13. "THE GREAT WAR" (WORLD WAR ONE)

1917

Although Russia’s army greatly outnumbered its enemies, it lacked the supplies necessary to make it an effective fighting force.  Weapons and ammunition were always in short supply, demoralizing the Russian soldier who was expected to fight on empty-handed.  Russian civilians were well aware of these problems and were quick to blame the Tsar and his government for these scandalous shortcomings.   Very unwisely, in September of 1915, the Tsar decided that he personally must lead the military from the front and left the governing of Russia to his wife.  And the Tsarina in turn left matters to Rasputin, who made and unmade governments with his own personal appointments, further scandalizing the Russians in their dwindling respect for their imperial government. By the beginning of 1917, wartime shortages had hit the civilian population as cruelly as it had the military.  Food in the cities was very difficult to obtain, and grumbling turned into a full-scale protest in March by Petrograd1 workers, joined by masses of women.  The protest built force over the next days, and soldiers sent to restore order began to join the protesters (reminiscent of the startup of the French Revolution!).  At this point the Russian imperial social-political order simply began to break down. The Russian legislature (the Duma) tried to bring order to the chaos by setting up a Provisional Government, on the same day that a Soviet (Council) of Workers was established in Petrograd. The Tsar abdicates Word then reached the Tsar at the front that even his own bodyguard had joined the revolt, and under advisement of his generals, Nicholas simply abdicated his throne (March 15).  He had not been enjoying any of his governmental responsibilities for a long time … and he was quite content to leave these agonizing matters for others to deal with.   At first Prince Lvov took command of the new Provisional Government … who immediately undertook a number of social reforms that he hoped would cool down Russian tempers.  These reforms included the calling of a national election, with the goal of a new Duma undertaking the task of composing a new Russian Constitution.  So it gave the appearance at this point that Russia was no longer an autocracy, but was finally in the process of joining the ranks of the world's "democracies." 1Russia's imperial city had been changed in name from St. Petersburg to Petrograd because, under the rising nationalist impulse at the beginning of the war, "Petrograd" sounded so much more "Russian" than "St. Petersburg."  Then with the coming to power of the Communists (and Lenin’s subsequent death), the city would be renamed as "Leningrad."  Finally it would have its original name, "St. Petersburg," restored with the fall of the Communist system at the beginning of the 1990s. Czar Nicholas II blessing the Russian troops Father Grigori Efimovich Rasputin and adoring women of the Russian nobility - 1916 (just prior to his murder) Rasputin - assassinated on December 31st, 1916 The last glory days of the Russian Imperial household From left to right, Grand Duchess Anastasia, Grand Duchess Olga, Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Grand Duchess Maria, and Kuban Cossacks, ca. 1916. Romanov Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and Tsar Nicholas II sawing wood at Tobolsk in 1917 Romanov Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University The "February" Revolution (Mid-March on the Western or Julian calendar) Female textile workers calling for bread - International Workers' Day march in Petrograd - March 1917 Troops called in to keep order in Petrograd as strikes and riots erupt over shortages of bread and coal Soldiers riding through the streets of a riotous Petrograd (March 11-12) precipitating the Tsar's abdication Student militiamen in Moscow during the fighting which led to the Tsar's abdication. Troops from the Petrograd garrison who take over the Tsar's Winter Palace after his abdication Tsar Nicholas II in detention after his abdication in March 1917 THE FAILED "NIVELLE OFFENSIVE" – AND A DETERIORATING FRENCH MORALE IN THE TRENCHES The ill-fated "Nivelle Offensive" April 16 - May 21 General Robert Nivelle He mistook the German pullback for weakness in the German lines – and ordered a circling attack around the line of German retreat.  The results for the French were disastrous. Radio Times Hulton Picture Library Canadian machine gunners at Vimy Ridge - April 1917 The Canadians took the important position of Vimy Ridge on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917. "They advanced with brilliance, having taken the whole system of German front-line trenches between dawn and 6.30 A.M.  This shows squads of machine gunners operating from shell-craters in support of the infantry on the plateau above the ridge. Mark II Tank Number advancing with Canadian Infantry at Vimy - April 1917  Library and Archives Canada (PA-004388) Medical corpsmen treating British wounded during the Nivelle Offensive  - 1917 British Mark II tank captured by German troops at Bullecourt near Arras - 11 April 1917 A failed French attack upon a German position in Champagne - 1917  War weariness sparks revolt among French soldiers - May and June 1917 (probably encouraged by the news of widespread soldiers' revolts among the Russians) French soldiers begin to desert Pétain meets with troops to boost French morale Georges Clemenceau by Cecilia Beaux (1920) Prime Minister of France - 1906-1909 and 1917-1920 Smithsonian American Art Museum THE ENGLISH SQUANDER MORE MEN TO REACH THE PASCHENDAEL HEIGHTS The