Technology and WarA Quick Look at World War I

When, Where, Why, Who…Outcomes orSo What Factor???

• When: 1914-1918• Where: Europe, Africa, The Middle East, Asia• Why…a series of unfortunate decisions, events, and…

Extreme Nationalism, Extreme Militarism, Extreme Imperialism and Alliances That Were a Result of the “Extremes”

• The Allied Powers vs. The Central Powers

• Outcomes…The “So What” Factor

Politicians create wars, soldiers then must fight them!War is a failure of Statesmanship!

TheAllied Powers

The Central Powers

Key Players

Great Britain

France

Russia

Germany

Austria-Hungary

The Triple Entente The Triple Alliance

Italy

Italy Ottoman Empire

The United States

The Rulers

George VHouse of Battenburg

(Mountbatten)

Tsar Nicholas IIRomanov

Kaiser WilhelmHohenzollern

Franz Joseph IIHabsburg

Mehmed V

Key Theories on War

Sun Tzu Jomini Von Clausewitz

• All war is based on deception• Move around the enemy’s

strengths• If you know the enemy and

know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

• War is a science• Employ maximum

combat power to defeat the enemy’s strength

• Logistics is the practiced art of moving armies

• The Fog of War• The Seething Cauldron

of Fire• The Center of Gravity• The Operational Art of

War

The Plans

New Technologies On Land

Aviation

Armored Warfare (Tanks) Poison Gas

Modern Logistics???

Improved Artillery

Electronic Communications

Machine Guns and Automatic Weapons

New Technologies

Poison Gas

• Chlorine• Phosgene• Mustard

Communications

Artillery

Armor and Cavalry

Aircraft in War

The British Empire

Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig General Sir John

French, Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces

Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum

French Leadership

Marshall JoffreHero of the Battle of

the Marne

Marshall FocheSupreme

Commander of the Allied Armies

Marshall PetainHero of Verdun

Germany’s Leadership

Von Schleiffen Kaiser Wilhelm II Von Moltke

Von Falkenhayn Von HindenburgLudendorff

Verdun 1916

“They Shall Not Pass”

Verdun/Ft Douamont Jan-Dec 1916

>700,000 Casualties

1917-1918

• The US Enters the War and Engages on the Western Front• American Expeditionary Forces (AEF)…Port of Newport News• GEN Pershing will not allow US Soldiers to be used as replacements• The Tsar falls and Germany and Russia sign a Peace Treaty • The German Final Offensive• The American’s engage

• Cantigny• Meuse-Argonne • Belleau Wood• St Mihiel

America’s Entry into the War

Lafayette, We are here!

1917-1918

• German Collapse at home (later called the knife in the back)• The General Staff advises the Kaiser to abdicate• Germany agrees to a cease fire on 11/11/11/11 …the Rail Car at Compeigne

• Revolution in Russia• Demands for reparation and for Germany to be neutralized (economically, militarily

… buffers to prevent future wars)

The Treaty of Versailles

Orlando, Lloyd –George, , Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson

June 28, 1919

Germany is responsible for the war?Germany is to pay reparations and is forbidden to have:• A Navy• An Air Force• The Army is limited to 100K and may not have

tanks, artillery, limited machine guns, etc.• German territories in Africa and China (to Japan)

are taken

The 14 Points:The League of Nations (Wilson’s Dream), Alsace-Lorraine, Poland established, freedom of the seas, Italy, the Balkans (Serbia free access to the sea, Austria-Hungary is dissolved (new countries along ethnic lines sort of), De-militarization, Turkey vice Ottoman Empire, Russia withdraws (creating Poland and the Baltic States), Self-determination, no secret alliances/treaties, etc. etc.

The New Map of Europe

• Poland is re-born• Polish Corridor to the Baltic• Germany is split• Saar Region• Rhineland De-militarized • Alsace returned to France• The Baltic States• Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia

Outcomes…a very short list of many

• Germany’s new government is confronted with revolution… Spartacists, Communists, Nationalists (Germany was never defeated and was stabbed in the back at home)• Rampant inflation in Germany• The rise of National Socialism• The Strictures of Versailles are circumvented, renounced and ignored

• France has suffered horrific losses of young men which in the 30’s creates the “hollow years”• The need for protection creates the application of technology… The Maginot Line• Weak governments, weak leaders, passivism

• The Soviet Union is created• Great Britain retains much of its Empire but is in a weakened state• Italy is in chaos … not unusual for any of the new or revamped states which creates

opportunity for a new order• Mussolini and Fascism rise in Italy• Declaration of a New Roman Empire

• Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, the Baltic States, etc.• Japan emerges again as a winner and expands footprint in China• Treaties, agreements, Kellogg-Briand Pact to ban war• The United States reverts to isolationism

Global Financial Crisis

1918

“We have a pause of twenty years before the next war”Ferdinand Foch, Marshall of France, commenting on the Treaty of Versailles

1919-1939

Politicians create wars, soldiers then must fight them!War is a failure of Statesmanship!