Transcript The Great War

The Great War
World War I
August 1914-November 1918
The Beginning
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The assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia (June
28, 1914) was the spark that ignited
the “European powder keg.”
The Beginning
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The assassination
immediately triggered
an interlocking series
of European alliances.
Germany immediately
backed AustriaHungary, who
threatened to attack
Serbia. Serbia
appealed to her ally
Russia for help.
Resources of the Combatants
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On paper, the Allies had an
overwhelming advantage in people
and resources.
The Central Powers had a population
of about 150 million people.
The Allies had nearly double that
number + over 325 million people in
their colonies (like India).
French Soldiers
Resources of the Combatants
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The winner of this conflict would be
the side with the most men and
material, the one able to win through
wearing the other side down
(attrition).
But the Central Powers had some
important advantages the Allies did
not possess.
Resources of the Central Powers
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Germany and Austria were adjoined to
one another and had interior lines of
communication, which enabled them to
transfer troops from one spot to another
quickly and efficiently.
The Germans and the Austrians spoke the
same language and had for many years
been firmly allied with each other.
Most importantly, Germany was READY for
war, with a well organized military
machine and a good stock of munitions.
German Soldiers
Resources of the Central Powers
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When food supplies ran low, German
scientists created ersatz, or artificial
food substitutes, because their chemical
industry was superior to that of the
Allies.
The German people were united in their
support of the war, and they had the
psychological advantage of being on the
offensive (or taking the war to the
enemy).
No important part of the war was fought
on German soil, and when the war
ended, the German army was still intact
and Germany had not been invaded.
The Central Powers
Resources of the Allies
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In contrast to the advantages of
Germany and Austria, geography and
language separated the western
Allies from each other and Russia.
German control of the Baltic Sea and
Ottoman control of the Dardanelles
made communication between
Russia and her allies very difficult.
Resources of the Allies
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For the Allies, transferring troops
between the Western and Eastern
Fronts was militarily impossible,
creating a major weakness.
Russia, Britain, and France had only
recently come together, and not as
close allies. Each had problems with
the others.
Resources of the Allies
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The Allies had little experience in
mutual cooperation with each other
and no common language.
France and Britain were democracies,
and Russia was autocratic.
Of the three great Allies in 1914, only
France was prepared for war. But
France’s 39 million people were
against Germany’s 65 million, making
France the weakest in manpower.
Resources of the Allies
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Britain was well prepared on the sea,
but the British navy was not going to
be much use against the German
army.
Russia had a large army, but it was
the least industrialized country and it
was riddled with inefficiency and
corruption.
Russian Soldiers
Position of the United States
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The United States
remained neutral.
When war broke out,
the U.S. was
determined to avoid
being dragged into
the conflict.
American wartime
xenophobia: British
(and then American)
propaganda showed
the Germans to be
evil.
Position of the United States
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The 1910 U.S. census revealed that
one in three Americans was foreign
born or had foreign born parents.
Over 10 million Americans came
from Germany or Austria-Hungary.
Many more millions were Irish (who
hated the British). So American
feelings about the war were mixed.
Position of the United States
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But the majority of Americans strongly
supported the Allies.
Germany had an international reputation
for aggressive, militaristic, autocratic
behavior.
In the U.S., many colleges stopped
offering German as a language. German
street names were “Americanized.”
Children no longer got the German
measles, they had “liberty” measles.
The family Dachshund became the
“liberty” dog.
Position of the United States
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Prior to 1917, even though the U.S. was
officially neutral, many young Americans
formed fighting units such as the
Lafayette Escadrille, who volunteered for
service in France.
The Beginning of the Great War
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Fearing a battle with Russia in the
east and France in the west,
Germany stormed through neutral
Belgium to attack France, hoping
that a quick strike would eliminate
them from the war (the von
Schlieffen Plan).
The Beginning of the Great War
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The Germans wanted to quickly
eliminate the French so they could
concentrate on the Eastern Front with
Russia.
When the Germans went through
Belgium, Britain feared a possible
invasion and set up a naval blockade of
the English Channel, blocking German
trade (mainly with the U.S.).
The Beginning of the Great War
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The Germans retaliated by attacking
British shipping and the war quickly
