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What name is given to the battles of 1914 on the Western Front?
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At what 1914 battle did the Germans defeat the Russians?
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Tannenberg (26-29 August)
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At what 1914 battle was the German ‘Schlieffen’ attack halted?
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The Marne (5-10 September)
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What was ‘Race to the Sea’?
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Both sides then tried to outflank the other, both digging trenches to prevent themselves being outflanked
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In 1915, Britain and France continued believing they could break through; what two massive defeats proved they couldn’t?
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Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Loos
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Where did the British Empire try to open a second front in 1915?
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What were the ANZACs?
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Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
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Where did the British and German fleets clash in 1916?
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Name the three major battles of ‘attrition’.
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Verdun (February–December 1916), the Somme (July–November 1916), Passchendaele (August–November 1917)
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What was the point of Germany’s unrestricted submarine campaign?
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To break British maritime supply-lines
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America was brought into the war by Germany’s U-boat campaign and…?
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The Zimmerman telegram offering Mexico land in the US to join the war on Germany’s side
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What was the Kaiserschlacht?
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Germany’s huge Spring Offensive of 1918
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What was the ‘new’ tactic of the Kaiserschlacht?
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Name some problems of the Schlieffen Plan.
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It was a ‘pitch’ not a plan, written in a rush, never tested in a war-game, designed only for a war with France (it advised a defensive war if Germany faced a war on two fronts), which catastrophically misjudged the enemy and was “a military myth requiring everything to go impossibly right to have a real chance of succeeding”.
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Name three actions in Belgium which held up the Schlieffen attack.
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Liege (5–16 August), Namur (20-24 August) and Antwerp (28 September to 9 October)
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What was Schrecklichkeit?
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The German Army ‘frightfulness’ war crimes against Belgian civilians
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At what battle did the BEF hold up the German advance, and why did they have to retreat?
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Mons (23 August); the BEF was forced to retreat when the French force to their right did so, exposing them to being outflanked.
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List some of the problems facing the German advance in 1914.
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Exhaustion; Supply problems; lack of communication and squabbling between the three armies; German reconnaissance was dreadful.
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How did Moltke and/or von Kluck deviate from the Schlieffen Plan, and why was this a problem?
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The Geran First Army turned south, which opened up a gap with the Second German Army
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List FOUR reasons the Schlieffen Plan was significant for Germany in 1914.
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It led them into war; its failure lost them the war; it discredited Germany; its failure plunged the war into stalemate
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What school of historiography revered the Schlieffen Plan and blamed Moltke for is failure?
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Which historian in 1956 debunked the Schlieffen Plan?
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Which military historian in 2002 suggested the importance of a Schlieffen Plan was a ‘myth’ designed to exonerate the German generals?
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List FIVE causes of the stalemate on the Western Front after 1914 [SWADS].
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Strategies for open warfare failed
Weapons’ technologies had made the open battlefield deadly
Armies struggled to co-ordinate infantry and artillery
Difficulties of command and control of the huge armies
Supply problems
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List the EIGHT levels of Army Organisation.
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Section: perhaps 10 men, led by a corporal or sergeant
Platoon: two or three sections + Lieutenant
Company: two or more platoons + Major or Captain
Battalion: at least three companies + Lieutenant Colonel
Brigade: three battalions + Brigadier
Division: three brigades + Major-General
Corps: two or three divisions+ Lieutenant-General
Army: two or more Corps + General
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List the TEN stages of a typical attack.
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Artillery bombardment
Artillery: a ‘creeping bombardment’
Signal to attack
Sometimes mines
Troops go OTT
Race across No Man's Land
Defenders open machine gun fire
(If you win the race) jand-to-hand fighting in the trench
Signal to retire
Defenders may counter-attack
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List FIVE developments which improved the Armies’ attacking ability 1915-1917.
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Machine guns, tanks, Poison gas, Aircraft, Mines, Artillery, Motorized transport, Communications, Medical, Army organisation, Training, Infiltration ('leap frog') tactics
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Give FOUR reasons for the Gallopoli Campaign of 1915 [SCROT].
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Stalemate on the Western Front
Churchill pressed for a ‘second front’
Russia was losing badly
Ottoman empire was ‘the weak man of Europe’
Threaten Austria Hungary
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Can you say what happened on these key dates in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign - March / April / July / December?
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March: Anglo-French naval attack on the Straits
April: MEF landings at Gaba Tepe (ANZACs) and Cape Helles (Hamilton)
July: landing at Sulva Bay
December: evacuation
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List some of the reasons the Gallipoli attack failed.
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The Straits were mined; the ‘minesweepers’ were just trawlers; the Turkish artillery was hidden; the British underestimated the Turks, who used German tactics from the western front; Gallipoli was not regarded as a priority; supply problems; dreadful conditions enervated the troops; in October Bulgaria joined the war
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Which German Chief of Staff is credited with inventing the concept of ‘attrition’?
