The First World War and its aftermath

Summary of events:
The two opposing sides in the war were:
➔ The Allies or Entente Powers: Britain and her empire (including troops from Australia,
Canada, India, and New Zealand), France, Russia (left December 1917), Italy
(entered May 1915), Serbia, Belgium, Romania (entered August 1916), USA (entered
April 1917) and Japan
➔ The Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey (entered November 1914)
and Bulgaria (entered October 1915)

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. Both sides dug themselves in and spent the next four years attacking and
defending lines of trenches.
In eastern Europe there was more movement, with early Russian successes against the
Austrians, who constantly had to be helped out by Germans. But by December 1917 the
Germans had captured Poland and forced the Russians out of the war.
Gradually, the tide turned; the Allies, helped by the entry of the USA in April 1917, wore
down the Germans, whose last despairing attempt at a decisive breakthrough in France
failed in the spring of 1918. The success of the British navy in blockading German ports and
defeating the submarine threat. By the late summer of 1918 they were nearing exhaustion.

1914
1. The western front (France, Belgium, Germany)
On the western front the German advance was held up by unexpectedly strong Belgian
resistance; it took the Germans over two weeks to capture Brussels, the Belgian capital. This
was an important delay because it gave the British time to organize themselves, and left the
Channel ports free. The Germans found themselves just east of Paris, making straight for
the city. They penetrated to within twenty miles of Paris, and the French government
withdrew to Bordeaux; but the nearer they got to Paris, the more the German impetus
slowed up. There were problems in keeping the armies supplied with food and ammunition,
and the troops became exhausted by the long marches in the August heat. In September the
faltering Germans were attacked by the French under Joffre in the Battle of the Marne. This
battle was vitally important; some historians regard it as one of the most decisive battles in
modern history:
➔ It ruined the Schlieffen Plan once for all
➔ The Germans would have to face full-scale war on two fronts
➔ The war of movement was over
➔ There was time for the British navy to bring its crippling blockade to bear on
Germany’s ports.
➔ Although the Germans captured Antwerp, the British Expeditionary Force held grimly
on to Ypres.

2. The eastern front (Russia)

On the eastern front the Russian mobilized more quickly than the Germans expected, but
then made the mistake of invading both Austria and Germany at the same time. Though they
were successful against Austria, the Germans defeated the Russians twice, at Tannenberg
(August) and the Masurian Lakes (September), driving them out of Germany. These battles
were important: the Russians lost vast amounts of equipment and ammunition, which had
taken them years to build up.
The Russians never recovered from this setback, whereas German self-confidence was
boosted. One bright spot for the Allies was that the Serbs drove out an Austrian invasion in
fine style at the end of 1914, and Austrian morale was at the rock bottom.

1915
1. Stalemate in the west
In the west the stalemate continued, though several attempts were made to break the trench
line. The difficulties of trench warfare were always the same:
➔ 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.
➔ 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 fire-power provided by
magazine rifles and machine-guns made frontal attacks suicidal and meant that
cavalry were useless
➔ Any ground won was difficult to defend since it usually formed what was called a
salient.
➔ 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 than the Allies, especially when the Allies released some gas of their
own.
2. The east
In the east, Russia’s fortunes were mixed: they had further successes against Austria, but
they met defeat whenever they clashed with the Germans, who captured Warsaw (Capital of
Poland) and the whole of Poland. It was partly to clear the Dardanelles and open up the vital
supply line to Russia via the Black Sea that the Gallipoli Campaign was launched. This was
an idea strongly pressed by Winston Churchill. The Turks were thought to be the weakest of
the Central Powers because of their unstable government. Success against Turkey would
enable help to be sent to Russia and might also bring Bulgaria, Greece and Romania into
the war on the Allied side. The campaign was a total failure; the first attempt, in March, an
Anglo-French naval attack failed when the ships ran into a series of mines. When the British
attempted landings at the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, the Turks had strengthened their
defences and no advance could be made. Further landings by Australian and New Zealand's
troops in April and by British in August were equally useless, and positions could only be
held with a great difficulty. In December, the entire force was withdrawn. The consequences
were serious: besides being a blow to Allied morale, it turned out to be the last chance of
helping Russia via the Black Sea. It probably made Bulgaria decide to join the Central
Powers. The year 1915 was therefore not a good one for the Allies; even a British army sent
to protect Anglo-Persian oil interest against a possible Turkish attack.

3. Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary (May 1915)

The Italians were hoping to seize Austria-Hungary’s Italian-speaking provinces as well as
territory along the eastern front of the Adriatic Sea. A secret treaty was signed in London in
which the Allies promised Italy some territories. The Allies hoped that by keeping thousands
of Austrian troops occupied, the Italians would relieve pressure on the Russians. But the
Russians were unable to stave off defeat.

1916
1. The western front
1916 is remembered for two terrible battles, Verdun and the Somme
➔ Verdun ​was an important French fortress town against which the Germans under
Falkenhayn launched a massive attack. They hoped to draw all the best French
troops to its defence, destroy them and then carry out a final offensive to win. But the
French under Petain defended stubbornly, and in June the Germans had to abandon
the attack. The French lost heavily (315000) and the Germans with 280000 men
killed and no territorial gains.
➔ The Battle of Somme ​was a series of attacks, mainly by the British, beginning on 1
July and lasting through November. The aim was to relieve pressure on the French at
Verdun, take over more of the trench line as the French army weakened, and keep
the Germans fully committed, so that they would ​be unable to risk sending
reinforcements to the eastern front against Russia. The attack began disastrously:
British troops found themselves walking into deadly machine-gun fire. Yet Haig, the
British Commander-in-chief, did not call off the attack. At the end of it all, the Allies
had made limited advances. The real importance of the battle was the blow to
German morale, as they realized that Britain was a military power to be reckoned
with.
Losses on both sides, killed or wounded, were appalling. The Allied generals,
especially Haig, came under severe criticism for persisting with suicidal frontal attacks. Both
British and French generals remained convinced that mass charges were the only only way
to make a breakthrough. It was after one of the disastrous attack in 1915 that a German
officer remarked that the British army were ‘lions led by monkeys’
The horrors of the Somme also contributed to the fall of the British Prime Minister, Asquith,
who resigned in 1916 after criticism of British tactics mounted. And yet the events of 1916
did contribute towards the eventual Allied victory.

2. David Lloyd George (liberal) becomes British Prime Minister (December 1916)
Lloyd George’s contribution to the Allied war effort and the defeat of the Central Powers was
invaluable. As a Prime Minister during 1917, he set up a small war cabinet, so that quick
decisions could be taken. He brought shipping and agriculture under government control and
introduced the Ministry of National Service to organize the mobilization of men into the army.
He also played an important part in the adoption of the convoy system.

3. In the east
In June 1916 the Russians under Brusilov attacked the Austrians, in response to a plea from
Britain and France for some action to divert German attention away from Verdun. They
managed to break the front and advanced. The Austrians were demoralized, but the strain
was exhausting the Russians as well. The Romanians invaded Austria (August), but the
Germans swiftly came to the Austrian rescue, occupied the whole of Romania and seized
her wheat and oil supplies - not a happy end to 1916 for the Allies.

THE WAR AT SEA

The general public in Germany and Britain expected a series of naval battles. But
both sides were cautious and dared not risk any action which might result in the loss
of their main fleets.

1. The allies aimed to use their navies in 3 ways

➔ To blockade the Central Powers, preventing goods from entering or leaving, slowly
starving them out;
➔ to keep trade routes open between Britain, her empire and the rest of the world, so
that the Allies themselves would not starve;
➔ to transport British troops to the continent and keep them supplied via the Channel
ports.
The British were successful in carrying out these aims; they went into action against German
units stationed abroad, and at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, destroyed one of the main
German squadrons. By the end of 1914 nearly all German armed surface ships had been
destroyed, apart from their main fleet and the squadrons blockading the Baltic to cut off
supplies to Russia. In 1915 the British navy was involved in the Gallipoli Campaign.

2. The Allied blockade caused problems

Britain was trying to prevent the Germans from using the neutral Scandinavian and Dutch
ports to break the blockade; this involved stopping and searching all neutral ships and
confiscating any goods suspected of being intended for enemy hands.
3. The Germans retaliated with mines and submarine attacks
At first, they respected neutral shipping and passenger liners, but it was soon clear that the
German submarine blockade was not effective. This was partly because they had insufficient
U-boats and partly because there were problems of identification. In April 1915 the British
liner Lusitania was sunk by a torpedo attack. The Lusitania was armed and carrying vast
quantities of arms and ammunition. This had important consequences: out of almost two
thousands dead, 128 were Americans. For the time being, American protests caused
Bethmann to tone down the submarine campaign, making it even less effective.