escalated.
By August 6, 1914, when AustriaHungary declared war on Russia, all
the members of the Triple Alliance
and all the Triple Entente had
entered the war, with the exception
of Italy (and the United States which
had declared neutrality).
The Great War (the Combatants)
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The Central Powers of Germany and
Austria-Hungary stood against the
Allies—Britain, France, Russia, and
Serbia.
Turkey (The Ottoman Empire) joined
the Central Powers in November.
Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in
1915, and Portugal and Romania on
the side of the Allies in 1916.
The Great War (the Combatants)
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Japan, wanting to be recognized as a
major power and hoping to remove
Germany from Far Eastern
possessions, came in on the side of
the Allies in late August.
Italy received competing territorial
offers from both sides and decided to
leave the Central Powers and join the
Allies in May 1915.
The Great War (the Combatants)
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The United States officially entered in
April 1917 but didn’t have a sizable
troop presence until June 1918.
By the time the war ended in 1918,
there were fifty-six declarations of
war, making this the first truly
global, or “world war.”
The Great War
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In August 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm II
promised his troops “you will be home
before the leaves have fallen from the
trees” reflecting the universal feeling that
this was going to be a quick and glorious
war.
The Great War
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The French were able to stop the first
German land push in September 1914
(First Battle of the Marne). As the
Germans retreated, they didn’t want to
give up French/Belgian territory
already captured so they dug in. The
French and British did the same thing,
and fighting soon ground into trench
warfare.
The war quickly became anything but
glamorous.
The Great War
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The French behind a ditch at the
Battle of the Marne.
The Great War
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In saving Paris from capture by
pushing the Germans back some 45
miles, the First Battle of the Marne
was a great strategic victory, because
it enabled the French to continue the
war.
However, the Germans succeeded in
capturing a large part of the industrial
north east of France, which was a
serious blow.
The Trenches on the Western Front
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Trench warfare
ground the war to a
stalemate. At first
the trenches were just
quickly dug ditches,
but as the stalemate
continued, huge
networks of defensive
fortifications were
built, stretching
nearly 400 miles from
the English Channel to
the Swiss border.
Trench Warfare on the Western Front
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Trenches went from being simple
ditches (early in the war) to elaborate
fortifications.
Trench builders designed parapets,
machine gun nests, and an elaborate
network of approach trenches. Soon,
the entire Western Front was one giant
fortification.
Thousands of local actions in four years
shifted the lines here and there, but on
the whole, the lines held.
The Trench System
The Trench System
Front line trenches
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These were usually
about seven feet deep
and about six feet
wide. The Allies were
forced to dig their
trenches in lower
ground so they were
often waterlogged.
British soldiers called
them “suicide
ditches.”
The Trench System
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Trenches had a zigzag
pattern to prevent the
enemy from shooting
straight down the line.
Sandbags were put on
both sides of the top of
the trench to absorb
enemy bullets. Lines of
barbed wire protected the
frontline trench from any
enemy attacks.
Front Line Trenches
The Trench System
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Fire step
This was cut into the
side of the trench and
allowed the soldiers to
peer over the side of the
trench towards the
enemy.
It was where the
sentries or the whole
unit stood when they
were on 'standing-to'
duty which meant that
they were waiting for a
possible enemy attack.
The Trench System
Communications trenches:
Linking the front-line trench to the
support and reserve trenches. They
allowed the movement of men,
equipment and supplies and were
also used to take the wounded back
to the Casualty Clearing Stations.
Communications Trench
The Trench System
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No-Man's Land
The land that separated the Allied and the
German trenches was a wasteland of
barbed wire, shell craters, blackened tree
stumps and the occasional shell of a
building.
It was normally around 250 yards but
could vary between 7 yards at Zonnebeke
(Belgium) to 500 yards at Cambrai
(Northern France).
No-Man's Land
No-Man's Land
Life in the Trenches
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Life in the trenches was
a series of horrors as
men had to deal with
the cold, rain, heat,
rats bloated from
chewing on corpses,
lice crawling all over
their skin, noise from
artillery shells, snipers,
the stench of raw
sewage and rotting
flesh, and mud.
The Trench System
As one soldier recalled,
“The men slept in mud,
washed in mud, ate mud,
and dreamed mud.”
The anxiety of being in a
front line trench was so
great, armies were
constantly rotating
soldiers from the reserve
trenches in order to
reduce mental burnout.
Trench Warfare
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And a new
psychological
disorder was
documented:
shell shock, which
rendered some
men blind, some
deaf, and some
totally paralyzed.
Life in the Trenches
