1-WWI+Allies+on+Brink

1. What were the objectives of the Allied blockade of Germany, and how was it carried out? What did the Germans do to try to work around it or break it? (Carlos Scott)

 * The British Government impeded the delivery of food supplies and raw materials to Germany and its allies.
 * The objective of the Allied blockade of Germany was to diminish the power of Germany by blocking all raw materials for weapons and food supplies. Without materials for their weapons or food for their troops, Germany was destine to lose the war.
 * Throughout the blockade, only few supplies reached Germany and its allies, causing to weaken their power and role in the war.
 * This marked the beginning of the “hunger blockade.”
 * British naval ships spent the war patrolling the North Sea in order to intercept and detain several merchant ships with the suspicion of harboring cargo to enemy shores.
 * Germany attempted to counterattack the blockade by creating a new, revolutionary weapon that was capable of subverting the British navy. That invention is the submarine.
 * Led to the signing of “Treaty of Versailles” in June 1919.

2. What were the effects of the blockade on Germany by 1917-18? To what extent could the blockade be viewed as total war? (Carlos Scott)
3. Why was the blockade continued beyond the armistice? To what extent should this be viewed as a violation of the armistice? To what extent did it affect the Versailles peace process? (Carlos Scott)
 * The creation of the submarine led the the policy of “unrestricted submarine warfare” after the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915.
 * German citizens were often hungry and few starved.
 * German imports fell by 55%
 * The blockade caused a shortage in important raw materials such as coal and various non-ferrous metals but most importantly, the blockade cut off fertilizer supplies that were vital to German agriculture.
 * These shortages caused looting and food riots.
 * Diseases spread all throughout Germany such as scurvy, tuberculosis, and dysentery in 1917.
 * The “Influenza pandemic” in 1918 caused disproportionate suffering among the already weaken people by malnutrition and related diseases.
 * The blockade can be viewed as a total war because Germany used extreme war measures in order to counterattack the blockade. They created the submarine, the German U-Boats, and sunk the Lusitania that created a giant conflict with the US. Their objective was to remove the blockade and regain German power.
 * Civilians were also affected by the blockade because they suffered immensely due to starvation.
 * Civilians also suffered in the winter of 1917 because potatoes ran out and the only alternative were turnips. This then caused the winter to be named the "Turnip Winter."
 * Germany used new technology to develop new weapons such as battleships, battle cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats.
 * The armistice is a temporary suspension of violence by agreeing in truce. The Armistice of  Compiègne was an agreement between the Germans and the allies to end the war on November, 11, 1918. The Armistice had to be done because the blockade lasted 8 months which severely caused suffrage to Germany and its citizens. However, the blockade had to be carried out until Germany accepted the Treaty of Versailles. The blockade can be viewed as a violation of the armistice because even though it was considered a truce, it wasn't truce because food and raw materials kept being controlled by the allies and being not delivered to Germany. Germany agreed to sign the Treaty of Versailles but did not consider it a surrender even if they were defeated. The armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 which ended the whole conflict but it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the actual peace treaty. It also slowed down the process of signing the Treaty of Versailles because Germany was already defeated and diminished in supplies. If the allies had continued to fight instead of having an extensive period of peace, the allies would have defeated Germany much quicker and would had won the war. Germany felt that they were pushed against a wall and knew that they were low on supplies and food and they believed the armistice would allow them time to stack up on supplies. Therefore, Germany initiated the armistice with the allies.

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 * Bibliography
 * "The National Archives | Exhibitions & Learning Online | First World War | Spotlights on History." //The National Archives | Exhibitions & Learning Online | First World War | Spotlights on History //. National Archives, n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. 
 * "World War One and "Total War"" //Rudbeck-IB-History-Revision //. Wikispaces, 2013. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. .
 * Hickman, Kennedy. "Aftermath of World War I: The Seeds of Future Conflict Sown." //About.com Military History //. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. .
 * Payne, David. "The Western Front Association: Furthering Interest in the Great War 1914-18 | Explore | Learn | Share." //The Effect Of The British Naval And Economic Blockade On The Western Front In The Great War //. N.p., 3 Aug. 2008. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. .