British conduct an major assault on German lines at Messines (south of Ypres) Destroyed German trench at the Battle of Messines The British effort to take Passchendaele Ridge in the "Third Ypres" assault British batteries pounding the German lines - 1917 Stretcher bearers mired in mud in the Third Ypres - August 1, 1917 Imperial War Museum, London Australian infantry small box respirators Ypres 1917 The soldiers are from the 45th Battalion, Australian 4th Division at Garter Point near Zonnebeke, Ypres sector, 27 September 1917. Australian War Memorial catalogue number E00825 A French position near Steenstraete on the Yser under bombarment Chateau Wood - Ypres - 1917 Soldiers of an Australian 4th Division field artillery brigade on a duckboard track passing through Chateau Wood, near Hooge in the Ypres salient, 29 October 1917. Australian War Memorial collection number E01220 "View of Ypres:  Photograph taken from a flying machine" "The pitiful ghost of one of ravaged Belgium's most beautiful and historic cities. In the central foreground may be seen the roofless remains of the famous Cloth Hall, the largest edifice of its kind in the kingdom, begun by Count Baldwin IX of Flanders in the year 1200. Just beyond looms the scarred and desecrated Cathedral of St. Martin. On all sides are ruin and desolation, where three summers ago dwelt nearly 20,000 happy, thrifty people, engaged chiefly in the peaceful pursuit of making Valenciennes lace." From the National Geographic (1917) Vol 31, p. 337. THE ITALIANS RETREAT FROM CAPORETTO The 60-mile retreat of the Italians from Caporetto - end of October to mid November Marshall, p. 216. The crowded road from Caporetto Imperial War Museum, London THE GERMAN HOMELAND STRUGGLES UNDER THE BRITISH BLOCKADE With the British effectively blockading the delivery of food delivered from America and elsewhere, the situation in the Geman homeland is equally grim ... except that the Germans seem to be holding strong nonetheless Starving Berliners cutting up a dead horse for food - 1917 Imperial War Museum THE AMERICANS ENTER THE WAR Wilson’s War “To Make the World Safe for Democracy” The British blockade of Germany In violation of all traditional international law, Britain had taken up the strategy of blockading the shipment to Germany not only of any war materials from its previous suppliers (including importantly the United States), but out of sheer desperation in the March of 1915 announced that it was blockading the shipment of all overseas goods, even foodstuffs, to Germany.  As Germany was highly dependent on imports of all varieties, the British intended to force Germany into submission by simply cutting off the foreign lifeline on which it depended. America as a neutral nation protested vehemently.  But Britain would not back down.   The German U-boat The German navy was no match for the British navy and there was little likelihood that Germany would be able to break the blockade ... except through the development of their new sea weapon, the Unterseeboot (submarine) or U-boat.  When in the early years of the war the U-boat took out a number of British cruisers, the Germans rushed to develop this new weapon.  Just as the British announced a naval blockade on all commodities going to Germany, Germany announced that any ships entering British or Irish waters would be considered hostile and subject to sinking.  American "neutrality" Now caught in the middle of this was the neutral America ... with considerable interest in sea trade.  What to do? Despite America’s own English ethnicity, America was actually a multi-ethnic society with multitudes of Irish and German Americans, who had reasons of their own for wanting to support Germany rather than England.  Thus the best policy for America was to stay out of the war.  But that would not be easy. The sinking of the Lusitania America (and much of the world) then found cause to rise in anger against Germany when in May of 1915 a German U-boat sank the passenger liner Lusitania, drowning nearly 1200 civilians … including over a hundred Americans – among them some of America's most prominent citizens.  But the Germans had their own protests to issue in the matter … having warned beforehand that just as Britain had put in place a naval blockade against goods destined for Germany, so Germany was doing the same … using its U-boat to enforce its countering blockade.  But somehow American opinions did not see these as equal matters … even when it was revealed that the Lusitania was carrying to Britain a massive amount of contraband war goods in its hold. Noting the American reaction, and not wishing to turn America into a wartime enemy, Germany promised to end its blockade.  Britain however did not end its blockade.  So America's one-sided "neutrality" continued as before. "He keeps us out of war" American President Wilson tried hard to maintain American neutrality not only abroad but also at home where opinions continued to be sharply divided.  British propaganda about the bloody German Huns and their violation of helpless Belgium seemed to reach more ears than the German effort to counter this image with pro-German propaganda.  Little by little American opinion was turning ever more hostile towards Germany (though hardly pro-English at the same time, for British violation of American rights as a neutral also angered Americans deeply).  But Wilson still wanted to keep America from getting involved.  Thus as late as November 1916 Wilson presented himself for reelection to the White House on the basis of having successfully kept America out of the war.  