Schlieffen Plan
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 General Von Schlieffen designed plan
 Plan designed in 1906 (8 yrs before actual war)
 Schlieffen died in 1911
 Plan aimed to attack France and take Paris within 6 weeks
 Russia was believed to be the most difficult enemy
 Britain was not meant to participate in the war
 Germany depended on fast railway and attack through Belgium and Holland
 Modifications were made by Molke and Ludendroff
 Changes meant that German troops would concentrate on Liege
 Armies strengthen on the Centre wing not the right which needed to be
 The attack on Liege took 13 days
 BEF provided 125000 mean
 Germans were forced to fight 3 battle on way through Belgium
-Mons 23 August
- Le Cateau 26 August
- Gruise 29 august
 Causalities were not replaced
 2 lots of troops were sent to East Prussia which weaken the right flank
 Kluck's 1st army swung south east of Paris, failing to capture the capital
 Germans retreated to River Aisne and dug in on 14th September
 Molke dismissed and Falkenhayn replaced him
 By 18n sep Germans had dug a trench system north of Aisne
 Falkenhayn attempted to take the allies channel ports this failed
 Battle lines stretched to channel coast now French and German troops both dug in
 Schellifen Plan had failed
July Crisis:
 Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinard on 28th June 1914
 Russia helps Serbia
 Austria hungry in dead lock and refused to stop invading Serbia
 Austria Hungry received a "Blank Cheque" on 5th July 1914 from Germany
 When Germany got involved so did the allies
Trench Warfare:
 Trench lines 725-750kms
 Trench warfare, Air Bombardment, mechanised conflict and artillery were all very big parts of trench warfare, eg. Machine guns and shells
 Imperialism major part of war
 Once Britain was at war so was all her empires
 Traditional way of war was movement
 BEF outnumbered 1-3
 German army moved 25miles per day
 As war moved on Artillery got more advanced
 Britain able to get resources from its Empire
 Poisons gasses built by Germany (1st used in 1915 in the 1st battle of Ypres (May))
 Gas was desperate attempt to kill enemies
 Gas was shot out of artillery
 Britain used gas marks to counter German gas attacks
 Yet Gas Masks limited mobility
 Barbwire used by both sides in fount of trenches
 Haig was British general
 BEF wiped out at start
 1st battle of Ypres 58000 casualties
 Rats, lice, water, mud and barbwire was all a major part of trench warfare
Verdun (German offensive):
 Verdun protected by forts
 Major history for French, they would protect it till the end
 Germans predicted that 3 French soldiers to every 1 German would be killed
 Verdun was fired upon by 1200 German guns
 of French army were used sometime during Verdun
 a French soldier called his 2 week stay in Verdun "a glimpse of hell"
 14 million artillery shells were fired at both sides
 200 rounds for every soldier killed
 battle of somme released pressure off Verdun
 poison gas used soldiers killed instantly
 longest battle of the war
 no outcome for either side
 lasted 9mounths and 27days
 377000 French and 337000 Germans killed, missing or wounded
Battle of Somme:
 1916 allied offensive
 horses believed better then tanks
 Haig thought war was better fought a war of attrition
 Loud George publicly blamed Haig for the deaths
 Had to break through German lines
 Most of British army had no experience
 British artillery bombardment didn't hit any Germans
 Infantry went over the trench in 'Waves'
 Doesn't work Germans underground
 Artillery makes barbwire tighter
 British had larger numbers of weapons
 Trench warfare meant much boredom
 British were firing over 100000 shells per day
 Battle lasted over 7 days and 7 nights
 Constant bombardment, no food or water
 Shells made craters over no-mans land
 1st July 1916 7:20 am British troops blew up 1st of 5 massive underground mines
 after there was a period of silence, then infantry battle
 Germans were not dead, got out of trenches and set up machine guns
 If wounded on no-mans land had to wait till dark before you could get up
 July 1st 1916 single worst day in British Military history
 20000 dead and around 40000 wounded in the one day
 Somme lasted 4 months
 Not meant to be a battle of attrition meant to be a battle to break down
 1 million total casualties
 620000 British/French and 450000 Germans, killed wounded or missing
Soldiers Daily life:
 Not always on the front
 Went to wash clothes which were covered in lice
 Cavalry organised jumping comps
 Infantry had boxing
 Had their own cinema
 Had their own stage shows performed which they performed using men and women
 Days spent away from the front were very essential
Propaganda:
 Newspaper used
 Only good things released
 Until documentary of Somme
 Romantic views of war ended
 Films will never again be used in time of war unless highly censored
 Word of mouth and seeing injured boys was the only real way that people frond out what had happened
 Letters from the front were censored
Recruitment:
 2.5 million young men volunteer for war
 whole towns of men were killed
 conscription was not in Britain
 conscription was introduced in may 1916
 recruitment drives offered young men to join together and stay together
 Britain relied on its empire to supply men
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