Transcript Lesson 18 - The War on different frontsx

A World War
War on different fronts
Look at the following maps.
1. What is it of?
2. Why do you think it turned out like
this?
3. What do you think the impact of this
could have been?
Map of the World showing the participants in World War I. Those
fighting on the side of the Triple Entente (at one point or another) are
depicted in green, the Central Powers in orange, and neutral countries in
grey.
A plot of all military engagements in WWI
A World War
War on different fronts
Learning Objectives:
To explain the different fronts of the First World War.
To analyse the consequences of these fronts.
A World War
The First World War was fought on many different fronts, this
was due to the range of countries and Empires involved in the war.
Today we will look at four major fronts in the First World War:
•
•
•
•
The Western Front
The Eastern Front
Gallipoli
The war at sea
A World War
Working in groups you will be investigating the key aspects of
these fronts, looking for the differences and similarities between
them.
You will EACH need to complete the fact file table about each
front everyone needs to complete.
Finished? Which country struggled the most of the ones you have looked
at?
A World War
What do you think were the main consequences of a world war? In
pairs write a top three biggest consequences.
Why do you think we mainly remember the Western Front over
other parts of the First World War?
Western Front
Who was
fighting?
(main
countries)
Where did
the
fighting
take
place?
Allied
casualties/
losses
Central
powers
casualties/
losses
Biggest
battles
Why did
war break
out there?
Eastern Front
Gallipoli
The War at Sea
Key battles on the Western Front
1914
Sept 6-12: First Battle of the Marne
This battle halted the German advance, prompting trench warfare. The French incurred 250,000 losses, the Germans
suffered similar. The British recorded 12,733 casualties.
1915
April 22-May 25: Second Battle of Ypres
The first large-scale use of chemical weapons. Some 10,000 troops were affected by the gas. Half died within 10 minutes.
Losses were estimated at 69,000 Allied troops (59,000 British, 10,000 French), against 35,000 German.
1916
Feb 21-Dec 18: Battle of Verdun
Rather than take the town, the Germans hoped to inflict crippling losses on the defending French forces. An estimated one
million were lost (roughly even) by the time the Germans were driven back.
July 1-Nov 18: Battle of the Somme
The main Allied attack on the western front in 1916. British casualties on the first day totalled 58,000, the worst single day
loss of the war. Total losses were 420,000 British, 200,000 French and 500,000 German.
1917
July 31-Nov 6: Third Battle of Ypres - Passchendaele
Intended to be the major breakthrough in Flanders, Allied progress was slowed by terrible mud. The British Expeditionary
Force suffered some 310,000 casualties, the Germans 260,000.
German Empire
Austria-Hungary
Bulgaria (1916–17)
Ottoman Empire(1916–17)
Total: more than 3,500,000 casualties
Belligerents
Russian Empire(1914–17)
Russian Republic(1917)
Romania (1916–17) Russian SFSR(1918)
Casualties and losses
Total: more than 10,000,000 casualties
Eastern Front
The line of fighting on the Eastern side of Europe between Russia and Germany and Austria-Hungary is known as the Eastern
Front.
Fighting began on the Eastern front when Russia invaded East Prussia (Germany) on 17th August 1914. Germany immediately
launched a counter-offensive and pushed Russia back. This pattern of attack and counter-attack continued for the first two
years of the war and meant that the Eastern Front changed position as land was captured and lost by both sides.
The map above, shows the geographical location of the Eastern front stretching from Riga in the north to Czernowitz in the
south. The orange line shows the position of the Eastern Front in 1915. Each coloured square represents 50,000 men. Red
represents the Russian army, yellow, German soldiers and blue Austro-Hungarian.
Battles fought along this front include - Tannenberg, August 1914; Masurian Lakes, September 1914; Bolimov, January 1915;
Lake Naroch, March 1916; Riga, September 1917.
