One of the main factors was the blank check that Germany gave Austria-Hungary. Allowing Austria-Hungary to go to war on Serbia, with Germany’s full support. Austria-Hungary wanted to go to war on Serbia because, a member of the Black Hand (a Serbian terrorist group) assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Austria-Hungary served a harsh ultimatum on Serbia, and if they didn’t agree they would declare war. They had known Serbia would reject the ultimatum.
From “War of Movement” to “Stalemate” The Schlieffen Plan: * Germans believed they could win the war quickly. 1905, General Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen planned a way of preventing Germany from fighting a war on two fronts. He believed that it was a priority to defeat France quickly, forcing them to surrender before Russia had a chance to mobilise her armed forces * Helmuth von Moltke revised/modified the plan, less prepared to take risks than Schlieffen – lacked faith in elements of the original plan. * Execution of Schlieffen Plan led to Britain declaring war on Germany and honouring alliance/agreement guaranteeing protection of Belgian neutrality and territory against invasion, 4th August 1914. * Moltke changed ratio of number of troops in right wing to left wing from 7:1 to 3:1 as he thought the left wing were too small and might be over-run and forced back by French forces; weakened the main strike force by diverting more German troops reinforcing Eastern Front from right wing to support Austria-Hungary * Right wing (main attack force) of the German army would mobilise in massive strength (north) and invade France through neutral Belgium * Smaller left wing (decoy/diversion) would hold French army on Rhine border against unexpected attack through Alsace-Lorraine * French Plan 17 went to German hands.
This led to a disaster for Britain, which lost its own troops, as well as ANZAC troops dispatched to fight for her. * Britain tried to attack Turkey through Basra and Palenstine, but with no success. * As 1914, 1915 fails to bring any significant changes to the front lines. * Basra Landing * Palestine. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/western_front/index_embed.shtml -Ferro called 1915 as the `year of weak point strategy´.
This can be argued was to do with this battle because Valen lost two thirds of his army. It also showed that the Roman legions were no match for the heavy cavalry which many empires started to recruit. This then led to the Middle Ages and knights. The weakness of the Roman legionaries was showed again in 410 in the sacking of Rome. This was seen as another step towards the fall of the Roman Empire because this defeat was inevitable after the defeat
“German defeat in the Great War is predominantly attributable to the mistakes of the Prussian-German military elite.” Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. The Great War was supposed to be a short, victorious war for Germany, one that would be over by Christmas but despite Germany’s early successes in the First World War she eventually suffered defeat in 1918. It is a popular argument that this defeat was due to the weaknesses and incompetence of the German military elite and there is much to support this. However there are other factors such as weaknesses shown by Germany’s allies, the strength of the Entente and the growing discontent of the Germans at home, that can also be attributable to Germany’s failure. German defeat in the Great War was largely down to the incompetence and mistakes of the German Military Elite.
During the war countries started using chemical warfare for results. The first known country to use chemical warfare was Germany against Russia but was unsuccessful because the gas froze in their shells. Germany first used it successfully on April 22, 1915 when they sprayed chlorine gas from huge containers into French trenches. The French soldiers retreated and once the gas dispersed and came back which made the gas pointless. With the start of chemical warfare it also created the use of gas
Topic: The inability of the German General Staff to see the inherent flaws in the Schlieffen Plan. Title: Lack of Flexibility and The Schlieffen Plan Thesis: A political solution should have been sought between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in order to keep the Russians from mobilizing against Germany, because Moltke’s alterations of the original plan doomed the German Army to defeat. Abstract: In the summer of 1914, the German General Staff executed the Schlieffen plan and ultimately had to revise it because of certain unforeseen moves by the French and Russians. This lack of flexibility led to a stalemate during The Great War, giving life to such phrases as “trench warfare,” and “war of attrition.” The German General Staff sold the idea of the Schlieffen Plan to their government as the strategy to prosecute a two-front, Franco-Russian war. The plan calls for the German Army to defeat the French in one felled swoop, and then quickly move to the East to defeat Russia.
Basel Al-Johani 11/02/2013 Battles Mrs. Smart Battles Homer’s Illiad, Trojan War, is a story about war and about the battles fought when one person or nation feels that another has done a bad deed to them, which is still relevant today. On June 28th, 1914, World War 1 started because of the assassination of the Austrian President. Also, on September 1, 1939, World War 2 started because of the invasion of Poland by Germany. Last but not least, The Afghanistan Civil War in 2001 started because of the invasion in New York by the Al-Qaeda forces. These three wars are all an example of how a nation goes to war because the other nation did a bad deed to them.
In addition, the war caused severe damage to economy since their were less men to work for in the fields and more Raw material was needed for the War. Great War is said to be the worst war for the soldiers because although their were more fatalities in World War two but the conditions that the soldiers had to face in Great War were beyond belief. Since great weapons like the machine gun and the long range cannonballs were invented, the casualties were tremendous in numbers in both Africa and Ottoman empire. Also, trench warfare was really used and due to the horrific conditions the
France in the war had suffered the most so it was only right that they wanted Germany to be crippled and Clemenceau with the support of France had the aim of crushing them. He wanted them to be never able to be a threat again and he wanted France to rise back to its dominant best by gaining German Territory and making Germany pay them massive amounts of