THE EASTERN FRONT THE EASTERN FRONT 1914 Russia

THE EASTERN FRONT

THE EASTERN FRONT- 1914 • Russia unprepared for prolonged warfare • Terrible logistics • Lack of industrial manufacturing • Severe lack of ammo • Incompetent command (with exception) • Covert mobilization before the war broke out disrupted success of Schlieffen Plan

THE EASTERN FRONT- 1914 • Faster mobilization than Germany expected • Early Russian victory Battle of Galacia; forced GM to divert troops from the W. Front • Battle of Tannenberg (1914) drove Russia out of Germany • Worsened RU position after Turkey enters the war • Cuts out Dardanelles supply route Beginning of pattern: • AH defeated, GM comes to AH’s aid

Alexander Sampsonov Paul von Rennenkampf

THE EASTERN FRONT- 1915 • Russia withstands poorly planned AH attack in the Carpathians • Austro-German offensive in May stabilizes the line • End of the year • 450 km lost • Million dead; million POWs

THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE, 1916

THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE, 1916 • Russia launched 450 km assault from Austria -Hungary to Romania • Pioneered tactic of combined arms • Accurate artillery barrages followed by rapid infantry assaults • Used specially trained small units to open weak points in the AH line • 60, 000 Austrians taken as prisoner in the first week

THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE, 1916 • Greatest Russian success • Relieved pressure from Verdun • RU advanced 160 km against AH • Germans halted offensive (350, 000 casualties) • 340, 000 AH casualties (400 k taken prisoner) • Heavy casualties greatly weakened the Russian army

FALL OF TSARIST RUSSIA • Economic hardships at home combined with terrible casualties • February Revolution (1917) • Tsar Nicholas II abdicates the throne • Provisional Government continues the war effort • Economic crisis increases support for Bolshevik party • Overthrow gov’t in Oct. 1917

TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK-1918 • Removed Russia from the war with Germany • Harsh conditions • Gave of 1/3 of Russian farmland • 2/3 of coal mines & ½ of its industry • 5 billion rouble indemnity • Germany can focus everything on Western Front

THE ITALIAN FRONT • Half of Italian casualties along the Isonzo • Joined Allies in 1915 • Promised AH land after the war • Opened front between Italy and AH along River Isonzo • Difficulty fighting in mountains; little progress against AH • AH now fighting a two-fronted war

TURKEY AND THE MIDDLE EASTERN FRONTS

TURKISH EMPIRE • Joined Central Powers to halt Russian expansion • Allies attack in three campaigns • Gallipoli Campaign • Mesopotamian campaign • Palestinian campaign

GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN • Original goal: • British ships storm Gallipoli and rush to attack Constantinople • Open a supply route to Russian front through Dardanelles • Attack AH to open a new front • Hopefully an alternative to stalemate on the W. Front

GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN • “We live in a trench and it’s a mercy it don’t rain otherwise we’d be washed • First stage = naval bombardment away. The fighting just lately has been • Allied ships damaged from mines and artillery terrible. Our shells knock the enemy all ways and the sight in the trenches that • Moved to a land invasion instead in we take is awful. We wear our respirators April 1915 because of the awfull smell of the dead. • Supported by ANZAC forces I’ll never get the sight out of my eyes, (Australian and New Zealand Armed and it will be an everlasting nightmare. If I Corps) spared to abandoned come home, I’ll • am Campaign inbe able to tell you all about it, but I cannot possibly • Suffered from delays, lack of November write as words fail me. I can’t describe coordination, and shortages • Cost 250, 000 Allied casualties things. ”

MESOPOTAMIAN CAMPAIGN • Attempt to win control of oil rich deposits • Turks led by German officers • Britain controlled Basra, Baghdad and Mosul by end of the war

PALESTINIAN CAMPAIGN • British, Anzac and Indian troops push back Turks towards Turkey itself • Timed with the Arab Revolt (June 1916) • Arabs support British with guerilla warfare • Promised independence after the war

PALESTINIAN CAMPAIGN Mc. Mahon–Hussein Correspondence (1915) • Arab independence for Allied support Sykes-Picot Agreement (1915) • Partition of Middle East between Britain and France • Promised creation of Zionist state (Palestine) Balfour Declaration (1917)

PALESTINIAN CAMPAIGN • Arabs advised by T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) • Guerrilla attack on Turkish railways • British defeat the Turks at Battle of Megiddo • Turks surrender November 3, 1918

U. S. JOINS THE WAR • Mainly Isolationist (still traded with Allies) • German submarines targeted all ships helping the Allies • Sinking of Lusitania temporarily suspended attacks • Attacks resumed in Jan. 1917 • Germans knew this would prompt U. S. response

U. S. JOINS THE WAR • Zimmerman Telegram • Sent to GM. ambassador in Mexico; U. S. territory for military alliance • Intercepted by British • Public outrage prompted declaration of war against GM in April 1917 • Germany being starved by Allied blockade; U. S. now sending troops