1-WWI+Mutiny

Mateen Ali The grievances of the French soldier that mutinied at Verdun were their refusal to be sent on suicidal attacks in order to just be slaughtered. It was General Neville's attempt at winning the war, to charge the Germans, but it ended up with the French troops getting massacred. Previously they had been entrenched with terrible conditions, including living with rats, having lice, and rotting corpses decaying everywhere. There was PTSD to struggle with due to the threat of artillery killing them at any point in time.
 * The Poilú Mutiny of 1917 **
 * What were the grievances of the French soldiers who mutinied at Verdun and beyond in 1917? **

The French Government responded by firing General Neville and replacing him with a different one (General Petain) that immediately went throughout the camps and tried to revive the armies morale. This helped decrease the amount of mutinies that left the army. The French Army decided to court martial all of the mutiny leaders, which led to 43 death sentences. After which they had charges brought up on nearly 20,000 mutineers, these men got off with very minor offenses.
 * How did the French Army & government respond, and what were the results? **

The Poilu Mutiny was to a decent extent was an extension of social tensions in Western Europe between the upper class and the lower class because even the people that were in lower societal circles wanted to be treated better, which shows that people wanted their rights as seen by the French Soldiers. These Social tensions between the people shows how the lives of men are all valuable regardless of their social status.
 * To what extent was the Poilú Mutiny an extension of the social tensions in Western Europe in the late 19th Century? **

The civilians around the country were being drafted left and right due to the fact that all able bodied men within France had to be utilized. These soldiers had little time away from the front which meant that they’d have mental instability. Also, guns had to be mass produced in order to have enough supply, with the large amounts of shortages that occurred. Therefore it had a decent level of total war, but the overall destruction of trench warfare did not get near the civilians, so this is clearly less than WW2 in terms of total war.
 * How might we use the Poilú Mutiny to illustrate the concepts of total war? **

Throughout the Great War there was a heavy emphasis on trench warfare, which was essential to this event. This embodied the entire difficulties with trench warfare because the soldiers proved the limitations. The soldiers realized throughout this event that regardless of the tactics, victory is impossible and that they did not want to attack and die for no reason. This is unique because this is the first instance where it seems people realize just how pointless trench warfare was.
 * To what extent was it an event unique to the context of the Great War? **

The way that soldiers within the French army were treated greatly improved, due to the fact that the government had to reevaluate how they were doing. This also lead to a change in command as General Petain took over and raised morale throughout the camps. He was able to use his strategies to restore order through the army and avoid pointless casualties. He waited until America came to their aid.
 * To what extent did it bring the war closer to an end? **

Bibliography: McEvoy, William P., and Spencer C. Tucker. "French Army Mutiny: World War I." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

Keene, Jennifer Diane. "Between Mutiny and Obedience: The Case of the French Fifth Infantry Division during World War I.." Journal of Social History 22 Dec. 1995: 234-345. Print.

McEvoy, William P., and Spencer C. Tucker. "French Army Mutiny: World War I." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. = =

=__**The Keil Mutiny of 1918**__= __**Natasha Dangol**__ It all started in November 1917, by German sailors who were stationed in Kiel harbor; a strategic port that linked the Baltic and Nordic seas. The German army was afraid to take military action because they were too afraid to lose the vital battle fleet in combat. The sailors were frustrated at waiting. They were also underfed and badly treated. In their frustration and discontent, they learned of the growing peace sentiments among the civilians they began to associate with. When the sailors were ordered to attack British and U.S. naval forces, they mutinied. They refused to follow orders and began to destroy the ship and the equipment. As a response Germany sent in their marines and the sailors surrendered without any bloodshed but 1,000 were arrested. Other German ships arrived and learned of the mutiny. Then, German troops executed 8 civilian demonstrators sympathetic to their cause on November 3. The remaining soldiers formed councils and began to attempt to free the sailors. The following night of November 4, over 25,000 sailors rebelled, disarmed their officers and took over the entire German fleet. Eventually they marched inland and formed revolutionary governments that were quite popular with the civilians. By November 9th, they had achieved a military coup d’etat in Berlin, eventually forming the Weimar Republic. The sailors and civilians wanted to end the war. In the five months before the Kiel mutiny, resistance and discontent were common among the soldiers also. A growing number of soldiers on the western front began widespread desertion and acts of protest. Most of this news was suppressed to maintain the pro-war propaganda among the civilians by General Scheüchof the High Command. However he had reduced censorship by November 2 and the Kiel Revolts became known to all who were in favor of opposing the government. This brought massive soldiers’ movement of wholesale opposition of war from August 1918 onwards and the generals were powerless to quell it. The numbers of deserters were estimated at more than three–quarters of a million. Furthermore, widespread hunger and exhaustion at home began a wave of strikes (mostly industrial) against the military and political establishment in at least fifty–five towns and cities in January 1918. The November Revolution took Germany by storm, it spread throughout the whole country. But there was disagreement among the several parties who were ready to assume power. The Senate (the local city administration) and the council mutually recognized one another but failed to work alongside each other. They were too focused on organized elections for the worker and social councils instead of more pressing problems like food,the revolutions and “links to the outside”-diplomatic relations. This was a harbinger to more disagreement to come after. Democracy was a difficult transition for Germany, it takes a lengthy process to come to an agreement and even longer to unite the people as a political body. “Democracy is an attempt to simultaneously overcome this isolation and this passivity.” The Versailles Treaty was not received very well in Germany. It worsened the political tensions by adding another obstacle for the government. Germany had a reputation for an effective government that was challenged after the war. Economically Germany suffered, and it was worsened by the reparations placed on them. Among the internal disputes, the split between the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany- the right) and the KPD (the Communist Party of Germany- the left). The SPD’s use of “calling on the forces” of the Right created a greater divide between the two. The Versailles Treaty further polarized the political parties. The Reich government was obliged to raise taxes to pay for the burden of the war loans, the weakening of the post-war economy, and the demands of reparations. “Nothing was therefore easier to turn opposition to the tax reform into an attack on the Republic” The Kiel Mutiny foretold the political disunity of Germany and its dire prospects for the future. As desperation climbed on to the civilians in a post war society, some began to turn to fascism. The years prior to 1922, there was much resistance to Facism, but after Hitler came into power many things seemed questionable. Hitler was obsessed with the Versailles treaty at first, as a result of which he regarded France, England and the U.S. the “absolute opponents of the Reich”- in response of the reparations they demanded. By that time Russia had consolidated the Bolsheviks (Communists) in power and Hitler had yet another factor to manipulate the population in his favor.
 * What were the grievances of the German sailors of the High Seas Fleet who mutinied in 1918? How did the German government respond, and what were the results? **
 * To what extent was the Kiel Mutiny an __extension of the sentiment of front-line__ ** **German soldiers by 1918? Of the German home front?**
 * To what extent does the Kiel Mutiny __characterize the challenges that faced Germany after the war?__ To what extent does it factor into __the German acceptance of the Versailles Treaty__? Of the __Weimar Republic__? Into the growing popularity of __fascism__ after 1922? **

