WW1 Flashcards

Question

Lord Kitchner - British Minster of War

Answer 1

- Robert Nievlle, commander of the French Second Army in the Battle of Verdun - He gives his name to the Nivelle Offensive - Vimy Ridge : one of Few success stories (only bright spot in massivley failed campagin - Mother was english so spoke eng well - Could help w allies - Prodstant (good bc eng dont trust catholics) - Haig doesnt trust him - Puts together force - 1.2 million french soldiers + artilary - French failed virtually everywhere - Plan was uninventive -same as all other plans - Nivelle called it off after promising french people victory - when offensive failed french morale was gutted and nivelle was fired, french army dissolved in complete mutany - soilders deserting at alarming rate, French army doesn't know what to do abt it - Mutanies seem to be spontaneous, so hard to identify leaders - Try everything from negotiation, compromise to executions Q: what if westerners were wrong all along?

Answer 2

Prime minister of Britan 1916 Radical reformer Man of corse language and violent tempers Didnt trust haig - bc haig didnt give enough attention to solider lives

Answer 3

Prime minister of Uk WW2 Was first lord of admiral team during this time Incredible energy and considerable intellect Harsh opinions, corse language and brutal language

Answer 4

revolution - historical ottoman constitution Young - unexprenced didnt work in their favour No match to europen diplomats who carve states like chicken Young turks relize they missed the boats - thought they could run country on good intentions - didnt realize they need good bureaucracy Despite idealism and good intentions country falls into economic disorder

Answer 5

Lesson to underachivers Ragraded as lazy, sccaterbrained Failed civil service but failed Wanted to go to staff collage in army failed - git in on 2nd try When he became commander he had enormous vigor and creativity Lead huge force Job to capture jerusalem - great success The Jaffa Gate - first christian concuerer since crusade- allenby didnt want to be called that (lot of people in his army arent christan so he didnt want to use term crusade, told his press officer to never use crusade as a term) Walks into city (no car, truck) - modesty - huge pr success Allows him to keep alliance of enormously different people End of oct - last major city of ottman empire captured by his army Dram of easterns achieved - great success Low casualties Flew under radar Made allenby superstar Does Not play role in war as whole - the entire supposition of easterners was flawed, germany didn't need its allies If the earlier campaigns were successful wouldn't have changed anything , even losing austria hungary wouldn't change anything

Answer 6

- German - Austro Hungarian - Russian - Ottaman Britsh empire fatally weakend

Answer 7

Q: Where do you win the war? where do you concentrate your efforts in order to win? - Western Front? Eastern Front? Italian Front? (3 main places war should focus on) Allies decided they needed to attack all 3 fronts at same time French had most decision making power Wanted to mount wearing down offenses - keep enemy fighting and dying, grind numbers of enemy forces down - French and british agree in gen terms about importance of western front but dont work together - principal of independent command (chat and compare notes but dont work together, this is a problem)

Answer 8

Important people on the enatnte side get together Joseph Joffre Sir John French Sir Douglas Haig Decide things like where they should focus war effort on

Answer 9

- want to attack western front

Answer 10

Other side of argument Attack somewhere else (other than western front)

Answer 11

Baltak project Naval task force - land on baltak coast to take berlin - crazy stupid idea (looked good bc alternative was western front)

Answer 12

Africa no impact on war in broader sense Cemeroon - wanted so other side doesnt have it

