The Great War Podcast

When your back is against the wall, you can retreat no further. 

The Great German Offensive of 1918 is underway.

 

Captured British during Operation MICHAEL

 

The Allies knew something was brewing...just not where or when.

Ludendorff's Great Gamble of the Great War

Woodrow Wilson presents his Fourteen Points to the world. 

 

Full text of the Fourteen Points

Source: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points

I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.

VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.

IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.

XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.

XII. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.

XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

1918 begins with a wave of labour unrest across Austria-Hungary and Germany

 

 

A preview of what 1918 has in store for us. 

A review of 1917, focusing mainly on Germany and Austria-Hungary. 

A 20 minute recap of 1917, focusing on the Entente. 

An Austro-Hungarian raid on the Otranto Barrage turns into the Adriatic's most dramatic engagement. 

A look at the naval war in the Adriatic from 1914-1916.

Russia's time in the Great War comes to an end.

The Bolsheviks make their move, marking the beginning of the end of Russia's Great War.

The German invasion of the Baltic Islands goes off without a hitch.

Eager to bring down Russia, the Germans launch an amphibious invasion of three Baltic islands.

Things went well at first, but then everything came crashing down.

After the Flanders Campaign, the British Third Army prepares to raid Cambrai. They're going to use tanks...lots of tanks.

A combined Austrian and German force sends the Italians reeling.

The Austrians and Germans plan a devastating strike against the Italians.

Haig, Lloyd George, historiography and an assessment of Third Ypres.

The bloody fight for Passchendaele Ridge begins.

Herbert Plumer takes over at Ypres, and delivers three straight victories. 

Map for reference: Right click to view in larger format.

 

The Battle of Third Ypres got underway...but then it rained.

After a year of waiting, Haig finally gets his Flanders campaign.

Kerensky's government survives a 'scare', leaving it ripe for the picking.

 

Kornilov arrives at the Moscow Conference, 1917

The life of Maria Bochkareva and the 1st Women's Battalion of Death.

 

A post-Tsarist Russia wanted to make its mark...it ended poorly.

The first stage of Haig's long awaited Flanders Offensive began on June 7th, 1917.

John J Pershing leads the first American troops to France in June 1917.

The French army grapples with widespread unrest after the Nivelle Offensive

April was a deadly month for the Royal Flying Corps.

 

Dicta Boelcke

1. Try to secure advantages before attacking. If possible, keep the sun behind you.

2. Always carry through an attack when you have started it.
3. Fire only at close range, and only when your opponent is properly in your sights.
4. Always keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.
5. In any form of attack it is essential to assail your enemy from behind.
6. If your opponent dives on you, do not try to evade his onslaught, but fly to meet it.
7. When over the enemy's lines never forget your own line of retreat.

8. For the Staffel (squadron): Attack on principle in groups of four or six. When the fight breaks up into a series of single combats, take care that several do not go for the same opponent

Robert Nivelle's magic solution to the deadlock leaves the French army on the brink of mutiny.

 

The British launch a successful set piece on the eve of the Nivelle Offensive.

 

When your people protest, it's best not to ignore them.

It took the United States 65 days to go from committed neutral to full blown participant.

By the end of 1916, neutrality had left the United States in a precarious spot.

 

Life Magazine, February 1916.

 

 

 

 

Germany's decision to unleash the torpedoes would have adverse consequences

For the second time in the war, Germany turns to unrestricted submarine warfare.

A look at the Entente during the winter of 1916-1917.

A look at the Central Powers during the winter of 1916-1917.

 

The life and career of everyones favourite exotic dancer turned convicted spy.

The Great War Aircast - A miniseries on the air war from 1914-1916. Part 3 of 3.

The Great War Aircast - A miniseries on the air war from 1914-1916. Part 2 of 3.

The Great War Aircast - A miniseries on the air war from 1914-1916. Part 1 of 3.

With 1916 coming to a close, the belligerents looked ahead to 1917.

The battle of the Somme comes to an end.

Beginning on October 24th, a French counter attack liberates the forts Douaumont and Vaux, signalling the end of the battle of Verdun.

With winter approaching on the Somme, Haig hoped to deliver a substantial blow to Germany's forces.

 

Hindenburg and Ludendorff face a home front wracked by food shortages and social unrest.

The Romanian campaign lasted for 101 days. In this episode, we cover those 101 days in 41 minutes.