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Give SIX reasons the Germans attacked Verdun [ADJUST]:
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Attrition; Verdun was a key Defence hub; Joffre had been reducing its defences; it was Useful strategically for railway connections; it was a Salient; an attack would Tie up Allied forces from mounting the Somme attack.
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List some of the reasons the Germans failed at Verdun:
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they did not capture the eastern heights; they abandoned the plan of attrition; Pétain defended brilliantly; the French defended ‘at any price’ for reasons of prestige; Falkenhayn was indecisive and secretive.
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What did the ‘Verdun School’ of French commanders believe?
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That attack could win the war
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What new weapon was introduced at Verdun?
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Flame-throwers … but you could also have motorised transport or control of the skies
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What roads name illustrates the terrible loss of life at Verdun?
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What have the following historians contributed to the debate on the battle of Verdun – Alistair Horne (1962) / John Mosier (2013) / Paul Jankowski (2014) / JE and HW Kaufmann (2016) / Michael Bourlet (2023)?
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Horne: it was about the sacrifice of the soldiers / Mosier: it was not a single battle / Jankowski: it was about prestige / Kaufmanns: it was about forts / Bourlet: it was a battle of movement, but transitional in the move to modern hyperbattles.
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What did Haig hope for the Somme on 1 July 1916?
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that it would be a breakthrough
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Name TWO ways the preliminary bombardment failed.
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It did not penetrate the German bunkers / it did not shred the barbed wire
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What were some divisions ordered to WALK across No Mans Land?
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It was the fist battle of Britain’s volunteers, and the generals feared their inexperienced soldiers would become disorganised in a rush attack
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Name THREE ways Haig argued that the battle was a success.
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It relieved Verdun; it stopped any transfer of German troops to help their allies; it wore down the German army
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What is Materialschlact?
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A battle of materials an technologies, rather than men
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Name the FIVE battles of1917:
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Arras (9 April to 16 May 1917)
Aisne (16 Aoril to May)
Messines (7-4 June 1917)
Passchendaele (July to November 1917)
Cambrai (20 November to 3 December 1917)
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What was the result of the defeat of the Nivelle Offensive?
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The French army mutinied and refused to go OTT
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Suggest TWO reasons the British fought the battle of Passchendaele:
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To divert attention from the French Armies; Because Russia had been defeated and German soldiers were expected from the eastern front
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What TWO warfare improvement is the battle of Cambrai famous for?
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What did the German’s declare in February 1915?
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Unrestricted submarine warfare
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List FOUR ways the British tried to counter the U-boats
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Q-ships; Deth charges; mines & submarine nets; convoys
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Name four ships sunk by the U-boats which caused outrage in America:
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Harpalyce, Lusitania, Arabic, Sussex
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What was the Sussex Pledge which President Wilson insisted upon in 1916?
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Not to attack passenger ships, and to allow crews of merchant ships to abandon ship before sinking it
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When did Germany revoke the Sussex Pledge, and why?
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3 January 1917 – because the British Blockade was having a serious effect
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Suggest FIVE reasons America entered the war in April 1917:
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Unrestricted submarine warfare; Zimmermann telegram; to defend democracy; German spies and troublemakers in America; a ‘concert of free peoples’ (ie the League of Nations); the Preparedeness Movement; the abdication of the Tsar; commercial opportunities
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What did America contribute to the war effort? [ANSWER]
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Army
Navy
Supplies
Wheat
Enormous Loans
Reactions (it forced Germany to risk its ill-prepared 1918 gamble)
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Why did Ludendorff gamble all in March 1918 [ARABS] ?
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America had entered the war
Russia’s defeat had made 1m more soldiers available
Germany’s Allies were failing
the British Blockade was causing starvation
new Stormtroopers tactics
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What were the five offensive ‘Operations’ of the German Kaiserschlacht in Spring 1918?
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Michael, Georgette, Blücher–Yorck, Gneisenau and Friedensturm.
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Why did the Spring Offensive fail [LEADS]?
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Poor Leadership and hasty planning
Exhaustion
the Allied Forces did not break and flee
Depletion of the best soldiers
Supply failures
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Why did the Hundred Days Campaign Succeed [OCATAG]?
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Overall strategy (Foch was appointed Commander-in-Chief)
Combined arms approach
Aircraft =Control of the skies
Tanks
Americans
the German troops were demoralised and starving and simply surrendered.
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What key event happened on 3 November 1918, and why was it important in ending the war?
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The Kiel Mutiny – it terrified both the Germans and Allies that there was about to be a Communist revolution
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What key event happened on 9 November 1918?
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