DOCSLIB.ORG

Geography of Destructionl the Carnage of the First World War's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Geography of Destructionl the Carnage of the First World War's Geography of Destruction: The Carnage of The First World War's Western Front Coventry Amsterdam Zwolle Osnabrück A Transformation of Europe Cambridge Though often overlooked by its more thoroughly Ipswich Netherlands United Kingdom Bielefeld Münster destructive sequel, World War One remains a Oxford Nederrijn Luton North Sea Arnhem deeply traumatic and utterly transformative Waal Event in European History. Over the four years Thames Dortmund Middelburg of the conflict, 16 sovereign nations would wage London Essen Kassel 1st Battle of Ypres unprecedentedly brutal warfare on three 2nd Battle of Ypres Brugge Düsseldorf The Battle of Passchendaele (3rd Ypres) German continents resulting in the involvement of 93% Calais Empire of the world's population and over 14 million Gent BelgiumMaastricht Portsmouth The Battle of Messines Ridge Bonn deaths. World War One was not just fought by Brighton Lille Liege Giessen The Battle of Liege soldiers, but by entire populations. It was the The Battle of Neuve-Chapelle Battle of Loos The Battle of Mons Koblenz first conflict in which an entire countries English Channel Charleroi industrial capability was subordinated to the Arras The Battle of Frontiers Frankfurt war effort. It has therefore become, perhaps Dieppe Wiesbaden Amiens The Battle of Cambrai Cherbourg Battle of Arras 1st Battle of The Aisne more than any other conflict, a war of statistics. Luxembourg At The Battle of the Marne for instance German The Battle of the Somme Luxembourg City Mannheim 2nd Battle of The Aisne The Meuse-Argonne Offensive Heidelberg forces expend more ammunition daily than they 3rd Battle of The Aisne Rouen had in the entire Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The Reims Saarbrucken SeineThe Battle of Belleau Wood Verdun Rhine terrifying statistics do not end there. Key Features Karlsruhe Metz Battles by total Casualties The Battle of Verdun 750,000 - 1,220,000 Paris The Western Front by The Numbers 500,000 - 750,000 Versailles Nancy 1st Battle of The Marne 250,000 - 500,000 2nd Battle of the Marne Strasbourg Ulm 100,000 - 250,000 Melun Troyes 1,537 19,240 BritishArtillery Pieces British KIA’s First 24 50,000 - 100,000 Danube 10,000 - 50,000 France Freiburg at the Somme Hours of the Somme Orleans Rivers Auxerre Mulhouse Schaffhausen Major Cities Basel Capitals Loire 15,000,000 1,200,000 Switzerland Projectiles fired by German and French Frech artillery at Verdun Casualties at Verdun 475mi 15,000mi 66.9% Casualties were felt most heavily by the major Length of front Lenth of trenches Of total French Forces WIA/KIA countries involved. Germany, Russia, France, and Austro-Hungarian Empire suffered casualty rates greater than 60 percent. By the war’s end the Mobilized Forces =250,000 Troops German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro- Hungarian Empires collapsed entirely. Casualties by Nation Allied Powers Central Powers 1,000 - 100,000 0-250,000 100,000 - 500,000 250,000 - 975000 500,000- 3,000,000 975,000 - 7,000,000 3,000,000 - 9,000,000 Neutral Nations UK* Italy US France Russia Serbia By Alexander Johnson, December 20th, 2013. Germany Bulgaria Map of Western front Lambert Conformal Conic centered at Reims, France *Significant portions of British armed Forces were Candaian, Map of Europe Lambert Conformal Conic centerd at Vienna, Austria Indian, South African, Australia or New Zelander Austo-HungaryOttoman Empire Statistics taken or inferred from Clodfelter, Micheal. Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000. 2nd ed. London: McFarland& Co., 2002..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2Nd December 1917
    Centre for First World War Studies A Moonlight Massacre: The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2nd December 1917 by Michael Stephen LoCicero Thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of History and Cultures College of Arts & Law June 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The Third Battle of Ypres was officially terminated by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig with the opening of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917. Nevertheless, a comparatively unknown set-piece attack – the only large-scale night operation carried out on the Flanders front during the campaign – was launched twelve days later on 2 December. This thesis, a necessary corrective to published campaign narratives of what has become popularly known as „Passchendaele‟, examines the course of events from the mid-November decision to sanction further offensive activity in the vicinity of Passchendaele village to the barren operational outcome that forced British GHQ to halt the attack within ten hours of Zero. A litany of unfortunate decisions and circumstances contributed to the profitless result.
