German attacks on the lines between Avocourt andBthincourt. Ptain counterattacked successfully and fierce fightingcontinued until 11 April. By then it was clear that the Germanoffensive had failed: the most brutal and horrific fighting of the warto date had cost the Germans as many casualties as their opponents and Verdun was still in French hands.

The next major offensive on the Western Front was the Battle of theSomme 1 July18 November 1916. This was the offensive forwhich the British 'New Armies' had been preparing since 1915, the'Big Push' which would finally break the trench deadlock.

A week-long bombardment of the German lines failed to destroytheir defences, and the partly trained British troops were cut downas they emerged from their trenches: over 19,000 were killed on thefirst day. In over four months of some of the bloodiest fighting of

the war, the Allies gained barely 13 km/8 mi at a cost of over amillion casualties. The carnage on the Allied side of the Sommeoffensive was, however, matched by similar suffering on theGerman side. The battle is also notable as the first in which tankswere used.

Towards the end of the Somme offensive, 24 October, the Frenchlaunched a surprise attack on German positions at Verdun. FromFleury to Fort Douaumont positions which had taken the Germansmonths to win were recovered in a few hours. Further gains were

made during November and by mid-December the Germans hadbeen driven back almost to the positions from which they hadstarted.

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Eastern Front 1916By June, it appeared that Italy might be overwhelmed if theAustrian Trentino offensive succeeded, and in order to relieve thispressure Russia launched the well-supplied and brilliantly plannedBrusilov offensive 3 June. By the end of June, the Austrians were in

full flight towards the Carpathians. The Russians continued to makeadvances throughout July and August until the offensive was finallyhalted by lack of supplies and the failure of other sectors of theRussian front to support the push. Although a huge success in termsof its immediate objectives, the offensive was partly responsible forRomania's disastrous entry into the war and the enormous cost incasualties contributed greatly to the disillusionment of the Russianpeople with the war, leading to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Therapid series of Russian successes also led to a complete overhaul ofthe Central Powers' command structure: most of the Austrian

commanders were replaced by Germans and Austria's role in thecoalition was significantly diminished for the rest of the war.

Romania enters the warEncouraged by the Russian advance in Bukovina June 1916 andAllied offensives in the west, Romania declared war on Austria 27August. Germany in turn declared war on Romania 28 Augustfollowed 1 September by Bulgaria. Romania's opportunist movewas aimed solely at gaining Transylvania which it immediatelyinvaded. The invasion went well initially: within a fortnight most of

the frontier towns had been occupied. The Central Powersdispatched Falkenhayn at the head of the new Austrian 9th Armyagainst the Romanian left and Mackensen to the south of theDanube, with both armies converging on Bucharest. Mackensenadvanced into the Dobrudja, taking Turtukai 6 September,Bulgarian troops occupied Silistria 9 September, and by mid-October the Romanian army was in full retreat. Although theretreating Romanians offered strong resistance to Falkenhayn inTransylvania, by 20 October Mackensen had broken the Russo-

Romanian line. Constanta was abandoned 22 October and theRussians hastily withdrew to Babatag.

By 21 November the Germans had isolated the Romanian salient tothe west and by 27 November Mackensen had joined up withFalkenhayn. The Germans advanced on Bucharest, which fell 5December, leaving only Moldavia in Romanian hands.

Italian Front 1916Trentino, then part of the Austrian Tyrol, was Italy's first objective

after joining the war 1915 and fighting in the area had been heavy.The Austrians had strengthened the Trentino front throughout thewinter of 191516 and launched a massive offensive 14 May,

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supported by over 2,000 guns. By the start of June, the Italians hadbeen driven back and the Austrians had come within 30 km/20 mi ofVicenza. The Italian commander, Count Luigi Cadorna, launched acounteroffensive 24 June and quickly regained ground along thewhole front. Despite fierce Austrian resistance, Cadorna continued

his advance and entered Gorizia 9 August.

