1. What was the state of the rival navies at the outbreak of war in 1914?
The British saw their royal navy as their salvation, it's supremacy allowed for deficiencies in the army. Maintenance their naval dominance required a lot of effort and money. From the end of the Boer war to August 1914 Sir John Fisher (First Sea Lord) directed energy towards naval reform. His reforms were not at first directed towards Germany but were instead par of a periodic modernization programme - until 1904 the navy's size was calculated in relation to France and Russia. However, with the German naval bills of 1898 and 1900, Britain fought back believing that the Kaiser was building a navy to rival that of the UK, thus beginning the Anglo-German naval race. This was made more dramatic by the H.M.S Dreadnought (10th February 1906), rendering all other ships obsolete and causing both nations to have to start again from square one. The contest itself was based off of the writings of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan which shakily assumed that the sheer number of large ships was more important than their effectiveness or the quality of the men who sailed in them. However, the state of military technology meant that this would be a long war and long wars do not need large ships as neither nation would be willing to risk the destruction of an entire fleet for a lengthy war. Smaler ships are more suitable for a long war as the navy's role is to maintain a blockade, keep shipping lanes open, transport troops and protect merchant shipping.
Germany did not have much of a significant overseas empire to defend like Britain, nor were Dreadnoughts going to much to counter land based threats or protect their ally, Austria-Hungary. They instead built them for image. The Kaiser wanted to appear powerful and threatening.
Britain won the naval race. However she did have a massive head start and didn't have to finance an army at the same time. On the eve of war Britain's total fleet was the largest and included 22 dreadnoughts, 40 other battleships and 130 cruisers of other various types. Germany had 15, 22 and 45 respectively. Russia was forced to give it's navy more attention after it's defeat by Japan and had 10 battleships and 12 cruisers. France had 22 battleships and 28 cruisers. Austria and Italy both possessed fleets around the same size as Russia's, and, although their involvement was not yet definite, both the US and Japan had undergone a dramatic programme of ship building. The naval war would primarily be a contest between Britain and Germany. However they both had very different tactics. Britain's fleet was well organised and disciplined but the highest ranking officers earned the place by social status over knowledge and skill. Germany instead offered bright young men the opportunity to work their way up in the ranks by proving their abilities.
2. What strategies did each navy employ in the early months of the war?
Britain had two strategies. The first was created by 'westerners' who believed that the naval war would be won on the North Sea. They planned to confront Germany near the Heligoland Bight. It involved taking control of the Baltic, thus cutting German trade routes to Sweden and stopping it's supply of valuable raw materials. However this plan assumed that Britain's Navy was invincible and it also increased the likelihood of of attacks by mines, torpedoes or submarines. The second plan was to avoid battles unless victory was guaranteed, and until that day the navy would be used to blockade Germany at a great distance. This put Germany in a difficult position as the only way to break the blockade would be to confront a force much bigger than that of its own.
Tirpitz provided Germany with a passive policy in which he was confident that he could preserve the fleet, as the Germans had more important technological advances that counterbalanced the size of the royal navy. However he did not receive much support and a more cautious group, including the Kaiser, decided that a guerrilla campaign involving torpedo raids, mines, and submarine attacks would in fact win the war and this strategy was ultimately adopted.
3. What success did the Royal Navy have in 1914?
Both on land and at sea the war became characterized by a persistent stalemate. British commander Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne displayed the Royal Navies cautiousness and mediocrity. Following a disaster in the Mediterranean within the first few days of the war, another catastrophe followed on the 1st of November 1914. Vice-Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock met Admiral Graf Von Spee's East Asia Squadron off the coast of Chile. Their were only 5 survivors and Craddock was among those who were killed. This was a huge shock to the British as they had previously believed that there navy was invincible. A task force was then sent under Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee to intercept Spee. He arrived on Port Stanley on 7 December 1914, where he assembled a squadron consisting of two modern battle cruisers and six other cruisers. Sturdee confronted an unaware Spee with the knowledge that his ships were both faster and better armed. After a short chase Spee retreated his light cruisers while 2 modern battleships remained. Sturdee then dispatched his cruisers to chase Spee's escaping ships. the Germans lost around 2000 lives, including Spee, whilst there were only 21 British casualties.
By the end of the year the oceans were rid of German raiders and British command of the seas was now total.
4. What was the significance of the battle of Jutland 1916?
There was a possibility that Germany could achieve a major naval breakthrough by severely damaging the British fleet, so that the British would find it difficult to find sufficient ships to escort both troops and supplies to France and the Middle East.
On May 31st, Rear-Admiral von Sheer was able to temp the British fleet out of it's bases. In the subsequent battle of Jutland he managed to inflict sufficient damage on the British fleet, however he rapidly withdrew his own fleet back to the German North Sea Bases. Although he may have damaged the British Navy, strategically the situation had not changed. The German fleet was not confined but it was confined to Norther Germany. The British retained their naval superiority and the blockade was still in place.
