World War I
| What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! |
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“”"The real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort *not* to have a war. You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocks developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war."
"But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?" "Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan." "What was that, sir?" "It was bollocks." |
| —Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson[1] |
The First World War, or World War I (known at the time as "The World War," and still occasionally today, as "The Great War"), took place from 1914–1918 and was so horrifying in terms of the casualties suffered that an entire generation that had been raised to view war as a glorious and heroic endeavor came home (at least those who survived) either with a deep loathing of the horrors of war or the idea that the war had created a new model for society. The former group thought that the conflict proved once and for all that war was a futile exercise, summed up in the hope that it had been "the war to end all wars." The latter group were equally convinced of the transformative powers of war, but emphasised the equality, fraternity and sacrifice of the "trenchocracy" as qualities which both made them suited to create a new and better world and earned the veterans a special right to trace their countries' future. Unfortunately, the terms of peace amounted to a bad compromise between the spirit of revenge (guaranteeing punitive elements and condemnation of the losers) and idealistic language (which seemed doubly hypocritical in light of the punitive elements), leading to an even worse war. This meant that World War I has, like most wars, typically been seen as a pointless waste of human life.[2]
Rather embarrassingly for God, it was one of those wars where everyone assumed He was on their side. No doubt this embarrassment and confusion was why it took four years and the deaths of tens of millions of His followers before He finally admitted that it was the Catholic/Anglican/Protestant/Orthodox/Shinto[3] alliance that had been right, not the Catholic/Protestant/Muslim one. But the hideous slaughter of religious believers by religious believers sporadically stopped for a few hours on 25 December 1914, proving conclusively and once and for all that religion is a Good Thing.
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[edit] How the war progressed, in brief
The Russians were rushin' the Prussians;
The Prussians were crushin' the Russians.
The Balkans were balkin' and Turkey was squawkin'
Rasputin disputin' and Italy hootin'.
The Boches all bulled Bolshevikis;
The British were watching the sea.
But the good Lord I'm thankin'
The Yanks started yankin',
And yanked Kaiser Bill up a tree.[4]
[edit] How'd it get started?
“”The next great European war will begin over some damned foolish thing in the Balkans
|
| —Otto von Bismarck[5] |
The political map of Europe looked very different 100 years ago. There were far fewer countries than now — with most of Central and Eastern Europe controlled by large multi-ethnic empires. Many European countries — even small ones like the Netherlands and Belgium — had a colonial empire. Most of them were monarchies with constitutions that varied a lot in terms of how liberal they were, but all were fairly undemocratic by modern standards (France, Switzerland and San Marino were the only republics; Portugal had just overthrown its king). Massive technological and industrial changes were sweeping the world, and political structures that had remained the same for most of the previous century were struggling to catch up.
There was no United Nations, but a standing informal convention was that major powers would come together in the event of an international crisis to negotiate a solution and avoid war (the so-called 'Concert of Europe'). This system was falling apart and as more and more flare-ups took place, it seemed that a major war would break loose soon.
[edit] Balance of power in continental Europe
[edit] Establishment of the German Empire
In 1871, Prussia pwned France in the Franco-Prussian War[wp] and France ceded returned[6] Alsace-Lorraine to the newly formed German Empire. Faced with French revanchism, Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of the German Empire, avoided an all out war maintained peace by mostly isolating France through his foreign policy efforts.
[edit] Formation of opposing alliances
In 1890, Wilhelm II's disagreement with Otto von Bismarck led to the latter's dismissal. In Bismarck's absence, all hell broke loose the isolation efforts fell apart, starting with the failure to renew the non-aggression pact (the Reinsurance Treaty) with Russia, which in turn led to France forming an alliance with Russia.[7] The United Kingdom, operating under a balance of power policy,[8] joined France and Russia out of concern that France might get pwned once again. This was known as the Triple Entente.
On the side of Germany, her only friend left was Austria-Hungary, a weird central European "dual monarchy" with two parliaments, two governments, two economies, well over a dozen nationalities, but one King/Emperor and one military. Searching for new allies, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians attempted to coax Italy (unsuccessfully, as it turned out), and the Ottomans (more successfully) onto their side to shore up their position. They also secured the support of Bulgaria, a traditional Russian ally — due to Russia's support for Serbia during the Second Balkan War.[wp]
[edit] Decline of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, which had been in a long (and increasingly rapid) decline since the relief of Vienna in 1683, was steadily losing control of the Balkans, and several of the other European Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom) were trying to become the new chief power in the region.[9] Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottomans in 1908, and the Ottoman Empire suffered an embarrassing defeat to a Balkan alliance in 1913, being forced to cede much of its European territory.
