WW1 practices

Question 1

September 1914 - Battle of the Marne:

Answer 1

Rape of Belgium - looting, killing, transporting young teenagers
Schlieffen plan failed and Germany have a two front war
Commanders are taught to only attack
Technology used - Fixed machine guns, Heavy artillery, Barbed wire (all defensive)
Germans lose battle of Marne
Both dig in (trenches) which ends in stalemates

Battle of marne gave Russia time to mobilise and stopped the schlieffen plan
Western front is stalemate because of trench warfare and both sides had the same technology
Both sides have learnt the same tactics/notes ending in a ruthless and violent stalemate
Weary down (attrition)
The western front was a attrition battle

Question 2

1916 Verdun:

Answer 2

800,000 troops
Great choice as its cultural significant
Wants to draw in the french army and destroying them

Chosen because of cultural importance
Wanted to kill the french army
1 in 3 ratio to German and French killed ends up in 1 : 1
¾ quarters of the french army was rotated through Verdun
Failed campaign for Germany

Question 3

Brusilov Offensive 1916:

Answer 3

Russia losses 1 million soldiers

Russia pushed further back inwards

Question 4

The Somme 1916:

Answer 4

Catastrophically high casualties
Aim to take pressure off Verdun
Used tanks for the first time
Britain only made a few advances couple hundred metres - 4k

British casualties - 418,000
German casualties - 650,000
French casualties - 194,000

Question 5

Lusitania - 1915

Answer 5

Sunk by Germans
USA gave them an ultimatum
If not met they will enter the war

Question 5

Zimmerman telegram Jan 1917

Answer 5

Germans are getting desperate after Verdun
Zimmerman telegram Jan 1917 - Germany encourages Mexico to join the conflict
British intercept message through cable, given to US government however are hesitant to get involved

Question 6

German blockade on Britain

Answer 6

Goes extremely well

Britain on verge of collapse, massive pressure on homefront, no food or anything

Germany accidentally sink luistania

Question 7

Unresticted U-Boat campaign relaunched

Answer 7

Germany relaunches U Boat campaign in Feb 1917 - after a month sinks US boat
USA declares war in April 1917
USA can support supplies however not troops just yet

Question 8

Russian revolution march 1917

Answer 8

Russian revolution March 1917 - Tsar is overthrown, Lenin has been exiled from Russian, Lenin needs to get back to Russia
Germany brings lenin back to Russia

Bolshevik Revolution - Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin enter power in Oct. 1917, start peace talks with Germany and sign ceasefire
GERMANY HAS WON WAR IN EAST

Question 9

Battle of cambrai 1917

Answer 9

Battle of Cambrai - First time tanks are used effectively

Massive tanks, Germany focuses on anti-tanks instead, massive blunder, tanks dominate, they can push back enemy trenches, destroy artillery and much more

Question 10

Defeat of Germany on the land:

Answer 10

Peace of offensive march 1918 - Don’t take paris and 800,000 casualties
300,000 US troops per months August 1918 - 2 Million troops by the end of the war

Allied counter-offensive August 1918

Ludendorff September 1918 - Urge Kaiser to request armistice, only way to save German army

Question 11

Eastern front timeline:

Answer 11

1914 August Russia initially successful against A-H

1914 August Germans defeat Russia easily (tannenberg)

1914 September Germans defeat Russia easily (masurian lakes)

1915 Germans capture Warsaw

1914-1915 Russia withdraw 450 km

1916 June Brusilov offensive, costed 1 million russian lives

March 1917 1st russian revolution, overthrow Tsar

October 1917 2nd revolution, bolsheviks

December 1917 Russian sign armistice with Germany

March 1918 Russian sign peace treaty

Question 12

Balkan front:

Answer 12

14th Oct 1915 Bulgaria joins war, declares war on Serbia
September 1918 Bulgaria surrenders

Question 13

Italian front:

Answer 13

23rd May 1915 Italy declared war on A-H
October 1917 Italy defeated by A-H: battle of Caporetto
October 1918 Italy defeats A-H: Battle of Vittorio Veneto