The Italian offensive now entered its second stage, aimed atcapturing Trieste. The advance began 10 August, and within twodays the whole of the western end of the Carso was in Italian hands.Cadorna continued to press forward into the Carso, and took Tivoli,northeast of Gorizia. Italy then declared war on Germany 28 August1916. The Italians made further advances in the Carso mid-September and a further attack 10 October straightened out thefront, with 5,000 prisoners taken. Italian progress continued

throughout October until they came up against the formidabledefensive system of Hermada, covering the road to Trieste. A hugeconcentration of guns would be needed to take the position and theonset of winter compelled Cadorna to postpone further advanceuntil the spring.

Balkan Front 1916The front at Salonika was now held by the British on the right, theFrench in the centre, and the reconstituted Serbian army on the left.An Allied offensive to take Monastir began August, under General

Maurice Sarrail. The French began to bombard Doiran 10 Augustand the following day occupied positions on the outskirts of thetown.

The following week a Bulgarian counteroffensive penetrated a longway within the Greek frontiers and threatened to turn Sarrail's flankby an advance to the Gulf of Salonika. Sarrail renewed his attack 7September and by 19 November the Bulgarians were forced toevacuate Monastir. Sarrail's campaign succeeded in securing

Greece, but failed to relieve the Central Powers' pressure onRomania.

Middle East 1916At the start of 1916, Russian forces in the Caucasus were ready tolaunch the offensive against Turkish positions at Erzurum whichthey had been preparing for some time. In five weeks of heavyfighting the Turks lost over five divisions. Erzurum was captured 16February followed 18 March by Trebizond, the Turkish garrisonretreating south towards Baiburt. Russian cavalry occupied

Erzingan 25 July and although further advances were temporarilydelayed by Turkish counterattacks, by 25 August the Russiancommander General Nikolai Yudenitch had again resumed his slow

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progress towards Anatolia

Turkish plans in the Middle East were shattered by the Arab revoltin the Hejaz June 1916. The Sheriff of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali,proclaimed Arab independence 9 June. The Arab rebels, encouragedby the British guerrilla leader T E Lawrence, occupied Mecca andthe port of Jeddah, laid siege to Medina, and later cut parts of theHejaz railway to prevent the Turks sending reinforcements from thenorth. The revolt spread rapidly and delayed the Turks' projectedattack on Egypt. The Turks failed to quash the revolt, andLawrence's Arab guerrillas disrupted their supply lines for the restof the war.

The Turks eventually launched their assault on Egypt August 1916.18,000 troops advanced on the Suez Canal from the east, where they

clashed with British forces at Romani 3 August. Britishreinforcements arriving in the afternoon routed the Turks. TheBritish pursued the fleeing Turkish forces, defeating them again 9August. Egypt was secured from further attack.

Irish Rebellion 1916On the outbreak of war, the Unionist and home rule leaders inIreland had declared a truce for the duration of the conflict, but thiswas far from universally accepted. The Easter rising of April 1916posed a serious threat to the Britain, but the interception of a

German submarine carrying arms intended for the rising and thecapture of Sir Roger Casement severely weakened the rising'schance of success. It was crushed after five days of fighting inDublin. Casement and 15 of the rising's leaders were executed.

War at sea 1916The major sea action of the year was the Battle ofJutland 31 May,in which the British Grand Fleet clashed with the German High SeaFleet. Although the battle was in itself indecisive, both sidesclaimed victory: the Germans because they sank more ships thanthey lost, and the British because the German fleet remained inharbour for the rest of the war. In the long term, the latter effect hadfar more impact on the war as a whole.

German peace noteBy the end of 1916 the combined effect of casualties at the Sommeand Verdun, the decline of Austrian military strength, and the Alliedeconomic blockade prompted limited moves towards a peacesettlement in Germany. The German chancellor announced in the

Reichstag 12 December 1916 that he had sent peace notes to thevarious belligerent powers, saying that Germany was willing toconsider peace as it was now victorious in a war forced on it by its

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enemies. The note failed to specify terms which Germany would bewilling to accept. On 30 December, the French government gave theUS ambassador in Paris a formal answer, signed by Russia, France,Great Britain, Japan, Italy, Serbia, Belgium, Montenegro, Portugal,and Romania, in which they declared that there could be no peace

until Germany offered reparation, restitution, and guarantees for thefuture.

