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HIST2128 Germany, 1871-1933: From Empire to Republic War 1917-18 Lecture 16 5 April 2012

HIST2128 Germany, 1871-1933: From Empire to Republic War 1917-18 Lecture 16 5 April 2012

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HIST2128

Germany, 1871-1933: From Empire to Republic

War 1917-18

Lecture 16

5 April 2012

War at Sea 1914-7

• Battle of Jutland (Skagerrak), May-Jun 1916 (draw between GB ≠ G)

• Battle of the Falkland Islands, Dec 1914 (sinking of German cruisers by GB)

• Submarine warfare of G, s. Sep 1914 + sinking of US liners by G U-boats, 1915

• G declaration of unlimited submarine warfare, Feb 1917 → US declaration of war on G, Apr 1917

Unlimited submarine warfare (1)

• USW targeted enemy AND neutral merchant vessels alike

• Strong protest by neutrals esp. USA after sinking of passenger ship Lusitania (7 May 1915)

• USW regarded as support for Verdun battle (1916) + decisive for ending war → Launching of propaganda campaign

Unlimited submarine warfare (2)

• Bethmann’s opposition thwarted by OHL → Re-launching of USW after power struggle (1 Feb 1917)

→ US cancel diplomatic relations & declares war on G (6 Apr 1917)

= Extra US power potential for Allies to compensate initial successes of USW

↓Severe blow for Central Powers: Realistically little

chance of winning war

July Crisis 1917 (1)

• Caused by:1) Reichstag parties MSPD, Left & Right

Liberals, Centre Party demanding domestic reforms & peace by negotiations: Threatening with end of support for war credits

2) Army Supreme Command (OHL) rejecting domestic reforms + striving for peace by victory: Threatening with stepping-back

July Crisis 1917 (2)

Bethmann’ s continuous attempt to find ‘middle line’

► After pressure from both sides dismissed by Kaiser (13 Jul)

= Success only for OHL: New chancellor Michaelis more a ‘conservative hardliner’

= Blow for parties: Unwise & short-sighted politics to abandon moderate Bethmann

Military situation 1917• Increasing calls for peace in GB

• Successes of G troops defending Hindenburg- and Siegfried lines on Western front

• Allied offensives at Aisne & Champagne failed > Many mutinies in F & R troops

• Breakthrough of G & A-H troops ≠ I at Izonzo (Oct): 300,000 I prisoners-of war

• Bolshevist revolution in R (7 Nov) + peace calls of new government → Peace talks with G & A-H

Peace talks (Dec 1917-Mar 1918 )

• R with G & A-H in Russian-Polish town of B-L

• OHL: For vast annexations after Siegfrieden (Peace through victory)

• Chancellor von Hertling: For moderate goals due to strong critic of leftist parties → Thwarted by OHL

= Shocking peace terms first refused by R

= Invasion of R resumed by G troops

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 Mar 1918)

Accepted by Lenin ‘to secure Bolshevist revolution’:

• R lost Poland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, Finland with60 million people (1/3 of R people)¼ of coal mines + 1/3 of railways + 1/3 of agricultural landsAlmost 100% of oil and cotton production

= Over 50% of all economic resources

• R paid 6 billion gold roubles indemnity

• R agreed to cease all Bolshevist propaganda

= Harsh Diktatfrieden (Dictated peace)

Russian territorial lossesthrough the Treaty ofBrest-Litovsk, Mar 1918

Consequences

• G hegemony in Central & Eastern Europe (September Program of 1915) almost achieved

• Strong boost to morale + strong support in G

• Fears & stiffening of war efforts in F + GB

• End of war in East allowed to transfer ca. 1,5 million G troops & weapons to West

► Ludendorff’s attempts to achieve decisive military breakthrough on Western front in spring 1918

Ludendorff Offensive (Mar-Jul 1918)

• G attempts to beat F + GB with strong attacks before arrival of US troops

• Both sides almost equal: 200 divisions with 3,5 million troops

• Several highly-concentrated attacks on front sections, 21 Mar-mid Jul 1918

• Initial successes > 60 km territory but problems with supplying weapons & provisions

Results• Strong Allied defensives: ½ million G † • Growing psychological fatigue of G troops• Increasing frustration & exhaustion • Desertions & alleged sicknesses & self-

inflicted injuries• Voluntary capitulations of single + groups of

soldiers

= Troops more and more disloyal > Hidden military strikes’

The End (1)

• Major Allied offensives (Jul-Sep 1918)

→ F: Breakthrough at Villers-Cotterets

→ GB: Successes with airplanes + 400 tanks at Amiens > 8 Aug: Black Day of G army

► G troops in ‘strategic defensive’ (OHL slang)

The End (2)

• Ludendorff’s nervous breakdown after Bulgaria’s military collapse (29 Sep)

• Demanded ‘immediate ceasefire’ + new parliamentary government of majority parties incl. SPD ↓

► To impress US president Wilson to get better peace conditions

► To push burden of defeat on majority parties who were made responsible for lacking war efforts

Stab-in-the-back legend (Dolchstoßlegende)

Widely believed notion in right-wing circles, after 1918:

• German Army did not lose WW I

• Army betrayed by civilians on the home front, esp. republicans who overthrew monarchy

• Advocates denounced German government leaders who signed Armistice on 11 Nov 1918, as

"November Criminals"