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Soldiers were fairly well protected in
the trenches, but unfortunately both
sides insisted on periodically sending
their armies “over the top” into “no
man’s land” to assault enemy
trenches.
These were often little more than
suicide missions as soldiers got caught
on the barbed wire, hit land mines, or
were cut down by machine gun fire.
Often where you fell became your final
resting place.
Life in the Trenches
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Going “over the top.”
The Christmas Truce (1914)
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Freezing rain in November and
December 1914 left both sides
struggling with flooded trenches and
appalling conditions.
This led to a “live and let live”
arrangement along much of the
northern sector of the Western Front,
especially between British and German
troops.
The Christmas Truce
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December 24 brought a frost, hardening
the ground (and temporarily stopping
the smell of decomposing bodies).
The Germans placed lighted Christmas
trees along their trenches and soldiers
on both sides sang carols to each other.
Christmas morning when the fog lifted,
the frost-covered trees glistened in the
sunlight.
The Christmas Truce
The Christmas Truce
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German troops during the Christmas
Truce.
The Christmas Truce
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All firing stopped. Men moved into No
Man’s Land. Gifts were exchanged
(chocolate, tobacco, and cigarettes) and
both sides buried their dead.
Soldiers played soccer…their hostility
temporarily forgotten.
Allied commanders insisted that such an
event should never recur.
In the future, orders were given to shoot
anyone caught trying to fraternize with
the enemy.
The Christmas Truce
Weapons of Mass Destruction
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Poison Gas
Flamethrowers
Zeppelins
Airplanes
Tanks
Cannons
Machine Guns
Submarines
Poison Gas
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It is generally believed that the
Germans were the first to use gas in
World War I, but it was actually the
French (in August 1914).
They threw tear gas grenades to try to
slow the German advance…not deadly,
but an irritant.
Poison Gas
•In October 1914 the Germans fired gas
shells at the French that caused violent
sneezing fits.
•The gas wasn’t designed to kill, it was
supposed to incapacitate the enemy so
they couldn’t hold their positions.
Poison Gas
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Once both sides had literally dug into the
trench system, they looked for a way to
bring movement back to their campaigns.
Both sides wanted to develop a weapon
so appalling that it would not only
destroy the enemy front line, but also the
will to maintain troops on that frontline.
It was thought poison gas might even
provoke a mutiny on the enemy frontline
causing it to collapse.
Poison Gas
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While trying to break the stalemate
(Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915),
Germany introduced poison gas
(chlorine) against the French and their
Algerian comrades.
When French sentries saw the yellowgreen gas they thought the Germans
had created a smokescreen to hide their
troop movement.
The French were ordered to the firing
line of their trench…the exact path of
the chlorine gas.
Poison Gas
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When the gas hit the French line, the
men fled in terror gasping for air (it
burned the throat and lungs and you
could die of asphyxiation) and the
Germans had an easy time capturing
territory.
Now other nations that had a
petrochemical industry could make
poison gases and blame the Germans for
starting it.
Soon gas warfare was used by both
sides.
Poison Gas
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A German Medic
prepared for a
gas attack.
A German
messenger dog.
Poison Gas
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In September 1915, responding to the
first German gas attack in April, the
British formed “Special Gas Companies”
that also used chlorine gas.
British soldiers weren’t allowed to call it
gas…it was referred to as an “accessory.”
They launched their canisters at the
German lines but the wind shifted…
causing 2,000 British casualties and 7
deaths.
Poison Gas
Poison Gas
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Phosgene and mustard gas quickly
followed. Military technicians quickly
countered with the improved gas
masks.
Poison Gas
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Phosgene gas (18
times more
powerful than
chlorine) had little
immediate effect
on soldiers, but
within 24-48
hours, you would
be incapacitated.
It also caused a
painful death from
asphyxiation.
Poison Gas
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The most lethal was mustard gas (it
smelled like mustard), which
blistered the body inside and out and
mucous membranes were stripped
off the bronchial tubes.
The Germans first used it against the
Russians in September 1917.
The pain was almost unendurable
and could last for five weeks.
If you survived, your body was
forever scarred and you were often
blinded.
Poison Gas
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In one ten day period, the Germans
fired over 1,000,000 shells containing
over 2,500 tons of mustard gas at the
Allies.
The British would use mustard gas at
the end of the war (Hitler was
temporarily blinded by a mustard gas
attack less than a month before the
armistice).
Poison Gas
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Victims of mustard gas.
Poison Gas and Chemical War
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While gas masks cut down on the
casualties from gas attacks, gas was
