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History Notes Roads to Modernity 1789-1945 Notes

The First World War Revision Notes

Updated The First World War Revision Notes

Roads to Modernity 1789-1945 Notes

Roads to Modernity 1789-1945

Approximately 40 pages

Notes outlining the multiple peace settlements after WW1 and their weaknesses. Sections detailing aggression of what would later become the axis powers and the responses of other European countries alongside very detailed notes on the policy of appeasement and the events preceding the outbreak of war.

Includes a definition of what 'New Imperialism' is, notes on British imperialism, the social implications of imperialism and detailed historiographical interpretations including major theories s...

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The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Roads to Modernity 1789-1945 Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

The First World War Revision

Lecture:

The Outbreak of War:

  • Initial reaction was patriotism

  • Jingoism?

  • Rush to enlist

  • Overriding response, however, was resignation

A war of movement:

  • Cult of the offensive

  • Battle of the Frontiers

  • Attempts at a swift and decisive victory

    • Schlieffen Plan

  • Initial French gains reversed by German counter-offensives

  • For the French it was a war of good vs. evil

  • ‘Over by Christmas’?

  • Military leaders anticipated a long war

    • Moltke – “[Germany must] prepare… for a long campaign, with numerous tough, protracted battles”

    • Kitchener, Haig and Joffre anticipated a long war

    • Due to the enlargement of land armies in the years preceding the outbreak of war it would be a long struggle

    • Military advances had bolstered defensive weaponry far more than offensive

      • Machine gun

    • Paradoxically the notion of stalemate along the front increased the fervour of belief in the cult of the offensive

Miracle of the Marne:

  • Over 1 million men on each side

  • Allied offensive; force Germans across the Marne and thus protect Paris

  • German counter-attack

  • French sixth army stretched

  • Utilised taxis to transport reserve troops to the front line

  • The Germans entrenched themselves after retreating 40 miles

  • 10-11 September 1914 – allies won the battle of the Marne

    • Optimism was retained

The Eastern Front:

  • Russia was slow to mobilise; supply lines stretched

  • Nevertheless 6 million troops mobilised

  • Russian 1st and 2nd armies to invade East Prussia

  • Hindenburg and Ludendorff masterminded the overwhelming German victory against the Russians at the battle of Tannenberg

    • Tannenberg provided the Germans with morale and heroes

    • Russians realised how futile the attempt at a swift victory was

1915 – A ‘World War’:

  • German successes in the East force a Russian retreat

  • Stalemate on the western front

  • Other theatres – Gallipoli, Italian fighting in the alps

  • Colonial troops were integral, especially in the British military effort

    • Indians

  • Activity of German U-boats, and the British blockade, made the war a worldwide phenomenon

1916 – Verdun & the Somme:

  • By 1916 both sides acknowledged that the war would ultimately be won on the western front

  • German assault on Verdun

  • Successful defence – led by Petain

    • Becomes symbolic to the French defensive effort

    • Petain becomes a national hero

    • Half a million deaths

    • Strategic system of warfare remained unchanged

  • 1st July 1916 – battle of the Somme; meant to alleviate pressure on the French at Verdun

  • In this sense, success?

  • Staggering death toll

    • 1st day – 21000 dead or missing

    • 600,000 deaths for 10km gain by the allies

  • ‘Lions led by donkeys’

    • Incompetence of British military leaders

  • Encapsulated the futility of trench warfare

1917 – Western front:

  • More costly battles

  • Britain more prominent – France exhausted, Russia preoccupied with internal split

  • Passchendaele

  • Technological innovations

    • The tank, aerial reconnaissance, intelligence, radio communications

    • No improvements aided the war effort significantly immediately

    • Morale in Britain low

1916-17 Russia:

  • 1916 Russians had more success

  • However it came at a great cost

    • Over 1,000,000 men lost

  • February 1917 – Revolution

  • Provisional Government continued the war

  • Bolshevik coup d’état

    • Peace, land, bread

    • Promise to withdraw Russia from the war generated much support for Lenin and the Bolsheviks

America enters the war:

  • Sinking of Lusitania caused the death of many Americans

    • This was capitalised on by the British propaganda to incite war fury in America

  • Massive morale boost for the allies

  • Compensated for the surrender of the Russians

  • Zimmerman telegram January 1917

    • German telegram to Mexico proposing that they declare war on the USA and capture New Mexico, Arizona and Texas

      • Preoccupy USA, allow Germany to win the war, send help to Mexico

    • British intercept the telegram and show the Americans

    • America enters the war within 6 weeks

  • However the American troops were slow to arrive and ill-prepared for the nature of European trench warfare...

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