 8 The war in 1914. German plan of attack. As soon as the German leaders had determined upon war their military machine was set in motion. The plan was first to attack France and crush her armies before the slow-moving Russians could get a force together, and then, after the defeat of France, to turn to the east and subdue Russia. The success of the plan was dependent upon the swift overthrow of France, and this in turn hinged upon the question as to whether German armies could invade France before the French were ready. Speed was the essential thing, and in order to gain speed, Germany committed one of the greatest crimes in modern history. From the nearest point on the German boundary to Paris is only one hundred and seventy miles, but no rapid invasion of France could be made in this direction for two reasons. First, because of the very strong forts which protected the French frontier, and second, on account of the nature of the land, which presents to the east a series of five easily defended ridges, each of which would have to be stormed by an invader. A German attack directly across the French frontier could move but slowly past these natural and military obstacles, and the French nation would have ample time to mobilize its forces. Consequently, the German military leaders determined to attack France from the northeast. Here a comparatively level plane stretched from Germany through Belgium and France up to Paris itself. Many good roads and railways traversed the land. Few natural barriers existed to aid the defenders, and France, trusting to the neutrality of Belgium, had no strong fortifications on her northeastern frontier. One obstacle of German invasion existed. It was what the German Chancellor once called a scrap of paper. Begin footnote. In an interview with the British Ambassador, as reported by the Ambassador, August 4, 1914. End footnote. A promise to respect the neutrality of Belgium, which Prussia, France, and England had agreed to by formal treaties. Similar treaties guaranteed the neutrality of Luxembourg, a small country east of Belgium. Upon these promises France had depended for the protection of her northeastern border, for the German Empire had accepted all the rights and all the duties of the treaties made by Prussia. But now, under the plea of necessity which knows no law, the German rulers determined to break their promises, violate the neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, and crush France, before an aroused and alarmed world could interfere. Belgium blocks the German plan. The invasion of Belgium had two results which the Germans had not foreseen. In the first place it brought Great Britain immediately into the war to the aid of Belgium and France. In the second place the Belgian king and people refused to be bought off with a promise of compensation. They made the high decision to defend their country as long as possible against the terrible German army machine. Said the Belgian king. A country which defends itself commands the respect of all, that country cannot perish. This action of Belgium disarranged the German army plans. Instead of reaching Paris according to schedule the Germans were delayed in Belgium for ten days. These ten days were full of horror and suffering and defeat for the brave Belgians but they are precious days in the light of history. They gave time for the French to mobilise their armies and bring them up to the northeast, and they enabled Great Britain to send across the English channel her first hundred thousand troops. In this way Paris was saved from capture and France from conquest and probably the whole world from German domination. The German plans for world conquest met their first defeat at the hands of brave little Belgium. The would be conquerors had forgotten to include in their timetable the elements of honour, patriotism and self-sacrifice. The German advance. Luxembourg was occupied without resistance, for that little country had no army. On August 4, 1914 the German armies attacked the Belgian fortress of Liège and within twenty-three days Belgium was overrun, its capital taken, and all the important places except Antwerp captured. After the delay in Belgium the main German armies advanced into France. Here they were met, August 21 to 23, by French and British troops but the defenders were not yet strong enough to stop the German advance. For twelve days they fell back toward Paris fighting continually until the invaders were within twenty miles of the city. The French government and archives were withdrawn from Paris to Bordeaux in the south west so imminent seemed the capture of the capital. The battle-line now extended for one hundred and seventy-five miles eastward from near Paris to the fortress of Verdun. The first battle of the Marne. In the meantime the French commander, General Joffre, had secretly been collecting another army with which to attack the invaders on the flank from the west. At the right moment he hurled this army upon the German flank while the men on the main battle-line were commanded to face about and accept death rather than surrender. On September 6 to 10 took place the first great battle of the Marne during which the Germans, under these new attacks, were compelled to retreat fifty miles from their most advanced position. The French armies had rescued Paris in the nick of time. The French government once more returned to its capital. France had saved herself and Europe. The Race to the Coast. On reaching the river Anne the German armies had time to entrench themselves and thus beat off the heavy attacks of the French and British, September 12 to 17. The Allied armies in turn began to entrench opposite the German positions, but both armies turned toward the north in a race to reach the North Sea and outflank the enemy. The Germans were particularly anxious to reach Calais and cut the direct line of communication between England and France. Antwerp surrendered to the Germans on October 9, Lille on the 13th. In tremendous massed attacks the Germans sought in vain to break through the British lines. Battle of Flanders, October 17 to November 15. The German losses were upwards of one hundred fifty thousand men. On the coast the Belgians cut the dikes of the river Iser and flooded the neighbouring lowlands, thus putting a stop to any further advance of the enemy. Trench Warfare. By this time the combatants had reached a temporary deadlock. Both had adopted trench tactics and for over three hundred miles, from the sea to the Swiss border, two systems of entrenchments paralleled one another. The trenches were protected in front by intricate networks of barbed wire. Looked at from above the trenches seemed to be dug with little system, but they rigidly adhered to one military maxim. That fortifications must not continue in a straight line, because such straight trenches are liable to be infillated from either end. Hence the trenches curve and twist, with here and there supporting trenches and supply trenches. Sometimes the trenches are covered, sometimes dugouts and caves are constructed. Every turn or corner is protected with machine guns. In some portions of the line these trenches faced one another for over four years, with scarcely any change in their relative locations. German Treatment of Occupied Territory. Eastward of the German trenches lay all of Belgium except a very small corner, and the richest manufacturing districts of France, including eighty percent of the iron and steel industries and fifty percent of the coal. On the other hand the allies had occupied only a small section of German territory at the southern end of the line, in Alsace. German occupation of Belgium and northeastern France was accompanied by horrible barbarities and systematic frightfulness which were in violation of the Hague conventions as well as of other laws and usages of civilized warfare. The aim at first was to terrorize the people and reduce them to a condition of fear and of servility to the conquerors. Men and women were executed without adequate evidence or trial. Many German soldiers were quartered in the homes. At the slightest sign of resistance innocent persons were punished for the guilty. Immense fines and forced contributions were imposed upon the communities. Furniture, works of art, beautiful buildings and historic structures were ruthlessly pillaged and destroyed. In the second place the Germans began a systematic plundering of the occupied country, taking for transportation to Germany anything they deemed useful or valuable. Nearly every article made of metal, wool, rubber or leather was seized. Machinery from Belgian and French factories was taken to German establishments. Households were compelled to surrender bathtubs, doorknobs and knockers, kitchen utensils, gas fixtures, bed clothes, etc. Food, farm animals and farm products were confiscated and the population was saved from actual starvation only by the energies of Belgium's friends in France, England and America. At a later time a third policy of the Germans was to drag Belgian and French young men and women away from their families and relatives and compel them to work far from their homes in factories, fields and mines. Probably more than 200,000 persons were forced into this industrial slavery. Finally where the Germans were forced to retire from the lands they had occupied in northern France and in Belgium, they sought to reduce much of the evacuated territory to a desert condition. Not only were bridges and roads destroyed, but houses, factories and churches were leveled to the ground and the foundation walls and cellars were obliterated. In some parts of France even the fruit trees and grapevines, the product of many years growth and care were systematically destroyed and everything which might make the land habitable disappeared. The war in the east. As has already been explained the German military leaders had counted upon a rapid crushing of France by way of Belgium before Russia should have time to complete her military preparations for attacking eastern Germany. But during the time lost through the unexpected resistance of Belgium huge Russian armies were gathered together in Russian Poland for an invasion of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The western border of Russian Poland is less than 200 miles from Berlin, but Russia could not advance along this route without running the risk of having the Germans from the north and the Austrians from the south cut off her armies from their sources of supply in Russia. In other words, Russia dared not advance on Berlin without first driving the Germans out of East Prussia and the Austrians from Galicia. Hence the plan of her campaign in 1914 was to invade these two provinces. Battle of Tannenberg. Two Russian armies entered East Prussia in the middle of August. At first they met with success. The nature of the country, however, was against them as there was a chain of almost impassable lakes, marshes, and rivers stretching across their route. In this difficult territory they were surprised by German reinforcements which had been rushed to the east. In the battle of Tannenberg, August 26 to 31, the German troops under the command of General von Hindenberg inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Russians, capturing seventy thousand men and large quantities of supplies. Hindenberg followed up his success and the Russians were completely expelled from East Prussia. The Russians overrun Galicia. The second part of the Russian plan, the invasion of Galicia, was more successful. In September the important city of Lemberg was taken and the fortress of Przemysl was besieged. By December almost the whole province was in Russian hands. South of Galicia, separating it from Hungary, are the Carpathian Mountains. Russian troops penetrated the passes of this mountain wall and conducted a series of successful raids upon the plains of northern Hungary. The Russian situation