But things were about to change. The resumption of the U-boat attacks American President Wilson tried hard to maintain American neutrality not only abroad but also at home where opinions continued to be sharply divided.  British propaganda about the bloody German Huns and their violation of helpless Belgium seemed to reach more ears than the German effort to counter this image with pro-German propaganda.  Little by little American opinion was turning ever more hostile towards Germany (though hardly pro-English at the same time, for British violation of American rights as a neutral also angered Americans deeply).  But Wilson still wanted to keep America from getting involved.  Thus as late as November 1916 Wilson presented himself for reelection to the White House on the basis of having successfully kept America out of the war.  But things were about to change. The resumption of the U-boat attacks The British blockade of Germany was slowly driving Germany to starvation.  The situation was so bad that the Germans now subsisted mostly on potatoes and turnips, except that in the summer of 1916 the potato crop failed.  Thus the Germans were forced to go through a "turnip winter", made worse by the fact that the Germans also had no fuel to heat their homes.  The blockade had to be broken or Germany would be broken.  Thus in January of 1917 the Germans announced the resumption of U-boat attacks on the high seas.   America was furious.  So was Wilson.  In early February he went before Congress to announce the end of diplomatic relations with Germany ... and stated that if things worsened, he would return to Congress to consider the next step (meaning war).  Soon after that Americans received news of a secret message intercepted by the British in which Germany was proposing an absurd alliance with Mexico, with the promise that at the end of the war Mexico would be awarded the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  Americans were now up in arms demanding war against Germany (though not necessarily against Austria-Hungary and Turkey). "To make the world safe for Democracy" inally, with the change of government in Russia from autocracy to (supposedly) democracy in March, Wilson could turn American involvement into not just a desire for revenge for German U-boat attacks and national insults, but even something he personally loved greatly:  a grand moral crusade to advance "democratic" progressivism.  With Russian autocracy having been overthrown, Great Britain, France and now also Russia, together constituted a "democratic" front … opposed to the remaining "autocracies" of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.  If Americans were to now join forces with the "democracies," the war would be indeed a battle "to make the world safe for democracy." "The war to end all wars" Furthermore, Wilson's (and other Idealists') understanding at that time was that with all the world coming to full democracy, the petty greed of autocrats (which was supposedly the cause of all wars) would end.  Thus victory in this war would end up making it "the war to end all wars."  Thus on April 2nd, Wilson stood before Congress to ask for a declaration of war, which Congress four days later was more than glad to offer him. Pure folly In his speech before Congress, Wilson explained "democratic" matters this way: Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their naive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a league of honour. Here he was offering the usual Humanist creed ... that all people by their very instincts are democratic at heart.  All  they need is to be given the opportunity to put those democratic instincts into play in a newly "freed" social environment.  Like the political Idealists of the French Revolution, Wilson had no idea whatsoever what would actually happen to a society if the power structure it had long lived under were to go away, were to collapse, were to be overthrown by "revolutionaries. But oh how noble would be the American cause ... when it joined the mindless slaughter in the bloodied fields of Northern France.  As Wilson put matters: There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts – for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other. America's new "democratic" mission to the world From this point forward, Americans would now see themselves as grand "missionaries" to the world.  But it would be a mission not to spread the Christianity that had formed the country's very strong moral foundations on which American self-government had long been based … but instead a mission to spread the doctrine of "democracy" – whatever that meant.  And tragically, whatever "democracy" meant was not well understood by Americans.  But a full understanding did not seem necessary … because the word "democracy" itself had such a beautiful ring to it – so that it was easily seen as the noblest of all political-social-cultural causes, one worthy of even self-sacrifice in order to advance its place in the world.  And tragically, there would be plenty of just such self-sacrifice that was going to take place for America's young Idealists in uniform seeking to support this noble cause. Americans no longer understood why the country's Founding or Constitutional Fathers set up a "republic" directed by strong Constitutional Law … and not a "democracy" run according to the inclinations of the people – one easily manipulated by the self-interests of ambitious individuals.  The Fathers of the 1787 American Constitution were well aware of how democracy worked for the ancient "fathers of democracy":  the Greeks.  