The First World War

[palo5]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

I am not clear what the goals of the Intervention were from Britain's point of view...

Obviously they did not want Reds to get the supplies, and tried with violence to prevent it

One generation later, West Allied seamen were offended that they were not trusted to go ashore in Murmansk, and did not understand why

[Mal Hombre]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

German and Dutch invaders have dropped in for tea and scones as well. One of our best kings was a chap from Denmark who only invited himself in because Aethelred the Unready had murdered his aunt and he wanted to discuss this minor difficulty with Aethelred and with some other people who had only been obeying orders...

Ah Yes Canute (Cnut),He gets good press but He retained the instincts of the Viking marauder he had once been,He had a habit of murdering anyone Who caused Him any disquiet.The future King Edward the confessor had to flee to France and even there took the precaution of wearing armour to His wedding..

[palo5]

Originally Posted by rotobott

Hey we in the UK have been invaded by the Italians, the French...

French & Italian food must have helped

[palo5]

Originally Posted by rotobott

Hey we in the UK have been invaded by the Italians, the French and the Scandinavians, those masters of warfare.

How many millennia ago was that?

[Mal Hombre]

The Romans invaded in AD 43,The Saxons,North Germans came from the 6th century on.from about the 7th century,The Danes and Norwegians started to raid and then settle,the Swedes went east into Russia....

[blueballsdc]

Originally Posted by rotobott

Hey we in the UK have been invaded by the Italians, the French and the Scandinavians,

And Americans too

[scoundrel]

In a pathetic attempt to pretend that the last dozen or so posts are even remotely on-topic, I will make a certain little connection. Of the major participants in WW1, all of the Central Powers were absolute monarchies or, at best, monarchies with some trappings of a parliamentary constitution (the Kaiser did have a parliament and did allow it some powers); Russia was the only absolute monarchy on the Allied side, though I am doubtful that Italy's monarchy was all that constitutional; France was a democracy, so was Britain and so was the United States, though none had votes for women as yet. Russia had some sort of democratic local government in the form of the Zemstovas, but no representation at any higher level than this.

I used to harbour the illusion that the precipitate and illogical haste into war in August 1914 was the result of a lack of democratic checks and balances. The aggressor nations were Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire (later Bulgaria). The nations attacked without proper justification were Russia, though arguably Russia was mobilising and it was unlikely that she would have sat on her hands while Austria invaded Serbia; France and Belgium. Britain had treaty obligations to Belgium dating back to 1830, when Britain and France supported Belgian independence; Britain has also historically taken a close interest in who runs Holland and Belgium, which are natural jumping off points if ever anyone wants to invade the British Isles. Until the United States joined, for reasons of her own, Britain was the only Allied power which took up arms when she might feasibly have stood out; but in those days the rules were that if your word is no good, then you are no good, and Belgium had Britain's marker.

The Central Powers were mostly volunteers. Austria-Hungary wanted to attack Serbia, hopefully to wipe the whole place out. Once they recruited Bulgarian help they came close to doing it; Serbia's WW1 experience was comparable to and possibly even worse than Soviet Russia's ordeal in WW2. Germany chose to incite Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia and supported Austria-Hungary against Russia, because she wanted to, specifically because the Kaiser wanted to. The Ottoman Empire, rather tenuously controlled by a mafia called The Young Turks, was manipulated into joining the war by Germany; she was running with the wrong crowd. Bulgaria at first did the sensible thing and was neutral, but the failure of the Dardanelles campaign and the dithering of the Allied expedition in Greece which was supposedly going to help relieve Serbia (an embarrassing story) must have persuaded the Bulgarian monarchist government that Serbia was ripe for the taking and they could win big if they joined the war on Austria-Hungary's side. It was a very bad miscalculation for which Bulgaria paid a heavy price, but for which Serbia suffered dreadfully. After being bled white by over a year of heavy fighting and a horrendous typhus epidemic, Serbia was overrun; the occupying Austrian and Bulgarian troops treated the Serbian civilian population with truly miserable cruelty, as did the Albanians when Serbian refugees fled through their territory towards Montenegro; and in the Balkans, memories are extremely long.