    [Show full text]
  • The First World War Centenary Sale | Knightsbridge, London | Wednesday 1 October 2014 21999
    ALE S ENARY ENARY T WORLD WAR CEN WORLD WAR T Wednesday 1 October 2014 Wednesday Knightsbridge, London THE FIRS THE FIRST WORLD WAR CENTENARY SALE | Knightsbridge, London | Wednesday 1 October 2014 21999 THE FIRST WORLD WAR CENTENARY SALE Wednesday 1 October 2014 at 1pm Knightsbridge, London BONHAMS ENQUIRIES SALE NUMBER IMPORTANT INFORMATION Montpelier Street 21999 The United States Government Knightsbridge Books, Manuscripts, has banned the import of ivory London SW7 1HH Photographs and Ephemera CATALOGUE into the USA. Lots containing www.bonhams.com Matthew Haley £20 ivory are indicated by the symbol +44 (0)20 7393 3817 Ф printed beside the lot number VIEWING [email protected] Please see page 2 for bidder in this catalogue. Sunday 28 September information including after-sale 11am to 3pm Medals collection and shipment. Monday 29 September John Millensted 9am to 4.30pm +44 (0)20 7393 3914 Please see back of catalogue Tuesday 30 September [email protected] for important notice to bidders 9am to 4.30pm Wednesday 1 October Militaria ILLUSTRATIONS 9am to 11am David Williams Front cover: Lot 105 +44 (0)20 7393 3807 Inside front cover: Lot 48 BIDS [email protected] Inside back cover: Lot 128 +44 (0) 20 7447 7448 Back cover: Lot 89 +44 (0) 20 7447 7401 fax Pictures and Prints To bid via the internet Thomas Podd please visit www.bonhams.com +44 (0)20 7393 3988 [email protected] New bidders must also provide proof of identity when submitting Collectors bids. Failure to do this may result Lionel Willis in your bids not being processed.
    [Show full text]
  • American Armies and Battlefields in Europe
    Chapter v1 THE AMERICAN BATTLEFIELDS NORTH OF PARIS chapter gives brief accounts of areas and to all of the American ceme- all American fighting whi ch oc- teries and monuments. This route is Thiscurred on the battle front north of recommended for those who desire to Paris and complete information concern- make an extended automobile tour in the ing the American military cemeteries and region. Starting from Paris, it can be monuments in that general region. The completely covered in four days, allowing military operations which are treated are plenty of time to stop on the way. those of the American lst, 27th, 30th, The accounts of the different operations 33d, 37th, 80th and 91st Divisions and and the descriptions of the American the 6th and 11 th Engineer Regiments. cemeteries and monuments are given in Because of the great distances apart of the order they are reached when following So uthern Encr ance to cb e St. Quentin Can al Tunnel, Near Bellicourc, October 1, 1918 the areas where this fighting occurred no the suggested route. For tbis reason they itinerary is given. Every operation is do not appear in chronological order. described, however, by a brief account Many American units otber tban those illustrated by a sketch. The account and mentioned in this chapter, sucb as avia- sketch together give sufficient information tion, tank, medical, engineer and infantry, to enable the tourist to plan a trip through served behind this part of the front. Their any particular American combat area. services have not been recorded, however, The general map on the next page as the space limitations of tbis chapter indicates a route wbich takes the tourist required that it be limited to those Amer- either int o or cl ose to all of tbese combat ican organizations which actually engaged (371) 372 THE AMERICAN B ATTLEFIELD S NO R TH O F PARIS Suggested Tour of American Battlefields North of Paris __ Miles Ghent ( î 37th and 91st Divisions, Ypres-Lys '"offensive, October 30-November 11, 1918 \ ( N \ 1 80th Division, Somme 1918 Albert 33d Division.
