IB Docs (2) Team
3. Impact of war and the reasons for Allied victory
Paper 3 does not require you to study the details of how the First World War was fought. However, you should have an have an understanding of the chronology and key features of the war in order to understand the end result, so we recommend that you look at Paper 2 Topic 11 on the First World War: 2. First World War: Practices (ATL) guiding questions 1 to 5.
For this section of the Paper 3 topic you need to examine the impact of the war on the civilian populations of two countries and to understand why Germany and the other Central powers were defeated.
Guiding questions:
What was the impact of the First World War on civilian populations?
What were the factors leading to the defeat of Germany and the other Central Powers?
1. What was the impact of the war on civilian populations?
'Among the many illusions destroyed in 1914 was the assumption that in the events of European war, a clear distinction between soldiers and civilians could be maintained.'
James Sheehan, the Monopoly of Violence (Faber & Faber, 2008)
The impact of fighting on civilians
As you will have seen from the impact of the Schlieffen Plan and the movement of troops through Belgium, (see 2. First World War: Practices (ATL) ) citizens were affected from the start of the war. This was partly due to the technologies available to both sides which allowed civilians to become targets. Paris was shelled from a distance of 126 kilometres by the massive German gun known as 'Long Max', while first the Zeppelins, and later planes, made raids on Britain. British planes also inflicted severe damage on German factories and towns in the last year of the war.
On the Eastern Front, due to the large advances and retreats, civilians were caught up in actual battles in a way that did not happen on the Western Front; after initial battles, civilians were able to keep away from the actual fighting.
However, it was not just new technology that led to civilian casualties. In many areas, civilians were targetted by armies on the ground. This happened in Belgium where reprisals took place against those who resisted the German advance and extensively on the Eastern Front. In Serbia, thousands of civilians were slaughtered by Austro-Hungarian troops, while minority groups - Jews, Roma, Hungarians and Turks were all attacked or deported by Russia during the war.
Genocide
The First world War also witnessed the first genocide. Turkish propaganda at the time presented the Armenians as saboteurs and a pro-Russian fifth column. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died from starvation and thirst when the Ottoman Turks deported them en masse from eastern Anatolia to the Syrian desert and elsewhere in 1915 - 1916.
The impact of economic warfare on civilians
Both sides tried to disrupt each other's trade routes, and prevent vital foods and raw materials getting through, by laying minefields at sea or attacking merchant ships with submarines or warships. The British blockade had a devastating effect on Germany, causing desperate food shortages and contributing to Germany's defeat in 1918. Germany's use of submarine warfare also subjected British civilians to shortages and Russia suffered as a result of the blockade of the Dardanelles. Rationing was introduced in many countries.
The growth of government power
Civilians experience other changes with the increased centralisation of power:
- In Britain the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), 1914, gave the government wide ranging powers to police many aspects of daily life
- In France, a 'state of siege' was proclaimed by president Raymond Poincare who placed eight departments of government (later increased to 33) under the control of the Commander-in-Chief Joffre, and subject to military law
- In Germany, executive power was given to the deputy commanding generals of Germany's 24 military districts
- In Russia, the Tsar reasserted autocratic powers and ruled without the Duma
These powers were used to ensure government control over human resources e.g. introducing conscription, production - nationalising industry in Britain for example, and controlling morale by producing propaganda.
Task One
ATL: thinking skills
Watch this episode of The Great War 1914 - 1918, Episode 3, Total War, from 25 minutes 40 seconds in until 32 minutes and make notes on the impact of the war on the role of women in Britain.
Task Two
ATL: Research and social skills
You will investigate the impact of the impact of the First World War on civilian populations of two countries between 1914 and 1918. In groups of four, two students will research one of the countries listed below and the other pair investigate a different country.
- Britain
- France
- Germany
- Austria-Hungary
- Russia
- Turkey
You should explore the following themes:
- Changing role of civilians in industry and agriculture, including war work
- The extension of government control over civilian; propaganda; civil liberties
- The extent civilians were targeted militarily in the war, e.g. bombing, bombardment, refugees, blockades.
- Impact of the war on leisure, education and the arts
- Impact of the war on children
- Changing role of woman during the war
After you have completed your research feedback to the other pair in your group.
Discuss as a group which countries were the most successful/least successful in mobilising their human and economic resources and why you think this was the case.