5. What was the role of the British blockade during the First World War?
At the beginning of the war, Britain's 'Business as Usual' strategy meant that the Royal Navy would blockade Germany, while Russia and France would make the major contributions on land. While the rest of this strategy failed when the war began, the naval aspects did endure, starving the German people into submission. However this plan was rather hasty and was built on the assumption that Germany depended heavily on on over seas trade for food and raw materials. While the blockade did cause widespread hardship, it would never have resulted in outright victory for the British.
The blockade was also complicated by the Treaty of London of 1909, preventing belligerents from stoping commodities from entering a neutral country. In order for the blockade to be effective, Britain had to block supplies through Holland (a neutral country). But fortunately for the Britsh the treaty was never ratified, allowing them to interfere with trade carried in neutral ships or bound for neutral ports.
They could not simply ignore the treaty, since this would anger the neutral states who traded with Germany, including America. This issue proved a sore point in Anglo-American relations. In February 1916 the British began to ration good entering Germany, anything beyond stipulated levels was considered contraband and was confiscated. This did not satisfy the Americans but it appeared that Germany was angering the US much more than the British through their submarine attacks on merchant ships.
6. What was the impact of submarine warfare during the First World War?
At the beginning of the war, many questioned the morality of fighting under water. In 1902 Admiral sir Arthur Wilson described the submarine as 'underhand, unfair, and damned unEnglish'. In this sense Germany had an advantage as they began to think of submarines in terms of ocean-going operations not simply coastal ones. The British, in comparisons, were much slower to widen their perception of U-boat utility. Victory of submarine warfare would go to the country that managed to build the greatest number of new vessels in the shortest time. Germany won this race hands down.
Although many British admirals recognised the potential of the submarine they did not see it as an immediate threat, as without torpedoes the threat was minimal. Those who did doubt the submarine had a rude awakening on 22 September when a single U-boat sunk three cruisers and 1600 people died.
However submarines did play a role that was not quite anticipated. Since Britain was inferring with international trade, Germany decided to impose their own blockade upon Britain with the use of U-boats. But submarines would only work in a blockade if they sunk the ships that were supplying the goods. Therefore a conventional blockade, free of civilian casualties, could not be easily achieved. However on the 4th of February 1915, Germany issued a declaration stating that 'all waters surrounding Britain and Ireland, including the whole of the English Channel, are hereby declared a war zone'. The US protested and Germany softened her policy, but in May after the sinking of a British liner, killing 128 Americans, anger among the American grew. Germany believed that it was better to wait until the end of the war was in sight before angering the US.
Even a restricted approach to the submarine war caused enormous damage, with 750,000 tonnes of shipping being sunk in 1915. The Royal Navy sought a solution, while the Americans tottered on the brink of war.
on 22 December 1916, Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, Chief of Admiral Staff, told the Chancellor that 'the war demands a decision by autumn 1917'. A campaign was to be launched in February to finally push Britain to the breaking point. This move would bring the US into the war, but this did not worry German generals as they did not believe that Germany would be able to mobilise effectively within 6 months. They also believed that morale at home would be lifted if the people felt the war would be over within 6 months.
Germany imposed unrestricted warfare from 1st February 1917. The strategy almost worked, 169 British and 204 allied or neutral vessels were sunk. And the effects upon food supplies were considerable. However Britain began to protects it's own ships by surrounding them with a cordon of destroyers. On 10 May 17 ships left Gibraltar and arrived in Britain 12 days later. It was a success and losses steadily declined from then on. Britain was not starving and American contribution to the war steadily expanded.
Overall, submarines caused a huge scare, but could not be used to sink enough merchant ships at a sufficient speed to cripple the allied war effort. Wishful thinking and poor strategic calculation meant that the campaign had little hope of success and carried with it extreme dangers. There were also not enough submarines to make the desired effect, 222 ships were needed when only 107 were available.
TASK 2 - 1918: The Final Year of the War
1. How did the Germans benefit from the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia?
In Russia the Bolsheviks overthrew the Government in 1917. This led to a 2 year civil war and gave the Germans their best chance of victory since August 1914. Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, needed to make immediate peace with Germany if his regime were to survive. On the 22nd of December negotiation began at Brest-Litovsk. The Allies had ignored Lenin's call for general peace, he had no option but to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia was forced to give independence to Poland, the Baltic provinces, the Ukraine, Finland and the Caucasus.
2. What was the significance of the US entry into the war?
According to Haig's calculations, if the Allies could hold on until August 1918, they would win. The US entered the war in April 1917, but did not have a major impact in the fighting until 1918. America would have preferably stayed out of the war if German submarines had not forced them into it. In addition to this, Germany had promised Mexico land in the American south-west in exchange for entering the war on their side. The US would help defeat the the Germans but would not support the aims of the Entente, they were going to be an associated power not an ally. They also did not have hand grenades, tanks or suitable aircraft and there army was ranked 17th in the world regarding size. But this caused little concern as they believed that there presence alone would lead the allies to victory and thought that the threat of American mobilization alone would lead to a significant drop in German morale.