Belligerents
• British Empire Australia
• India
• Newfoundland
• New Zealand
• United Kingdom
France
• French West Africa
5 divisions (initial)
15 divisions (final)
Total
489,000 British
[4]
79,000 French
Supported by
[3]
~2,000 civilian labourers
252,000
[5]
Ottoman EmpireSupported by
[1]
German Empire
[2]
Austria-Hungary
Strength
6 divisions (initial)
16 divisions (final)
Total
[4]
315,500
Casualties and losses
[5]
218,000 – 251,000
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in the south of Turkey. In 1915, the allied commanders decided to try to attack Germany by attacking
her ally, Turkey. Allied soldiers, mainly from Australia and New Zealand, were sent to the Peninsula while British ships tried to force a
way through the Dardanelles.
The entire mission was a failure. The allies lost more than 50,000 men but gained hardly any land. The map above shows the front line.
The blue line shows the allies position while the green shows the Turkish line. Many soldiers became sick due to the unsanitary
conditions, especially from enteric fever, dysentery and diarrhoea. It is estimated that at least 145,000 British soldiers became ill during
the campaign. Turkish sick are given as 64,000.
Experience of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) soldiers at Gallipoli
The area occupied by the New Zealanders and Australians at Anzac was tiny – less
than six square kilometres. At its furthest point, the distance between the front
line and the beach was just over 900 metres. Conditions were harsh. The area
possessed no natural water source, so there were constant shortages. Water,
food, ammunition, and other supplies arrived at Anzac on ships and were landed on
the beach with great difficulty.
Troops lived on a staple diet of tinned bully beef, army biscuits and jam; fresh
fruit and vegetables were non-existent. Sanitation was also a problem. With up to
25,000 men packed into such a cramped space, latrines filled up fast and there
was limited space for new ones. Body lice became endemic, and diseases like
diarrhoea, dysentery and enteric fever (typhoid) flourished in the unsanitary
conditions.
The stench of the dead made living conditions even worse. Unburied corpses
littered no man’s land, while others lay in shallow graves close to the dugouts of
the living. In the searing heat of summer, the rotting corpses, food and body
waste were the perfect breeding ground for flies and the diseases they spread.
Swarms of flies tormented the men, turning simple tasks such as preparing and
eating food into horrible ordeals.
Psychological pressures magnified the physical hardships. Service in the front line
was always dangerous. Opposing trenches were extremely close – barely four
metres apart in some places. At this range, enemy hand grenades, or ‘bombs’,
caused a steady stream of casualties. Danger also lurked behind the front line. No
place within the tiny perimeter was safe from enemy fire, and Ottoman shells and
snipers took a toll of troops in support areas.
Medical treatment
For those wounded on Gallipoli, the wait for treatment and evacuation was often
long and agonising. Compared with the organisation and efficiency of the Western
Front, medical services at Gallipoli were a shambles. The evacuation framework for
casualties — moving wounded from field ambulances to casualty clearing stations,
and then military hospitals — fell apart, as poor planning and the sheer scale of
casualties overwhelmed the available medical resources.
Day by day the sun grew hotter and
hotter until it burned down scorchingly
hot. There was scarcely any shade. The
bivvies themselves were swelteringly
hot. The ground was almost red hot.
There was little stirring of air beneath
the great cliffs. Men soon commenced
to shed their clothing. Slacks were
ripped off at the knees and the vogue
of shorts commenced. Coats were flung
off and then shirts. The ‘Tommy hats’ in
which the New Zealanders had landed
were soon thrown away and replaced by
Australian felts, pith helmets or the
New Zealand issue of unfortunate
members of the reinforcement drafts …
Within six weeks of landing the
fashionable costume had become boots,
shorts, identity disk, hat and when
circumstances permitted a cheerful
smile. The whole was topped off by a
most glorious coat of sunburn.
Ormond Burton, The Silent Division,
1935
The War at Sea
Even before hostilities began, Germany and Britain were involved in a naval race for mastery of the seas. Britain had a long
tradition of being the master of the seas and Germany knew that she was unlikely to win a naval war against Britain. For this
reason, Germany tended to avoid open naval conflict with Britain.
Britain's main naval tactic was to keep German ships in German ports and to block supplies from reaching Germany.
