Warfare Theory World War I

Introduction3

Discussion3

Background3

Events leading to war4

Military Strategies of Major Powers5

Germany5

France7

Russia8

Britain8

Austria Hungary9

European Theatre9

Western Front9

Eastern Front12

Middle Eastern Theatre14

African Theatre15

Conclusion16

References17

Bibliography19

Warfare Theory World War I

Introduction

The paper will attempt to discuss the theory of warfare during World War I. For the sake of explanation, the paper will first begin with a background of the European situation prior to the war. It will then discuss the immediate events that led to the outbreak of this war, followed by the strategies planned by the major powers. A discussion will then be made of the theatres involved in this war. Since the main theatre of war was the European theatre, it will be the main focus of the paper.

Discussion

Background

Since the end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, the continent saw an era of relative peace where conflicts were localized and did not end up in a general European war. The Vienna Settlement that was finalized in 1815, weeks before the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo was responsible for giving Europe this century of peace.

Unfortunately, the situation began to change with the passage of time. The unification of Germany and Italy changed the dynamics of the continent. Prussia's growth as a military power was a direct threat to France which had hitherto been the foremost power on the continent. Under the brilliant political leadership of Otto von Bismarck, the Minister President of Prussia, Prussia was able to defeat Austria first in 1866 and France in 1871 thereby uniting Germany. While the former was not shorn of territory and was only required to pay a nominal war indemnity, France was forced not only to pay a large war indemnity of five billion francs but to cede the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, at the urging Helmuth von Moltke and his generals. This provoked the French desire for Revanche and the recovery of the lost provinces (Scheff, 1994).

Bismarck countered the threat of France by forming a series of alliances (Crutwell,1934). By 1914, Europe was divided into two armed camps: the Allied Bloc and the Central Powers Bloc. The Allied bloc was composed of France, Britain and Russia. The Central Powers had Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy. Later, they were joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

Events leading to War

On 28 June 1914, the Archduke of Austria Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina. Serbian authorities had warned the Austrian Monarchy of possible attempts on the life of the Archduke. The assassination had been carried out by the Serbian organization called Black Hand. Though, the Archduke was not somebody who was very much liked, Austria Hungary needed a pretext to end the Serbian threat once and for all. For Austria Hungary, Serbia was the Piedmont of the Balkans, and it was not ready to allow the repetition of the role that Piedmont had played for Italian unification, in the Balkans. An ultimatum, which was designed to be denied, was therefore sent to the Serbian authorities. As expected, Serbia denied. Russia, as the ally of Serbia, warned Austria Hungary with ...