What is about 1st World war 1914-1918

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• Causes of the War:
• The period before the First World War was one of increasing tension between the European powers. The decay of the Turkish Empire had been the cause of many, with various parts of the Empire snapped up by the major powers, while in the Balkans the Turks had been forced back almost to the gates of Constantinople. A second cause of friction was the perceived decay of the Hapsburg Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary, when the majority of Slavs agitated for either independence, or a greater role in government, 
• while the Austrian and Hungarian elites held out for the statue-quo, led by the elderly Emperor, Franz-Joseph, a force for autocracy and tradition. Austria's main ally was the recently unified Germany, always worried about potential Russian gains as Austria weakened, especially in the Balkans. The Germans were also engaged in a naval arms race with Great Britain, which in turn moved Britain closer to France, and thus to her ally Russia. 
• Despite all of the potential causes of tension, Europe in 1914 looked to be more peaceful than for some years. However, on 28 June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, was shot and killed by Gavrilo Princip, a Serb terrorist, while visiting Sarajevo. The mood in Austria was already hostile towards Serbia, and now it turned towards war. The Austrians were certain that the Serbian government had been in some way involved in the murder, and while it is not certain how far that was true, the leader of the terrorists was also head of Serbian Intelligence. 
• On 23 July, Austria delivered a note to the Serbia government that, if agreed to, would have almost ended Serbian independence. This was clearly intended to be refused, and in the most it was. On 28 July 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia. Now the alliance system swung into play. On 30 July, Russia started mobilisation. In reaction, Germany declared war against Russia on 1 August. On the next day, Germany invaded Luxembourg, and demanded free passage across Belgium. 
• On 3 August, Belgium refused the German demand, Germany declared war on France, and Britain pledged to support Belgium. On 4 August a British ultimatum to Germany was refused, and Britain declared war on Germany, while Germany declared war on Belgium, and launched an invasion of Belgium. Finally, on 5 August Austria declared war on Russia, and the First World War had begun. 

• The Western Front:(1914)

• German plans for a two front war against France and Russia were based on the Schlieffen Plan, which, relying on the French to attack Germany at once via Alsace and Lorraine, called for a massive German attack through Belgium into northern France, taking Paris and cutting off the French armies, thus winning the war in the west before turning to deal with the slower Russian mobilisation.
•  However, General von Moltke, the German commander, had tinkered with the plan, weakening the strength of the blow on the right wing, and reducing the distance into Germany that the French attack would be allowed to progress. Thus, when the French, as expected, launched their attack (Battle of Lorraine, 14-22 August 1914), they were unable to make any progress, and were even soon in danger themselves. 
• Thus the French armies were further west than the German plan required. Another factor not properly considered in the plan was that Britain would join the war on the violation of Belgium neutrality. 
• The advancing German troops were the first to discover the British Expeditionary Force, a small but professional army, who they encountered at the battle of Mons (23 August 1914), where the British troops took a heavy toll of the Germans before the British were forced to retreat. 
• Nevertheless, the German advance was still going well. However, the French commander,General Joseph Joffre, managed his battle better than Moltke managed his. Reacting to the unexpected German attacks, Joffre adjusted his armies to resist the onrushing Germans, and by the end of August the Schlieffen plan, with its aim of passing west of Paris, had already been abandoned in practice, as the German armies prepared to pass east of the city.
•  1915
• The second year of the war saw both sides desperate to break through the line of trenches and resume manoeuvre warfare. As the year began, the French were engaged in the First Battle of Champagne (20 December 1914-30 March 1915), a determined attempt to regain the French territory held by the Germans. At the second battle of Ypres (22 April-25 May), 
• the Germans introduced poisoned gas into the war, but despite the initial, horrific, impact of the gas, made very little progress, having failed to provide sufficient support for their new weapon, and for the rest of the year a series of failed attacks followed one after one. On 17 December Field Marshal French was replaced by General Sir Douglas Haig as commander of the BEF.
• 1916
• This year was dominated by two big battles on the Western Front. The town and fortress of Verdun, in French hands, formed a salient into the German lines. Falkenhayn, now German commander, decided to use Verdun to bleed the French dry, and on 21 February began his assault on the fortress (battle of Verdun, 21 February-18 December 1916). 
• For the first few days of the battle, it looked as if Verdun would fall, but Joffre decreed that the city would not fall, and sent General Henri Petain to hold it. While the Germans paused at their first objectives, and Petain was able to move reinforcements of men and equipment into the city. 
• Petain managed to organise a supply line that ran down a single minor road. The fighting was bitter and very costly, costing 542,000 French casualties and 434,000 German. By the time the battle ended, the French had regained almost all of the ground lost in the initial German attacks, while Falkenhayn had been replaced by the team of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, famous after victories in the east, who decided to go on to the defensive in the west.
• 1917
• The Germans began 1917 by falling back to a new defensive line (known to the allies as the Hindenburg Line), where the front stabilised by 5 April, destroying the territory they were abandoning. The allies gained a boost, with the US declaration of war (6 April 1917), but that would take time to have any effect. In the meantime, the new French commander, General Nivelle, planned a general offensive that, he claimed, would win the war. This started with the Battle of Arras (9-15 April), a minor British victory, best known for the battle of Vimy Ridge (9-13 April), a well planned attack that saw the Canadian Corps fight together for the first time.
• 1918
• When 1918 opened, change was in the air. The defeat of Russia meant that large numbers of experienced German soldiers were now free to move to the western front, while for the allies an increasing number of American troops were arriving in Europe. The allied plan for the year was to stay on the defensive until American numbers allowed an attack.
•  Ludendorff could see this, and saw Germanys only hope to be a knockout block early in 1918, before the Americans could play a part. Between March and July, Ludendorff launched five great offensives, that threatened to break the allied lines, but never did (Somme, Lys, Aisne, Noyon-Montdidier and Champagne-Marne). The Germans soon found themselves launching attacks with no overall purpose, and struggling to advance over land they had themselves devastated in 1917. 
• By July, the German attacks had ground to a halt, and the mood in the German command was one of great despondency. Meanwhile, the allies had finally put a combined command in place, under Ferdinand Foch, allowing for a much more coordinated war. 
• The allies now took the offensive (the Hundred Days). On 8 August, the Amiens Offensive was started, with a short bombardment followed by a combined tank and infantry attack, which forced the Germans back eight miles, in what Ludendorff called the 'black day' of the German Army. In the fighting that followed, the Germans were forced back to the Hindenburg line. In early October, the allies were able to maintain pressure all along the line, taking the Hindenburg line, and forcing the Germans onto the retreat. Although this final stage of the war saw the greatest advances,
•  it also saw some of the fiercest fighting. Now, Germany started to crumble. At home revolution sparked across the country, while at the front resistance crumbled. The first requests for an Armistice came on 6 October, and after negotiations from 7 November, the Armistice was signed on the morning of 11 November, with the fighting to stop at 11 A.M. The war was over.