at the close of 1914. At the end of the year, Russia, while she had achieved success in Galicia, had failed in East Prussia. An advance toward Berlin was for the time out of the question. Indeed the Germans had themselves taken the offensive and had entered Russian Poland. In October an advance of German and Austrian troops threatened Warsaw, the most important city in Poland. The Russians in spite of strong efforts were unable to drive their enemies entirely out of this region. On the whole, therefore, the Russian situation at the end of 1914 was disappointing. Russia's accomplishment consisted of her victories in Galicia and, probably more important, the drawing of German troops from the Western Front and the consequent weakening of Germany's offensive in France and Belgium. Russia was no farther on the road to Berlin than at the opening of the war. Serbian Resistance to Austria. An Austrian attempt to overwhelm Serbia in the first weeks of the war met with disastrous failure. This was due to two causes. One, the brave resistance of the Serbian troops. Two, the fact that the greater part of the Austrian forces had to be used for defense against the Russian invaders of Galicia. Serbia, after severe fighting, compelled the Austrians to retreat beyond their own boundaries. Early in September the Serbians took the offensive and began an invasion of Austria-Hungary. This venture failed, and before long Serbia was once more resisting the enemy on her own soil. Belgrade fell into Austrian hands on December 2. It did not long remain in the possession of the conquerors. On the 14th it was regained by the Serbians, and the Austrian armies once more expelled. The little Balkan kingdom seemed to be holding her own. Turkey enters the war. In the years before the war Germany had carefully cultivated the friendship of the Turkish government. By means of intrigue she had practically made herself master of that country, particularly in military matters. The Turkish army had been trained by Germans, and many of its officers were Germans. Although at the opening of the war Turkey declared herself neutral, she soon showed herself an ally of the central powers. There is evidence to show that as early as August 4 she had entered into a secret treaty with Germany. In October Turkey startled the world by bombarding a Russian port on the Black Sea, and destroying French and Russian vessels at Odessa. These acts were regarded by Russia as acts of war. A few days later France and Great Britain declared war on Turkey. Germany welcomed the entrance of Turkey into the war for two reasons. In the first place she expected that the Mohammedans under English and French rule, that is, those living in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and India, would join the Turkish Sultan, the religious head of the Mohammedan world, and engage in a holy war against Great Britain and France. In this hope she was doomed to disappointment. In the second place Germany rejoiced at the arrival of a new enemy for Russia, who might keep the Russians occupied along their southern borders, and so weaken their efforts on other fronts. German Colonies in the Pacific During the first four months of the war all of Germany's possessions in the Pacific were lost to her. On the outbreak of the war Australia and New Zealand promptly organised expeditionary forces which attacked and captured the German colonies and coaling stations situated south of the equator. German Samoa, the first to be taken, surrendered to the New Zealand expeditionary force August 29. The other German possessions in the South Pacific surrendered to the Australians. England's ally, Japan, having entered the war August 23, 1914, sent an expeditionary force which captured and occupied the German islands in the North Pacific. Kyucho, Germany's only colony in China, was captured by a combined Japanese and British force early in November. The loss of these colonies, so early in the war, interfered seriously with German plans for a war on Allied commerce by fast cruisers. In the absence of German coaling stations, the only way such vessels could obtain coal during a long raiding voyage would be by the chance capture of coal laden vessels. German Colonies in Africa During the last quarter century, Germany had succeeded in getting control of considerable territory in Africa. There were a few German colonists there. However, Germany hoped that the Boers, who had recently fought a war with the British and had been defeated, would attempt to regain their independence. In this case, there was also the possibility of capturing Cape Colony and Rhodesia from the British. Much to the surprise and disgust of Germany, the Boers promptly showed their loyalty to Great Britain and aided in capturing the German colonies. The struggle for Germany's African colonies continued for more than three years. Togo, a comparatively small colony, was captured by French and British troops shortly after the outbreak of the war. Under the Boer leaders, generals Schmutz and Bota, German Southwest Africa was conquered by July of 1915. Cameroon in West Africa was freed from German forces in 1916. The final chapter in the fight for the German colonies was written in December of 1917, when an army from British South Africa, in cooperation with Belgian forces, completed the conquest of German East Africa. Germany's Fleet When war was declared, the German fleet, which had cost the people of Germany a billion and a half of dollars, was something less than two-thirds the strength of the British fleet. Germany's task was to destroy the British fleet, or to weaken it, to such an extent that it could no longer protect the British trade in food and munitions from overseas, nor assure the safe transport of troops from Great Britain or her colonies to the various fronts. The work of the British Navy The British Navy had two pieces of work to perform. In the first place its aim was to destroy, or bottle up, in port, the main German fleet, so that it should not be able to interfere with the British plans for the war. In the second place squadrons had to be sent out to search for and destroy German squadrons or vessels that were far from home ports at the outbreak of war, or that were sent out to raid British and neutral commerce. Coast Protection Both Great Britain and Germany protected their coasts by laying fields of mines in the sea, so placed that they would float just under the water and arranged to explode on contact with the hull of a ship. Through these minefields carefully hidden channels gave access to the different ports. So long as ships stayed in port, or inside the fields of mines, they were safe from attack. The Blockade of German Ports In July 1914 the British Navy had a grand review. When the review was over the war clouds were so threatening that the vessels were not dismissed to their stations. At the beginning of the war Great Britain announced a blockade of German ports, and assigned to her main fleet the task of carrying out the blockade. The Battle of Helgeland Bight Helgeland is a small island rising steeply out of the North Sea. It has an area of one-fifth of a square mile. It was seated to Germany by England about twenty years before the war. Germany had fortified it and made it a sort of German Gibraltar to protect her chief naval ports. The Bight of Helgeland is the passage about 18 miles wide between the island and the German coast. Here a portion of the British fleet engaged in patrol or scout duty came in contact with a part of the German fleet, August 28, 1914. The arrival of four fast British battleships decided the contest. Germany lost three cruisers and two destroyers while every British vessel returned to port, though some were badly battered. German Commerce Raiders A few days before the outbreak of the war the German fleet in China slipped out of port. The cruiser Emden was detached for work in the Indian Ocean and the rest of the squadron raided over the Pacific. November 1 a British squadron met the German ships near the coast of Chile. In a little over an hour two of the British ships had been sunk and the remainder fled to the south. Immediately on news of the defeat the British Admiralty sent a squadron of seven powerful ships to find and destroy the German squadron. The British vessels stopped at the Falkland Islands to coal. The next day the German ships appeared. When they saw the strength of the British squadron they vainly attempted to escape. In the battle that followed four German vessels were sunk. Of the two that escaped one was a few months later, interned in a United States port, and about the same time the other was destroyed. The Emden, after separating from the other warships, cruised in the Indian Ocean for three months and was the most destructive of the German raiders. She was finally located by an Australian cruiser. After a fight the German captain drove his vessel on the rocks to escape sinking. A lieutenant and forty men who had landed to destroy a wireless station seized a schooner and escaped, landed on the coast of Arabia, and finally made their way back to Germany. Naval situation at the close of 1914. As a result of the activities of the Allied fleets the German navy was shut up in port back of its minefields. German commerce raiders had, with a few exceptions, been driven from the sea or destroyed. German merchant vessels were laid up in neutral or German ports, and the Allies were free to carry on the transport of troops, munitions, and other supplies with practically no fear of interference from the enemy. The British ships, whether men of war or merchant men, are upon the sea, the German, in their ports. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. A School History of the Great War by McKinley, Colombe, and Gerson. Chapter 9 The War in 1915 The Western Front The deadlock, which existed on the Western Front at the close of 1914, continued with little change during the year 1915. There were indeed many contests which, on account of the men involved and the casualties, would in previous wars have been considered major engagements. But in spite of great preparations, neither side was able to make much impression upon the entrenched line of the enemy. From the sea to the Swiss border, two apparently impregnable lines of trenches faced each other. German ingenuity and barbarity were shown in two new forms of warfare introduced during this year. Poison gas was first used, contrary to the terms of the Hague conventions, against the Allied line on April 22nd, 1915. It brought on the most horrible forms of suffering and torture, and compelled a temporary withdrawal of the French and English from trenches near Ypres. Later, masks were used as a preventative of gas poisoning. Eventually the Allies were forced to adopt the use of poisonous gases in bombs and shells in order to fight the Germans with their own weapon. The other innovation was the flamethrower, an apparatus which threw a flame of burning liquid or gas far ahead of the troops. This has never been widely used by the Germans, because it proved almost as dangerous to themselves as it was to their opponents. A sharpshooter's bullet or a piece of shell might pierce the apparatus and the containers and produce dangerous results among the Germans. The Gallipoli Campaign In the east the year opened with an attempt on the part of the Allies to force the Dardanelles with their fleets and take possession of the city of Constantinople. The campaign gets its name from the peninsula of Gallipoli, the European shore of the Dardanelles. In February the campaign opened with a naval attack. The Turkish fortifications, however, were strong enough to defeat a purely naval attempt, and the Allied fleets met with heavy losses. It has been stated since that had the Allies continued the attack one more day, the Turks would have had to yield, as their ammunition was nearly exhausted. In April troops were landed on the