Use your research to discuss the following question:
Examine the impact of the First World War on civilian populations of two countries between 1914 and 1918.
You may find this article from the British Library useful in your research.
Also this article on the Home Front in Britain with contemporary sources
Task Three
ATL: Research skills
Building on from your research above, it is important that you are clear about the role of women in two different countries.
This is an interview by reporter Kate Adie on her book on women fighting in the First World War. There is also a BBC programme that she did on the same theme. You can find it on YouTube, but need to pay for it unfortunately!
Also note this recently published book about two suffragette women who established a hospital in London during the First World War for wounded soldiers; it was staffed entirely by women. It is another one of those hidden stories about the role of women in the war and a great example of the work done by women (which of course they were then prevented from doing after the war)
Endell Street by Wendy Moore reviews the suffragette surgeons (the Guardian)
A fascinating, carefully researched study of life partners who became pioneering army hospital doctors in the first world war
2. What were the factors leading to the defeat of Germany and the other Central Powers?
Historians differ in their perspectives on the reasons for the defeat of the Central Powers in the First World War. For example, John Keegan, in the First World War (1998), suggests that the war at sea in the Atlantic was decisive in the outcome of the war. Whereas Alexander Watson suggests that the war on the land led to the defeat of Germany, ‘…during the course of 1918, the accumulated strain and the hopelessness of its situation had broken the army’s will to continue fighting’. (Alexander Watson, ‘Stabbed at the Front’, History Today, 2008, p.22.)
Akira Iriye suggests, in The Globalising of America 1913–1945, (1993), ‘American participation spelled the defeat of German ambitions’ (page 43) due to its overwhelming economic potential.
The tasks below will get you to look at a range of different factors which impacted on the outcome of the war: internal stability in the Central Powers and the role of the US as well as strategic errors on the part of the Central Powers, economic weaknesses and strengths of the Allies by 1918.
Domestic instability in Central Powers
Task One
ATL: Research and thinking skills
Research one of the following central power during the First World War. You will need to give a short 5 minute presentation on the domestic instability in your country and explain why this may have been a factor in the ultimate victory of the Allies in 1918.
- Domestic instability in Germany 1914-18
- Domestic instability in Austria-Hungary 1914-18
- Domestic instability in the Ottoman/Turkish empire 1914-18
- Domestic instability in Bulgaria 1914-18
The role of the US
Starter:
Watch this brief overview of the reasons for and results of US entry in the First World War:
The impact of the US on land
When it entered the war in April 1917 the US initially hoped to limit involvement to economic and material support but by May 1917 it was clear to Wilson that the US had to send troops as soon as possible to the Western front.
- Volunteers were used until December 1917 – then conscription was introduced
- Conscription was remaned as ‘selective service’; successful in convincing public draft was equitable
- 72% of 4 million US troops were drafted. This represented a dramatic (if temporary) expansion of federal government power over the individual
- Pre-war US army had 300 000 active service and reservists. Overall, 4.7 million would serve in the war. Over 2 million reached the Western Front by the end of the war.
- Raising and training solders, offices, recruiting engineers, medics, manufacture of kit and arms and transport forces overseas was a huge undertaking
- American Expeditionary Force [AEF] was under the command of General John J Pershing
- Issues in AEF: Obedience of troops, race relations problems and lack of ideological commitment to war
- The US government and commanders believed earliest the war would end was in 1919.
The US claimed that their forces determined the outcome on the Western Front due to ‘initiative and aggressiveness’. However, the British and French suggested that this massive resource of manpower was wasted due to poor leadership.
US wanted to maintain national integrity of army and took over its own sector of the Western Front. Pershing hoped this would decrease US casualties; by adopting a different approach the US could avoid mistakes made by allies on battlefield. However, this actually increased casualties, the US had wanted to restore a war of movement - the realities of trench warfare made this lethal. Pershing had planned to fully train 3 million men to make a decisive attack at Metz in 1919 – but this plan was overtaken by the rapid pace of events after the German Spring Offensive in 1918; US troops were forced into battle. Pershing had not agreed to French demands that US troops be used to ‘refresh’ French divisions. But, in reality the AEF depended on the French and the British for training, transport and arms when its troops initially arrived on the Western Front. In the autumn of 1918, most US troops were fighting with allied forces.