The American troops arrived with too much confidence and insisted upon being treated as being partners and seemed reluctant to learn from their allies' experience. Some generals also insisted that foreign commanders would not have control over their men. Relations with British and French were therefore shaky from the start.
3. What was the German plan for the spring of 1918?
The initiative now was in the hand of the Germans on the Western Front in January 1918. The majority of the troops on the western front had been moved to France, and by March there were 193 German divisions against 173 Allied. Despite the risk, the Allies were slow to withdraw troops from other areas to make up for these deficiencies.
Ludendorff planned to split the Allied armies and send the British back to the coast. The Germans attacked the point between the British and French Fronts where they had a local superiority of 69 divisions to 33. Special groups of trained troops attacked/ penetrated the enemy artillery with machine guns and flame throwers. By the end of March they had advance 40 miles.
The Allies set up a joint command under General Foch, which was able to co-ordinate military operations against the Germans, and for the first time US divisions were committed to battle. By mid- July the allies were in a position to counter-attack. On the 8th of August the Allies overwhelmed the German divisions.
4. Why did this plan fail?
On 21 March, the Germans began their attack, as 76 German divisions pressed forward supported by over 1000 aeroplanes. By the end of the day the British were forced to retreat along a significant portion of the line and as the days went on their advances grew. Meanwhile they were experiencing similar success in the French sector. Haig blamed Lloyd George who had supposedly left the BEF dangerously weak. However their uneven penetration of the Allied lines made it difficult to make a decisive breakthrough, and left successful units in vulnerable salients. Ludendorff had expected another battle of Tannenburg, he didn't anticipate the British capacity for orderly retreat. Although the number of British prisoners was high, it was not disastrous, the most worrying aspect of the offensive was that the Germans had failed to win the artillery dual.
Allied representatives met at Doullens on the 26th of March. Foch reversed Pétains hoarding of troops in Paris and instead distributed them at weak points in the line. He also decided to defend the Amiens railway junctions at all costs. American troops were also now allowed to serve under foriegn command.
Ludendorff launched small attacks on the French and the British and towards Amiens which made them some minor gains. However their huge efforts and and massive losses meant that they ended up with a longer front to defend, and a lengthier line of communication to maintain and the overall cost to the Germans was huge. The deeper their advance, the more difficult it was to keep the attackers supplied. When Operation Michael finished on 5 April, the Germans had suffered 240,000 deaths (equal to the losses of the French and British), and their morale plummeted as many came to realise that this offensive would not end the war, the opposite to which their national propaganda stated.
5. How did the allies successfully counter-attack in the summer of 1918?
By early March there were 193 German divisions against 173 allied on the Western front. However the allies were slow to remove troops from other fronts to make up for this deficiency. Ludendorff wanted to divide the Allied armies and to push the British back to the coast. (Question 3^).
The Allies responded by setting up a joint command under General Foch. Troops were then recalled from other theatres and US divisions were committed to battle for the first time. On 8 August a Franco-British force attacked the east of the Amiens using over 400 tanks and overwhelmed the forward German divisions. It was a very bleak day for the Germans.
6. Why did the Germans sign an armistice agreement on 11 November 1918?
On 28 September Ludendorff and Hindenburg advised the Kaiser to create a new parliamentary government which would establish peace with President Wilson (US) on the basis of 14 points. On 4 October the new German government asked Wilson for 'an immediate armistice'. Further requests then came from Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, all of which faced defeat from the Allies.
Germany's hopes of dividing the enemy were lost when Wilson asked the Allies to draft the agreements of the armistice:
- Germany was to evacuate all occupied territory in the West, to a neutral zone to the east of the Rhine while Allied troops would occupy the West
- They were also to evacuate from Eastern territory
- Their navy was also to be interned to somewhere neutral or to an English Port
When news of the armistice reached the German people they demanded peace. German Admiral Rashly sent out a final suicide mission against the British fleet. In protest the sailors at Wilhelmshaven mutinied, soviets formed and protests followed. On 9 September, riots became so strong, the Kaiser was forced to abdicate and the government agreed to the armistice on 11 November.
7. What happened to Germany's allies?
Austria-Hungary
In the summer of 1918, the Allies recognised the the rights of Astro-Hungarian subjects to independence. The exiled leaders of the Yugoslavs agreed to form a South Slav state with the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. On 1 November the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved and two days later the former Imperial High Command negotiated an armistice with the Italians.
Turkey
The Turkish armistice was signed at Mudros on 30 October. They surrendered their remaining garrisons outside Anatolia and gave the Allies the right to occupy forts controlling the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. They also had to withdraw their troops from the Caucasus.
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