Answer 13

Undermine and destroy ottoman empire Margins between asia and europe - makes it desirable Ottoman decline - give up territory to european and asian empires Young turks - revolution - historical ottoman constitution Young - unexprenced didnt work in their favour No match to europen diplomats who carve states like chicken Young turks relize they missed the boats - thought they could run country on good intentions - didnt realize they need good bureaucracy Despite idealism and good intentions country falls into economic disorder Descends into 15 years of chaos in turkey Followed by series of counter revolutions 3 wars in this period were european powers take what they want And then came WW1 War better than peace for ottomans - years of peace had not gone well and were not improving They need ally would be easy pickings (esp bc of their location) Didnt have a side - they were looking for what the war would do for them would join any of 3 major powers to get good deal Choose to ally w germany and central powers - target of entate Bright shining light for easterners - attack ottomas Can do with ships alone Send old ships - think fighting turks is easy Turns out turks could do quite a bit Sunk their ships - embarrassing Navy pulls out Armies make the same basic assumption - wont be hard “they are just turks” what resistance can they put up against combined armies of britain and france? In most places opposition is light - shining moment Y beach- simplary diversionary draw attention out of main beaches and occupy turks - it was completely unnaposed no one was there Pushed of beach by small turkish force next day Opportunity for real success at key point - no one thank beyond orders With a little aggressive spirt could have avoid weeks of fighting and catastrophic fighting Battles of Kirthia - 4 battles lots of casualties still didnt capture village when on first day could have easily been captured August Still havent advanced past krithia so go to top British commander hesitated when could have been done easily Last chance eastenders had of winning campaign jan/feb Evacuation- only sucessful part of campaign Nothing was achieved Campaign of missed opportunities just needed someone willing to move quick Failure cost churchill his job Lloyd geroge didnt change his name - dislike for haig grew (couldnt fire him bc he was supported by the king)

Answer 14

as long as germany remains in occupation (france and belgium) they are winning the war - westerners were right along along nothing can change unless u can evict germany from france and belgium. They stay there they win

Answer 15

One of the better generals on the british side Clever, genius, careful Looks for technology to do a lot of the work for the infantry Planned to dig and place mines underneath German lines Intended to halt the enemy within its tracks Messines (loudest man made noise in human history) Thought it was an earthquake in france Could be heard in Belgium 100’s of miles away Success of Passchendaele ended there August and september were the wettest month in recorded history Shelling caused for the battlefield to be unable to drain and become flooded Lost lots of artillery shells from this Still turning up 100 years later to this day October, Canada came in to finish the job Campaign cost the allies 300,000 casualties Village of Passchendaele completely flattened by the end British army told they would not receive support for another operation like this again

Answer 16

German submarines are operating unchecked in the atlantic and English coast Unrestricted submarine warfare Submarines so successful Britain is on the verge of not being able to feed its population

Answer 17

No more volunteers for infantry after 1916 Full employment in Canada, Army no longer paid as much as a job back at home People overestimate the general health of Canadians War revealed people were generally unhealthy Height standard dropped from 5.3 to 4.11 1916 army would take literally anyone no matter what their health condition Would even take people who were half blind Would even take people who were in jail for non-violent crimes Took children young as 14 years old Three boys enlisted at age ten Thousands of boys who were 14 and 15 were enlisted Robert Borden against conscription Visited wounded Canadians over in Europe Changed his over outlook on conscription Realized men needed constant support in order to stay alive Was deeply moved by this Enlisted men between the age of 20-45 Single men first Canadian public were to vote on Conscription Borden created a party known as the Union Government Sir Wilfrid Laurier was widely disliked Voting for him would be like supporting the Germans Equivalent to spitting on the graves of the dead

Answer 18

At the front, the French and Russians are out of the War American were not in the war Question for the British became whether or not they can survive the winter Weather is very bad Coal shortage- not enough coal to heat homes Schools closed City council stopped Country was literally dark as street lamps would remain unlit Would have no heat days Coldest January since before confederation Wind would blow out windows as well as houses Rail services were suspended

Answer 19

The Hall of Mirrors, one of the great works of art to emerge from WW1 Painted by William Orpen Was a war artist Sent around to capture what the war looked like Did portraits of generals, training and battles The Hall of Mirrors- painting of the peace agreement for the Treaty of Versailles Orpen believes this is tragedy conforming on tragedy Orpen believe this photo is failures of leadership

Answer 20

People were fighting to make a better world Told best way to appreciate sacrifices would be to improve our daily lives People were calm in celebrating when the war ended People are wondering what they are going to do different now that the war is done Policies, changes in laws Prohibition Senate reform Voter reform

Answer 21

Immediate causes of first world war found within the Balkans Administered by austro-hungary empire Developed radical separatist movements among their states Pushed for self-determination End of June 1914, Duke Franz Ferdinand Assassinated in Sarajevo British suggested a peace conference Germany had very detailed mobilization plan