peninsula to aid in the attack. The landing was accomplished at a terrible cost of life. Siege operations were then begun against the Turkish and German forces defending the peninsula. Month after month the fighting continued but nothing worthwhile was accomplished. Finally in January of the next year the campaign was abandoned. It had cost the Allies heavily in money and lives, and its failure had lost to them the respect of the hesitating nations of southeastern Europe, Bulgaria and Greece. The War on the Russian Border Along the Russian frontier also the Allied cause met with serious reverses. The year had opened favorably with the Russians in control of most of Galicia. In March the great Galician fortress of Pshimshol, which had successfully withstood the attacks of the Russians the previous autumn, was compelled to surrender. Meanwhile in January Russia once more attempted to carry out the other part of her general plan, the invasion of East Prussia. The Russian troops succeeded as before in entering the coveted territory, this time crossing the troublesome lake region while the waters were frozen. Soon however the invaders met with a decisive defeat. In the battle of the Missouriian lakes General von Hindenburg took one hundred thousand Russian prisoners. The number of killed and wounded Russian soldiers is said to have been one hundred fifty thousand. The Russians hurriedly retreated from German soil. The time had now come for the Germans and Austrians definitely to assume the offensive. A strategic blow in Galicia imperiled the whole Russian front and compelled a general retreat of the Russian armies in Galicia and Poland. In June both Pshimshol and Lemberg were recaptured by the central powers. By September all of Russian Poland had been conquered. Russia had lost sixty-five thousand square miles of thickly populated territory, but the land was so thoroughly plundered by the German conquerors that many of the people died of starvation. Bulgaria enters the war. The sympathies of the Bulgarian government had been with the central powers from the beginning of the war. Bulgaria had not forgiven the neighbouring Balkan states for their treatment of her in the Second Balkan War, 1913. Against Serbia her feeling was particularly bitter. The Allied disaster at Gallipoli and the military successes of Germany and Austria in Poland and Galicia in the spring and summer of 1915 led the Bulgarians to believe that now was the time for them to strike. In October Bulgaria declared war upon Serbia, thus definitely taking her stand as an ally of the central powers. Bulgaria's entrance into the war was followed by simultaneous invasions of Serbia from Austria and from Bulgaria. Under these blows the Serbians were crushed. Together with her neighbour and ally, brave little Montenegro, Serbia was overrun by her enemies. The cruelties inflicted upon the Serbian population by the invading Bulgarians are said to have been fully as horrible as those which had taken place during the conquest of Belgium in 1914 and of Poland in 1915. There was serious danger that the government of Greece would follow the lead of Bulgaria and also enter the war on the side of the central powers. This was prevented by two things. In the first place a majority of the Greek people favoured the cause of the allies and were opposed to Bulgaria. In the second place the allies promptly landed an army at Salonika. Later on they removed Constantine, the pro- German king of Greece, and placed his son Alexander upon the throne. The East at the close of 1915. On the eastern front 1915 had been a year of failure. The Gallipoli campaign had been a humiliation for the allies. The Russians had been driven from Russian Poland and from the Austrian province of Galicia. Bulgaria had joined the central powers, linking Austria-Hungary with Turkey. Serbia, the country whose quarrel had been the occasion of the whole world struggle, had been conquered by the enemies of the allies. Italy enters the war. In May 1915 Italy declared war upon Austria and more than a year later upon Germany. Her reasons for this action were 1. Her old enmity toward Austria. 2. Her desire to annex the neighbouring territory inhabited by Italians but ruled by Austria and 3. Her feeling that Austria was opposed to Italian interests in the Balkans. Italy entered the war with vigor, although at a great disadvantage. When the northern Italian lands were freed from Austrian rule in 1866 Austria kept the highlands and mountain passes, from which she could easily descend upon the Italian lowlands. Now that war was begun the Italians were compelled to force their way up the heights and against the fire from well-protected Austrian forts. Here upon the dizzy peaks of the Alps or the icy surfaces of glaciers or the rocky mountain sides warfare has been more spectacular and has called for more daring and recklessness than anywhere else. Slides of rock and avalanches of ice sometimes have been the ammunition of armies. During the year the Italians made some progress and by December occupied positions well within the Austrian frontier but no decisive battle had been fought or important city or fortress occupied. Allied Control of the Sea. Throughout 1915, as in the preceding and the following years, the Allies maintained their control of the ocean. As a result of a proclamation declaring the North Sea a military area and the more strict enforcement of the proclamation against sending contraband articles to Germany, the blockade against the Central Powers was more tightly drawn. This seriously affected the commerce of the United States, not only with Germany but with neutral countries such as Holland or Sweden that could easily transship to Germany the supplies received. Neutral vessels were stopped and taken into Allied ports, there to be detained sometimes for long periods until a decision was reached as to the legality of their traffic. Moreover, the expense of this detention was laid upon the owners of the vessel and cargo. These acts brought forth a series of protests by our government against the policy of the Allies. The correspondence continued with varying results until the United States entered the war. Forced decrease of neutral trade with Germany. Neutral countries adjoining Germany had been making huge profits by selling their food and other products to Germany, replacing their stores with material imported from overseas. As part of the preparation for a long war the Allies blocked the renewal of neutral stocks of goods. The neutral countries complained vigorously but they soon cut down their trade with Germany since they were no longer able to replenish their stock of food, rubber, metals, and other supplies. Submarine warfare. In 1914, when the war broke out, Germany is said to have had but four seaworthy submarines. It is difficult to believe that she had so few, but it is certain that she did not have so many as either England, France, or Russia. German naval authorities were not convinced of the value of the submarine in war. However, about a month after the war began a German submarine torpedoed a British cruiser and, within a few minutes, two others that had gone to assist the first. Germany, now realizing the value of the new weapon, began the construction of a numerous fleet of underwater boats, or U-boats. But against warships, properly defended by guns and other means, they proved of little avail after all. Toward the end of the year, Admiral von Tirpitz, head of the German navy, hinted at an extension of the use of submarines to attack merchant ships. Soon numbers of the submarines made their way to the waters surrounding the British Isles, where they torpedoed merchant vessels taking food and supplies to Great Britain and France. The vessels sunk or chiefly British, though some were neutral. Protection against submarines. Large warships were protected from submarines by keeping them in a mine-protected area until there was need for them at sea. At sea they were protected largely by the patrol and scouting operations carried on by lighter and faster vessels. To reduce the danger to merchant vessels from submarines harbours and sea lanes were protected by mines and by great nets made of heavy wire cables. The seas in the immediate vicinity of Great Britain were patrolled by thousands of small swift vessels, constantly in search of U-boats. Attempted Blockade of Great Britain. In February, 1915, Germany declared a blockade of the British Isles. Under an actual blockade she would have the right to prevent neutral vessels from trading with Great Britain. But in as much as it was not possible to take seized neutral ships to German ports the submarines would sink them, often without providing for the safety of the passengers and crews. The ultimate object of this course of action was so to reduce the world's shipping as to make it impossible for Great Britain to be supplied with the food or other materials that would enable her to carry on the war. This method of warfare, however, was contrary to the well-established rules of international law. Against it the United States and other neutrals made vigorous protests. The Lusitania. The most notable loss by submarine attack was that of the Lusitania, sunk without warning off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915. Nearly twelve hundred lives were lost, including many women and children. One hundred and fourteen of those lost were Americans. An advertisement had been inserted in the papers, warning passengers not to travel on allied ships, but no one believed that Germany would go so far in violation of international law as to torpedo, without warning, a passenger vessel carrying civilians of neutral as well as of warring nations. The people of the whole civilized world were horrified by the deed. Germany's attitude is shown by the fact that medals were struck, commemorating the act, and the commander of the submarine was rewarded. President Wilson wrote a series of notes to the German government insisting that Germany conduct her warfare in accordance with international law. This resulted in a promise by the German minister to the United States that liners would not be sunk by German submarines without warning and without safety to the lives of noncombatants, provided that the liners did not try to escape or offer resistance. Raids on Coast Towns Several times in 1914 German vessels managed to escape through the cordon of allied ships. They proceeded to the east coast of England and bombarded defenseless fishing ports and watering places such as Yarmouth, Whitby, and Scarborough. These raids had no military effect, but they resulted in the killing or wounded of hundreds of women, children, and old men. They were undertaken for the purpose of terrorizing the civilian population of England in order to arouse a desire for peace. In January 1915 a German squadron attempting a similar raid was intercepted and defeated by British warships. Zeppelins At the outset Germany had great faith in the usefulness of her immense dirigible balloons, or Zeppelins, as they are commonly called. In the attack on Belgium they were used for observation, incidentally dropping a few bombs on Antwerp. Early in 1915 Zeppelins made their appearance over England, bombing many of the smaller towns and villages, as well as London. Such raids might have some effect on the war if they were directed toward munition plants, railway stations, or naval depots. The Germans, however, generally contented themselves with attacks on defenceless residential towns and cities. Up to October 1917 there were 34 such raids, resulting in the death of nearly 1,000 persons and the wounding of three times as many. The result on the military situation was practically zero, except to increase the British determination to see the war through. Later the protection afforded Great Britain by anti-aircraft guns, and especially by airplanes, made it highly dangerous for Zeppelins to