another sign that modern warfare had
become an increasingly inhumane
business.
Gas also added a new element of fear
to warfare.
By the end of the war, 91,000 men had
been killed and 1.3 million had been
wounded by gas.
A Gas Attack
Aftermath of a Gas Attack
The Flamethrower
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Another German chemical “innovation”
was the flamethrower. It could send a
stream of flames 25-30 yards and
incinerate anything in its path.
The Flamethrower
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The Germans had been developing
flamethrowers (Flammenwefer) since
1900 and had three specialist
battalions since 1911.
Initially used against the French, then
the British, 6-man teams would clear
forward defenders at the start of a
German attack.
There were 650 known German
attacks with flamethrowers but it is
unknown how many soldiers were
killed by this weapon.
Troops using a flamethrower
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The insignia of German soldiers
who used flamethrowers. They
were despised and never taken
prisoner.
Zeppelins
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World War I saw
the beginning of air
warfare.
Nearly all
combatants had
some form of
airship—essentially
powered balloons.
Most were used for
surveillance and
reconnaissance.
Zeppelins
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German dirigibles
(known as Zeppelins)
were the best (and
most famous).
They could quickly
climb to an altitude
beyond most fighters
(over 10,000 ft), and
their bomb carrying
capacity was greater
than any airplane.
Zeppelins
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Zeppelins raided London and the English
coastline 52 times, starting in January
1915.
Over a two year period, more than 500
people were killed by the bombs dropped
by the Zeppelins.
Zeppelins
•Overall, they didn’t
do much damage but
they scared a lot of
people.
•They had a rigid
steel frame and were
filled with highly
flammable hydrogen
gas (an obvious
problem for a slowmoving target).
Aircraft of World War I
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Airplanes also made their debut in
World War I.
Less than twelve years after their
invention, planes were used mainly to
scout enemy positions, especially
artillery positions.
Aircraft of World War I
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Initially, pilots had to shoot at enemy
airplanes with hand pistols or rifles
because engineers hadn’t figured out
how to mount and shoot a machine
gun without ripping up the plane’s
propeller.
Aircraft of World War I
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Once that was figured out, machine
guns were mounted in front of the
pilot. In some two-seat planes, guns
were also mounted at the rear.
During the war, the average life
expectancy for a pilot was about two
months. Many went into battle with
less than 18 hours of flight time under
their belts.
By 1917, the life expectancy for a
British pilot was down to 11 days.
Aircraft of World War I
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This is the British B.E. 2 called “The Quirk”
because it was hard to maneuver. This
plane carried most of the burden of
photographing German trenches for the
first two years of the war. Max speed:
72mph.
Aircraft of World War I
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This is the German Aviatik C.1. Starting in
1915, it became the principal German plane
for air reconnaissance. Max speed: 89mph.
Aircraft of World War I
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This is one of the most famous planes of
WWI: the British Sopwith Camel.
The Sopwith Camel shot down the most
enemy aircraft for the Allies. Top speed 113
mph.
Aircraft of World War I
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The German Fokker. Germany’s best
plane in a dogfight. Flown by the
“Red Baron” and his “Flying Circus”
squadron, they had over 300 Allied
kills.
The Red Baron
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Baron Manfred von Richthofen (the
infamous “Red Baron”) had over 80
kills before being shot down (April
1918). He was the most successful
fighter pilot of the war (and Snoopy’s
arch-enemy) .
Aircraft of World War I
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Because the Zeppelin raids hadn’t
changed the course of the war, the
Germans began using the Staaken as a
long-range bomber of civilian targets.
They could carry over 4,000 lbs. of
bombs.
Aircraft of World War I
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The British counterpart to the Staaken
was the Hadley Page 0/400. Top
speed: 97 mph. It could carry 2,000
lbs. of bombs.
Aircraft of World War I
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Airplanes did not alter the course of
the war, but they did lay the
groundwork for the development of a
modern air force, as most military
strategists realized their future
potential.
Varieties of WWI Aircraft
The Tank
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Unlike the airplane, another new weapon,
an armored land battleship called the
tank, came closer to decisive success.
Invented by the British (1916), the tank
was rushed into battle too soon, in small
numbers, and before mechanical tests
could be completed.
The Tank
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Tanks were known as “Land
Battleships” and ‘The Chariots of God.’
At first, they were giant blocks of
metal that could only carry 1-2 men
and travel at about 4 miles per hour.
Tanks
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Although these beasts were powerful,
they were not very reliable. Most broke
down and a good example is the battle
of Amiens. The British sent 525 tanks,
and after four days, only 25 were left
in working order.
Tanks
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By 1917, Allied tanks had been
