World War I

C

Aerial Warfare

Airplanes were first used in large numbers for military purposes during World War I. At the start of the war, airplanes and other aircraft were generally used for reconnaissance and for observing and adjusting artillery fire. Both the Allies and the Central Powers made extensive use of small tethered balloons for observing stationary battlefronts, of dirigible balloons for scouting at sea, and of airplanes for scouting coastal waters. Later, airplanes specially equipped for combat came into wide use on the western front. Both sides also employed airplanes carrying machine guns and light bombs to attack enemy ground forces. Shore-based naval aircraft capable of landing on water proved useful in antisubmarine warfare.

The Germans launched the first air raids in 1914. During 1915 and 1916 a German dirigible known as the Zeppelin raided eastern England and London more than 50 times. With the raids, Germany hoped to force British planes to withdraw from the western front, to handicap British industry, and to destroy the morale of the civilian population. The raids caused much loss of life and damage to property but accomplished little of military value.

From mid-1915 aerial combat between planes or groups of planes was common. The Germans initially had superiority in the air on the western front, but the British gained the advantage in mid-1916. The Allied advantage in the air gradually increased thereafter and became overwhelming when the United States entered the war in 1917.

III

Economic and Industrial Resources

Industrial and economic resources played an important role in World War I. Military success was critically dependent on a country’s ability to produce a continuous supply of goods for their armies. German industrial resources were so great that Germany was able to survive the British naval blockade and meet the demands of four years of war, while giving some help to Austria-Hungary. British industry, although capable and versatile, had begun to lag in output and in modernization. Britain came to depend heavily on U.S. production. Throughout the war, Germany occupied French territory that contained important industrial and mineral resources, so France also depended on U.S. supplies. Russian industry was incapable of dealing with the needs of the Russian armies. In addition, since the Ottoman Empire controlled the Dardanelles Strait, Russia was cut off from Allied supplies via the Mediterranean Sea and could not easily be supplied from its Arctic or Pacific ports.

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During the war, Britain and France were able to harness the economic resources not only of their own vast colonial empires, such as India and Indochina, but also of the United States. This ability gave them a great advantage. The Central Powers were cut off from their prewar markets and sources of food and raw materials. Although Germany gained access to the vast economic resources of the western part of the former Russian Empire in the spring of 1918, it was too late in the war to affect the outcome.

The Allies also enjoyed a critical advantage in being able to obtain loans from American investment banks. The Allies used the loans to purchase oil, wheat, steel, and other critical products. When the United States entered the war, the U.S. Treasury Department took over the financing of loans to the Allied Powers to cover their supply purchases in the United States. The combined economic resources of the United States and the British Empire played a significant role in the Allied victory.

IV

Background

A

German Unification

When World War I broke out in 1914, it ended almost 100 years of relative peace in Europe. In 1815 a coalition defeated France in the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), a series of wars caused by Napoleon I’s attempt to dominate Europe. The coalition included Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. These countries held a peace conference, known as the Congress of Vienna, which was designed to prevent at all costs another Europe-wide war.

The principal architect of the peace settlement devised at the conference, Austrian foreign minister Prince Klemens von Metternich, believed that the key to making peace durable was the balance of power. According to this diplomatic principle, the major nations of Europe should distribute power relatively evenly among themselves to deter any one of them from seeking dominance over the continent. If any country were to attempt to disturb the balance of power, the others would oppose it as an alliance.

Metternich also thought that in order for Europe to be stable, a monarch should continue to rule each major European country. The French Revolution (1789-1799) had given rise to democratic principles, such as representative government. If these democratic principles were revived, Metternich believed, they would undermine the authority of the hereditary rulers of Europe and lead to other revolutionary uprisings throughout the continent.

Finally, Metternich was intent on suppressing the forces of nationalism that had also been unleashed by the French Revolution. Nationalism was the idea that people of the same ethnic origin and language deserved the right to liberty and self-government. Nationalism threatened the existence of multinational empires such as Austria, which was composed of many peoples, including Czechs, Slovaks, and Poles. Metternich believed nationalism was a prescription for conflict and war.

In the course of the 19th century the Vienna system survived a number of wars that were directly related to the spread of nationalism throughout the continent. Two new nation-states were forged as the result of such wars: Italy in 1861 after the defeat of Austria (Italian Unification) and Germany in 1871 after the German states defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) (German Unification (1871)). But neither of these wars had escalated into the Europe-wide conflict that Metternich had so feared. Each of these conflicts was restricted to a limited geographical area and ended before it could spread.

When a unified, militarily triumphant, economically powerful Germany emerged after 1871, it challenged the balance of power on which the peace of Europe had long depended. But the architect of German unity, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, was not interested in further expanding German power at the risk of a Europe-wide war. Rather, he strove to preserve Germany's newly acquired position as the dominant power in Europe.