continue their raids. Many of them were destroyed. The later raids were made by squadrons of airplanes which had greater chances of escape. German air raiders found it increasingly difficult to get past the defences, and in 1918 the raids on England became infrequent. Allied Retaliation For a long time the Allies refused to retaliate by bombing unfortified towns in Germany, but finally they decided to do so. The immediate results were a protest from Germany that the Allies were violating international law and a petition to the German authorities from the towns in western Germany, asking that air raids on places not in the military area should be stopped, so that the German cities should not be bombed in retaliation. Nearly all such Allied air raids, however, were directed against railroads, munition factories, and other objects of military importance. The Allies Organized for a Long War When Lord Kitchener, the Great British General, predicted that the war would last at least three years, hardly anyone believed him. It was thought that the cost of a modern war would be so great that nations would not be able to stand the strain for more than a few months. When the Allies realized that Kitchener was right they prepared for a long struggle. The munition factories in all the countries were reorganized, and the output of war material was increased manyfold, more being produced in a few days than had formerly been produced in a year. Great Britain and France appointed ministers of munitions whose sole work was to see that the armies were supplied with guns, ammunition, and other fighting needs. The people in the British Overseas Dominions remained loyal and sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the battlefronts in order to protect the mother country from threatened defeat. To secure still greater cooperation throughout the British Empire, the prime ministers of the self-governing colonies were invited to places in the British Imperial War Conferences. Chapter 10 of a School History of the Great War. This is the LibriVox Recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ben Wilford. A School History of the Great War by McKinley, Combs, and Gerson. Chapter 10, The War in 1916. They Shall Not Pass. Early in 1916, the Germans began a fierce attack on the strong French position at Verdun. This point was a highly important one for the French because if it was captured by the enemy, he could make flank attacks upon their adjoining lines and perhaps compel a general retreat. The Germans had long been massing materials and men for the greatest military offensive which the world had ever seen. Twenty thousand men were placed on each mile of the front for a distance of twenty five miles while hundreds of thousands more were held in reserve. Thousands of guns of all sizes were brought up for the attack. Under the command of the German crown prince, the German people in the whole world were to be shown that the German army was still invincible. Beginning on February 21st, the Titanic struggle around Verdun continued until July when the attacks and the counter attacks were gradually suspended. In the early attacks, the French were driven in from advanced positions and then the Germans charged the heavily protected woodlands and hills. In mass formations, they advanced in the face of artillery, machine gun, and rifle fire of the heaviest character. The first waves were moaned down like grain but other troops and still others climbed over the bodies of their dead comrades. Never since the world began had such slaughter been seen. During the intervals between the infantry attacks, the French troops were subjected to an unprecedented artillery fire. Suffering under a strain such as armies had never hitherto known, the French patriots yet held true to their watchword. They shall not pass. General Patan in a stirring address said to his entrenched heroes, courage will get them. Courage on Lysera. And this phrase became the Verdun battle cry. Try as the Germans would from every possible point they could not break through the living wall of Frenchmen. A little ground was one here and there but before the end of the year nearly all had been retaken by the French. At a frightful cost, the German crown prince and his military advisors had put their fighting machine to the test and it had failed. A half-billion men, killed, wounded, or prisoners were lost to the Germans before they ceased their attacks at this point. The Battle of the Somme. In July, 1960, while the Verdun struggle was still undetermined, the French and British troops began an advance on the German line along the river Somme. Excedently, heavy artillery attacks first battered down the enemy defenses and then the infantry went over the top. During the long course of the Battle of the Somme, July the 1st to November 17, the allies advanced on a front of 20 miles to a maximum death of about nine miles. Slowly, and at great expense of ammunition in men on both sides, the allies' progress had been won. They had failed to break through the German line but they had shown how it might gradually be pushed back and they had relieved the important position of Verdun from further severe attacks because German forces were needed to the westward. In the course of this battle, on September 15, the British first used their most original military machines, the tanks. Thereafter, these armored cruisers of the land were to play an increasingly important part along the western front. Increased use of aircraft. Aircraft, too, were every day becoming more valuable. In the first year of the war, airplanes were used mainly for observation purposes. To find the location of ending forts, trenches, troops, and batteries and to direct the fire of aviators on batteries. Hundreds of photographs were taken by the airmen, rapidly developed, and within 30 minutes, the staff officers could be seen studying them with microscope to determine what changes had taken place within enemy lines. Anchored balloons, too, were used for similar purposes. Airplane construction and use developed more rapidly than any other feature in the war. After the observation machines came the battle planes, whose first purpose was to clear the way and protect the observation planes. Later, heavy machines for bombing expeditions were constructed and squadrons of airplanes now took part in every battle. Proceeding the attacking party and firing with machine guns and bombs upon the enemy trenches or his mass troops back of the land. The Russians invaded Turkey in Asia. In the early months of 1916, Russian troops met with success in an offensive in the part of Turkey south of the Caucasus. This territory, known as Armenia, is inhabited by a Christian population who for many years had been the victims of Turkish persecutions. Half a million were cruelly exterminated after Turkey allied herself with Germany in 1914. The Russians advanced steadily, inflicting serious defeats upon the Turkish forces. In February, they took possession of Ezrum, a strongly fortified city of Armenia. The capture of this point was of importance because it was a step in the plan for cooperation with the British armies which were pushing their way north from the region of the Persian Gulf. It had the further important result of interrupting Turkish plans for an invasion of Egypt by way of Islamists of Suez, as Turkey was compelled to concentrate their powers for the defense of her own territory. In April, Trebizide, the most important city on the Turkish shore of the Black Sea surrendered to the invading Russian army. The Russians, supported by fleets along the coast, had made the defense of the city impossible. The fall of Trebizide was a very serious blow to the power of Turkey in Asia Minor, the campaign in Mesopotamia. Part of the Allied plan in the east was for the junction of Russian armies operating from the region of the Caucasus with British troops from the land around the Persian Gulf. While the Russians, as we have seen, were making a noteworthy success of their part of this program, the British had not been so fortunate. Their plan was to take possession of Mesopotamia, the valley of the Tigris Euphrates, and occupy its capital, the famous city of Baghdad. General Townsend, with an insufficient force, had begun his march up the Tigris River the year before, and in March, 1915, had occupied the stronghold of Kut El-Arnara, about a hundred miles below Baghdad. Here, later, he was besieged by the Turkish army. A Russian army on the way from Ezerim, and an English relief force from the south, failed to reach the place in time, and April 29th, 1916, General Townsend was forced by starvation to surrender. Russians successes in Austria. During the summer months, the Russians, under the command of one of their greatest leaders, General Brusilov, were near their offensive against the borderlands of Austria-Hungary. It looked for a while as if the disasters of 1915 in this region were about to be redeemed. On a wide front extending from Pipet, Marshes, and eastern Poland, all the way to Bukovina, the Austrian province southeast of Galicia. The Russian armies advanced. They invaded Galicia, and took hundreds of thousands of Austrian prisoners. Austria was compelled to transfer troops from their Italian front. The year 1916 closed Russians in a decidedly more favorable military position than they had occupied a year before. Romania in the war. Romania had long looked forward to an extension of her boundaries to include all the Romanians of southeastern Europe. Across the border and southeastern Hungary were more than two million Romanians living in the large region known as Transylvania. The annexation of Transylvania was one of the greatest ambitions of Romanian leaders. In August 1916, encouraged by the promises of Russia, her powerful neighbor and protector, Romania entered the war on the side of the Allies. On her western front Romania could easily defend herself from invasion because of strong mountain barriers. Her point of danger was a Bulgarian border between the Danube and the Black Sea. Here she should have concentrated her strength for defense against the Bulgarian forces, or even for an offensive into Bulgaria. Instead, she sent most of her armies west into Transylvania, presently a strong force of Germans and Bulgarians crossed the border into southeastern Romania and marched north in a resistless offensive. Meanwhile, the Romanians in Transylvania, far from their base of supply, had advanced too fast for safety. Moreover, they suffered from a shortage of ammunition, probably caused by the failure of certain pro-German Russian officials to cooperate with a Romanian as they had promised. A large German army attacked the Romanian forces and drove them back with heavy losses to their own borders. The boundaries were then crossed by the invaders and the greater part of the country occupied. This disaster brought enormous advantages to the enemy. The battlefront of the Central Powers were shortened by 500 miles. The oil and wheat fields which constitute the chief wealth of Romania fell into their hands and their communications with Turkey were maturely strengthened. The Italian front. The winter of 1915 through 1960 was uncommonly severe in the out. Snow 30 feet deep lay on some of the passes and military operations were brought almost to a standstill. During the spring, the Austrians made preparations for a great offensive against Italy, collecting over a third of a million of men in enormous stores of provisions and munitions. During May and June 1960, this Austrian force drove back the Italians from their advanced position in the Trentino Valley. It seemed that the enemy would enter the valley of the pole and capture the cities of the most prosperous part of Italy. But the farther the Austrian army advanced, the more difficult it was to bring supplies up the narrow Alpine Valley. Meantime, on the eastern frontier, the Russians began