The history of Europe for centuries has been a history of absolute monarchs opportunistically declaring war on one another and gaining a province here, losing a province there. But in 1914 the stakes turned out to be much higher than they had ever been before, far higher even than in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, in which France was totally defeated. The blood-letting was way in excess of predictions and the monarchist regimes fatally weakened themselves.

WW1 in many ways swept out the remnants of feudalism and ushered in the modern age. No one should lament the downfall of absolutist monarchies, but it is a pity that the modern age turned out as badly as it has.

[Mal Hombre]

One little known fact about the Great War is that We had help from Our oldest ally,Portugal the only country in Western Europe with which We have never fought.The fighting abilities of the Portuguese troops were not well thought of by the Tommies and They were disparaged by the nick name "Pork and Beans".The Authorities' attempt to ban the term only served to spread it's use further...

[Ennath]

I read an article once contrasting the Portuguese performance alongside the British in World War I with that during the Napoleonic Wars. It pointed out that British and Portuguese troops had been brigaded together in the earlier conflict and Portuguese infantry earned a very good reputation by 1814. This practice was not followed in World War I. Why?

[Ennath]

June 12, 1915
Eastern Front Austro-German troops cross the Dniestr at Kolomea. The Germans attack north of Shavli and on the Bzura. In the south they attack at Mosciska in Galicia.
Italian Front The Italians make some gains in the Carnatic Alps, securing two passes. There are seven attempts on Hill 383, all unsuccessful.
War at Sea The British inform Germany through the U.S. Ambassador that submarine crews are now being treated as ordinary prisoners.

June 12, 1916
Western Front, Verdun The Germans penetrate French lines east of Hill 321.
Western Front, Elsewhere Canadian and British troops regain the lost ground at Mont Sorrel.
Eastern Front Russian 8th Army’s advance has stalled before a surprisingly strong Austrian defense along the Styr River north of Lutsk as German reinforcements begin to arrive. The Austrians retreat south of Lutsk. Zaleszczycki, in Bukovina, falls. Conrad has already lost half his fighting strength in Galicia.
Italian Front Italian troops advance on the Asiago Plateau and in the Lagarina Valley.
Greece An Athens mob wrecks the offices of two Venizelist newspapers and jeers the British legation.
Caucasus Russian forces take a Turkish camp near Diyarbakir.
Persia A British column enters Kerman. The Russians repulse a Turkish attack at Rawanduz.

June 12, 1917
Western Front The British progress on a 2-mile front east of Messines.
Greece Allied forces occupy Larissa and Corinth.
Arabia A British naval expedition in the Red Sea destroys the Turkish fort at Salif.
Russia The Provisional Government decides to punish insubordinate units by disbandment. This leads to mutinies in many units hoping to be removed from the firing line.

June 12, 1918
Western Front Both sides attack at the Matz. Hans von Bohn’s 7th Army now joins the battle, striking from the east and driving toward Compiegne. But Petain and Fayolle have greatly reinforced Humbert’s artillery, and the shelling, combined with the French infantry’s new confidence, force the Germans back to their starting lines of the 9th. Ludendorff terminates the offensive. French losses in the four day battle total 35,000, German losses are about 30,000. The French learn some lessons in the value of Petain’s defensive tactics and of Mangin’s swift counterattack. The French victory quiets the political furor in Paris and secures Clemenceau’s hold on the premiership.
Bulgaria Zhekov reports to King Ferdinand on the decline in morale in the Bulgarian Army. The troops are concerned about the situation at home, there are increasing food and material shortages, and growing suspicions concerning their allies.
Caucasus German troops occupy Tiflis.
Persia Dunsterville and Bicherakov defeat Persian Jangal militia trying to block their path at Manjil.
Allied Diplomacy France and Italy recognize Masaryk’s Czechoslovak movement as a government.