Question 14

Ottoman front

Answer 14

Ottoman joins central powers 31st October 1914
Blockade entente supply to Russia - Russia is struggling with resources a year into the war

Ottomans call an armistice 30th Oct 1918
Ceasefire starts 3 Nov 1918

Key takeaways - do a job for central powers for blockading russia however long term its not helping

Last offensive by Germany was the peace offensive - not to win the war but to negotiate on equal terms

Question 15

British Campaigns to get russia supplies & arab stuff

Answer 15

Gallipoli - feb 1915 - 1916 Jan, British war ships to attack through dardanelles and open sea routes for Russia, When failed land troops and Anzacs on beach to capture peninsular

Win over oil - March 1917, Barsa, Baghdad and Mosul

Arab Revolt - June 1916 - 1918, Troops deployed to palestine, Ottomans defeated at Megiddo Sept, 1918

Question 16

Key naval battles

Answer 16

Dec 1914 - Battle of Falkland lands
June 1916 - Battle of Jutland, Admiral Scheer
Feb 1917 - German U-Boat campaign: unrestricted strategy relaunched, provoke usa
Apr 1917 - Entry of US, supplies arms and troops

Who ever wins in a dreadnought battle win the war

Question 17

Battle of Jutland:

Answer 17

British decipher code to stop ambush

British ambush Germans rather the other way around

Biggest sea engagement ever

Germany are winning but admiral scheer don’t know that
Orders Germany to retreat

Determined course of power in the sea (jutland battle) - German can no longer supply supplies to their mates easily, Britain takes control of the seas and move 8.5 million soldiers.

Huge UK victory

Question 18

Naval Warfare allied success:

Answer 18

Intelligence (decipher code)
Success of strategy - convoy systems

Success of technology - hydrophone, depth charges, sonar, echo-ranging, submarine nets in channel

US intervention - huge increase in supplies
British blockade of Germany

Question 19

Role of Japan in war at sea:

Answer 19

Japan joined the entente powers in August 1914
Role securing sea lines in west pacific and indian oceans against German Navy

Seized German possessions in Pacific and East Asia

AIMS - Japan wanted to expand influence in China

Japan issued China the 21 Demands in January 1915

Japan withdrew demands due to pressure from USA

Question 20

Aeriel warefare

Answer 20

The theatre of aerial war in infancy - does not determine the outcome

8,000 aircraft in the operation by the end of the war

Start of the strategy of bombing civilians / home-front air

Germans start using blimps to drop bombs
Bombs are random places exploded

Question 21

New technology on the land:

Answer 21

Reconnaissance over enemy trenches
Directing artillery
By 1918 - photographic reconnaissance
Wireless communication between land forces and aircraft begin to coordinate campaigns

Question 22

New technology at Sea:

Answer 22

Reconnaissance - hunting u-boats
Scouting to protect ships

Question 23

Role of technology on land

Answer 23

Tanks - British and France focus on tanks and

Germany focus on anti-tank devices,
machine guns affected the war by further enabling a stalemate

Heavy artillery killed 70% of people
Bombs by aircraft and reconnaissance

Question 24

Role of technology at sea

Answer 24

U-Boats Sonar and echolocation Dreadnaughts Catching nets Aircraft reconnaissance (u-boat hunting) Warships

Question 25

Role of technology in Air

Answer 25

Airships and blimps carrying ammunition targeted for civilians, cities and any POI After the defensive against German blimps got too good, aircraft were used Bomber aircraft killed 3000 people By 1918 there was daily aircraft and bomb raids

Question 26

Human and economic mobilisation: all countries

Answer 26

Ratio 3:1 - 1 man to fight = 3 civilians work Germany: 83% on military & 2% on civilians Britain: 62% on military & 16% on civilians German agricultural production by 70% in some areas German civilians on less than 1000 calories a day by 1916 USA: US lent 7.7 billion dollars to allies in the war Historian Akira Iriye: “American participation spelled the defeat for Germany and central powers