To achieve this goal he set out to isolate France, which nurtured a smoldering grievance against Germany. After the Franco-Prussian War, France was forced to cede its eastern province of Alsace and part of the adjoining province of Lorraine to Germany under the Treaty of Frankfurt. During Bismarck’s 19-year tenure as chancellor from 1871 to 1890, Germany was the undisputed master of Europe while the new French Republic that had been established after the Franco-Prussian War remained militarily weak and diplomatically isolated. France never gave up hope of recovering “the lost provinces,” whose population was split between French- and German-speakers. This goal became the country's most important war aim after the beginning of World War I.

Bismarck was at pains to reassure the other European powers that Germany posed no threat to their interests. He shrewdly crafted a network of alliances and agreements with all of the other European powers except France. In 1873 Bismarck negotiated the Three Emperors’ League with Austria-Hungary and Russia. Bismarck contracted the Triple Alliance of 1882 with Austria-Hungary and Italy to strengthen German power against France and to help balance power in the Balkans between Austria-Hungary and Russia. In 1887 he signed a Reinsurance Treaty with Russia. This treaty pledged Russia to neutrality in the event of a war between France and Germany and promised German neutrality in case of war between Austria-Hungary and Russia. He also facilitated an Anglo-German friendship by not competing with Britain for colonial territory in Africa and Asia. Germany also did not construct a large navy that would threaten British dominance on the high seas.

B

German Ambitions

When Bismarck retired in 1890, however, his carefully crafted policy of isolating France began to unravel. The impetuous new German emperor, William II, abandoned Bismarck’s cautious foreign policy. When William refused to renew Germany's treaty with Russia, the French approached Russian tsar Alexander III. By 1894 France and Russia had concluded a treaty of alliance, in which each country pledged to come to the assistance of the other in case of war with Germany. The Franco-Russian alliance obliged Germany to face the prospect of having to fight a war on two fronts, which would prevent Germany from concentrating all its military might against a single foe.

William also began to assert Germany's ambitions abroad. He loudly complained that Germany had fallen behind in the global competition for colonial territories and insisted that Germany make up for lost time. As the 20th century began, Germany aggressively acquired overseas territories. German industrial firms and financial institutions also began to compete fiercely with their long-entrenched British counterparts in distant lands.

William also decided that Germany must become a great naval power. The British were at first scornful, then irritated, and finally alarmed as Germany embarked on major battleship-building programs. The country, which under Bismarck had been content with its role as the most powerful nation on the European continent, now aspired to become a global power.

Concern about William’s new global ambitions and naval policy prompted Britain to resolve its disputes with France over colonial territories in the common interest of restraining Germany. In 1904 Britain and France established a friendly diplomatic relationship called the Entente Cordiale (French for “cordial understanding”). Thereafter these two powers developed closer political ties and began to discuss possible forms of military and naval cooperation in the event of war in Europe. In 1907 Britain settled its outstanding conflicts with France's ally Russia, and the same year, these three powers began to cooperate in a loose diplomatic association that was known as the Triple Entente.

In the decade before World War I, Britain, France, and Russia began to compete with Germany and Austria-Hungary in a costly arms race. Anglo-German naval rivalry was accompanied by a competitive military buildup between France and Russia on the one hand and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other. All of the powers except Britain had adopted the policy of conscription (drafting men to serve in the armed forces). These conscription policies left the European continent bristling with large, well-trained, fully armed, land forces. Britain alone was content with a small volunteer army because of its overwhelming naval superiority, which it deemed sufficient to shield the British Isles from invasion.

From 1904 to 1914 Germany's military, industrial, and commercial power grew steadily, while the country’s political leaders increasingly pursued an aggressive foreign policy. During the decade, Germany made two outright threats of war against France and one against Russia, and the German naval program was openly directed against Britain. By 1911 only Austria-Hungary continued to give diplomatic support to German policy. But the multinational empire, ruled by the Habsburg royal family, was hardly a reliable military ally. It faced mounting discontent from the many nationalities that made up its empire. Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and the Slavic inhabitants of the southern portion of the empire in the Balkan Peninsula wanted autonomy within the empire. They were inspired by the principles of nationalism that had brought about the political unification of Italy in 1861 and Germany in 1871.

It was also openly known in Europe that if war should come, Germany could not depend on Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance. Italy was bound only to fight a defensive war, and in any event it was more of a rival than an ally of Austria-Hungary.

V

Military Strategies

All the European countries developed plans in the event of war. They knew the number of men they could call up, the length of time it would take to get their armies ready, and their strategies for battle. Each country had a different plan although general similarities existed.

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