Western Front 1917In the first three months of 1917 the Germans conducted a highlyskilled withdrawal to new defences in the so-called HindenburgLine, prompted in part by the weakening of their Somme positions.The Allies launched a major offensive against the new line in April.The British attack at Vimy Ridge 9 April developed into the thirdbattle ofArras. The French commander General Robert Nivelle

launched another attack on the Chemin des Dames, the disastroussecond battle of the Aisne 16 April20 May which failed to deal thedecisive blow Nivelle had planned and cost both sides heavycasualties. Serious mutinies broke out in the French army as a result,and Nivelle was replaced by Ptain.

The focus of attention on the Western Front switched to Flanderswhere the British launched a major offensive against Messines 715June, quickly overwhelming the German lines with heavy artilleryand extensive mining. The next offensive, the third battle ofYpres

JulyNovember, failed to build on the success of Messines. Bothsides sustained heavy casualties in the Flanders mud, with littleAllied gain. The British made initial gains in a subsequent advanceat Cambrai 2023 November but were driven back by a Germancounterattack.

Eastern Front 1917The Russian effort largely collapsed early 1917 as the country slidtowards revolution and civil war (see Russian Revolution).

Although the provisional government installed after the Februaryrevolution attempted to continue the war, widespread desertions andBolshevik agitation negated any serious military effort and shortlyafter the Bolsheviks came to power November 1917, hostilities onthe Eastern Front ceased. The new regime began discussing peaceterms with Germany December 1917 which resulted in the Treaty ofBrest-Litovsk3 March 1918. The Central Powers also secured atreaty with Romania 5 March, and newly independent Finland 7March.

Italian Front 1917An Italian attempt to bypass Austrian defences near the Bosco diTernova and resume their advance east had failed by May 1917.

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Cadorna appealed to Britain and France for help in July butalthough Britain sent some artillery neither could spare infantry andthe Italians resumed the attack alone August 1917. They weredriven back by Austrian divisions recalled from Russia, and by theend of September Cadorna's main operations were at an end.

Ludendorff transferred Karl von Below from the Western Front tothe Italian Isonzo Front August 1917 and gave him command of sixGerman and seven Austrian divisions. Von Below planned todispense with the usual preliminary artillery bombardment, and torely instead on picked storm troops to break through the enemylines, leaving any strongpoints to be dealt with by follow-up troops.The new method was to be tried near Caporetto, where the Italiantroops were reported to be disaffected. The Battle of Caporettobegan 24 October in heavy rain and snow; the disaffected Italian

troops broke almost immediately, and the Germans quickly crossedthe Isonzo and then the Italian frontier and advanced to the PiaveRiver, nullifying in a day all the Italian gains of the preceding twoand a half years.

Balkan Front 1917Much of the action on this front during 1917 centred around neutralGreece whose king, Constantine I, was pro-German but determinedto stay out of the war. Bulgaria had seized Greek territory August1916, sparking a revolt 30 August at Salonika under Col

Zimbrakakis. Regiments were enrolled for service against Bulgaria,and a Greek regiment was sent to the front at the start of September.The Greek opposition leader Eleutherios Venizelos left Athens forSalonika, where he formed a provisional government whichimmediately declared war on Bulgaria. The Venizelos governmentgradually gained recognition among the Allies, though the mainlandsouthwest of Salonika remained under Constantine's pro-Germanrule.

A further crisis occurred when Italy proclaimed Albaniaindependent under its protection 3 June 1917 and occupied Janinafive days later, cutting communications between Greece and theCentral Powers. French troops seized the isthmus of Corinth 11June, and the Allied high commissioner demanded the abdication ofKing Constantine. Constantine abdicated in favour of his secondson, Prince Alexander, and left for Switzerland 12 June. Venizeloswas formally installed as prime minister 25 June and Greeceofficially entered the war on the side of the Allies.

Middle East 1917The Allies realized towards the end of 1916 that they must crush theTurks if they were to make any progress in the Balkans, and so

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reinforced their campaigns in Palestine and Mesopotamia. TheBritish entered El Arish 20 December and captured Rafa, the lastTurkish stronghold in the Sinai, 9 January 1917. In Mesopotamia,British forces again advanced on Baghdad from December 1916,clearing the Turks from the right bank of the Tigris. They entered

Kut 24 February 1917 without opposition and Baghdad 11 March.By the end of April Baghdad was secure from enemy attack.