It could be argued that US troops fighting under French command during Spring Offensive played a significant role in halting the German advance towards Paris in June 1918. It is also claimed that its forces subsequently enabled the success of the Allied counter-offensive. Indeed, fresh US troops were a key strength to the French-led counter-assaults, and US commanded assaults pinned down large numbers of Germans enabling Anglo-French forces to advance north in July-August 1918.
The impact of the US at sea
From April 1917, the US navy was expanded to protect its shipping, and battleships were sent to Scapa Flow to help the British protect and support the convoy system. The US navy’s main focus was countering U-boats in the Atlantic with destroyers and other warships. This role was key to the deployment land forces to Europe – France and Italy. The US navy was also deployed to the North Sea to assist the British navy in enforcing the blockade on Germany.
In the Mediterranean, the US navy escorted supply convoys and deployed US troops to support Italian forces in the final decisive battle of Vittorio Veneto (October-November 1918)
In addition, the German command miscalculated how quickly US troops would be deployed to the western front which then impacted the Spring Offensive. Germany also overestimated how effective its U-boats could be in delaying the US build-up.
Economic Impact of the US
- Before the war US traded $549 million good to Britain and $344 million to Germany
- US government wanted to maintain trade at the onset of the war as it gained 40% of revenue from foreign trade
- To embargo trade could be deemed illegal in international law
- October 1915: President Wilson permitted loans to belligerents, this was to the advantage of Britain and France.
- Trade not equal to belligerents: by 1916 $3.2 billion to Allies whereas trade with Germany fallen to 1% pre-war level
- By 1917: loans to the Allies $2.25 billion; loans to Germany $27 million.
- Government spending increased from $477 million in 1916 to $8450 in 1918 to fund the war effort. This account for 12% of GNP.
- From April 1917 US industry produced vast supplies of raw materials and munitions. Thousands of Liberty aircraft engines and 3.5 million rifles, 420,000 machine guns and 5,000 artillery units per year.
- Food production, under Wilson’s ‘Food Administrator, Herbert Hoover, increased from 12.3 million in 1917 to 18.6 million tons per annum.
- Creation of the War industries board in July 1917 – coordinated finances and supplies. Directed resources and standardised production with fixed prices.
- By 1918, Allies had borrowed $7 billion and at time of Paris peace conference debt stood at $10.5 billion
Some historians, like David Kennedy, suggest that the overall US contribution has been overstated and that the mobilization of its economic resources was slow. Kennedy states that: ‘the American [soldier] in France was typically transported in a British ship, wore a steel helmet modelled on the British and fought with French ordnance.’ Supporting evidence for this is that US troops frequently relied on Allied arms in battle on the Western Front, for example of the 8.8 million artillery rounds US troops fired less than 8000 were made in the US.
Note that in the final endgame of the war, President Wilson declared that he would only negotiate with a democratic regime, this was a trigger that led to revolution in Germany and forced the abdication of the Kaiser.
Task Two
ATL: Thinking skills
Read this article 'America in the First World War' by historian Jennifer D Keene from the British Library.
Add to your notes on:
- Reasons for the entry of the US into the war
- US propaganda
- The role of US soldiers on the Western Front
Task Three
ATL: Thinking and communication skills
In pairs draft the script for a podcast which assesses the role of the US in the defeat of the Central Powers. This could take the form of an interview with an advocate of the significance of US entry and a commentator who believes the war was won before the US presence was felt on the fighting fronts.
Task Three
ATL: Thinking and self-management skills
Make a copy of the chart below and add evidence from your own knowledge and your research (e.g. from the tasks above), to each of the key factors that led to the defeat of the Central powers.
Click on the eyes to get suggestions of material that you could add.
Strategic errors:
- The strategic gamble for a quick victory via the Schlieffen Plan failed.
- The Plan took German forces through Belgium which resulted in Britain entering the war.
- Battle of the Marne led to a ‘two front’ war for Germany.
- The strategy of drawing the French in at Verdun, with the aim of wearing French and British forces down failed.
- The failure of the Peace Offensive strategy led directly to defeat on the land.
- The German high-risk strategy of unrestricted U-boat warfare not only failed, but also helped to bring the USA into the war.
- Strategically Germany was unable to make clear gains from the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk, as it took a long time to negotiate terms, and it had to leave 1 million men, desperately needed to fight on the western front, in the east to enforce the treaty and to occupy Ukraine.