improved to the point where 300 broke
through the German lines at the Battle
of Cambrai (in northern France).
Tanks
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But scientists and engineers kept
making new and improved tanks and by
1918 the Anglo-American Mark VIII
“Liberty” could carry 8-12 men, fire 208
shells and up to 13,000 bullets. It
remained in service until 1934. Top
speed: 6.5 mph.
Tanks
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The Renault
(French)
tank…the first to
have a gun
turret.
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The German A7V7
(Germany’s only
WWI tank entered
the war Spring
1918).
Field Artillery
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Never in the history of humankind,
were there so many pieces of
artillery used in one war. Between
1914-1918, the British alone fired
over 170 million shells.
Field Artillery
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For years, German
scientists were busy
developing the biggest
artillery pieces ever
known.
The biggest was called
the “Paris Gun.”
The “Paris Gun” was so
powerful, it could fire at
the heart of Paris from
over 75 miles away
(Coriolis effect).
Field Artillery
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The Paris Gun fired a
210 lbs shell from its
92 ft. barrel.
The shell could go 81
miles and hit an
altitude of 25 miles
(the greatest height a
human-made
projectile reached
until the “V” rockets
of WWII).
Field Artillery
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The Germans used it towards the end
of the war (March-August 1918).
A total of approx 350 shells were fired
(no more than 20 a day), killing about
250 people and wounding about 620.
It was more a psychological weapon
than a tactical one.
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The German “Big
Bertha” was the
world’s largest and
most powerful siege
gun.
Only four were ever
produced, but all four
saw action in the
war.
They were used to
destroy forts and
bombard cities.
Field Artillery
Field Artillery
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Transported by railroad flat cars or
by Daimler-Benz tractors, it took a
200-man crew over six hours to reassemble the “Big Bertha” on site.
The “Big Bertha” could fire a shell
weighing 2200 lbs almost 10 miles.
Field Artillery
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The Austrian Skoda Howitzer was
designed to be road-transportable.
It took a crew of 12, and could be
assembled on site in as little as 40
minutes.
It fired an 850 lbs shell about 7.5 miles.
Field Artillery
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Artillery was not only thing that had been
improved. The shells were upgraded as
well. Instead of ordinary shells, new highexplosive shells were developed.
The shells were thin casings and were filled
with tiny lead pellets. This was so effective,
that artillery fire killed hundreds of
thousands of men.
Machine Guns
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During World War I the effectiveness of
the machine gun reached frightening new
levels.
Firing up to 600 bullets a minute (the
equivalent of 250 men with rifles),
machine guns were then deemed to be
‘weapons of mass destruction’.
Machine Guns
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When the war began, the Germans
had over 12,000 machine guns (it
ballooned to over 100,000), the Allies
only a few hundred.
Machine guns were responsible for the
most military deaths in WWI.
Submarine warfare
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The war at sea proved to be as
indecisive as the stalemate on the
Western Front.
Confident in Britain’s superior naval
power, the Allies blockaded German
ports.
What was the strategy?
The Germans responded by setting a
blockade perimeter around the British
Isles and France, based on submarines.
Neutral shipping became a target as well.
Unterseeboot (U-Boats)
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The German submarine (or undersea boat =
U-boat) gave the German navy an alternative
to conventional naval warfare.
Submarines could hide from the large British
navy by staying underwater. They could
sneak up on their victims, launch torpedo
attacks, and slide silently into the safety of
the ocean depths.
Unterseeboot (U-Boats)
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Germany entered
the war with 28
submarines, and
built one, on
average, every
four days.
Germany had 370
U-boats terrorizing
the seas by the
end of WWI.
German U-Boats
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274 U-boats had kills,
and by the end of the
war, nearly 6,600
ships (including
13,000,000 tons of
cargo) had been sunk
by U-boats (including
349 British naval
warships).
German U-Boats
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But there was a problem with
submarine warfare. U-boat
commanders had a hard time
determining if the ship under attack
was Allied or of a neutral country (like
the U.S.).
This was a serious problem because
submarines gave no warning of attack,
and passengers and crew, whether
neutral or Allied, were often unable to
abandon ship before it sank.
British Q-Ships
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The obvious solution to the submarine
problem, the Germans argued, was to
have the subs surface to check the
target’s nationality and give the crews
a chance to abandon ship.
This worked for a few months until
early 1915 when the British began
sending out Q-ships.
British Q-Ships
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Designed to look like merchant ships
(i.e. decoys designed to fake the
Germans out), Q- ships were heavily
armed. So when U-boats surfaced to
give warning, Q-ships suddenly opened
fire.
There were 366 Q-ships (61 were lost)
but they sunk 14 U-boats and damaged
60.
Gun on a Q-ship
Q-Ships