Turkish troops in the Sinai were demoralized, their supplies short,and desertion was common. The British launched an offensive toprevent them falling back to stronger positions in Palestine, andadvanced up the coast towards Gaza. The Battle of Gaza 26 March17 April failed to capture the city and the British sustainedsubstantial losses. This was a serious reverse and was followed by along period of inaction. In October the new British commander,

General Sir Edmund Allenby, organized an offensive againstBeersheba, intending to outflank Turkish defences and advance onJerusalem. He created a diversion by shelling Gaza 27 October, thenlaunched a successful assault on Beersheba, occupying the town 31October. By 7 November Gaza had fallen and Jerusalem was taken9 December.

USA enters the war April 1917At the outbreak of the war, there had been much sympathy forGermany in the USA, compounded by the British maritime policy

which interfered with US shipping. In the early months of 1915,Germany introduced new guidelines for U-boat (submarine) attacksand warned the USA that neutral ships might be sunk. The fullimplication of this was brought home to the US public by thesinking of the linerLusitania 7 May 1915 with the loss of 1,200lives, including US citizens; the outcry was such that Germanysuspended its U-boat campaign. Relations were further strained byrevelations about the activities of German agents in the USA. TheRepublicans stirred up public sentiment against President Woodrow

Wilson's policy of strict neutrality throughout 1916 but he stillsecured re-election in November. Wilson tried unsuccessfully tomediate between the two sides December 1916. On 13 January 1917the German government announced that all sea traffic within seaareas adjoining Britain, France, and Italy, and in the easternMediterranean, would 'without further notice be prevented by allweapons', a return to unrestricted submarine warfare. This wasfinally too much even for Wilson and diplomatic relations withGermany were severed 3 February. The publication of theZimmermann Telegram 1 March caused widespread outrage and

when German submarines sank six US vessels shortly after therewas no chance of the US remaining neutral. War was formallydeclared 6 April. The entry of the USA into the war was of

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immediate economic and industrial value to the Allies, although noconsiderable contingent of US troops could be sent to Europe formany months.

The first contingent of US troops landed in France 25 June 1917,although it was not until May 1918 that US troops arrived in anynumbers under Maj-Gen John Pershing. Meanwhile, the US navyembarked on a massive programme of expansion and sent vessels toaid in the protection of Atlantic shipping. A system of escortedconvoys was introduced May 1917 and losses due to Germansubmarines immediately declined.

Western Front 1918In February, Ludendorff and Hindenburg proposed a massive pushon the Western Front to isolate British forces between the Somme

and the Channel so that a heavy German blow could be directed atParis. Although such a strategy could be costly, the Germans wereno longer bound by commitments on the Eastern Front, whileFrance was at the limit of its resources and Britain was severelyoverstretched by commitments in the Middle East and Italy. If thestrategy could be implemented quickly, the war could be endedbefore US troops arrived in strength.

The German Spring Offensive was launched 21 March 1918 with ahuge assault on the British 5th Army, the second Battle of the

Somme, which forced the British back to a line near Arras lateApril. Although this initial assault did not completely break theAllied line it had achieved more than any Allied offensive of thewhole war. By 4 April the Germans had claimed 90,000 prisonersand 1,300 guns, and the Sir Hubert Gough's 5th Army had beenpartly destroyed. A second German attack at Armentires 9 April,the Battle of the Lys, recaptured the Messines ridge and drove adeep wedge into the British front, but still did not achieve thebreakthrough Ludendorff needed. A third attack launched 27 May

reached the Marne near Chteau-Thierry and was extended to within72 km/45 mi of Paris in the space of a few days the French hadlost all the gains they had made since 1914. By now, however,delays in implementing the German plan meant the balance ofpower was shifting against Germany.