And they certainly were not surprised when, just as their new Constitutional Republic was coming into effect (1789), the "enlightened" French leaders overthrew their French monarchy in order to produce a new democratic Republic of their own in France – but instead produced only a bloody mess … one that required the Napoleonic dictatorship to get France back in order. Americans were failing to understand what Aristotle had come to understand after looking at the political dynamics of his own Greek days (the 300s BC) – and what the American Constitutional Fathers had also come to understand through their careful study of Aristotle and ancient Greek and Roman history – namely, that democracy (or any other social order) can be found to be "good" only when it is built on strong moral foundations.  And moral foundations do not come just by decree, or by imposing it on others … or by winning some kind war against "undemocratic" enemies (whatever that too actually means).  Except in the case of a tyrant imposing a new moral order by brute force – and holding it in place by being able to strike fear in the hearts of those who would dare go up against this dictator's new social order – this is not going to happen overnight.  It takes time, usually generations, for strong and deep moral foundations to develop for a society.  And as the French Revolution made very clear, toppling one social order, no matter how inept or cruel it might be, does not automatically birth a new, more humane, social order.  Chaos is the guaranteed result. Thus Wilson taking America to war to bring down European "autocracies" was not going to lead automatically to democracy, or even peace … and certainly not to "the war to end all wars." Actually, both "autocratic" Germany and Austria-Hungary had parliaments, ones which did not differ greatly from the way the British parliament functioned.  The Germans in fact had some of Europe's most progressive social programs in place ... at a time when Britain's own treatment of its industrial workers was still quite problematic.  And Russia after the fall of the Tsar was hardly now a "democracy" – and in fact was headed towards a chaotic and highly murderous civil war, one which would kill more Russians than had the European war the Russians had just dropped out of.  And even more tragically, this new Russian political dynamic would soon lead Russia not to democracy, but to one of the worst dictatorships in European history.   But Wilson saw exactly what he wanted to see in all of this.  Unsurprisingly, and quite tragically, all of his beautiful Idealism would soon backfire on him. America was now at war.  But it had only a tiny army, fully involved at the moment along the American border with Mexico, trying to keep the chaos of a Mexican political revolution from spilling over into America.  Despite the Declaration of War, it would be many months before America would be ready to enter full force into the European war as a British, French and Russian ally.  At best, that could only be sometime in early 1918. Declaration and mobilization President Wilson appears before Congress, requesting a Declaration of War against Germany – April 2, 1917.  The Senate passes the Declaration on April 6:  82 in favor, 6 opposed; the House passes it:  373 to 50. The strong Progressivist, Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr.  He would strongly oppose the U.S. entry into the war – and suffer tremendously as war fever rose rapidly in America (but in 1957, a Senate Committee selected La Follette as one of the five greatest U.S. Senators, along with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, and Robert Taft.) Library of Congress Col. E.M. House – special advisor to President Wilson Library of Congress Robert Lansing – Anglophile Secretary of State (who had his difficulties with Wilson) Library of Congress Wilson and his second wife Edith (married December 1915). She became a very assertive, but not particularly politically astute, advisor to the president Library of Congress Pershing and fellow American officers in Liverpool England just before leaving for France - 1917 General Pershing arrives in France - June 13, 1917 "Lafayette, we are here!" Pershing speaking at Lafayette's tomb outside of Paris (actually the words were pronounced elsewhere by another American officer but attributed to Pershing because of the censor's refusal to mention any other US officers by name) General Pershing meeting with French leaders Poincaré and Pétain The US Public Information Committee adopted this British poster in an effort to stir up American war fever Wikipedia - "Committee on Public Information" American recruits American recruits ready to go New York - 5th Avenue - Flag-waving well wishers send off the American boys to the European War An American family saying Goodbye National Archives NA-111-SC-16571 The War shifted political alliances -- at least temporarily Suffragettes register to work as war volunteers during world war I National Archives But not everyone bought into the shift "Woman anarchist leader and aid in draft war.  Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman convicted of conspiracy against draft law and sentenced to two years in penitentary and finded $10,000 each, July 9, 1917." National Archives To finance the War a major campaign to raise money via war loans got underway (American incomes were not yet taxed directly by the Federal Government) Color posters by Howard Chandler Christy Before the end of the year American troops begin to pour into Europe American troops arrive in London - August 1917  National Archives Newly arrived American troops marching through London New American troops - winter 1917-1918 KERENSKY'S PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT CONTINUES THE RUSSIAN WAR EFFORT Alexander Kerensky takes charge of the Provisional Government – and continues the Russian war effort Russian troops awaiting a German attack.  