their great drive into Austrian territory. There was nothing for the Austrians to do but retire from the Trentino front. This they did with the loss of one-third of their fourth and of great quantities of war material. The Italians now took the offensive not only on the Trentino, but also on their eastern frontier where the year before they had begun an advance towards the unredeemed territory around Triste. The Anzazzo river was crossed and after months of warfare, the city fortresses of Curvesia were occupied on August 9th, 1916. From this point, the Italians continued slowly, overcoming great difficulties on their way towards Triste. The Battle of Hootland, May 31st, 1916. A minor division of the British fleet under Admiral Beatty was scouting in the neighborhood of Hootland, the peninsula of Denmark. The main German fleet came out to attack it. The small British squadron, instead of withdrawing, gave battle to the whole German high seas fleet. After the fighting had gone on for several hours in fog and mist, the British Grand Fleet approached, but night came on before a decision was reached. During the night, the German fleet retired back of the defenses of mines and shore batteries. In the battle, the British fleet had lost three battle cruisers and fifteen or sixteen other vessels. The German losses were not completely published, but were certainly heavier. The Germans claimed a victory and a general holiday was ordered that all might celebrate. Nevertheless, the British vessels were on the scene the next morning picking up survivors, while the German fleet has not, up to the present writing, come out of harbor in order that it might try to repeat its so-called victory. Submarine Warfare. During the year 1916, Germans continued with increasing success their policy of sinking merchant vessels, neutral and enemy, out of a total of nearly four million tons of shipping destroyed from the beginning of the war to January 1st, 1917, more than half were lost during 1916. Occasional loss of life also caused much doubt on the part of our government as to whether Germany was keeping her pledge to safeguard the lives of non-cop battens on torpedo liners. When a passenger steamer, the Sussex, plying between England and France, was torpedoed without warning March 24th, 1916, 80 of the passengers killed or injured, two of the latter being Americans. Germany at first said that one of her submarines had torpedoed a vessel in that vicinity, but not the Sussex. The finding of fragments of a German torpedo on the Sussex after it was brought into port conclusively proved that the Germans were responsible and that Germany had broken her promise. President Wilson addressed a note to the German government stating that he would sever diplomatic relations with it unless Germany should both declare an effect and abandonment of her unlawful methods of submarine warfare. Thereupon the German government gave a written pledge that merchant ships shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance. This pledge was given on the conditions that the United States should demand that Great Britain observe certain feuded rules of international law, but our government refused to agree that Germany's respect for our neutral rights should be made to depend on the conduct of other nations. President Wilson thus made clear his intention to sever diplomatic relations if Germany's pledge should be withdrawn or violated. Conscription in Great Britain, the British government had kept up its army by volunteering. The need of an army of five million could not depend on this plan. A conscription bill therefore was passed making all males between certain ages liable for military service. Ireland was accepted from the provisions of this act. Shenfan rebellion. Some of the more radicals among the Irish home rule party had formed an organization known as the Shenfan, an Irish phrase which means for ourselves. Their aim was to make Ireland an independent nation. The leaders of this group got into correspondence with persons in Germany and were promised military assistance if they would rebel against England. The rebellion broke out on April 24th, 1916 without the promised help from Germany. For several days the rebels held some of their principal buildings in Dublin. After much bloodshed the rebellion was put down and Sir Roger Casement, one of those who had been in communication with Germany, was executed for treason. End of Chapter 10 Recording by Ben Wilford of Milan, Tennessee. Chapter 11 Of A School History of the Great War This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Veronica Jenkins A School History of the Great War by McKinley, Collam and Gerson Chapter 11 The War in 1917 The Western Front During the winter of 1916 to 1917 there was little infantry warfare in France although the heavy guns kept up their cannonades. In the spring of 1917 the Allies planned a great drive on the enemy positions in the valley of the Somme. But in March the Germans began a general retirement to a more easily defended line, the so-called Hindenburg Line, on a front of 100 miles from Eras to Soissant. Completely destroying the villages, churches, castles, vineyards and orchards they left a desolate waste behind them. In this retreat the Germans gave up French territory to the extent of 1300 square miles. The German retirement was closely followed by British and French troops. Great courage was shown by Canadian troops in the taking of Vimy Ridge on April 9. In the following month many attacks were made by the British and French which resulted in the taking of nearly 50,000 prisoners and large quantities of munitions and the breaking through the Hindenburg Line in one place. During the summer and fall the Allied attacks continued to win small territorial gains. The artillery fire was very heavy during all this time. During a period of three weeks the French city of Reims alone, with its magnificent cathedral almost in ruins, was bombarded with 65,000 large caliber German shells. Two very important ridges from which artillery could reach German positions were taken during the heavy fighting in November. The French forced a retreat of the Germans over a 13-mile front and occupied the ridge known as Schmandedam while the Canadians secured Pascandela Ridge. Late in the year the British introduced a new method of warfare. Instead of beginning their attack with a great bombardment lasting many hours and thus indicating to the enemy the approximate time and place of attack they sent over the front a large number of tanks which broke through the barbed wire entanglements and opened the way for the infantry. By this means the British successfully surprised the enemy in the battle of Ken Bray November 20th to December 13th. Unfortunately they could not hold most of the land occupied which was lost later in the battle but they did show the possibility of breaking the old deadlock of trench fighting. The new method was to be used by both sides during the campaigns of the following year. The War in the Air During this year warfare in the air continued to advance. Guine Maire the great French ace who was lost on September 11 had to his credit the destruction of 54 enemy machines. The increase in the number of airplanes led to the grouping of large numbers into regular formations, eschidrills, sometimes composed of over 100 planes. Each year showed a steady increase in the effectiveness of this kind of warfare. In 1916 a total of 611 enemy machines had been destroyed or damaged by the allied forces. In 1917 the French destroyed 43 in 24 hours and the British brought down 31 enemy planes in one combat. In a single week in 1918 the allies destroyed 339 German planes. On one day October 9, 1918 350 airplanes were sent forth by the American army in a single bombing expedition. The Russian Revolution In 1917 the allied cause received a heavy blow through the collapse of the Russian government. Long before the war there had been parties in Russia which desired to do away with the autocratic government of the Tsar and substitute some sort of representative system which would give to the people a voice in the management of their affairs. These reforming parties did not agree among themselves as to the kind of government they wished to set up. Their ideas extended from limited monarchy of the English type all the way to anarchy which means no government at all. In 1905 the Tsar met the wishes of the reformers to the extent of establishing the Duma a sort of representative assembly or parliament which should help in making the laws. The Duma however was never given any real authority and as time passed those who believed in Russian democracy became more and more dissatisfied. During the war the Germans by means of bribery and plotting did all they could to weaken the authority of the Russian government. There existed moreover much corruption and disloyalty among high Russian officials as the war dragged on a shortage of food added to the general discontent. By the early months of 1917 conditions were very bad indeed and dissatisfied crowds gathered in the streets of Petrograd. Hunger and hardship had made them desperate and they refused to disperse until the government should do something to relieve the situation. Regiments of soldiers were summoned to fire upon the crowd. They refused to do so and finally joined the mob. Thus began the Russian revolution. At a meeting of the revolutionists a group of soldiers and working men was selected to call upon the Duma and ask that body to form a temporary government. Another committee was sent to inform Nicholas the second that he was deposed. Messages were sent to the armies to notify the generals that there was no longer a Russian empire and that they were to take their orders thereafter from the representatives of the Russian people. Within a few days the revolution was complete. On March 15th the Tsar signed a paper giving up the throne of Russia. Moderate reformers were placed in charge of the different departments of the government. The new government was recognized by the United States, Great Britain, France and Italy. It looked as if the revolution had established a free government for Russia and that thenceforth as a democratic nation she would fight better than ever by the side of her allies. In all the Russian provinces elections were called for choosing delegates to an assembly that would make a new constitution for Russia. Russia under Kerensky Meanwhile the extreme socialists began at once to make trouble for the new government. These men for the most part owned no property and wanted all wealth equally divided among the entire population. They considered the new government as tyrannical as that of the Tsar had been. They also favored an immediate peace. Chief among the moderate leaders during this period was Alexander Kerensky. He saw the necessity of keeping the revolution within bounds. For a while he was strong enough to maintain a moderate government in spite of the opposition of the extreme socialists. The Germans meanwhile through spies and secret agents had been spreading among the Russian soldiers the idea that Germany was really their friend and that it was to their interest to stop fighting and retreat. Kerensky personally visited the battlefront in Galicia and for a time by means of his rousing speeches to the soldiers kept up their fighting spirit. New advances were made the Germans and Austrians being driven back many miles. Lemberg itself seemed about to fall once more into the hands of the Russians. But this success was only temporary. Owing to the shortage of ammunition and the rapid spread of peace sentiments among the troops the Russian army became disorganized and retreated from Galicia. The Bolsheviki The Bolsheviki is the name given to the extreme socialist party in Russia. From the beginning they had opposed the control of affairs by the moderate revolutionists under Kerensky. At last in the fall