Continuation of the History of WW1 article about
the mobilisation and first battles of the Great War and the
WW1 activities in Russia, Austria and Italy.
Events of 1917 would prove decisive in ending the war, although their effects would not fully be
felt until 1918. The Allied naval blockade of Germany began to have serious impact on morale and
productivity on the German home-front. In response, in
February 1917, the German General Staff (Oberste Heeres Leitung)
were able to convince Chancellor
Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg to declare
unrestricted submarine warfare,
with the goal of starving Britain out of the war.
The decisive victory of Germany at the Battle of Caporetto led to the Allied decision at the
Rapallo Conference to form the Supreme Allied Council at Versailles to co-ordinate plans and
action.
In December, the Central Powers signed an Armistice with Russia, thereby releasing troops from
the eastern front for use in the west. With both German reinforcements and new American troops
pouring into the Western Front, the final outcome of the war was to be decided in that front.
The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war now that American forces were
certain to be arriving in increasing numbers, but held high hopes for a rapid offensive in the
West, using their reinforced troops and
new infantry tactics.
Both sides urgently sought a decisive, rapid victory on the Western Front.
Entry of the United States
A long stretch of American isolationism left the United States reluctant to involve itself with
what was popularly conceived as a European dispute.
Early in 1917 Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. This, combined with
public indignation over the Zimmerman telegram, led to a final break of relations with the Central
Powers. President Woodrow Wilson requested that the U.S. Congress declare war, which it did on
6. April 1917. Although the American contribution to the war was important, particularly in terms
of the threat posed by increased US presence in Europe, the United States was never formally a
member of the Allies, but an "Associated Power".
The United States Army and the National Guard had mobilized in 1916 to pursue the Mexican "bandit"
Pancho Villa, which helped speed up the mobilization. The United States Navy was able to send a
battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, and a number of destroyers
to Queenstown, Ireland, to help guard convoys. However, it would be some time before the United
States forces would be able to contribute significant manpower to the Western and Italian fronts.
The British and French insisted that the United States emphasize sending infantry to reinforce
the line. Throughout the war, the American forces were short of their own artillery, aviation,
and engineering units. However, General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Force commander,
resisted breaking up American units and using them as reinforcements for British and French units,
as suggested by the Allies.
German Spring Offensive of 1918
Ludendorff made plans for a 1918 general offensive along the Western Front. The Spring Offensive
sought to divide the British and French armies in a series of feints and advances. To the German
leadership, a deteriorating economic and manpower situation compared to the Allies' strengthening
through the United States' entry made 1918 the last chance for victory. German strength in the West
was additionally boosted by the recent transfer of divisions from the Eastern Front.
Operation Michael opened on 21 March 1918 with an attack against the British towards the rail
junction at Amiens. It was Ludendorff's intention to split the British and French armies at this
point. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60km. For the first time since 1914,
maneuver had returned to the battlefield.
German stormtroopers with
flame throwers, Marne 1917 |
British and French trenches
were defeated using novel infiltration tactics. To this time, attacks
had been characterized by long artillery bombardments and continuous-front mass assaults. However,
in the Spring Offensive the German Army used artillery briefly and infiltrated small groups of
infantry at weak points, attacking command and logistics areas and surrounding points of serious
resistance. These isolated positions were then destroyed by more heavily armed infantry. German
success relied greatly on this tactic.
The frontline had now moved to within 120 kilometres of Paris. Three super-heavy Krupp railway
guns advanced to fire 183 shells on Paris, causing many Parisians to flee the city. The initial
stages of the offensive were so successful that
Kaiser Wilhelm II declared March 24 a national holiday.
Many Germans thought victory to be close. However, supply shortages and attrition caused the
German offensive to halt. German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000.
United States divisions, which Pershing sought to field as an independent force, were assigned to
depleted French and British commands on 28 March. A supreme command of Allied forces was created
at the Doullers conference in which Field Marshal Douglas Haig handed control of his forces over
to Ferdinand Foch.
Operation Marne was then launched on 15. July as an attempt to encircle Reims, beginning the Second
Battle of the Marne. The resulting Allied counter attack marked the first successful Allied
offensive of the war. By 20. July 1918, the Germans were at their Kaiserschlacht starting lines.
Following the last phase, the German Army never again held the initiative.
Meanwhile, Germany was crumbling internally as well. Anti-war marches were a frequent occurrence
and morale within the army was at low levels. Industrial output had fallen 53% from 1913.
On 8. August 1918, the predicted counter-offensive occurred. It involved 414 tanks, and 120,000
men. The allies had advanced twelve kilometres into German territory in just seven hours. Erich
Ludendorff referred to this day as "the blackest day for the German army in the history of the war".
