World War I
The Courses and Costs of War, 1914-1918
War in the West
• “Rape” of Belgium (Leuven, Aug. 26, 1914)
(Much propaganda: Kadaververwertungsanstalt
• Miracle of the Marne—September 5-14, 1914
(500,000 casualties)
• Christmas Truce
• Stalemate
• Trench warfare in Myth and Memory
• Gallipoli—failed attempt at breaking stalemate.
(April 1915-Jan. 1916)
“Dulce et Decorum Est”
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Bent double, like old beggars under
sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we
cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our
backs
And towards our distant rest began to
trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost
their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went
lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the
hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that
dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of
fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and
stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime
. ..
Dim, through the misty panes and thick
green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him
drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless
sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking,
drowning.
•
If in some smothering dreams you too
could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him
in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in
his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of
sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the
blood
Come gargling from the frothcorrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent
tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such
high zest
To children ardent for some desperate
glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
--Winfred Owen, 1917
Christmas Truce Video
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Der Krieg in Osten
• Russia invaded East Prussia and Galicia.
• Defeated at Tanneberg (Aug. 23-30, 1914)
• Russians hold Galicia; forced Germany to
commit more troops to bail out Austrian ally.
• February 1915, Russians forced to retreat along
Eastern Front following Second Battle of the
Mausurian Lakes.
• Russia still in war, but attrition helped bring on
1917 Revolution.
• Unified Central Powers Command in East, but
can’t knock Russia out of the War.
Tannenberg Memorial—dedicated in August 1924
Italy’s War
• Joins the Allies with promises of receiving the Irrendenta,
if Allies are successful.
• 11 Battles fought along the Isonzo River between 1915
and September 1917
• Battle at Caporetto (24 Oct.-19 Nov., 1917) 31,000
Italian Casualties and 265,000 Italian Pows.
• Italians hold at Battle of Paive River, June 1918. (’99
boys)
• Italians counter attack at Battle of Vittorio Vento (Oct.
1918) and Austria sues for peace.
• Italy suffered 650,000 military deaths and 1.2 million war
related deaths overall.
The Grisly War (1916-1917)
• Verdun (Feb. 21-Dec. 16 1917) over 1
million casualties—300,000 dead
• Voie Sacrée; tranchee des baionnettes
• The Somme (July 1-November 18, 1916)
over 1 million casualties—300,000 dead
• Tanks
• Societal Mobilization—Defense of the Real
Act.
1917 Year of Changes
• French Army Mutiny
• Russian Revolution
• Germany’s Gamble—unrestricted SubWarfare and Zimmermann Telegram
• U. S. enters war, 1917
Unterseebooten
U-Boats at Kiel in 1914
U-20, sank Lusitania, May 7, 1915
Das Ende
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Friedensturm
2d Battle of Marne (15 July-6 August, 1918)
German home front suffering
Kiel Mutiny (Nov. 1918)
Woodrow Wilson and the 14 points
Allied counteroffensive
Generals decide to preserve the army rather than the
state.
• Kaiser abdicates—Philipp Schneidemann proclaims
republic—9 Nov. 1918
• Origen of dolchstasse.
• Armistice—Nov. 11, 1918.
Ludendorff
Schneidemann proclaims
Deutche Republik
Balance Sheet
• The total number of casualties in World
War I, both military and civilian, were
about 37 million: 16 million deaths and 21
million wounded. The total number of
deaths includes 9.7 million military
personnel and about 6.8 million civilians.
• 750,000 Germans died of starvation.
• $337,980,579,657 – calculated cost of
World War 1