====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">When the war started in 1914, Russia was not prepared at all, especially after their embarrassing defeat by Japan in the Russo-Japanese war. The reforms and rebuilding of the country was not complete after the world war. They were having political and economic problem including the militarization of the industry and crises in food supply, causing disaster threat to the home front. There were many issues with supplies such as food because of the war and the trouble of their own country was larger than the war. This caused them to have the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Czar of Russia was keeping them in the war even though it was not beneficial to them and they were losing men in the war. The civilian men and women protested in order to overthrow him but realized that they had no government. Lenin stepped in with communist ideas and promised them peace, land and bread. They would have peace by withdrawing from the war and work for money for food. Russia needed to withdraw because they had to deal with their own issues, much more important and larger from dealing with issues of the rest of the world. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">In 1917, after the Russians left the war, the Germans were in a favorable situation because the disintegration of the Russian Army would allow the Germans to focus their forces on the Western Front. Ludendorff prepared a massive attack to be launched in the next spring before the American Army was able to maximize their fighting potential European soil. The offensive would take effect on the British Army at Arras, Messines, Passchendaele and Cambrai. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">In April 1918, the German divisions on the Eastern Front moved to the French Border. There were 110 divisions along this western border and 50 of them were sent to the British side even though the French border was much longer. The offense had 2 phases: One for Somme and the other for the French Flanders. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">In the first part of the offense, Operation Michael was used to attack the British in Arras and then go to the North and cut off the railway supply line. They hoped that it would help take over, so the British would surrender. The section of the Arras was actually taken over by the British because of requests by the French. ====

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> //The effect on the British, French and Italians//
====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The line by the French was not defended well and the British needed to improve their forts. These improvements had not been set in stone when the Germans attacked. There was not enough time for them to prepare and defend their lines better. At the same time, the British Army had a difficult issue with reduction in reinforcements and confidence of war after the loss at the Third Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Cambrai. This situation was not caused by the German offense but it made it harder for them to cope with the German offense because their issues already were hindering them from defending their side. In 21 March 1918, Operation Michael was a surprise to the British troops. The Germans were numerically larger and had a massive advantage and attacked the British front within a few hours. Many of their divisions were completely devastated and the ones that were not affected retreated, and increased chaos for the British fighting methods. The roads were packed and the Germans were still shooting at the crowds to add to the general panic. There was panic between the allies and the political/military leaders. They feared a complete collapse of their countries. The leaders wanted to coordinate the Allied forces in the field, an which had been put off since the beginning of the war. The German advance began to slow after a few days because of logistical problems (supplies of munitions and food for the troops were insufficient) and the increasing resistance of the Allies. During this time the two countries had been pretty weak and had gotten worse after the sudden attack of the Germans. The second phase of the German offensive, Operation Georgette (Battle of the Lys), was in French Flanders on 9 April. The British and the French were already affected by the The battle started with success similar to the first phase. Despite the huge losses the Allies succeeded in stabilizing the front and by 29 April the Kaiserschlacht had run its course, ending in failure. The losses were detrimental for both sides because of the huge number of troops taking part and the extended duration of the offensive. The British lost 236,000 men between 21 March and 29 April 1918. The way that the losses occurred was unusual in that relatively few soldiers were killed while many were lost in action (120,000), for the most part taken prisoner. The French suffered fewer losses (92,000). The fact that the Germans were encouraged by their great offenses caused them too much confidence in the situation and they made multiple mistakes. They split up their army while fighting and that was considered a huge mistake. At the same time, even though, at the end the french had fewer losses they still were affected by the Germans. Although they might have improved their tactics to an extent along the way, when the first phase of attacks occurred, the french were not very good at defending their line, giving them a disadvantage. This caused more issues during the second phase of attacks. They were finally able to stabilize their front, which saved them from being defeated completely. As for the British, they were in the same situation as the French. They had gained the line at Arras but had not figured out how to completely defend that portion well. At that time, the surprise attack occurred, flustering them and creating chaos, which could have been avoided if they were ready in the beginning. Although they had the line somewhat ready, and even if it was fully ready they had already been defeated and badly affected by the reduction of reinforcements. As for the Italians, the Austro-Hungarian offenses led by the Germans affected them greatly and the suffered enormously. There were 10,000 killed, 30,000 wounded and 265,000 imprisoned. The morale in the troops were so low and part of that could be that because of the harsh discipline because most of them men had surrendered. They were on the verge of losing the war because when they had been attacked they had practically no mobile reserves. They didn't have ways of properly defending themselves. On the other hand, German forces had been fighting against the Eastern Front as well as the Western Front even though they had been struggling to feed and supply its armies. The inadequate supplies and the malnutrition in Germany and in the other central power countries in general. The Italians began to oppose the pressure that was put on them by the Central Powers. Although the German powers were having issues, the Italians were still not able to oppose them completely and they were badly crippled from the situation. (picture) ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The Ottomans originally had been in a period of decline since the late 16th century and decided that it didn't want to participate in World War 1. Later on, the Ottomans created an alliance with Germany and because of that ended up joining the war on the side of the Central Powers. They joined in October of 1914 and they were very driven while together with the other large powers, for example Germany. Even though they had a period of decline, they still decided to join Germany and the Central Powers and the Turks fought greatly and successfully defended the "Gallipolli Peninsula" against a massive Allied invasion in 1915 and 1916. In 1918, they had been defeated by British and Russian forces. They were also affected by an Arab revolt in the country and all of these events combined to the destruction leaving their land devastated and 6 million people were dead and many more starving. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> Negotiations began on October 30, 1918. The Treaty of Mudros stated that hostilities would end the next day. Turkey had to open the Dardanelles and Bosporus to Allied warships and its forts to military. It also had to demobilize its army, release all prisoners of war and evacuate its Arab provinces. The majority of these were already under Allied control. Delegates in the Ottomans refused to make the treaty as an act of surrender for Turkey causing anger in Constantinople. The Treaty of Mudros ended Ottoman participation in World War I and effectively marked the falling apart of a great empire. The First World War attempted to use the post-war peace negotiations to create a new creation, the modern Middle East. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">With Austria, when the British and French reinforcement reached the Balkans and Italy, the Austrian Emperor decided in October 1918 that they wanted to make peace with the Allies after this situation. Later in October, as the Austrian Army retreated from Piave. By the end of October, Germany was still trying to find a good, favorable way out of the war but Austro-Hungary could not wait any longer because their country was falling apart. On October 27th, 1918, Austria approached the Allies by themselves for an armistice and the Austrian army retreated from the war the same day. On October 29th the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes said they would start the establishment of a southern Slavic state called Yugoslavia. On October 30th, an Austrian delegate group arrived in Italy to surrender. On that day, Hungary also formally declared independence. After that day, the Austrian Armistice was in place and Austria-Hungary did not exist. ====