4.The battle of Jutland (31 May 1916)

It was the only time in the entire war that the main battle-fleets emerged and engaged each
other; the result was indecisive. The German Admiral von Scheer tried to lure part of the
British fleet out from its base so that section could be destroyed by the numerically superior
Germans. However, more British ships came out than he had anticipated, and after the two
fleets had shelled each other on and off for several hours, the Germans decided to retire to
base, firing torpedoes as they went. The real importance of the battle lay in the fact that the
Germans had failed to destroy British sea power: the German High Seas Fleet stayed in Kiel
for the rest of the war, leaving Britain’s control of the surface complete.

5. ‘Unrestricted’ submarine warfare (started January 1917)

Germans attempted to sink all enemy and neutral merchant ships in the Atlantic; although
they knew that this was likely to bring the USA into the war, they hoped that Britain and
France would be starved into surrender before the Americans could make any vital
contribution. They almost did it: the peak of German success came in April 1917, 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. The situation was saved
by Lloyd George, who insisted that the Admiralty adopt a convoy (large number of merchant
ships sailing together) system. This drastically reduced losses and meant that the German
gamble had failed.

1917
1. In the west
On the western front, 1917 was a year of Allied failure. A massive French attack in
Champagne, under Nivelle, achieved nothing except mutiny in the French army, was
successfully sorted by Pétain. From June to November the British fought the Third Battle of
Ypres, in appallingly muddy conditions. More significant was the Battle of Cambrai, which
demonstrated that tanks, might break the deadlock of trench warfare. 381 massed British
tanks made a great breach in the German line, but lack of reserves prevented the success
from being followed up. Meanwhile the Italians were heavily defeated by Germans and
Austrians at Caporetto and retreated in disorder. This rather unexpectedly proved to be an
important turning point, Italian morale revived because they were faced with having to
defend their homeland against the hated Austrians.

2. On the eastern front

Disaster struck the Allies when Russia withdrew from the war (December 1917).
 Continuous heavy losses at the hands of the Germans, lack of arms and supplies, problems
of transport and communications, and utterly incompetent leadership, caused two
revolutions and the Bolsheviks, who took over power in november, were willing to make
peace.

3. The entry of the USA (April 1917)

This was caused partly by the German U-boat campaign, and also by the discovery that
Germany was trying to persuade Mexico to declare war on the USA, promising her Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona in return. The USA made an important contribution to the Allied
victory: they supplied Britain and France with food, merchant ships and credit, though actual
military help came slowly. By the end of 1917 only one American divisions had been in
action, but by mid-1918 over half a million men were involved.

THE CENTRAL POWERS DEFEATED

1.​ ​The German spring offensive, 1918
This major German attack was launched by Ludendorff in a last, desperate attempt to win
the war before too many US troops arrived, and before discontent in Germany led to
revolution. Throwing in all the extra troops released from the east, the Germans broke
through on the Somme and by the end of May were only 40 miles from Paris; the Allies
seemed to be falling apart. However, they managed to hold on as the German advance lost
momentum and created an awkward bulge.

2. The Allied counter-offensive begins (8 August)

The counter attack involved hundreds of tanks attacking in short sharp jabs at several
different points along a wide front instead of massing on one narrow front. This forced the
Germans to withdraw their entire line and avoided forming a silent. The Germans were
forced back until by the end of September the Allies had broken through the Hindenburg
Line. Though Germany itself had not yet been invaded, Ludendorff was now convinced that
they would be defeated in the spring of 1919. He insisted that the German government ask
President Wilson of the USA for an armistice. Was signed on 11 November.

3. Why did the Central Powers lose the war?

The reasons can be briefly summarized:
01. Once the Schlieffen Plan had failed, removing all hope of a quick German victory, it
was bound to be a strain for them, facing war on two fronts.
02. Allied sea power was decisive, enforcing the deadly blockade
03. The German submarine campaign failed in the face of convoys protected by British,
American and Japanese destroyers.
04. The entry of the USA brought vast new resources to the Allies.
05. Allied political leaders at the critical time were probably more competent than those of
the Central Powers.
06. The continuous strain of heavy losses told on the Germans troops in the 1918
offensive and the new troops were young and inexperienced.
07. Germany was badly let down by her allies and was constantly having to help out the
Austrians and Bulgarians.
The combination of military defeat and dire food shortages produced a great war weariness,
leading to munity in the navy, destruction of morale in the army and revolution at home.