This is a typical rear-guard trench, characteristic of the field fortifications of the great retreat. National Geographic Magazine, Volume 31 (1917), page 379 The Failed Kerensky Offensive – July 1917 June 1917 – Petrograd soldiers protesting Kerensky's orders to send more men to the German front. Marshall, p. 226. Russians, hearing reports that German cavalry have broken through Russian lines, have thrown down their guns and are in full flight – summer 1917. Russian soldier trying to get his comrades to return to duty Soldiers machine-gunning down protesters on the Nevsky Prospekt in Petrograd – mid-July 1917 RUSSIA'S "OCTOBER REVOLUTION" [taking place in early November on the Western calendar] What the Russian intellectuals of the Provisional Government failed to understand was that the Russian people were not demanding democracy (whatever that might have even meant to them).  They simply wanted out of this needless war.  The decision of the Provisional Government to pursue the war in furtherance of the cause of democracy quickly put the new government in the estimation of the average Russian in the same category as the old Tsarist government.  Failure of the Provisional Government to understand this basic fact would prove to be its undoing. The initial reaction of the Russian people at the news of the downfall of the Tsarist government had been one of a heady euphoria.  They supposed themselves now to be free from all the social suffering they had experienced under the old order, especially with the arrival of the war.  Peasants simply assumed themselves now to be the owners of their own lands and refused payments to the landed nobility; industrial workers demanded control of their factories; and soldiers began to desert their posts to go home to their farms in order to take charge of their own new destinies.  Truly Russia was in a state of major social revolution.   Thus the hope of the Provisional Government in May of 1917 in placing Alexander Kerensky at its head was that Kerensky’s closer identity with the Russian revolutionaries (he was a member of the Social Revolutionary Party and vice-president of the Petrograd Soviet) might swing them finally in support of the Provisional Government’s democratic revolution.   But Kerensky was up against another group of revolutionaries even more formidable than his Social Revolutionaries: the Marxist Communists (or Bolsheviks) led by Vladimir Lenin and his close associate Leon Trotsky (who at the time was away in New York), two men who had long been underground or abroad planning for just such a revolutionary event. Russian Bolsheviks were returning to Russia in mass numbers now that the Provisional Government had liberalized its laws (undoubtedly a big mistake).  But the Germans wanted to make sure that this influx included the most important Bolshevik of all, Lenin, and brought him by train from Switzerland to Finland just across from Petrograd.  The German goal was obvious, as Lenin had made very clear that his political objective was the building of a new Soviet society, not the continuance of an unnecessary war.  The Germans well knew that any Russian pullback from the war would free up vast number of German soldiers needed on the Western front.  The Germans needed to conduct one last lunge at Paris to bring France to its knees before the American troops started to arrive in numbers in the coming spring (1918).  They would need as many soldiers as they could possibly gather for this great offensive. Once in Russia Lenin began to make his move to take control of the Russian revolution.  He promised the Russian people two things: land for the peasants and the coming home of the Russian soldiers.  This was a such a compelling program that the Provisional Government had no effective counter-offer for the people.  Then Lenin and Trotsky began to organize the political support they would need to take control of Russia.  Trotsky was able to gain complete control of the military committee of the powerful Petrograd Soviet before seizing power of all vital points in the nation’s capital on the night of November 6-7 (October 24-25 on the Russian calendar).  The members of the Provisional Government in the Winter Palace quietly surrendered the next day.  Lenin’s Bolsheviks were now in control of the Russian nerve center ... and ready to spread their control over the rest of Russia.  Lenin arrives in Russia to take over the Petrograd Soviet Lenin addressing a Petrograd crowd A Bolshevik hands out Revolutionary newspapers Soldiers demonstrating for Communism Petrograd - Armed Bolshevik supporters marching against the Provisional Government The storming of the Winter Palace, October 1917 (actually from a re-enactment directed in 1927 by Sergei Eisenstein for his movie October ) Petrograd - Crowd gathers in front of the Winter Palace to hear Lenin Lenin speaking to a massive Petrograd crowd on behalf of the Communist Revolution Bolshevik soldiers in Petrograd who wandered the streets in support of the October Revolution ome of the Kronstadt sailors and Bolsheviks who helped to overthrow the Russian Provisional Government THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA Allenby Imperial War Museum, London Col. T.E. Lawrence - "Lawrence of Arabia" Imperial War Museum, London Go on to the next section:  1918   Miles H. Hodges