Allied victory
Destroyed British tanks at Cambrai |
However, after a few days the offensive had slowed down—the British had encountered problems with
all but seven of their four hundred and fourteen tanks. On 15. August 1918, Haig called an end to
the offensive and began to plan for an offensive in Albert. That offensive came on 21. August.
Some 130,000 American troops were involved, along with soldiers from British third and fourth
armies. The offensive was an overwhelming success. The German second army had been pushed back
over a fifty-five kilometre front. The town of Bapaume was captured on 29. August and by 2.
September the Germans had been forced back to the Hindenburg Line.
The attempt to take the Hindenburg Line occurred on 26. September (known as the Meuse-Argone
offensive): 260,000 American soldiers went "over the top" towards the Hindenburg Line. All
divisions were successful in capturing their initial objectives, except the 79th division of
the AEF. They met stiff resistance at Montfaucon and were unable to progress. This failure
allowed the Germans to recover and regroup. Montfaucon was captured on 27. September. However,
failure to take it the day before proved to be one of the most costly mistakes of the entire
campaign.
By the start of October it was evident that things were not going according to plan. Many tanks
were once again breaking down, and those that were actually operable were rendered useless due
to tank commanders finding the terrain impossible to navigate. Regardless of this, Ludendorff
had decided by 1. October that Germany had two ways out—total annihilation or an armistice. He
recommended the latter to senior figures at a summit in Spa, Belgium on that very same day.
Pershing continued to pound the exhausted and bewildered Germans without relent for all of
October along the Meuse-Argonne front. This would continue until the end of the war.
Meanwhile, news of Germany's impending defeat had spread throughout the German Armed forces.
The threat of mutiny was rife. Naval commander Admiral Scheer and Ludendorff decided to launch
a last ditch attempt to restore the "valour" of the German navy. He knew that any such action
would be vetoed by the government of Max von Baden, so he made the decision not to inform him.
Via word of mouth or otherwise, word of the impending assault reached sailors at Kiel. Many of
the sailors took unofficial leave—refusing to be part of an offensive which they believed to
be nothing more than a suicide bid. It was mostly Ludendorff who took the fall for this—the
Kaiser dismissing him on 26. October.
Political and military battles
However, since the end of September 1918 Ludendorff had been concocting a plan of his own. Even
although he was a traditionalist conservative, he decided to try and incite a political
revolution by introducing new reforms that "democratized" Germany; also satisfying the
monarchists as the Kaiser's reign would continue unabridged. He believed that democratization
would show the German people that the government was prepared to change, thus reducing the
chance of a socialist style revolt as was seen in Russia in 1917.
However, it is the belief
of some historians that by doing so Ludendorff had an ulterior motive. His reforms would hand
more power over to the members of the Reichstag—particularly the ruling parties, at this time
the centre party (under Matthias Erzberger), the liberals, and the social democrats. Therefore,
with Ludendorff handing more power to these parties they would have the authority to request
an armistice. With 5,989,758 Germans casualties (4,216,058 wounded, 1,773,700 killed), they did
just that.
Soon after that, Ludendorff had a dramatic change of heart—and began to claim that
the very parties who he handed power to had lost Germany the war. These politicians had "stabbed
Germany in the back". Prince Max von Baden (SDP) was put in charge. Negotiations for a peace
were immediately put into place on his appointment. Also, he was torn between the idea of a
constitutional monarchy or complete abolition. However, the matter was taken out of his hands
by Philipp Scheidemann, who on 9. November 1918, declared Germany a Republic from a balcony
atop the Reichstag. Von Baden announced that the Kaiser was to abdicate—before the Kaiser had
himself made up his mind. Imperial Germany had died, and a new Germany had been born: the Weimar
Republic.
End of the war
Bulgaria was the first of the Central Powers to sign an armistice (29. September 1918). Germany
requested a cease-fire on 3. October 1918. When Wilhelm II ordered the German High Seas Fleet
to sortie against the Allied navies, they mutinied in Wilhelmshaven starting 29. October 1918.
On 30. October the Ottoman Empire capitulated. On 3. November Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce
to the Italian Commander to ask an Armistice and terms of peace. The Armistice with Austria was
granted to take effect on 4. November. Austria and Hungary had signed separate armistices following
the overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy.
Following the outbreak of the German Revolution, a Republic was proclaimed on 9. November, marking
the end of the German Empire. The Kaiser fled the next day to the Netherlands, which granted him
political asylum. On 11. November Germany signed in a railroad
car at Compiègne, in France, an armistice with the Allies. On the eleventh day of the eleventh
month at the eleventh hour it was official, the war was over.
Please see some Banknotes from WW1
|