[edit] Immediate causes
Things went pear-shaped after the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 28, 1914. The assassin was associated with Serbian military figures, and Austria-Hungary seized this opportunity to gain revenge and crush Serbia[10] at the same time. They cooked up an ultimatum that the Serbs rejected.[11] Russia couldn't stand to see its interests in the Balkans walked over, and decided to back Serbia. Germany had been itching to gain the advantage by initiating the war ever since the two-way power split in Europe and pushed the Austrians with assurances of support and urgings to hurry into conflict, so the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary in response.
Then Germany demanded that Russia stop mobilising against its ally; Russia refused, and the Germans declared war.
To avoid a two-front war, Germany had prepared to quickly eliminate France from the picture without a warning declaration of war before it was ready through a hammer anvil maneuver (the Schlieffen Plan), the left flank striking directly into France and the right flank coming through the neutral Belgium into northern France.[12] Belgium fought back, its neutrality violated, and while France was caught unprepared at first, it managed to bog down the German forces in brutal trench warfare. Not only did Germany not avoid a two-front war, the violation of Belgium's neutrality gave Great Britain a reason to jump into the fray against them.
As the war continued, the Central Powers brought Bulgaria and the Ottomans in against the Allies, while the Allies signed up Romania and Italy.[13] After three bloody years of fighting, the Russian Empire collapsed during the October Revolution, and the Bolshevik government that emerged made peace with Germany.
To break British sea superiority and stifle their detrimental sea blockades, Germany had their submarines non-discriminately fire at any targettable ships, which led to the sinking of American vessels as well.[14] Eventually, the United States had had enough of Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare (along with becoming superpissed when they found out that Germany was trying to provoke Mexico into attacking them), so they declared war on Germany in spring 1917, giving the exhausted Allies the manpower and material they needed to clinch a decision on points over the equally exhausted Triple Alliance.
[edit] Schools of thought regarding the causes for World War I
Histiographies for why the war happened are — in comparison to the relatively simple explanations for WWII — hideously diverse,[15] but most are based upon the rampant nationalism and Social Darwinism bubbling throughout the whole continent (leading to an unstoppable arms race), with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia ultimately pushing things over the edge.[16]
[edit] Civil liberties
World War I saw a massive propaganda campaign (run by the grandaddy of PR, Edward Bernays) and an all-out government attack on civil liberties in the United States by Woodrow Wilson. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 made it illegal to speak out against the war in any significant way.[17] Citizen groups carried out vigilante actions against those considered "un-American," including Americans of German descent such as Hutterites, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Yiddish-speaking Jews. People were forced to support the war vocally and financially by various "citizens groups" who could report others for disloyalty for not buying war bonds and giving other material support. Among those who were sent to jail for opposing the war and/or conscription were Eugene V. Debs (10 year sentence) and Emma Goldman (2 year sentence).
[edit] Why was World War I such a big deal?
German soldiers were killed at the rate of one every 45 seconds, and French death rates were even higher. In the five months during which the battles of Verdun and the Somme were waged in 1916, nearly a million men died, an average of 6,600 every day, more than 277 every minute, nearly 5 every second. This was not exceptional. As Martin Gilbert pointed out, the 20,000 British soldiers killed on the first day of the Somme are often recalled with horror, yet on average, a similar number of soldiers died during every four-day period of the entire war.[18] French casualties from the First World War were greater than US casualties from every war that the US has ever taken part in.[19] Russia and Germany each suffered even greater casualties.
The maps and politics of the world following the war were a large part of its legacy.
- Several dynasties, notably the Royal House of Hohenzollern in Germany and the House of Romanov in Russia ceased, for all practical matters, to exist.
- The Soviet Union arose out of the war's ashes, as did the Weimar Republic in Germany, whose short-lived existence was followed by the Third Reich.
- The Austria-Hungarian empire split up into several different states, including Austria, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Italy took several German-speaking areas in the Alpine region and some important Northern Dalmatian ports and islands along with one third of Slovenian lands. The breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s led to a bloody war and ethnic cleansing.
- The entire Middle East (except Iran), which had been ruled and kept under control by the autocratic Ottoman Empire, was split into many new nations, which were made into
colonies"mandates"[wp] of the victorious Allies, mainly Britain and France, by the newly formed League of Nations. These new countries were largely arbitrarily created, with little regard for cultural or historical context — and some (such as Iraq and Jordan) were even made into kingdoms, ruled by the Arab leaders who had sided with Britain against the Turks in the war. After World War II, with Britain unable to stop the fighting between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, the United Nations created the country of Israel. The repercussions of all of these actions are still felt to this day.