of 1917 helped by the depression caused by the German advance and by the strikes and food riots which once more broke out in the capital they succeeded in winning over to their side the Petrograd garrison and the navy and drove Kerensky from the city November 7th. Their revolt was led by two of the most extreme members of the party Lenin and Trotsky who had at their disposal large sums of money furnished by Germany. No sooner with the Bolsheviki in control than they announced themselves in favor of an immediate peace they proclaimed that all the land should at once be divided among the peasants. When the new representative assembly meant to make a constitution it was found to be too moderate to suit the Bolshevik leaders who dispersed it before it could accomplish anything. The rule of Lenin and Trotsky promised to be even more tyrannical than anything that had preceded it in Russia. European battle fronts end of 1917. Meanwhile the Bolshevik had arranged for an armistice with Germany with a view toward immediate negotiations for peace. This arrangement for the cessation of military operations became effective December 7th. In spite of its provisions however the Germans who had taken Riga in September continued their advance into Russian territory. By the close of 1917 peace negotiations were in progress between Russia and her enemies. Russia under Bolshevik control had definitely deserted her allies. The British in Mesopotamia It will be remembered that the Allied war plans in 1916 had included the junction of Russian armies operating from the Caucasus with British troops advancing north from the Persian Gulf. After the disaster at Kut al-Amara the British still held the territory about the mouth of the Tigris. In January 1917 they began a new advance up the river in the direction of Baghdad. This time their efforts proved successful. In February Kut al-Amara was retaken from the Turks and on March 11th the British entered the city of Baghdad. They also continued their advance a considerable distance along the Baghdad railway and occupied much of the Euphrates valley. Still more important victories would probably have resulted from this campaign had it not been for the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. This had the effect of weakening Russian military cooperation and finally of removing Russia entirely from the war leaving to Great Britain alone the task of dealing with the Turkish armies in Asia. But the British kept their hold on the city of Baghdad thus checkmating the German scheme of a Berlin Baghdad railway and protecting India from any offensive on this side. The Palestine Campaign The year 1917 witnessed still another military success for the British in Asia. The Turks had made several attempts to seize the Suez Canal and so inflict a serious blow against the communications of the Allies with the Far East. To remove if possible the danger of further threats against this vital spot the English at last decided upon an offensive in that region. Early in 1917 the British advance began. During January and February important positions on the Sinai Peninsula were seized. This success was followed by a slow progress north into Palestine. The resistance of the Turks was powerful and the British met with serious reverses. The terrible heat of the summer months further held up their operations. In the fall however the advance was resumed and a number of towns in the Holy Land fell into the hands of the British. In November Jaffa the sea port of Jerusalem was taken. All the Turkish positions around the Holy City were carried by storm and on December 10th Jerusalem surrendered to General Allenby. This successful campaign in Palestine had several important results. The capture of Jerusalem after almost seven centuries of Turkish control led to general rejoicing among the allied nations. Large numbers of Jews throughout the world who had long looked forward to the reestablishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine now felt that a long step had been taken toward the realization of their hopes. From a military point of view however the chief result of the British campaign in Palestine was that it definitely freed the Suez Canal from further danger of a Turkish attack. The offensive against Italy At the beginning of 1917 the Italian forces were within 11 miles of their great objective the city and port of Trieste. During the late spring and summer the advance continued. Austrian trenches were occupied and tens of thousands of Austrian soldiers were captured. After two years of effort it seemed that the Italians would obtain the city and incorporate its population very largely Italian into the Kingdom of Italy. But conditions in Austria and Germany had greatly changed. The cessation of war by Russia relieved the central powers of the necessity of keeping large armies on the Eastern Front. Further the campaign had been going against Germany on the Western Front and an easy victory in Italy might quiet criticism at home. An immense army of Austrians and Germans was gathered together to attack the Italian forces. The Italians were spread out in a semi-circle about 150 miles long stretching from near Trent to within a few miles of Trieste. The Austrians controlled the upper passes in the mountains so that they could attack this long line where they would. Thus the Italian military position was difficult to defend. The campaign began with a surprise attack by picked German troops at a point where the morale of one Italian division had previously been weakened by the pretended fraternizing of Austrian troops. The Austro-German drive October to December 1917 swiftly undid the work of two years of most arduous endeavor. The Italians were forced back from Gorizia and compelled to surrender mountain positions which had been captured by them at enormous cost. Back across the boundary they retreated losing heavily in men and material. The enemy advanced into the low country near Venice and it seemed for a time that the city would fall into their hands. But British and French assistance was sent to Italy. The Italian army recovered its spirit and a permanent check was put to the enemy's advance before Venice was reached. Upon a much shorter but more defensible line the Italians held the enemy at bay in the mountains and along the river Piave. War zones Unrestricted Submarine Warfare On January 31, 1917 the German ambassador to the United States Count von Bernstorff announced to President Wilson that Germany would begin unrestricted submarine warfare the following day in the waters around Great Britain and France thus withdrawing the pledge given as a result of the sinking of the Sussex. Three days later the President handed Count von Bernstorff his passports and recalled Ambassador Gerard from Berlin thus severing diplomatic relations with Germany. During the next six months shipping was sunk at an average rate of 600,000 tons per month three times as fast as before and two or three times faster than it was being replaced. The high water mark was reached in April when 800,000 tons of shipping were destroyed. Unless this loss could be greatly reduced the Allies for want of food and materials would soon have to give up fighting. But methods were quickly devised to combat the new danger. The patrols were increased ships voyaged under convoy of fast destroyers constantly hovering about on the watch for submarines and other protective measures were taken so that the submarine menace was soon much reduced. By September 1918 the sinkings were only about 150,000 tons a month while the production of ships especially in the United States has increased to several times this amount. Apparently Germany had waited until she had built a large number of submarines thinking that by the use of a great fleet of them in a ruthless warfare on shipping she could force a peace within a few months. In this expectation she was disappointed. The principal result of the withdrawal of her pledge to this country was the entrance of the United States into the war on the side of the Allies. Captain Perseus an expert German naval critic admitted in November 1917 that the German admiralty was grossly mistaken in its calculations and that Germany had no reason for believing in the decisive influence of the submarine war. The United States drifts toward war. The breaking off of diplomatic relations is not a declaration of war. Nevertheless the events immediately succeeding the withdrawal of Count von Bernstorf made a declaration of war increasingly probable. The most important of these were the publication of the Zimmermann note the fact that several American merchant ships were actually sunk by German submarines and the discovery that members of the German Embassy and other German diplomatic representatives had been concerned in plotting on United States soil against the Allies thus endangering our peaceful relations with them. Not only so but there was evidence that plots had been laid to destroy American lives and property in this country and to stir up internal disorders such as strikes and riots. The Zimmermann note On the last day of February the Secretary of State published a note that had come into his possession which was addressed by Dr. Zimmermann the German Foreign Minister to the German Minister in Mexico. The note stated that Germany would soon begin a ruthless submarine warfare and proposed if the United States should declare war on Germany that Mexico should enter into an alliance with Germany. Germany was to furnish money and Mexico was to reconquer New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. It was also hinted that Mexico should suggest to Japan that the latter country should come into the agreement. The interesting thing about the note is that it was dated January 19 12 days before Germany announced to us her plan for ruthless submarine warfare and during a time when our relations with Germany though under a great strain were still peaceable. Armed neutrality About the time the Zimmermann note was published President Wilson asked Congress to authorize the arming of American merchant ships for their own defense. A small minority in Congress by their obstructive tactics prevented the passage of the desired resolution before Congress expired on March 4. On March 12 the President announced that this country had determined to place an armed guard on all United States merchant vessels which under international law might defend themselves from attack although Germany denied this right. There is no evidence however that there was any encounter between these armed ships and German vessels prior to the outbreak of the war. The President's war message When Russia deposed the Tsar and established a democratic government in March 1917 the last reason was removed which might have held us back from a declaration of war. Many believed that it would have been illogical for us to fight for democracy side by side with one of the greatest of autocracies. President Wilson called Congress in special session and on April 2nd delivered his famous war message asking Congress to declare that a state of war existed between the United States and Germany. In the message he told of the various acts of Germany which had led up to the verge of war recited the steps which our government had taken to bring Germany to realize the inevitable result of her crimes against civilization and concluded by asking Congress to declare war. The President stated that the aims of the United States in the war are one, that the people of every nation may determine the form of government under which they wish to live Two, that the small nations may have the right to exist and be protected against aggression Three, that the future piece of the world may be guaranteed through the formation of a League of Nations Four, that the world may be made safe for democracy The Declaration of War In accordance with the recommendation of the President Congress