- Weakness of Germany’s allies meant a dilution of its strategies and campaigns on Western front as it had to help out the Austrians. Bulgaria was defeated in September 1918; Austria and then Turkey were defeated by the end of October.
Economic factors:
- Allied blockade of Germany was successful. By 1918 German civilians were living on a 1000 calories a day. Supplies were not reaching German troops at the front.
- German attempts to blockade Britain ultimately failed. Unrestricted U-boat campaign also brought in the economic powerhouse of the US.
- Britain managed its domestic economy more effectively than Germany. Germany spent 83 per cent of total public expenditure on military items, but just 2 per cent on the civilian sector, in contrast Britain’s figures were 62 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. Military materials were given too much of a priority in Germany. German agriculture was particularly hard hit by the war; production fell by 70 per cent in some areas, in part due to the fact the government gave nitrates supplies to ammunition factories at the expense of fertilizers.
- The chaos in Russia meant that Germany was unable to get badly needed resources after the Treaty of Brest Litovsk from Russia to help deal with shortages at home.
- The economic situation, combined with the continual failures of the troops, meant that Germany was in a state of internal collapse by the end of 1918.
Allied successes
- The Allies had greater numbers of men and resources - so the longer the war went on the harder it was for Germany to win
- Maintaining the control of the sea was decisive for the Allies: Britain was able to import food supplies both from its colonies and from the USA with the help of the convoy system
- The British and French were more successful in mobilising their economies
- In the Allied counter-offensive of 1918, the Allies benefited from a greater coordination of effort and a 'modern' style of warfare which took advantage of all the technological and tactical developments that had taken place during the war: the use of tanks, artillery, aircraft, and infantry in relatively close co-operation
US entry:
- The US had assisted Britain in breaking the German blockade of the Atlantic and maintaining supplies. Once the US entered the war US shipyards replenished and then outstripped the lost Allied merchant and naval shipping. US troops arrived in France from June 1918. By August 1918, US troops were arriving at a rate of 300,000 a month. The 2 million soldiers eventually deployed were decisive in the final battles and campaigns on the Western front.
- America’s massive economic resources were significant in the defeat of the Central Powers as it contributed money, weaponry, and warships. The US lent more than $7.7 billion to the Allies during the war.
Task Four
ATL: Thinking and research skills
1. Refer back to the views of historians regarding the defeat of the Central powers at the start of this section
Discuss the perspectives of these historians with a partner. Which viewpoint do you agree most with?
2. Now research the historiography of the First World War. Attempt to find the perspectives of historians writing at different times and in different regions.
Task Five
ATL: Self management, social and communication skills
Organise a class debate. The resolution is:
‘American participation spelled the defeat of Germany and it allies’
[Quote adapted from Akira Iriye, The Globalising of America 1913–1945. Cambridge University Press, 1993,page 43].You should have 3 or 4 speakers for and against the motion, and other students should take on the role make of evidence gathering, making recommendations for counter points and counter claims, and taking notes. See below for more information on how to organise the debate. Also use the views of historians to add evidence to your arguments.
For an in-depth discussion on America's role in the First World War the Council of Foreign Relations has a historians' discussion on this topic as part of its series of 'Lessons from History' to commemorate the 100 Year anniversary of the US entry into the war.
U.S. Entry Into World War I: Lessons One Hundred Years Later (Council on Foreign Relations)
One hundred years ago this month, the United States declared war on Germany and thereby entered World War I. Experts discuss why the United States entered "the Great War," the consequences it had for American society and foreign policy, and what lessons it holds for Americans going forward.
Instructions for students for a debate are as follows:
There should be three speakers for each side.
The first speaker should set out the main arguments that their team will be putting forward and give some evidence for at least two of these arguments.
The second speaker should respond to any points made by the first speaker on the other side and then go on to develop at least two more points.
After the first two speaker on each side have spoken, the debate should be opened up to questions from the floor and anyone who has not given a speech should ask a question.
Finally, the last speaker on each side should speak. They should address questions that were raised from the floor as well as refuting any arguments from the other side. They should summarise their team's key points again.
Note that your teacher will be deciding which side wins and points will be given for valid arguments backed up with precise evidence. Credit will also be given for using the views of historians to support your points as well as responding to arguments from the opposing team and to questions from the floor.
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