    [Show full text]
  • The Western Front the First World War Battlefield Guide: World War Battlefield First the the Westernthe Front
    Ed 2 June 2015 2 June Ed The First World War Battlefield Guide: Volume 1 The Western Front The First Battlefield War World Guide: The Western Front The Western Creative Media Design ADR003970 Edition 2 June 2015 The Somme Battlefield: Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel Mike St. Maur Sheil/FieldsofBattle1418.org The Somme Battlefield: Lochnagar Crater. It was blown at 0728 hours on 1 July 1916. Mike St. Maur Sheil/FieldsofBattle1418.org The First World War Battlefield Guide: Volume 1 The Western Front 2nd Edition June 2015 ii | THE WESTERN FRONT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ISBN: 978-1-874346-45-6 First published in August 2014 by Creative Media Design, Army Headquarters, Andover. Printed by Earle & Ludlow through Williams Lea Ltd, Norwich. Revised and expanded second edition published in June 2015. Text Copyright © Mungo Melvin, Editor, and the Authors listed in the List of Contributors, 2014 & 2015. Sketch Maps Crown Copyright © UK MOD, 2014 & 2015. Images Copyright © Imperial War Museum (IWM), National Army Museum (NAM), Mike St. Maur Sheil/Fields of Battle 14-18, Barbara Taylor and others so captioned. No part of this publication, except for short quotations, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the permission of the Editor and SO1 Commemoration, Army Headquarters, IDL 26, Blenheim Building, Marlborough Lines, Andover, Hampshire, SP11 8HJ. The First World War sketch maps have been produced by the Defence Geographic Centre (DGC), Joint Force Intelligence Group (JFIG), Ministry of Defence, Elmwood Avenue, Feltham, Middlesex, TW13 7AH. United Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of British Tactical and Operational Tank Doctrine and Training in the First World War
    The evolution of British tactical and operational tank doctrine and training in the First World War PHILIP RICHARD VENTHAM TD BA (Hons.) MA. Thesis submitted for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy by the University of Wolverhampton October 2016 ©Copyright P R Ventham 1 ABSTRACT Tanks were first used in action in September 1916. There had been no previous combat experience on which to base tactical and operational doctrine for the employment of this novel weapon of war. Training of crews and commanders was hampered by lack of vehicles and weapons. Time was short in which to train novice crews. Training facilities were limited. Despite mechanical limitations of the early machines and their vulnerability to adverse ground conditions, the tanks achieved moderate success in their initial actions. Advocates of the tanks, such as Fuller and Elles, worked hard to convince the sceptical of the value of the tank. Two years later, tanks had gained the support of most senior commanders. Doctrine, based on practical combat experience, had evolved both within the Tank Corps and at GHQ and higher command. Despite dramatic improvements in the design, functionality and reliability of the later marks of heavy and medium tanks, they still remained slow and vulnerable to ground conditions and enemy counter-measures. Competing demands for materiel meant there were never enough tanks to replace casualties and meet the demands of formation commanders. This thesis will argue that the somewhat patchy performance of the armoured vehicles in the final months of the war was less a product of poor doctrinal guidance and inadequate training than of an insufficiency of tanks and the difficulties of providing enough tanks in the right locations at the right time to meet the requirements of the manoeuvre battles of the ‘Hundred Days’.
    [Show full text]
  • Pupils of Gordon's Boys Home Who Died in the Great War 1914-1919
    Pupils of Gordon’s Boys Home who died in the Great War 1914-1919 No. 1920 Arthur Woodage. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has only one A. Woodage recorded as having died in the First World War. He is named as Arthur, a Lance Corporal in the Yorkshire Regiment, (also known as the Green Howard’s), with the Regimental number 9022 who died on the 17th May 1915 aged 23. His parents are named as Alfred and Elizabeth Woodage of Little Sandhurst, Berkshire. “UK, Soldiers died in the Great War 1914-1919” has his place of birth as Arborfield, Wokingham and his place of residence as |Little Sandhurst. (No Alfred & Elizabeth have been found there.) Arthur was born on the 1st October 1891, his birth being registered in Wokingham in the 4th quarter. (The 1891 census has John and Annie Woodage, with 4 children, the eldest being Martha F, living in Arborfield). Another researcher has his parents as John Alfred Woodage and Mary Ann Stewart (all censuses have his mother born in Nova Scotia, Canada). The 1901 census for Little Sandhurst has Arthur, aged 9 and born in Arborfield, the son of John (died 1904) and Annie Woodage (died 1902). (John, aged 19, had enlisted in the 97th Foot on 21st December 1870 and served in Canada. (Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900.) He was arrived at Gordon’s in m1905 and left in 1907. His number was allotted in April 1908. In 1911 Arthur Woodage was a 19 year old Private in the 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment serving in the Sudan, having enlisted at Aldershot.