declared war against Germany on April 6th, 1917 War was not declared at this time against Germany's allies Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria A few days later however at the insistence of Germany Austria and Turkey broke off diplomatic relations On December 7th, 1917 the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary Following the Declaration of War with Germany steps were at once taken to put the country in a position to give effective aid to our associates and the President from time to time has requested Congress to grant authority to do those things that would enable us to take an active part in the war Other countries enter the war After the United States entered the war many other countries especially Brazil and some of the Spanish American countries either broke off relations with Germany or declared war against her Most of these countries had close commercial relationships with the United States which would have been seriously interfered with had they remained neutral Spurlos versinked The decision of some of the South American countries to side against Germany was probably hastened by a typical piece of German bad faith Argentina was at peace with Germany In spite of that fact the German minister at Buenos Aires the Argentine capital telegraphed to his government that if possible Argentine ships should be spared but if not they should be sunk without leaving a trace Spurlos versinked This would involve the drowning or murdering of the crews so that there would be no inconvenient protest on the part of the Argentine government It should be added that at the request of the German minister the Swedish minister at Buenos Aires sent these dispatches in code as if they were his own private messages In this way the German minister was able to have them sent over cable lines controlled by the Allies End of Chapter 11 Recording by Veronica Jenkins in Ottawa, Illinois A School History of the Great War by McKinley, Colombe, and Gerson Chapter 12 The War in 1918 Failure of German Peace Offensive During the fall of 1917 Germany had started a great discussion of the terms of the peace which should close the war In general the position taken by German spokesmen was peace without annexations and without indemnities as proposed by the Russian Bolshevik Such talk was designed to weaken the war spirit of the Allied peoples and perhaps to make the German people believe that they were fighting a war of self-defense The time was ripe for a statement of the war aims of Germany's opponents This statement later, approved in general by Allied statesmen was made by President Wilson in his address to Congress on January 8, 1918 It is discussed in detail in Chapter 14 It was not satisfactory to Germany's rulers for they hoped to secure better terms in a piece of bargains and compromises Russia makes a separate peace Only in Russia was this German peace offensive a success In the last chapter we saw how in the latter part of 1917 the Bolsheviks had gained control of the government of Russia and had arranged an armistice with the Central Powers This meant the stopping of all fighting along the Eastern Front and the consequent freeing of many thousands of German soldiers to fight in the West At Brest-Litovsk, a town in Russian Poland which had been occupied by the troops of the Central Powers a meeting of delegates was called to arrange the terms of peace The negotiations at this place lasted from December 23, 1917 to February 10, 1918 The Germans had determined to keep large portions of Russian territory At the conference the German delegates flatly refused to promise to withdraw their troops from the occupied parts of Russia after the peace By February 10 hope of any settlement that would satisfy Russia had disappeared and the Bolshevik delegates left Brest-Litovsk The war, so far as Russia was concerned, was at an end but no treaty of peace had been signed The Bolshevik government issued orders for the complete demobilization of the Russian armies on all the battle fronts Germany determined to compel Russia to accept her terms renewed her military operations on February 18 The result was that Lenin and Trotsky the Bolshevik leaders were forced to agree to the conditions which had been laid down by the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk Nevertheless the Germans continued their advance with practically no opposition to within 70 miles of Petrograd The separation of Ukraine and Finland Ukraine, the southwestern corner of Russia is the home of a Slavic people the little Russians closely akin to the Russians proper The people of Finland in the extreme northwest are of a distinctly different race In both these regions there were set up independent governments which resisted the rule of the Bolsheviki With the aid of German troops the power of the Bolsheviki in the new states was soon destroyed Through the setting up of these states particularly Ukraine Germany hoped to secure grain supplies and to control large iron and coal deposits The satisfaction of the people with German control, however interfered seriously with the realizing of such hopes The peace of Brest-Litovsk On March 3 peace between Russia and the Central Powers was finally signed at Brest-Litovsk By the terms of the treaties Russia was compelled 1. To surrender her western provinces of Poland Lithuania Livonia Estonia and Corland 2. To recognize the independence of Ukraine and Finland 3. To cede to Turkey certain important districts south of the Caucasus mountains Begin footnote After driving the Russians out of Asia Minor and taking the districts ceded to Turkey the Turkish forces went on and seized nearly all of the southern Caucasus before October 1918 End footnote 4. To pay a tremendous indemnity The falsity of the German talk of no annexations and no indemnities was now evident Few more disastrous treaties have ever been forced upon a vanquished nation It has been estimated that the treaties of Brest-Litovsk took from Russia 4% of her total area 26% of her population 37% of her foodstuffs production 26% of her railways 33% of her manufacturing industries 75% of her coal and 73% of her iron Romania makes peace Romania, deserted by Russia was forced to make peace in the spring of 1918 by ceding to her enemies the whole of the Dobrugia and also about 3000 square miles of territory on her western frontier The central powers, moreover, were given control of the vast petroleum fields and the rich wheatlands of the defeated nation A little later, however, the Russian province of Bessarabia decided to unite itself to Romania as most of its people are of the Romanian race The Russian situation in 1918 In spite of the Brest-Litovsk treaties the Allies continued to regard Russia as a friendly nation President Wilson took the lead in this attitude It was felt that the Russian people were sadly in need of assistance but just how this should be given was a serious problem The question was complicated by the presence in Russia of a large army of Czechoslovaks These soldiers were natives of the northwestern Slavic provinces of Austria-Hungary They had been part of the Austrian army during the victorious Russian campaigns in Galicia and had been taken prisoners The Czechoslovaks had always sympathized with the Allied countries and had fought for Austria unwillingly Many, indeed, had later fought as part of the Russian army When Russia left the war they feared that they might be returned to the hated Austrian government To avoid this their leaders sought and obtained from the Bolshevik government permission to travel eastward through Russia and Siberia to the Pacific Here they planned to take ship and after a voyage three quarters around the globe take their place in the armies of the Allies The long journey began Then the Bolsheviki, probably acting under German orders recalled the permission they had given The Czechoslovaks went on nevertheless determined to proceed even if they had to fight their way They were opposed at different points by Bolshevik troops with the assistance of organized bodies of German and Austrian prisoners but the Czechoslovaks were victorious In fact, with the aid of anti-Bolshevik Russians they seized control of most of the Siberian railroad and of parts of eastern Russia Allied intervention in Russia At last the Allied nations and the United States decided that it was time to undertake military intervention in Russia This was carried out in two places Bodies of American and Japanese troops were landed on the east coast of Siberia to cooperate with the Czechoslovaks The latter, thus reinforced, changed their plans for leaving Russia and decided to fight for the Allied cause where they were They were encouraged by the fact that they were recognized by the Allies and by the United States as an independent nation Another small Allied army was landed on the north coast of Russia and marched south against the Bolsheviki Large parts of Russia north and east of Moscow declared themselves free of Bolshevik rule It was the hope of the Allies that the rule, now marked by pillage, murder, and famine, would shortly be overthrown and that a new Russia would rise and take its place among the democracies of the world The Western Front Early in 1918, after the failure of the German peace offensive in the west, rumors came from Germany of preparations for a great military drive on the Western Front The iron fist and the shining sword were to break in the doors of those who opposed a German-made peace There were good reasons for such an attack in the spring of 1918 Germany had withdrawn many troops from the east where they were no longer needed to check the Russians Further, although a few American troops had reached France, it was thought that not many could be sent over before the fall of 1918 and the full weight of America's force could not be exerted before the summer of 1919 It was to Germany's interest to crush France and England before the power of the American nation was thrown into the struggle against her Germany's new plan of attack The German military leaders therefore determined to stake everything upon one grand offensive on the Western Front while their own force was numerically superior to that of the Allies Their expectation of victory in what they proudly called the Kaiser's battle was based not only upon the possession of greater numbers but also upon the introduction of new methods of fighting which would overcome the old trench warfare The new methods comprised three principal features In the first place much greater use was made of the element of surprise Large masses of men were brought up near the front by night marches and in daytime were hidden from airplane observation by smoke screens camouflage of various kinds and by the shelter of woodlands In this way any portion of the opposing trench line could be subjected to a heavy unexpected attack Secondly the advance was prepared for by the use of big guns in enormous quantities and in new ways The number of guns brought into use in this offensive far exceeded that put into the Verdun offensive of 1916 which had been looked upon as the extreme of possible concentration of artillery The shell fire was now to be directed not only against the trenches but also far to the rear of the Allied positions This would break up roads, railways, and bridges for many miles behind the trenches and prevent the sending of reinforcements up to the front Vast numbers of large shells containing poisonous mustard gas were collected These were to be fired from heavy guns and made to explode far behind the Allied lines By this means suffocation might be spread among the reserves, among motor drivers, and even among the army mules and by deranging the transport service make it impossible to concentrate troops to withstand the German advance In the third place shock troops composed of selected men from all divisions of the army were to advance after the bombardment in a series