The war also introduced or honed many different kinds of military technologies and tactics. During the American Civil War both sides experimented with trench warfare, however, during World War I it became the main method of fighting and the primary reason why there were so many casualties. Horse cavalry went out and was replaced by tanks and armored divisions. Machine guns came into widespread use on both sides. Air power, initially for reconnaissance, and later for crude bombing and air combat, was first utilized. Finally, both sides began experimenting with chemical attacks, often with chlorine or mustard gas.
[edit] World War I in popular culture
The years following the end of the war were marked by an almost unparalleled number of monuments being erected in both Europe and the United States to those who fought and those who died in the carnage. In America perhaps only the Civil War has produced more memorials than the First World War. One particular statue, The Doughboy,[wp] by sculptor E.M. Viquesney is believed to have over 200 castings through out the US, though he claimed to have produced around 300 of them.
The legendary football match said to have taken place in 1914 during a Christmas truce between German and British forces is one of the most iconic images of World War I,[20] and later used as the basis of the video for Paul McCartney's song, "Pipes of Peace" as well as John McCutcheon's ballad "Christmas in the Trenches." The War also remained alive through the Rock n' Roll era in songs such as The Zombies' "The Butcher's Tale (Western Front, 1914)."
The 1981 film Gallipoli, named after the campaign of the same name reminded many people (many did not need to be reminded) of the pointless waste of human life that accompanied much of the action in the war.[21]
The main character in Charles Todd's series (1996–2008) of British village murder mysteries, Inspector Ian Rutledge, is a shell shocked veteran of the trenches, who is always accompanied (at least in his mind) by a Scottish soldier that he was compelled to execute.
The fourth and final series of the BBC One sitcom Blackadder was set in a trench during World War I. Though a comedy show, it featured many truths and poignant moments regarding life in the trenches.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Remembering The Great War: The Outbreak, Popular Science
- A global guide to the first world war - interactive documentary, The Guardian
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ "Goodbyeee", Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
- ↑ Especially as its historiography has been dominated by British, French and German scholars, rather than those of the newly independent states formerly in the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian empires. The British had lost much and gained little. The French had lost much and haD not completely destroyed Germany. The Germans had lost, felt unfairly humiliated and looked for scapegoats. With the hindsight of WWII, WWI looked even more pointless to many historians and the general public of these three countries.
- ↑ Though, presumably, not the Russian Orthodox bit
- ↑ "The Yanks Started Yankin" by Arthur Fields
- ↑ On the Brink, The New York Times
- ↑ The French had taken it from the Holy Roman Empire in bits and pieces during the 17th century, but the place was still mostly German-speaking in 1870.
- ↑ Dual Alliance, Encyclopedia Brittanica
- ↑ Simply put, make sure no country becomes dominant on the continent, so that the British Empire can safely expand its territory and sphere of influence overseas.
- ↑ The Great Powers and the "Eastern Question", MSU
- ↑ Austria-Hungary controlled Bosnia, whose people were ethnically similar to Serbians. There was a movement, both in Serbia and in Bosnia, that sought to free Bosnia from Austrian control, and either make it independent or join it with Serbia as a larger state. Eventually, the latter was accomplished when Yugoslavia was formed after World War I ended.
- ↑ It involved ten demands, mainly things like that Serbia had to suppress anti-Austrian groups in their country, and arrest everyone involved in the assassination, including some government officials. Despite the relatively harsh demands, Serbia agreed to submit to all of them but one — that Austrian police be allowed to operate in Serbian territory.
- ↑ The Schlieffen Plan, Alpha History
- ↑ Italy was originally allied with Austria-Hungary and Germany. However, Italy and Austria have a long history of disliking each other, especially since Austria controlled some territory that many Italians considered to be rightfully theirs — Italians referred to it as "Italia Irredenta," or "unredeemed Italy." When Austria declared war on Serbia, Italy said that they didn't have to join the war because the alliance was "defensive" and Austria was the attacker. Two years into the war, the Allied Powers promised Italy that if they joined forces, Italy would be given Italia Irredenta if they won; Italy agreed to join their side. After the war ended, the Allies gave Italy less territory than they expected. This "betrayal" contributed to the rise of Mussolini and the fascists in the 1920's.
- ↑ How WWI’s U-Boats Launched the Age of Unrestricted Warfare, Wired
- ↑ The debate on the origins of World War One, The British Library
- ↑ World War One: 10 interpretations of who started WW1, BBC News
- ↑ Espionage and Sedition Acts, Sewanee University
- ↑ Martin Gilbert. The First World War: A Complete History, 2004. [1]
- ↑ Which puts all claims of French cowardice to bed.
- ↑ The Christmas truce, BBC News (The actual scale and details of the football match remain unclear, and reports are prone to romanticization.)
- ↑ Gallipoli (1991) on Rotten Tomatoes (Note: It is a Mel Gibson movie.)