4. Effects of the war

The impact of the war was extraordinarily wide-ranging, which was not surprising given that it
was the first ‘total war’ in history. This means that it involved not just armies and navies but
entire populations, and it was the first big conflict between modern, industrialized nations.
The effects on individual countries were sometimes little short of traumatic: the empires
which had dominated central and eastern Europe for over two hundred years disappeared
almost overnight.
➔ The most striking effect of the war was the appalling death toll among the armed
forces. 2 million Germans died, 1.7 millions Russians, 1.5 millions French over a
million Austro-Hungarians, about one million from Britain. Italy lost around 530000 of
her troops, Turkey 325000, Serbia 322000, Romania 158000, USA 116000, Bulgaria
49000 and Belgium 41000.
➔ In Germany, hardship and defeat caused a revolution: The Kaiser Wilhelm II was
compelled to abdicate and a republic was declared.
➔ The Habsburg Empire collapsed completely
➔ In Russia the pressures of war caused two revolutions in 1917. The first
(february-march) overthrew the Tsar, Nicholas II and the second (october-november)
brought Lenin and the Bolsheviks
➔ Although Italy was on the winning side, the war had been a drain on her resources
and she was heavily in debt. Mussolini took advantage of the government’s
unpopularity, to take over control
➔ On the other hand, some countries outside Europe, China and the USA, took
advantage of Europe’s preoccupation with the war to expand their trade at Europe’s
expense.
➔ Many politicians and leaders were determined that the horrors of the First World War
should never be repeated

THE PROBLEMS OF MAKING A PEACE SETTLEMENT

1. War aims
When the war was started, none of the participants had any specific ideas about what they
hoped to achieve, except that Germany and Austria wanted to preserve the Habsburg
Empire, and thought this required them to destroy Serbia.
British Prime Minister Lloyd George mentioned the defence of democracy and the righting of
the injustice done to France in 1871 when she lost Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.
American President Woodrow Wilson stated US war aims in his famous 14 points (January
1918):
1) Abolition of secret diplomacy;
2) free navigation at sea for all nations in war and peace;
3) removal of economic barriers between states;
4) all round reduction of armaments;
5) impartial adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of the populations concerned;
6) evacuation of Russian territory;
7) restoration of Belgium;
 8) liberation of France and restoration of Alsace and Lorraine;
9) readjustment of Italian frontiers along the lines of nationality;
10) self government for the peoples of Austria-Hungary;
11) Romania, Serbia and Montenegro to be evacuated and Serbia given access to the
sea;
12) self government for the non Turkish peoples of the Turkish Empire and permanent
opening of the Dardanelles;
13) an independent Poland with secure access to the sea;
14) a general association of nations to preserve peace.

These points achieved publicity when the Germans later claimed that they had expected the
peace terms to be based on them, and that since this was not the case, they had been
cheated.

2. Differing Allied views about how to treat the defeated powers

When the peace conference met, it was soon obvious that a settlement would be difficult
because of basic disagreements among the victorious powers:
➔ France (Clemenceau) wanted a harsh peace, to ruin Germany economically and
militarily
➔ Britain (Lloyd George) was in favour of a less severe settlement, enabling Germany
to recover quickly so that she could resume her role as a major customer for British
goods.
➔ The USA (Woodrow Wilson) was in favour of a lenient peace, although he had to
accept British and French demands for reparations and German disarmament.
Wilson was also in favour of self determination: nations should be freed from foreign
rule and given democratic governments of their own choice.

By June 1919 the conference had come up with the Treaty of Versailles for Germany, was
one of the most controversial settlements ever signed.

THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES WITH GERMANY

1. The terms:
➔ Germany had to lose territory in Europe
➔ Germany’s African colonies were taken away and became ‘mandates’ under
League of Nations supervision
➔ German armaments were strictly limited to a maximum of 100000 troops and
no conscription
➔ The War Guilt clause fixed the blame for the outbreak of the war solely on
Germany and her allies
➔ Germany was to pay reparations for damage done to the Allies
➔ A League of Nations was formed

