: Andrew Wiest
: The Illustrated History of World War I The Battles, Personalities, Events and Key Weapons From All Fronts In The First World War 1914-18
: Amber Books Ltd
: 9781782742012
: 1
: CHF 7.30
:
: Geschichte
: English
: 256
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
The first truly total war, the 'war to end all wars', shocked the world with its scale and brutality. Men from both sides went to war in August 1914 expecting to be home by Christmas, but on the Western and Italian Fronts troops became locked in a grim stalemate of trench warfare. For the first time, advances in both agricultural and industrial production had made it possible to equip and sustain mass armies for years in the field.
The Illustrated History of World War Idescribes a conflict that began with a naval arms race in the early 1900s, and ended in 1918 with the deaths of nearly 23 million soldiers of all nations. As many more would die in the influenza pandemic that raged after the fighting had ceased. The war brought great social, political and military change. The innocence of the Victorian world was gone, replaced by an era of uncertainty.
With the aid of more than 250 black-and-white photographs and full-colour artworks,The Illustrated History of World War I recreates the battles and campaigns that raged across the surface of the globe, on land, at sea and in the air. Including full colour maps of specific actions and campaigns and feature boxes explaining important events and personalities involved in the conflict,The Illustrated History of World War Iprovides a graphic and compelling account of the first truly modern war.

CHAPTER 2

Germany Strikes West


BELGIAN SOLDIERS ADVANCE TO MEET THE INVADING GERMANS IN 1914. BELGIUM WAS AN AFTERTHOUGHT IN THE GERMAN SCHLIEFFEN PLAN, WHICH AIMED TO DEFEAT FRANCE IN JUST SIX WEEKS. AS IT UNFOLDED THE PLAN LED TO A SERIES OF BATTLES THAT WOULD DECIDE THE FATE OF THE WESTERN FRONT.

A ‘Cult of the Offensive’ gripped the military machines of Europe. In reality, the new weaponry and the great industrial might of the belligerent nations would make offensives costly and futile, but military planners would cling to their offensive beliefs like grim death.

COMPETING PLANS


The Germans had invaded France, and risked British ire by violating Belgian neutrality, hoping to defeat France in six weeks. It seems that the Kaiser had good reason to expect a quick victory; after all, Germany had defeated France in a similar space of time in 1870. Most military thinkers in every country expected the war to be swift and decisive. The industrial revolution had provided the combatants with new weaponry that would make it so. Indeed a ‘Cult of the Offensive’ gripped the military machines of Europe. In reality, the new weaponry and the great industrial might of the belligerent nations would make offensives costly and futile, but military planners would cling to their offensive beliefs like grim death.

The French Army, numbering some two million men under the command of General Joseph Joffre, was thoroughly wedded to the idea of an audacious attack aimed at achieving a Napoleonic-style decisive victory. Their offensive scheme, dubbed Plan 17, called for a mass invasion of the German-held states of Alsace-Lorraine. Joffre and his generals believed that French fighting spirit, or èlan, would make up for what Plan 17 lacked in subtlety but the plan had several obvious weaknesses, including the fact that it left much of northern France thinly defended. Such details mattered little to the French, who planned to sweep forward so fast that any German riposte would come too late to stave off their inevitable defeat.

MOLTKE

General Helmuth von Moltke, the nephew of the Field Marshal who had defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War, succeeded Schlieffen as Chief of the German General Staff in 1906. The younger Moltke saw fit to make several alterations to the Schlieffen Plan. Afraid of losing too much territory, he weakened the all-important right flank of the German advance and strengthened the defensive formations in Alsace-Lorraine. As the war began, the somewhat timid and nervous Moltke remained far behind the front lines and quickly lost touch with his advancing forces. As a result, he overestimated the success of the German advance. Adding to his difficulties was a Russian invasion on the Eastern Front and a British landing at Antwerp. The Schlieffen Plan called for German forces to ignore such distractions and to focus on the speedy defeat of France, but Moltke’s confidence wavered. Frightened of the consequences, he removed troops from the right flank of the German advance to deal with the perceived threats. The delicate balance of the Schlieffen Plan was shattered. Furthermore, Moltke’s mistakes helped lead to the critical Battle of the Marne. At this pivotal point, yet again, he lost contact with his advancing forces and sent Richard Hentsch, a mere colonel, to the front to deal with the strategic situat