From the start of June the Allies began pushing the Germans back.The Germans were delayed from pressing home their attack until 15July; Ludendorff's attack on Reims was held and driven back in theSecond Battle of the Marne and Marshal Ferdinand Foch's

counterattack with a joint French-US force drove the Germans backbeyond Chteau-Thierry and flattened out the German salient.

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The British 4th Army launched a successful offensive at Amiens 812 August and the Allied advance continued steadily all along theline. A US assault on the St Mihiel salient, held by the Germanssince 1914, was launched at dawn 12 September and finallyremoved the German threat to Verdun. Both Austria and Germany

made overtures for peace with the USA 15 September, but Wilson'sreply was not encouraging. While the British pushed forward inFlanders, with the final offensives around Ypres starting 26September, French and US troops were pursuing the Germans onthe Meuse-Argonne line. Progress all along the French and Britishfronts continued throughout October, and subsidiary offensivesaround Cambrai and Le Cateau pushed the Germans back beyondtheir Hindenburg defences.

Belgian and French troops under Degoutte and the British 2nd

Army under Plumer attacked the whole Flanders front late October,and by 21 October the Germans had been driven back to the Lys infront of Ghent. German withdrawal was equally complete in thesouth: Lille and Douai were taken 17 October, and by 21 Octoberthe British had advanced to the Schelde. Ludendorff resigned fivedays later.

Germany's allies had collapsed by early November, and it was leftalone to meet the decisive final battles of the war. The German lineon the Meuse was broken 1 November, and during the next few

days the Americans followed up their advantage, reaching Sedan 7November. The German centre was broken in the Battle of theSambre from 1 November: by 9 November Maubeuge had fallen,Tournai was occupied the same day, and early on 11 November theCanadians captured Mons. At 11.00 a.m. that day fighting ceased allalong the Western Front as the armistice came into effect.

Italian Front 1918The Austrians launched a final offensive against the Italians on the

Piave 15 June but an Italian counterattack 2 July turned the Austrianflank and forced a general retreat. The Austrians escaped with slightlosses, and flooding on the Piave prevented the new Italiancommander, General Armando General Diaz, from following up hissuccess.

By late October Austria-Hungary itself was close to collapse, butthe Austrian army in Italy was still in being. Supported bycontingents from most of the other Allied powers, Diaz launched hisfinal offensive on the Piave (known to the Italians as the battle of

Vittorio Veneto) 23 October. Within a few days, the Austrians werein full retreat and by 30 October Diaz had broken the Austrian front.The retreat became a rout ending only when Austria-Hungary

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reached a separate armistice with the Allies 4 November and allhostilities ceased, heralding the final collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Czechoslovakia had already proclaimed its independence 18October; now other Slav states followed suit, and Austria itselfbecame a republic 13 November.

Balkan Front 1918The Allied front in the Balkans had been quiet since the offensive ofMay 1917, and the new Greek army had largely replaced the Frenchand British. Meanwhile, Bulgarian morale was failing as theirgovernment sought a way out of the war. An Allied offensivearound Vardar broke the Bulgarian lines and an armistice wassigned at Salonika 30 September. The Serbians entered Nish 12

October and by 1 November they were in Belgrade.

Middle East 1918Much of Turkey's energy in 1918 was taken up with campaignsagainst the new soviet republics in the Caucasus, in violation of theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, which led to German fears that Turkishaggression might bring Russia back into the war. Eventually, theTurks were beaten back by British intervention and fierce resistancefrom both Bolshevik and White Russian forces in the area.

Following their capture of Jerusalem December 1917, Allenby'sforces took Jericho 21 February 1918 and continued to advancethrough Palestine and Syria. Damascus fell 30 September, theFrench took Beirut 7 October, and Aleppo fell 26 October.Meanwhile, General Sir William Marshall's forces advanced up theTigris and forced the Turkish army in Mosul to surrender. Anarmistice was signed 30 October and the Allies occupiedConstantinople 1 November.

