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WORLD WAR ONE

1916


CONTENTS

A stalemate continues along the
        Western Front

The German assault on Verdun

The British attack along the Somme-
        River Front

The Eastern Front

America stays committed to neutrality

The Irish Question

The textual material on page below is drawn directly from my work A Moral History of Western Society © 2024, Volume Two, pages 85-86.


A STALEMATE CONTINUES ALONG THE WESTERN FRONT

A British training camp in Northern France - realistic preparation for the recruits for life in the trenches
Imperial War Museum

A typical French trench scene - 1916

Soldiers and mule wearing gas masks
historyinphotos.blogspot.com

An attack on French lines in northern France

Frenchman survery a watery battlefield in northern France

Massive French field artillery

Britain's King George V and Belgium's King Albert touring the Western Front - 1916
Imperial War Museum, London

David Lloyd George - Liberal Prime Minister of England - 1916-1922


But:  fierce action would soon develop on two particular points along the line:  Verdun and the Somme River Valley


The lines of battle on the Western Front - noting especially action along the Somme River and the fortress-town of Verdun
US Millitary Academy at West Point


THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

In the late winter (February) of 1916 the Germans opened up a massive offensive against the French line at the fortress city of Verdun.  The Germans literally reduced to rubble the complex fortifications of Verdun, hoping to annihilate completely the French troops gathered there.  It was expected that this would open such a huge hole in the French line that the French would be thrown in disarray and the Germans could then move on the French capital and end the war.  Massive amounts of German power would be thrown into this operation.

But the Germans had not counted on the stiff resistance the French offered even amidst the rubble, and the French line held as more French divisions were brought into position by the determined French General Pétain.   By July the Germans were forced to back off on the effort … because it had become very clear that the Germans were gaining nothing from the effort except a massive loss of men and war materials.
  

Verdun

German Operation Gericht (place of execution)
900 thousand French and German soldiers killed, wounded or captured

Eric von Falkenhayn, mastermind of the German Verdun offensive - 1916

Henri Philippe Pétain, defender of Verdun

German cannon blasting the Verdun Citadel in preparation for an assault - February 1916
Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich

Germans dug into the ravaged earth watching the shelling of French lines at Verdun

The destruction of the Verdun Citadel after two days' bombardment

French being bombarded at Verdun

German infantry attacking at Verdun
historyinphotos.blogspot.com

French officer machine gunned down in a counterattack at Verdun - 1916

An ammunition transport being shelled by Germans

Verdun in World War I
historyinphotos.blogspot.com


THE BRITISH ATTACK ALONG THE SOMME-RIVER FRONT

As things bogged down at Verdun, the scene of the greatest action moved north along the battle line to the Somme River valley … where the British had undertaken a massive countermove against the Germans – something on the scale of the German Verdun effort.  Try and try again (just like Verdun) through August, September and October, even as the effort became heavier with time, nothing was achieved in the process.  Finally, the November rains (and fields of knee-deep mud) brought the effort to a halt.  And here too, the only result of the British Somme River offensive was the loss of massive numbers of men and supplies … on both sides.

But something of note was introduced in the effort:  the British tank.  This automotive tank was brought into action in order to finally be able to cross barbed wire, face machine guns, and even overcome trench defenses … except that the British military had not yet figured out the necessity of advancing foot-soldiers in accompaniment with the tanks.  Thus the tank at first proved to be more a novelty than a breakthrough in military technology.  But they would soon develop that technology (certainly by the spring and summer of 1918) … at that point making the war in the West much more mobile.
  

The British Assault against German positions along the Somme River valley - starting July 1, 1916

British Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig.  Haig took over command of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Gen. John French in 1915> and planned and directedthe grand assault against the German positions along the Somme River.  The net result was only a relatively small number ... and over a half million British casualties.

British Minister of Munitions, Mr Lloyd George (right), General Sir Douglas Haig (second from left), General Joffre (third from left) and the French Under Secretary for Munitions, Albert Thomas (left) at 14th Army Headquarters at Meaulte, France - 12 September 1916
The Imperial War Museum

A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles in a communication trench during the Battle of the Somme.  The date is believed to be 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, and the unit is possibly the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (25th Brigade, 8th Division).
 Imperial War Museum

British trench near the Albert–Bapaume road at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.
 Imperial War Museum

The British assault caught on film

Imperial War Museum, London

The Wiltshire Regiment attacking near Thiepval

British Tank introduced at the Battle of the Somme -  September 1916
Imperial War Museum, London

An early model British Mark I "male" tank, named C-15, near Thiepval, 25 September 1916. The tank is probably in reserve for the Battle of Thiepval Ridge which began on 26 September. The tank is fitted with the wire "grenade shield" and steering tail, both features discarded in the next models.
 Imperial War Museum

British soldiers resting in a reserve trench during the Battle of the Somme - 1916
Imperial War Museum

Torrential rains in October 1916 finally brought the British Somme offensive to an end
Imperial War Museum

Skeleton of German Soldier at Beaumont Hamel


THE EASTERN FRONT

The 1916 Brusilov Offensive

The year 1915 did not go well for Russia.  TThe year 1915 did not go well for Russia.  The Germans pushed the Russians out of Warsaw as well as the Polish lands further to the east.
 
But the Russians planned to open up an offensive in June of 1916 (the Brusilov Offensive) against the Austrians – involving a massive number of Russian soldiers and war materials – in the hopes not only of relieving the German-Austrian pressure on the vital wheat-producing economy of the Russian Ukraine region but also of retaking some of the lost Polish territory.  And in part it was undertaken to relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun.  And this was prompted by the belief that the Austrian-Hungarian war machine could yet be broken.

But whereas General Brusilov's Offensive ultimately (by September) did break much of Austria's power (forcing Austria to have to rely increasingly on German assistance in its sector) it also exhausted the Russian army so deeply that the Russians found themselves unable to mount much of an effort against their enemies after this point.  And this, in turn, would lead to deep political troubles at home for Russia. 
 



Marshall, p. 183.


AMERICA STAYS COMMITTED TO NEUTRALITY

German Relief Fund in San Francisco: each nail indicates an additional contribution - 1915

Woodrow Wilson campaigns for re-election in 1916 in part on the theme that he "Keeps Us Out of War"

Department of the Interior


THE IRISH QUESTION

Dublin Post Office burned out by British artillery when Irish nationalists seized control of it during the Easter Uprising (April 24-30, 1916) ... in which they called for the creation of an Irish Republic

Sackville (now O'Connell) Street, Dublin, after the 1916 Easter Rising

American-born Éamon de Valera (ca. 1918-1920) one of the leaders of the Easter Rising ... and then Taoiseach (prime minister) and eventually even President of Ireland



Go on to the next section:  1917


  Miles H. Hodges