Answer 22

Russia France Britain

Answer 23

Bulgaria Serbia

Answer 24

Italy Germany Austria-Hungary

Answer 25

Germans faced enemies on both sides Fight one side at a time Russians much slower to mobilize than the french Had to be done quickly Fight french to west and then send all the troops east Issue was the plan would take German forces the Belgium who was neutral 3rd of August 1914, Germany crossed over into belgium Soon declared war on them British were committed to protecting Belgium British didn’t want war but did not want germany in control of the continent 4th of august, germans must withdraw troops or the British would create a state of war “See preface defence scheme, war has broken out with germany”

Answer 26

- People looking for a lot in post war period “lands fit for hero's” – do they get it? - World is not at war with influenza – “the Spanish flu” o First confirmed cases in Spain – Spain media had more freedom o Tagged w name of this disease o Don’t know if it originated in Spain o Maybe originated in Kansas – near an army camp - War provides perfect environment for spread of disease o Lots of young men kept together in small spaces o Lots of people moving around - Greatest pandemic ever to strike the human race - Estimate: 1/3 of worlds pop effected - Unlike most pandemics it was particularly lethal among young adults 20 - 40 o Same age group in the war - Came at end of war made it a bit easier as they already has post war restrictions so they just modified them to fight pandemic - Oct 1918 – public places start to close - Campaigns against forms of behavior that were deemed to spread disease (e.g spitting) - Enjoyment of everyday things constricted like during war - Open spaces turned into hospital wards (e.g gymnasium) o No privacy o Nothing beyond ventilation to provide comfort o Like medieval hospitals – place to go and die - Extraordinary measures taken because it was affecting young healthy people - Vaccines made – taken directly to hospital and started injecting people (people were going to die anyways might as well try) - THE MASK o If you didn’t wear you were called a mask slaker o Social pariah - First years of peace did not go well

Answer 27

- Wars mean jobs – this war was no exception - Unemployment basically doesn’t exist by 1916 - Labour shortages – move around and get best wage and deal - Labour in drivers seat for first time - Increase in union membership - New women workers - Wasn’t all sweetness and light – signs it wasn’t that good o Wages went up abt 44% o Cost of living went up about 50%... o As labour movement grows it becomes more aggressive o Labour disputes in lots of countries o Lots of time lost to strikes in every industry o Management keeps saying labour will get taken care of after the war is fought o War is won – labour thinks now is the payoff o Management says things should go back to normal – low wages, labours do whats told etc.. o Once its clear to workers that they aren’t getting a payoff there are lots of strikes – promises won’t be acted upon  Military called to establish order in many places o Most cases strikes were not a great success, put down rather aggressively – alliance between management and government o Workers eventually go back without having gained much o Things go back to normal – poor wages, bad working conditions, compliant workers o Blame placed on immigrants – trouble makers starting everything off  First red scare  Bolshevism new enemy – they want to establish private wealth and make workers paradise o Basically there are groups who want “communism” in many countries  A lot of time these were immigrants  People who travleled around to work a lot were more radical o Alien “immigrants” were said to be the problem o False promises made to immigrants aswell – land for fit for hero's was not for you as an immigrant

Answer 28

 Quarter, dime, nickel (Canadian coins)  Family came Toronto before war  Embraced by Toronto society  Family very artistic  Friends of Toronto upper crust  Blackballed once war started bc they were Germans  Cut off by clubs, restaurants etc..  He hoped to benefit from great time to be a scultptor- war memorials  Most he designed do not bear his name – don’t want one made by German  Entered competition for war memorial in Winnipeg – won anonymously – once they realized who he was they took contract from him for being a German and reopened contract  Mrs. Emmanuel Hahn won again under fake name (wife of German)  Went to someone else – now Winnipeg has a boring war memorial - 1920s was a period of dashed hopes

Answer 29

- Country sucks - So many people dead - What was this all for - What was achieved - Tough to reconcile - So much of the fighting didn’t lead to anything - Cant find much good in the war - People start thinking abt intention rather than outcome – loved ones went to war for a good cause

WW1 Flashcards

(56 cards)