1(A). What are the Kaiser’s beliefs about his leadership?

“I hope Europe will gradually come to realize the fundamental principle of my policy: leadership in a peaceful sense- a sort of Napoleonic supremacy… I am of the opinion that it is already a success that I, having come to govern at so early an age, stand at the head of German armed might yet have left my sword in its scabbard and have given up Bismarck’s policy of externally causing disruptions to replace it with a peaceful foreign situation such as we have not known for many years.”

- Kaiser Wilhelm II to a close friend (1892)

A message conveyed by of the source is…

•The Kaiser sees Germany dominating European politics

•The Kaiser has abandoned Bismarck’s policy of warfare

•The Kaiser sees himself as peacefully leading the Germany army

•The Kaiser sees his leadership as a success

“I hope Europe will gradually come to realize the fundamental principle of my policy: leadership in a peaceful sense- a sort of Napoleonic supremacy… I am of the opinion that it is already a success that I, having come to govern at so early an age, stand at the head of German armed might yet have left my sword in its scabbard and have given up Bismarck’s policy of externally causing disruptions to replace it with a peaceful foreign situation such as we have not known for many years.”

-Kaiser Wilhelm II to a close friend (1892)

1(A). What are the Kaiser’s beliefs about his leadership?

Question 1B: What is the Message of Source A?

Crown Prince Wilhelm to the Kaiser: "Father We Must Have a Higher Pile to See Verdun."

A cartoon by Dutch Cartoonist Louis Raemakers (1916)

Question 1B: What is the Message of Source A?

The Germans are using a strategy of attrition at Verdun as shown by the pile of bodies.

The German strategy isn’t working as illustrated by the caption.

The German strategy is cold or callous as illustrated by the Kaiser and son standing on the pile commenting.

Technology and the Nature of World War

IRapidly Changing

Key Themes

• Industrialization shaping the technology

• Boer Wars, Russo-Japanese War had shown the new destructive capacities• Europeans stick to their traditional methods, massed

infantry, artillery support, could achieve a quick victory• Looking all the way back to 1815, Napoleonic Wars

• Also a huge growth in population• Employing conscription, meant unprecedentedly large

armies

• Scale of production of weapons and ammunition now massive

• Range, speed, accuracy all increased• Rifles from 60 meters to 1500 meters, seven times faster

Stalemate

• Technology favored the defender over the attacker• Machine guns and artillery

deployed more effectively in defense, barbed wire

• Huge casualties for advancing infantry

• Explains why Western Front got to elaborate and extensive trench systems • Front lines hardly

moved from late 1914 to 1918

• Situation in the East was different, large geographic scale, German superiority

What could be some challenges with the

trenches?

What could be some challenges with the

trenches?

Machine Guns

• Until late in the war, machine guns were too heavy to be carried into attack, provided a massive advantage for defenders

• Some nations developed special machine gun units

• British made Lewis Gun by 1918

• Germans get machine pistols in the same year

Artillery

• Again, too immobile, inaccurate

• Artillery was revolutionized in the 1870s, the barrel moved, not just the gun

• Rate of fire rose

• Industry failed to keep up with shell needs

• Over 1 million shots fired by British in first six months

• French needed 100,000 shells a day

Artillery

• High-explosive shells had not been considered, thought war would be more mobile

• Shrapnel shells were ineffective

• Nations mobilized industry for these purposes

• Number of heavy guns increases

• Tactics often failed, didn’t know how to use it

• Silent registering not developed until 1917, also detailed maps

Attrition

• Cavalry had been a part of the plans, too vulnerable• Still thought they could

be used once trenches were broken

• 1915, we learn this is a war of attrition, cause the enemy to run out of resources• Classic battle was

Verdun• Losses of 500,000 and

400,00

Case Study: The Battle of Neuve Chapelle

• British attack illustrates all of these problems

• Short, intensive artillery

• Infantry advanced along narrow front• Achieved surprise and

broke through

• Germans still held the flanks, two machine guns killed 1000 British in two hours