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">What were the French & British views of the American entry into the war? To what extent could it be **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">argued that US entry sealed the defeat of the Central Powers? **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The French and British views on the American entry to the war was positive. The United States was immediately able to aid the Allies in several ways. The American navy was used to protect Allied ships from German submarines The US government helped the Allies with loans and the United States brought industrial strength and manufactured goods to the Allies. Factories and farms increased production and so the federal government set up the War Industries Board to direct factories in making more war goods to help the war efforts. The Food Administration was given the power to set food prices and to limit the amount of food sold at home. The US government was able to ship multiple tons of food to the Allied powers.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> In order to help the allies even more, and raise an army the Congress passed a Selective Service Act in May of 1917 which gave the government the ability to send men from America to help the war. Unfortunately, these men had to be trained really well and be outfitted as well. Many American soldiers didn't go there until 1918 and by the end of the war over 4 million Americans had served in the war and 1/2 of them were sent overseas. There were a shortage of workers in the US and more women entered the workforce.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> It can be seen that America joining the Allies helped to seal the fate of Central Powers because, first of all, they had basically created a new backbone for the other allies to lean on. Although America had to borrow money from the people for this situation, they were still able to help them out. Because of the fact that America had only been able to help financially and with goods for so long, Germany was very certain that it would take a very long time before American soldiers would be sent to France. This gave them the assurance that they were safe and nothing would really happen to them. Because of this assurance, Germany started planning the series of attacks, starting in March 1918. This relates heavily to the Russian Revolution and the German Offenses on British, Italy and France. At this point, the allies had been badly weakened by the previous years of trench warfare. They thought that they could easily defeat them. However, by early 1918, the United States was prepared to send soldiers overseas. 85,000 American soldiers arrived in France in March 1918. In April, 120,000 more troops were sent. An average of 200,000 American soldiers arrived in France each month for the next 6 months. American soldiers went toward the front to help stop the German attack. In May 1918, American and Allied forces won an important battle at Chateau-Thierry. This victory ended the German advance. The Allies were able have a counterattack against the German army in July 1918. American soldiers attacked the German line at Saint-Mihiel, France because Germany had held this town from 1914. The Americans forced the Germans to retreat. Two weeks later, the Americans found themselves involved in more fighting. This battle, at Meuse-Argonne caused heavy losses on both sides. In the end, the Germans were defeated. By October 1918, the German army had been beaten by the Allies. The German government asked for an armistice in November and on November 11, 1918, the fighting stopped.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Works Cited

====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">"Effect of World War I on Each Country." Worldology. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.worldology.com/Europe/world_war_1_effect.htm>. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Subject. "Power, Parity,Preponderance and War between the Great Powers 1816-1989." Jstor.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3176205?&Search=yes&searchText=italy&searchText=war&searchText=world&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528world%2Bwar%2Bone%2Bitaly%2529%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=18&ttl=151815&ret>. ==== <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Subject. "Treaty of Peace Between the Allied and Associated Powers and Hungary and Protocol and Declaration." Jstor.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2212918?seq=4>. ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">the. "First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Minor Powers During World War One - Austria-Hungary." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/minorpowers_ah.htm>. ====