Russia 191819After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 1918, German relationswith the Bolsheviks ranged from equivocal association to openhostility. During April and May Trotsky made abortive efforts toraise a Red Army to drive the Germans from Russia, but it was onlythe intervention of a Czechoslovak contingent in the southeast thatforced Germany to make an agreement with Lenin. The Germansundertook not to advance further east than a specified line from theGulf of Finland to the Black Sea, and the Bolshevik forces weretherefore able to give their undivided attention to the Czechs on the

Volga. The Ukraine was occupied as a German province butwidespread revolt culminated in the assassination 30 July of FieldMarshal von Eichhorn in Kiev. Lenin signed three further treaties

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with Germany 6 September although these were negated in thepeace treaties which followed the end of the war.

From early 1918 Allied relations with the Bolsheviks had beenstrained but friendly and the international expedition to ArchangelMarch 1918 was initially approved by Trotsky. However, in June1918 the Bolsheviks demanded the withdrawal of all Allied forcesfrom Russian soil. The Allies began a half-hearted attempt to aid theWhite Russian forces against the Bolsheviks but by mid-1919 theBolsheviks were obviously in too strong a position so the Alliedforces were withdrawn.

PeaceTowards the end of September 1918 it was obvious that the Germanoffensive in the west had failed, while Bulgaria and Turkey were on

the verge of defeat and Austria sought peace at any price. TheBritish maritime blockade had brought starvation to much of CentralEurope. A new German government was installed under a newchancellor, Prince Maximilian of Baden, to negotiate with theAllies. Maximilian sent a note to US president Wilson 4 October,asking for an armistice and declaring Germany's acceptance of hisFourteen Points as a basis for peace discussions. Wilson emphasizedthat any armistice would have to safeguard Allied militarysupremacy, implying total surrender, and negotiations began at theend of October. An armistice was signed between Germany and the

Allies at 5 a.m. 11 November 1918, and fighting ceased on theWestern Front at 11 a.m. the same day.

The terms of peace were negotiated separately with each of theCentral Powers in the course of the next few years:

Treaty ofVersailles between the Allies and Germany, signed 29June 1919, ratified in Paris, 19 January 1920;

Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye between the Allies and Austria,signed 10 September 1919, ratified in Paris, 16 July 1920;

Treaty of Trianon between the Allies and Hungary, signed 4 June1920;

Treaty ofSvres, between the Allies and Turkey, signed 10 August1920, not ratified and superseded by the

Treaty of Lausanne between the Allies and Turkey, signed 24 July1923, and ratified in the same year.

"The fact that I was exchanging the comparative safety

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of the front for the probability of being hanged in the

streets of London did not worry me."

Edward AshmoreBritish general in World War I.

[Remark on being sent to command the London air defences]

"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall notsee them lit again in our lifetime."

Edward GreyEnglish Liberal politician.

[On the impending war 3 August 1914 Twenty-Five Years]

"Fifty years were spent in the process of making Europeexpolosive. Five days were enough to detonate it."

Basil Liddell HartBritish military strategist.

[The Real War 191419181930]

"The Army had been fought to a standstill and wasutterly worn out."

Erich von LudendorffGerman general in World War I.

[On the Battle of the Somme]

"Whatever you do, you lose a lot of men."

Charles ManginFrench general in World War I.

[Remark on comparing casualty figures from each division at

Verdun 1916]

"Would you kindly forward the enclosed letter and earnthe blessing of a poor British soldier?"

NoteEnclosed with a letter.

['Posted' in a bottle by Pte Thomas Hughes, 26, to his wife in1914, 12 days before he was killed, and found in the Thames

Estuary in April by fisherman Steve Gowan, and hand deliveredby him to Pte Hughes's daughter in Auckland, New Zealand, on 17

May 1999;Daily Telegraph, 18 May 1999]

"It is pock-marked like the body of foulest disease, andits odour is the breath of cancer ... No Man's Land under

snow is like the face of the moon, chaotic, crater-ridden,uninhabitable, awful, the abode of madness."

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Copyright Helicon Publishing Ltd 2000. All rights reserved.

Wilfred OwenEnglish poet.

[Letter 19 January 1917]

"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we

shall certainly change the geography."Hubert Plumer

British World War I general.[Remark to his staff before the Battle of Messines 1917, in which

mines were extensively employed]

"I vow to thee, my country all earthly things above /Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love."

Cecil Spring-Rice

English poet.['Last Poem']

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