Germany's main naval tactic was to post u-boats in the Atlantic ocean and to destroy ships taking supplies from America and
other countries to Britain. On 7th May 1915, the passenger liner Lusitania, was torpedoed by a German submarine. Nearly
1200 civilians lost their lives.
The most notable sea battle of World War One was the Battle of Jutland between Germany and Britain which ended
inconclusively.
Theatres of war (where the fighting took place)
The North Sea
The North Sea was the main theater of the war for surface action. The British Grand Fleet took position against the
German High Seas Fleet. Major battles included those at Heligoland Bight), Dogger Bank, and Jutland.
Atlantic
In 1915, Germany declared a naval blockade of Britain, to be enforced by its U-boats. The U-boats sank hundreds of Allied
merchant ships. However, submarines normally attack by stealth. This made it difficult to give warning before attacking a
merchant ship or to rescue survivors. This resulted in many civilian deaths, especially when passenger ships were sunk.
This turned neutral opinion against the Central Powers, as countries like the U.S. and Brazil suffered casualties and losses to
their trade.
Mediterranean
The main fleet action was the Triple Entente attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war by an attack
on Constantinople in 1915. This attempt turned into the Battle of Gallipoli which resulted in a Triple Entente defeat.
Black Sea
The war in the Black Sea started when the Ottoman Fleet bombarded several Russian cities in October 1914.
Baltic Sea
In the Baltic Sea, Germany and Russia were the main combatants, with a number of British submarines sailing through
the Kattegat to assist the Russians.
Life Aboard a U-Boat
No other vessel of war presented poorer living conditions than that of a U-boat. Each war patrol could take anywhere
between three weeks to six months. During this time, U-boat crews were not able to bathe, shave or change their clothes.
The crew of a U-boat is made up of specialists and seamen. Specialist crew, such as radioman, torpedomen and machinemen
were responsible for the operation and maintenance of equipment aboard the U-boat. Other general duty tasks such as
loading torpedoes, standing watch on the bridge, operating deck guns and housekeeping activities were performed by the
seamen.
Standing on watch duty during stormy weather was frowned upon by the crewmen. The harsh environment of the North
Atlantic meant that icy waves constantly swept over the conning tower, completely submerging the boat and the watch crew
for brief periods. They were issued with special foul-weather coats, but these did little to keep them dry. In addition,
crewmen had little chance to dry their clothes during a patrol. The watch crews were secured by safety lines to keep them
from being washed overboard.
They were allowed only the clothes on their backs and a single change of underwear and socks. To remove salt from their skin
caused by seawater exposure, crews were issued with special saltwater soap, but this was unpopular as it left a scummy film
on the skin.
Food aboard a U-boat was another interesting topic. At the beginning of a journey, as much food was cramped into every nook
and cranny available in the U-boat. This resulted in one of the toilets being filled to capacity with food. They brought the
best foods available with them, including fresh meat, sausages, bread loaves, fresh fruits and vegetables, but the small
refrigerators meant that food spoilt quickly, especially in the damp environment of a U-boat. Very soon, fresh loaves of
bread would sprout white fungi, which the crews promptly nicknamed as “Rabbits”, due to the white fuzzy appearance. By
that time, food consisted mainly of canned goods supplemented by a soy based filler called Bratlingspulver. Issued by the
military for U-boat crews, the crew unkindly referred to it as “diesel food”, due to the constant exposure of diesel exhaust
that surrounded them.
Commanders organized games and competitions to keep morale The forward torpedo room which also doubled up as the crew's
high and their minds away from home. On long patrols,
quarters. Six bunks had to be folded up to accommodate two
maintaining morale was a delicate and important matter.
spare torpedoes.
Task 2
1 – A report from a senior officer in the British forces explaining the differences between
the different fronts, and links between them, and justifying which is the most important
front.
2 – A letter from a soldier who has fought on two fronts, comparing the similarities and
differences and links between them.
3 – An explanation of what the fighting is like on each front from the point of view of a
soldier.
4 – Four drawings or diary entries demonstrating the differences between the fronts.
Significance