The Germans had little choice but to sign the treaty, though they objected strongly
2. Why did the Germans object, and how far were their objections justified?
1. It was a dictated peace:​The Germans were not allowed into the discussions at
Versailles; they were simply presented with the terms and told no to sign. Although
they were allowed to criticize the treaty in writing, all their criticize were ignored
except one.
2. Many provisions were not based on the 14 points:​The Germans claimed that they
had been promised terms based on Wilson’s 14 Points, and that many of the
provisions were not based on the 14 points, and were therefore a swindle. This is
probably not a valid objection: the 14 points had never been accepted as official by
any state involved, and the Germans themselves had ignored them in January 1918,
when there still seemed a chance of outright German victory.
3. Loss of territory in Europe:​This included Alsace-Lorraine and especially West
Prussia, which gave Poland access to the sea. After a vote among the population,
Germany was allowed to keep about two thirds of the area
4. Loss of Germany’s African colonies:​The mandate system allowed Britain to take over
German East Africa and parts of Togoland and the Cameroons, France to take most
of Togoland and the Cameroons, and South Africa to acquire German South West
Africa; but this was really a device by which the Allies seized the colonies without
actually admitting that they were being annexed
5. The disarmament clauses were deeply resented:​The Germans claimed that 100000
troops were not enough to keep law and order at a time of political unrest. However,
disarmament of Germany was impossible to enforce fully, because the Germans
were determined to exploit every loophole
6. ‘The War Guilt’ clause: ​The Germans objected to being saddled with the entire blame
for the outbreak of war. There are some grounds for objection here, it was hardly
possible to arrive at that conclusion in the space of six weeks during 1919. However,
the Allies, wanted the Germans to admit responsibility so that they would be liable to
pay reparations
7. Reparations:​The Germans clearly did have some grounds for complaint, but it is
worth pointing out that the treaty could have been even more harsh. Germany was
still the strongest power in Europe economically, so that the unwise thing about the
settlement was that it annoyed the Germans, but did not leave them too weak to
retaliate.
THE PEACE TREATIES WITH AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
When Austria was on the verge of defeat in the war, the Habsburg Empire
disintegrated as the various nationalities declared themselves independent.
Austria-Hungary separated and declared themselves republics.

1. The Treaty of St Germain (1919), dealing with Austria

By this treat Austria lost:
➔ Bohemia and Moravia to the new state of Czechoslovakia,
➔ Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina to Serbia, with Montenegro, now became known
as Yugoslavia,
➔ Bukovina to Romania
➔ Galicia to the reconstituted state of Poland,
➔ the South Tyrol, Trentino, Istria and Trieste to Italy

2. The Treaty of Trianon (1920), dealing with Hungary

This treaty was not signed until 1920 because of political uncertainties in Budapest; the
Communists, led by Bela Kun, seized power but were later overthrown.
➔ Slovakia and Ruthenia were given to Czechoslovakia
➔ Croatia and Slovenia to Yugoslavia
 ➔ Transylvania and the Banat of Temesvar to Romania
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.
The treaties left both Austria and Hungary with serious economic problems
Austria was a small republic, its population reduced from 22 million to 6.5 million; most of its
industrial wealth had been lost to Czechoslovakia and Poland. Austria was soon facing a
severe economic crisis and was constantly having to be helped out by loans from the
League of Nations. Hungary was just as badly affected, her population reduced from 21
million to 7.5 million, and some of her richest corn land lost to Romania. Matters were further
complicated when all the new states quickly introduced tariffs.

THE SETTLEMENT WITH TURKEY AND BULGARIA

1. The treaty of Severe (1920), dealing with Turkey
Turkey was to lose Eastern Thrace, many Aegean islands and Smyrna to Greece; Adalia
and Rhodes to Italy; the Straits (the exit from the Black Sea) were to be permanently open;
Syria became a French mandate, and Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan British mandate. The
Turks rejected the treaty and chased the Greeks out of Smyrna. The Italians and French
withdrew their occupying forces from the Straits area, leaving only British troops at Chanak.
Eventually a compromise was reached and the Treaty of Lausanne was made, by which
Turkey regained Eastern Thrace including Constantinople, and Smyrna. Turkey was
therefore the first state to successfully challenge the Paris settlement.

2. The Treaty of Neuilly (1919), dealing with Bulgaria

Bulgaria lost territory to Greece, depriving her of her Aegean coastline, and also to
Yugoslavia and Romania. She could claim, with some justification, that at least a million
Bulgars were under foreign governments as a result of the Treaty of Neuilly.

VERDICT ON THE PEACE SETTLEMENT

In conclusion, it has to be said that this collection of peace treaties was not a
conspicuous success. It had the unfortunate effect of dividing Europe into the states
which wanted to revise the settlement, and those which wanted to preserve it. On the
whole the latter turned out to be only lukewarm in their support. The USA failed to
ratify the settlement and never joined the League of Nations. Italy felt cheated
because she had not received all the territory promised her in 1915, and Russia was
ignored, because the powers did not want to negotiate with its Bolshevik
government. Germany, was only temporarily weakened and was soon strong enough
to challenge certain of the terms. But it is easy to criticize after the event; Gilbert
White, an American delegate at the conference, put it well when he remarked that,
given the intricacy of the problems involved, ‘it is not surprising that they made a bad
peace: what is surprising is that they managed to make peace at all’