    [Show full text]
  • Tanks and Tank Warfare | International Encyclopedia of The
    Version 1.0 | Last updated 17 May 2016 Tanks and Tank Warfare By Michael David Kennedy World War I introduced new technologies and doctrine in a quest to overcome the tactical stalemate of the trenches. The first tanks had great potential that would be capitalized upon during the next world war, but early models suffered from design flaws and lack of doctrine for their use on the battlefield. Table of Contents 1 Definition and Background 2 Characteristics 3 Development in Great Britain 4 Battle of the Somme (1 July-18 November 1916) 5 Battle of Cambrai (20-30 November 1917) 6 French Tanks 7 German Tanks 8 Tanks in the American Expeditionary Forces 9 Impact of Tanks on World War I Selected Bibliography Citation Definition and Background Tanks are armored vehicles designed to combine the military factors of fire, maneuver and protection. Although the concept of armored vehicles preceded the Great War, the tank was specifically developed to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front that followed the First Battle of Ypres (19 October-22 November 1914). The marrying of recent technological advances, such as the internal combustion engine with armor plating, enabled the tank’s development during World War I. Characteristics The first tanks introduced in 1916 were generally slow and hard to maneuver, and they performed poorly in rugged terrain. The early models were heavily influenced by commercial tractors. While impervious to barbed wire, small arms, and shrapnel, their primitive armor was still susceptible to heavy machine gun fire and direct hits from high explosive artillery rounds.
    [Show full text]
  • INDIAN VOICES of the GREAT WAR Also by David Omissi
    INDIAN VOICES OF THE GREAT WAR Also by David Omissi THE SEPOY AND THE RAJ: The Indian Army, 1860-1940 Indian Voices of the Great War Soldiers' Letters, 1914-18 Selected and Introduced by David Omissi Department of History alld Centre for Illdiall Studies Ulliversity of Hull First published in Great Britain 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-333-75145-9 ISBN 978-1-349-27283-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-27283-9 First published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. IOOIO ISBN 978-0-312-22061-7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Indian voices of the Great War: soldiers' letters, 1914-18/ selected and introduced by David Omissi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-22061-7 (cloth) I. World War, 1914-1918-Campaigns-France. 2. Soldiers-India­ -Correspondence. 3. World War, 1914-1918-Personal narratives, Indian. 4. India. Army-Biography. 5. India. Army-History­ -World War, 1914-1918. I. Omissi, David E., 1960- . D549.153153 1999 940.4'8 154-dc21 98-42208 CIP Selection and Introduction © David Omissi 1999 Letters © Crown copyright 1999 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.
    [Show full text]
  • The Birth of Airpower, 1916 the Character of the German Offensive
    The Birth of Airpower, 1916 359 the character of the German offensive became clear, and losses reached staggering levels, Joffre urgently demanded as early a start as possible to the allied offensive. In May he and Haig agreed to mount an assault on I July 'athwart the Somme.' Long before the starting date of the offensive had been fixed the British had been preparing for it by building up, behind their lines, the communications and logistical support the 'big push' demanded. Masses of materiel were accumulated close to the trenches, including nearly three million rounds of artillery ammuni­ tion. War on this scale was a major industrial undertaking.• Military aviation, of necessity, made a proportionate leap as well. The RFC had to expand to meet the demands of the new mass armies, and during the first six months of 1916 Trenchard, with Haig's strong support, strove to create an air weapon that could meet the challenge of the offensive. Beginning in January the RFC had been reorganized into brigades, one to each army, a process completed on 1 April when IV Brigade was formed to support the Fourth Army. Each brigade consisted of a headquarters, an aircraft park, a balloon wing, an army wing of two to four squadrons, and a corps wing of three to five squadrons (one squadron for each corps). At RFC Headquarters there was an additional wing to provide reconnais­ sance for GHQ, and, as time went on, to carry out additional fighting and bombing duties.3 Artillery observation was now the chief function of the RFC , with subsidiary efforts concentrated on close reconnaissance and photography.