Dauvé, Gilles, and Denis Authier. "The 1918 “November Revolution”." The Communist Left in Germany. 1918-1921: The 1918 "November Revolution" N.p.,n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013. .
 * Bibliography **

Kallis, Aristotle A. Fascist Ideology: Territory and Expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922-1945. London: Routledge, 2000. Questia School. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

"Kiel Mutiny." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

Kirk, Tim, and Anthony McElligott, eds. Opposing Fascism: Community, Authority, and Resistance in Europe. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 1999. Questia School. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

Pulzer, Peter. Germany, 1870-1945: Politics, State Formation, and War. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997. Questia School. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

= **French & German Labor Strikes, 1917-19** = **Jason Fang**

**What were the grievances of French and German workers who went on strike in 1917 to 1919? How did their respective military and government authorities respond?**

In general, the grievances of the French and German workers who went on strike in 1917 were were primarily low wages, long work days, and food shortages, and in 1918 to 1919 the grievances were regarding human rights violations, drafting, and war weariness. The war required greater industrial output, which meant longer work hours and shorter wages of the workers, as well as supply shortages, which meant less food, clothing, etc. for the workers. Struggles for higher wages and shorter work hours were the primary goals of the strikes, although shortage of coal, clothing, food, rations, and war-weariness were causes of strikes as well.

In general, the military and government authorities responded to the strikes by making concessions early on in the war, and as the war dragged on the responses of the governments changed as the the goals of the strikes changed. For example, in 1917 the French Chamber of Deputies approved a limited eight hour work day in response to a growing strike movement protesting long work hours, and in both countries in 1917 there were many successful wage struggles. However as the war dragged on and both countries needed more soldiers to fight, drafting became a primary focal point for labor strikes. Both the military and government authorities of France and Germany responded to strikes against drafts by using force to quell the strikes and forcefully draft workers. For example, in 1918 strikes took place all over France over the drafting of workers, the use of foreign workers, and the failure of the government to seek a peaceful resolution to the war, and the French authorities responded by putting down the strike and drafting the strikers with military force. In 1918, strikes took place in munitions factories all over the major German cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Kiel, Essen, and Leipzig regarding food shortages and restricted freedoms, to which the German government responded by imposing a martial law on German factories, hushing up strikes with police force, drafting thousands of workers, and imprisoning hundreds of workers. In 1919, a general strike in Berlin is quelled with artillery, bomber planes, flamethrowers, and machine gun fire, wherein thousands of strikers and their families are killed.

**Should the strikes of 1917-19 best be understood as an extension of late-19th/early-20th Cent. worker movements, or as a reaction to the war?**

The strikes of 1917-1919 are, in general, best understood as reactions to the war. This is not to say that they are not extensions of late 19th/early 20th Century worker movements; rather, in 1917 the labor strikes are best understood as extensions of socialist worker movements of the late-19th/early-20th Century, and the strikes in the latter years of 1918-1919 are best understood as reactions to the war. The strikes in 1917 were primarily protests against low wages and long hours, whereas the strikes in 1918-1919 were primarily protests against drafting and restricted freedoms; in other words, the early strikes were simply for better working conditions whereas the later strikes were caused by general war weariness.

**How might the French & German labor strikes of 1917-19 be used to illustrate the concepts of total war? To what extent did it bring the war closer to an end?**

The labor strikes can be used to illustrate the concepts of greater civilian involvement in the war, which is a fundamental aspect of total war. The causes of the strikes indicate that the civilians were very much involved in the war: food shortages and rationing affected everyone, compulsory labor service, compulsory military service, government supervision, and human rights suppression.

Although their effects were not dramatic on the decision to bring the war to a closer end, the labor strikes demonstrated general war weariness, which certainly contributed to the decision to bring the war to an end.

Sources

[|__http://www.questiaschool.com/read/14426454/labor-and-world-war-i-1914-1918__]

[|__http://www.questiaschool.com/read/99121285/the-pivotal-conflict-a-comprehensive-chronology-of__]

__ [|http://www.questiaschool.com/read/983489/germany-and-the-central-powers-in-the-world-war-19] __