Case Study: The Battle of Neuve Chapelle

• Greater problem was communication• Had to be relayed along

command chain, from front line to headquarters

• Communication to areas past front line was through flags or runners

• At Neuve Chapelle took nine hours for the order to continue once the first troops broke through• By then, too late

• Even when things went well, the defender was always at the advantage• Attacking force keeping its

forces too far forward risked casualties from artillery

Gas

• France used tear gar right from the start

• Poison gas first used by Germans in April 1915

• British then in October 1915

• Germans phosgene and mustard gas

• Gas shells replaced cylinders soon

• Both sides quickly equip their soldiers with gas masks• 1 million casualties, relatively

few died as a result

Tanks

• Intended to provide mobility to the Western Front, broke through barbed wire and trench defenses

• Very primitive, terrified the Germans when first used by British• Too few are originally

available• Broke often, top speed 6kph

• Germany so skeptical, didn’t use them for two years

• British and French use them well in 1918, really explodes after the war

New Approaches

• Germans adopt elastic defense in depth• Isolated Allied troops

that penetrated their front lines

• These tactics coincided with development of the Hindenburg Line

• Approach changed from head on infantry attacks• Storm troopers utilized

• Coordinating tanks, aircraft, artillery and infantry• Boosted by radio

War in the Air

• 1903, Wright brothers

• Very few military aircraft in service in 1914. did develop rapidly, not too much importance

• Took over for cavalry in recon• Allowed for precise maps

of trenches, helped artillery

• Machine guns will be put on planes, first fighter pilots• Allies will have the edge,

mostly due to superiority

Bombing

• Strategic bombing made more accurate in 1915 with bomb sights, size of bombs was insufficient

• Psychological effect was great on civilians• Britain felt it for the first

time as a people• Would develop anti-

aircraft gun, search light, barrage balloon

• Tactical bombing only applied to a limited extent to help infantry

Aircraft at Sea

• Did play a major role at sea• Scouting

• First aircraft carrier landing

• Seaplanes also developed

• Could attach torpedoes

• Air cover for convoys

The War at Sea

• Irony, Anglo-German naval race a major factor in causing the war• Only one major battle• Couldn’t risk losses,

would allow your enemy control of the sea and supply lines

• Britain attempted a large-scale blockade, Germans tried to pick off small parts of them

British Blockade

• Captured German naval codes

• Intercepted ships, seized contraband

• Large-scale battle was at Jutland in May 1916• Germans attempted to draw

the British out• British lost 14, Germany 11• Blockade remained in

tact

• Blockade caused shortages of materials and food, morale losses• 750,000 Germans died from

malnutrition

Submarine Warfare

• The key weapon for Germany

• Had been responsible for sinking the Lusitania

• Unrestricted submarine warfare • Germany aware it would

provoke the US, needed it to try to starve Britain

• Britain responded with decoy ships, depth charges, torpedo aircraft• More effectively, the

convoy system

Reviewing Total War

• Mobilization of all resources

• Harnessing of nation’s economy• First war after industrialization

• War of attritions increased demands for ammunition and weaponry, clothing, food, transport• British shipped over 33 million

people, 2.5 million horses, 500,000 vehicles, 40 million tons of equipment• Churchill gets credit for all

this• Devote attention to

organizing the home front

Case Study: Britain

• Set up Ministry of Munitions

• Later a Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Food

• Munitions of War Act banned strikes

• Rationing encouraged

• Government took control of over 2.5 million acres

• Borrowed heavily, increased currency, taxes rose

• Women worked in factories, as nurses

• Defense of the Realm Act

• Censored newspapers, rationed food, propaganda, bar hours shortened, beer make weaker, daylight extended in summer

• Voluntary recruitment until 1916

• Tried to prevent supplies from getting to Germany

Review Questions