To safeguard against sinking neutral
ships, the Germans declared a “war
zone” around Britain and Ireland,
declaring all ships in that zone would
be considered enemy vessels and
sunk.
After nearly 18 months, Germany
decided to resume U-boat attacks
without warning (unrestricted
submarine warfare). This greatly
angered the U.S.
Battle of Jutland


The only major naval battle of the war
occurred in May 1916 and was in the North
Sea off the coast of Denmark.
Neither side scored a “knock-out,” so for all
of their posturing before the war, the naval
arms race did not have an effect on the war’s
outcome.
Gallipoli (Dardanelles Campaign)


When Turkey (Ottoman Empire) entered the war in
November 1914, the British, under orders from
Winston Churchill, wanted to find a way to knock the
Turks out plus find a way to supply the Russians
through the Black Sea.
In February 1915, the British tried to crush the Turks.
But the Turks showed fierce and effective resistance.
HMS Irresistible sinking and abandoned at Gallipoli.
Gallipoli (Dardanelles Campaign)


The ensuing battles
which lasted until
January 1916 (known as
Gallipoli), cost the
British nearly 500,000
casualties (almost
50,000 dead), and the
British had to withdraw
without gaining
anything.
This crushed Allied
morale and almost cost
Winston Churchill his
political career.
Verdun


Trying to break the stalemate and crush
French morale, the Germans (led by
Crown Prince William) in February 1916
attacked the French fortified city of
Verdun (125 miles east of Paris near the
German border).
Both France and Germany considered
Verdun strategically important.
Verdun
The Battle of Verdun became the
longest, bloodiest battle of the war.

Verdun


The Germans used
their “Big Bertha”
guns to pound the
city.
At one point, the
Germans fired as
many as one million
shells a day into
Verdun.
Verdun


While it looked like the Germans
would win, the French put up a good
fight (“They shall not pass!”) and the
battle became another drawn out
stalemate. French resolve here
became legendary.
In 10 months of fierce fighting, the
French lost over 350,000 men and
the Germans lost over 330,000.
The Somme


While Verdun raged throughout most
of 1916, the Allies opened a massive
front designed to break the stalemate
and the German lines at the Somme .
Despite a weeklong artillery
bombardment, the British lost 60,000
men the first day (nearly 20,000
killed). This was the worst single day
in British military history.
The Somme


In one week, the
British had
advanced only one
mile along a six
mile front.
In a month, the
British had
advanced less than
three miles.
The Somme

In the three months the battle was
fought, Britain gained less than seven
miles at a cost of over 400,000 men, the
French lost 200,000, and the Germans
lost nearly 500,000 men.
The German Potato Famine


The German potato crop of 1915 was
three times the norm. The surplus
was so large that farmers had to
scramble for places to store it.
Because of the war effort, most of
the warehouses were full of war
material or ammunition.
The German Potato Famine


The German government then decided
to store potatoes in the warm
basements of public buildings,
including schools.
After all available space was filled,
there were still too many potatoes.
Farmers fed them to cattle. Distillers
made more schnapps. Many went to
waste.
The German Potato Famine


After two-three months, students and
teachers noticed a terrible smell coming
from the basements below them.
It was discovered that the potatoes
were rotting. By the spring of 1916,
schools had to close for “stench
vacations”.
The German Potato Famine


People thought the potatoes rotted
because of the warm buildings. In
actuality, it was because of the infection
of a fungus. Most of the surplus was
ruined.
The fungus spores were in the soil, so
next year’s potato crop was almost
totally destroyed.
The German Potato Famine



This could have been easily prevented
by the use of copper fungicides, which
protect the potato from fungus.
But all German copper was used to
make brass ammunition for the war.
So by the fall of 1917, Germans were
waiting in line for turnips or whatever
food was available (this became
known as the Turnip Winter).
The German Potato Famine



The few potatoes unaffected by the
blight were sent to feed the troops.
More than 700,000 German civilians died
of starvation or due to disease related to
starvation between 1916 and 1917.
The deaths of loved ones at home
weakened the German Army’s morale.
Several historians consider this famine
and the resulting low morale a major
contributing factor in the collapse of
Germany’s army in the late Fall of 1918.