    [Show full text]
  • BCMH First World War Occasional Paper
    British Commission for Military History First World War Occasional Paper No. 1 (2015) The Battle of Malmaison - 23-26 October 1917 ‘A Masterpiece of Tactics’ Tim Gale BCMH First World War Occasional Paper The British Commission for Military History’s First World War Occasional Papers are a series of research articles designed to support people’s research into key areas of First World War history. Citation: Tim Gale, ‘The Battle of Malmaison - 23-26 October 1917: ‘A Masterpiece of Tactics’’, BCMH First World War Occasional Paper, No. 1 (2015) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. The Battle of Malmaison Page 2 BCMH First World War Occasional Paper Abstract: This occasional paper explores the background, planning, conduct and aftermath of the Battle of Malmaison in October 1917. The Battle of Malmaison was not a large battle by the standards of the First World War; however, it was of crucial importance in the development of French military thought during the war and it was a significant moment in the process of restoring morale within the French army. About the Author: Dr Tim Gale was awarded his PhD by the Department of War Studies, King's College London for his work on French tank development and operations in the First World War. He has contributed chapters on this subject in several academic books, as well as other work on the French Army during the First World War. Tim has made a special study of the career of the controversial French First World War General, Charles Mangin.
    [Show full text]
  • Chesterfield Wfa
    CHESTERFIELD WFA Newsletter and Magazine issue 28 Patron –Sir Hew Strachan FRSE FRHistS President - Professor Peter Simkins MBE Welcome to Issue 28 - the April 2018 FRHistS Newsletter and Magazine of Chesterfield WFA. Vice-Presidents Andre Colliot Professor John Bourne BA PhD FRHistS The Burgomaster of Ypres The Mayor of Albert Lt-Col Graham Parker OBE Professor Gary Sheffield BA MA PhD FRHistS Christopher Pugsley FRHistS Lord Richard Dannat GCB CBE MC rd DL Our next meeting will be on Tuesday April 3 where our guest speaker will be the Peter Hart, no stranger to Roger Lee PhD jssc the Branch making his annual pilgrimage back to his old www.westernfrontassociation.com home town. Branch contacts Peter`s topic will be` Not Again` - the German Tony Bolton offensive on the Aisne, May 1918. ` (Chairman) anthony.bolton3@btinternet .com Mark Macartney The Branch meets at the Labour Club, Unity House, Saltergate, (Deputy Chairman) Chesterfield S40 1NF on the first Tuesday of each month. There [email protected] is plenty of parking available on site and in the adjacent road. Access to the car park is in Tennyson Road, however, which is Jane Lovatt (Treasurer) one way and cannot be accessed directly from Saltergate. Grant Cullen (Secretary) [email protected] Grant Cullen – Branch Secretary Facebook http://www.facebook.com/g roups/157662657604082/ http://www.wfachesterfield.com/ Western Front Association Chesterfield Branch – Meetings 2018 Meetings start at 7.30pm and take place at the Labour Club, Unity House, Saltergate, Chesterfield S40 1NF January 9th Jan.9th Branch AGM followed by a talk by Tony Bolton (Branch Chairman) on the key events of the last year of the war 1918.
    [Show full text]
  • Pupils of Gordon's Boys Home Who Died in the Great War 1914-1919
    Pupils of Gordon’s Boys Home who died in the Great War 1914-1919 No. 1884 William Thomas Sherman was born in Northampton on the 21st October 1890 the only child of William Elliott Sherman (Blacksmith) and Rosetta (nee Munton). (He was baptised on the 18th September 1900 at St. Edmunds Ch., Northampton.) On the 1891 census taken on the 5th April William was aged “under 5/12” and the family were living at 69 Talbot Rd., Northampton. When the census was taken on the 31st March 1901 the family had moved to 4 Bouverie St., Northampton. In the same year his mother died, her death registered in Northampton in the 2nd quarter and later that year his father married Elizabeth Seal Peggs (nee Elliot) a widow with 3 daughters and a son. He joined Gordon’s on the 6th February 1905 and had the number 1884. He was 4ft-10in (1.5m) tall had a chest measurement of 27ins (68cm) and weighed 82lbs (37kgs). Prior to joining he had been an errand boy earning 2s-6d (25p) a week. His father was earning £2-6s -0d a week and agreed to pay the Home 2/6d (25p) a week for William. When he was medically assessed he had a slight hernia. He left Gordon’s in 1908 William Thomas enlisted in the Northamptonshire Regiment in October/November 1908 and was allocated the Regimental number 8729. When the census was taken in 1911 he was a Private in the 2nd Battalion serving in Malta. The 2nd Battalion were in Alexandria, Egypt when war broke out in August 1914.
    [Show full text]