of waves When the first wave had reached the limit of its strength and endurance it was to be followed up by a second mass of fresh troops and this by a third and so on until the Allies' defence was completely broken By their excess in numbers and by these newly devised methods of warfare the German leaders hoped to accomplish three things One, to separate the British army from the French army Two, to seize the channel ports and interrupt by submarines and big guns the transportation of men and supplies from England to France and Three, to capture Paris and compel the French to withdraw from the war Let us now see how and why the Germans failed to secure any one of these three objectives and how the Allied forces resumed the offensive in the summer of 1918 The German advance Five great drives conducted according to the newly devised methods of warfare were launched by the Germans between March 21 and July 15, 1918 The first, continuing from March 21 to April 1, called the Battle of Picardy, was directed at the point where the British army joined that of the French near the Somme River There was at this time no unified command of all the Allied armies and the blow fell unexpectedly upon the British and won much territory before French assistance could be brought up Outnumbered three to one, the British fell back at the point of greatest retreat to a distance of 30 miles from their former line but the extreme tenacity of the British and the arrival of French troops prevented the Germans from capturing the important city of Amiens or reaching the main roads to Paris or separating the British and French armies Learning a needed lesson from this disaster the Allied nations agreed to a unified military command and appointed as commander-in-chief the French General Foch who had distinguished himself in the first Battle of the Marne in 1914 and elsewhere Before this step had been taken General Pershing had offered his small army of 200,000 Americans to be used wherever needed by the French and the British The second German offensive began on April 9 and was again directed against the British, this time farther to the north in Flanders between the cities of Ypres and Arras In ten days the Germans advanced to a maximum depth of 10 miles on a front of 30 miles but the British fought most desperately and the German losses were enormous at last the advance was checked and the channel ports were saved Germany on the march had encountered England at bay and had failed to destroy the heroic British army And now came a lull of over a month while the Germans were reorganizing their forces and preparing for a still greater blow Again the element of surprise was employed The Allies expected another attack somewhere in the line from Soissons to the sea and their reserves were so disposed as to meet such an attack But the German blow was directed against the weakest part of the Allied line the stretch from Rheim to Soissons where a break might open the road to Paris from the east The third drive began on May 27 For over a week the French were pushed back, fighting valiantly, across land which had not seen the enemy since September 1914 The greatest depth of the German advance was 30 miles, that is, two within 44 miles of Paris The enemy had once again reached the Marne River and controlled the main roads from Paris to Verdun and to the eastern parts of the Allied line The fourth drive started a few days later, on June 9, in a region where an attack was expected It resulted in heavy losses to the Germans who succeeded in pushing only six miles toward Paris in the region between Soissons and Montedier The advantages of a single command had begun to appear General Fosch could use all the Allied forces where they were most needed The fifth drive opened on July 15 and spread over a front of 100 miles east of Soissons The Allies were fully prepared and while falling back a little at first the American and French troops soon won back some of the abandoned territory The Turning of the Tide A glance at a map of the battlefront of July 18 will show that the Germans had driven three blunt wedges into the Allied lines These positions would prove dangerous to the Germans if ever the Allies were strong enough to assume the offensive And just now the moment came for Fosch to strike a great counter blow During the spring and early summer American troops had been speeded across the Atlantic until by the 4th of July over a million men were in France On July 18 fresh American and French troops attacked the Germans in the narrowest of the wedges along the Marne River and within a few days compelled the enemy to retreat from this wedge On August 8 a British army began a surprise attack on the Middle Wedge and by the use of large numbers of light, swift tanks succeeded in driving the Germans back for a distance of over 10 miles on a wide front The offensive had now passed from the Germans to the Allies Under Fosch's repeated attacks the enemy was driven back first at one point and then at another He had no time to prepare a counter drive He did not know where the next blow would fall By the end of September he had given up nearly all his recent conquests devastating much of the country as he retired In several places also he was forced still farther back across the old Hindenburg line In two days September 12 to 13 the Americans and French under the direction of General Pershing wiped out an old German salient near Metz taking 200 square miles of territory and 15,000 prisoners Altogether by the end of September Fosch had taken over a quarter of a million prisoners with 3,669 cannon and 23,000 machine guns It is said that the complete defeat of the German plans was due primarily to three things 1. The dogged steadfastness of the British and the patient heroism of the French soldiers and civilians 2. The brilliant strategy of General Fosch and the unity of command which made this effective 3. The material and moral encouragement of the American forces of whom nearly 1,500,000 were in France before the end of August 4. The war in Italy, the Balkans and Syria The summer of 1918 witnessed the launching of a great offensive by the Austrians against the Italian armies holding the Piave front It is probable that the chief purpose of this below was to draw Allied troops into Italy from the battlefront in Belgium and France The Italians however proved themselves amply able to fight their own battle and the Austrian attempt was repulsed with tremendous losses The autumn of this year saw important happenings on the Balkan front also This theatre of the war had been uneventful for a long time The battle line extended from the Adriatic Sea to the Aegean and was held by a mixed army of Serbians, Greeks, Italians, British and French under the command of General Desprey with headquarters at Salonica Opposed to these troops were armies of Bulgarians and Austrians together with a considerable number of Germans Encouraged by the German defeats in the west which had forced the withdrawal of large numbers of German troops from Eastern Europe the Allies launched a strong offensive on the Balkan front in the middle of September Day after day their advance continued resulting in the capture of many thousands of prisoners and the reoccupation of many miles of Albanian and Serbian territory The campaign was one of the most successful of the whole war Within two weeks the Bulgarians asked for an armistice accepted the terms that were demanded and on September 30 definitely withdrew from the war Their surrender broke the lines of communication between the Central Powers and Turkey and at one blow destroyed Teutonic supremacy in the Balkans An even more important consequence was the moral effect on the general public in Germany Austria and Turkey where it was taken by many as a sign that surrender of the Central Powers could only be a question of time Meanwhile events of almost equal importance were taking place in Palestine and Syria General Allenby had taken Jerusalem in December 1917 In the fall of 1918 new and important advances were made in this region Arab forces east of the Jordan cooperating with the British armies By the close of September more than 50,000 Turkish soldiers and hundreds of guns had been captured In October General Allenby's men took the important cities of Damascus and Aleppo and in Mesopotamia also the British began a new advance Turkey was already asking for an armistice and now accepted terms that were virtually a complete surrender October 31 By this time Austria-Hungary was in the throes of dissolution Independent republics were being set up by the Czechs, the Hungarians, the Yugoslavs, and even the German Austrians These revolutions were hastened by the overwhelming victory of the Italians in the second battle of the Piav Their attack began October 24 on the mountain front but soon the Allied forces under General Dijaz crossed the river and cut through the lines of the fleeing Austrians In the capture of large numbers of prisoners and guns the Italians took full vengeance for their defeat of the preceding year So hopeless indeed was the situation for the Austrians that they too accepted an armistice that was practically a surrender November 4 After the Germans had been driven back to their old lines in France there was danger that the contest might settle down to the old form of trench warfare But the intricate defences of the Hindenburg line, in some cases extending to a depth of 10 miles from the front trenches, did not prove strong enough to withstand the American and Allied advance Fosch attacked the line from each end and also in the center In the north, by October 20, Belgian and British troops had recaptured all the Belgian coast with its submarine bases, and the British had taken the important cities of Lens and Lille, the former valuable on account of its coal mines In the center British and French troops broke through to the important points of Cambrai, Sankanton, and Lannes While farther east the French and Americans began an advance along the Meuse River threatening to attack the German line in the rear By this time it seemed likely that a general retirement from Belgium and France had been determined upon by the German leaders Moreover the impending defeat of the German armies led to a new peace drive by the German government On October 6 President Wilson received a note from the German Chancellor asking for an armistice requesting that the United States take steps for the restoration of peace and stating that the German government accepted as a basis for peace negotiations the program as laid down in the President's message to Congress of January 8, 1918 Chapter 14 And in his subsequent addresses In the ensuing correspondence several points are worthy of special notice President Wilson opposed any suggestion of an armistice till after the evacuation of Allied territory or except as it might be arranged by the military advisors of the American and Allied powers on such terms as would make impossible the renewal of hostilities by Germany He also called attention to the following point in his address of July 4, 1918 The destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere that can separately secretly and of its single choice disturb the peace of the world or if it cannot be presently destroyed at the least its reduction to virtual impotence stated that the military autocracy still in control of Germany was such a power and insisted on dealing only with a new or altered German government in which the representatives of the people should be the real rulers On November 11 while the German armies in France and Belgium were being defeated by the Allied and American forces envoys from the German government accepted from General Fosch an armistice in terms that meant virtually the surrender of Germany and thus brought hostilities to an end End of Chapter 12 read by Kara Schallenberg www.kray.org on October 1st 2009 in San Diego, California