World War I

C

5

The Italian Front

Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915. The chief military events on the Austro-Italian Front in 1915 were four indecisive battles between Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies on the Isonzo River (June 29-July 7, July 18-August 10, October 18-November 3, and November 10-December 10). The purpose of the Italian attack was to break through the Austrian lines and capture Trieste.

D

1916: Continued Stalemate

German success in 1915 in thrusting the Russians back from East Prussia, Galicia, and Poland enabled Germany to transfer some 500,000 men from the eastern to the western front for an attempt to force a decision in the west during 1916.

D

1

Verdun and the Somme

The German plan, as worked out by Erich von Falkenhayn, chief of the general staff of the German army, was to attack the French fortress at Verdun in great strength in an effort to weaken the French irretrievably by causing the maximum possible number of casualties. The Allied plan for 1916, as laid out by commanders in chief, Marshal Joffre of the French army and General Sir Douglas Haig of the British, was to attempt to break through the German lines in the west by a massive offensive during the summer in the region of the River Somme. The Germans opened the Battle of Verdun, on February 21. After bitter fighting the Germans took Fort Douaumont (February 25), Fort Vaux (June 2), and the fortifications of Thiaumont (June 23), but did not succeed in capturing Verdun. (It was here that General Henri Philippe Pétain gained prominence as the “hero of Verdun”.) Because of the severe losses in the battle, the French were able to contribute to the Allied offensive on the Somme only 16 divisions of the 40 originally planned; the offensive, which began on July 1 and continued until the middle of November, consequently was largely in the hands of the British. They succeeded in winning about 325 sq km (125 sq mi) of territory, but the drive did not bring about a breakthrough. The First Battle of the Somme marked the earliest use of the modern tank, deployed by the British on September 15 in an attack near Courcelette. From October to December the French staged a counter-attack at Verdun and succeeded in recapturing Forts Douaumont and Vaux (November 2), restoring the situation that had prevailed before February. In August Hindenburg replaced Falkenhayn as German chief of staff with General Erich Ludendorff. In December General Robert Georges Nivelle succeeded Joffre as commander in chief of the French armies in the north and north-east.

D

2

Russian Losses—Romanian Defeat

On the eastern front in 1916 the Russians staged an offensive in the Lake Narocz region about 95 km (60 mi) north-east of Vilna. Their attack, designed to force the Germans to move troops from Verdun to the Lake Narocz region, was a complete failure. Not only did it fail to divert the Germans in any degree from their attack on Verdun, but also the Russians lost more than 100,000 men. In June the Russians carried out a more successful offensive. In response to an Italian request for action to relieve the pressure of an Austrian offensive in the Trentino-Alto Adige region (see below), the Russians moved against the Austrians on a front extending from Pinsk south to Czernowitz. By September, when strong German reinforcements from the western front stopped the Russian advance, the Russians had driven some 65 km (40 mi) into the Austro-German position along the entire front and had taken about 500,000 prisoners. They did not succeed, however, in capturing either of their objectives, the cities of Kovel and Lemberg; and their losses of approximately 1 million men left the army in a demoralized and discouraged state. The Russian drive had nonetheless given sufficient evidence of strength to play a large part in inducing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies (August 27, 1916). After its entrance into the war, Romania at once began an invasion of the Austro-Hungarian province of Transylvania (August-September), but Austro-German forces speedily drove the Romanians out of that region. In conjunction with Bulgarian and Turkish troops, the Austro-German forces invaded Romania (November-December). By the middle of January 1917 Romania had been completely conquered, and the Central Powers had gained a valuable source of wheat and oil.

D

3

Italy and the Balkans

On the Italian front 1916 was marked by another inconclusive battle on the Isonzo River, the fifth of a series in that region, and by an Austrian offensive in the Trentino designed to break through the Italian lines and reach the rear of the Italian position on the Isonzo. The Austrians gained considerable territory in the Trentino, but lacked the strength to accomplish a breakthrough, and an Italian counter-offensive (June-July) succeeded in regaining most of the captured terrain. From August to November four additional inconclusive battles took place on the Isonzo; the principal gain on either side was the capture of Gorizia by the Italians on August 9.

In the Balkans during 1916 the Allied powers interfered in Greek affairs on the grounds that the Greek government under King Constantine I was, in spite of its declared neutrality, unduly favouring the Central Powers. Allied intervention brought about the establishment (September 29) of a provisional Greek government under the statesman Eleutherios Venizelos, who had consistently favoured the Allied cause. At Salonica the provisional government declared war on Germany and Bulgaria on November 3. The government of King Constantine was still in power in Athens and large parts of Greece, and friction took place between that government and the Allies, who resorted to a naval blockade of Greece and other action in order to enforce their demands that the Greeks cease aiding the Central Powers. On December 19 Great Britain officially recognized the provisional Greek government.

Two periods of fighting took place in the Balkans during 1916. In August a Serbian army, brought to Salonica after having been reconstituted at Corfu, advanced together with Russian and Italian troops against the Bulgarians and Germans on the Salonica front. After they had gained some initial successes, a strong counter-attack thrust them back. Beginning in early October Allied forces began a large-scale offensive in Macedonia. On November 19 the Allied troops captured Monastir, and by the middle of December had reached Lake Ohrid, on the border of Albania and Macedonia.