World+War+One

Long-term causes of the war included the [|imperialistic] foreign policies of the great powers of Europe, including the [|German Empire], the [|Austro-Hungarian Empire] , the [|Ottoman Empire] , the [|Russian Empire] , the [|British Empire] , the [|French Republic] , and [|Italy]. The [|assassination on 28 June 1914] of [|Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria], the heir to the throne of [|Austria-Hungary] , by a [|Yugoslav nationalist] in [|Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina] was the proximate trigger of the war. It resulted in a [|Habsburg ultimatum] against the [|Kingdom of Serbia]. [|[10]][|[11]] Several alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world. On 28 July, the conflict opened with the Austro-Hungarian [|invasion of Serbia], [|[12]][|[13]] followed by the German invasion of [|Belgium] , [|Luxembourg] and France; and a Russian attack against Germany. After the German march on [|Paris] was brought to a halt, the [|Western Front] settled into a static battle of attrition with a [|trench line] that changed little until 1917. In the [|East], the Russian army successfully fought against the Austro-Hungarian forces but was forced back from [|East Prussia] and [|Poland] by the German army. Additional fronts opened after the Ottoman Empire joined the war in 1914, Italy and [|Bulgaria] in 1915 and [|Romania] in 1916. The Russian Empire [|collapsed in March 1917], and Russia left the war after the [|October Revolution] later that year. After a 1918 German offensive along the western front, [|United States] forces entered the trenches and the Allies drove back the German armies in a series of successful offensives. Germany, which had [|its own trouble with revolutionaries] at this point, agreed to a cease-fire on 11 November 1918, later known as [|Armistice Day]. The war had ended in victory for the Allies. Events on the [|home fronts] were as tumultuous as on the battle fronts, as the participants tried to mobilize their manpower and economic resources to fight a total war. By the end of the war, four major imperial powers — the [|German], [|Russian] , [|Austro-Hungarian] and [|Ottoman] empires — ceased to exist. The successor states of the former two lost a great amount of territory, while the latter two were dismantled entirely. The map of central Europe was redrawn into several smaller states. [|[14]] The [|League of Nations] was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European nationalism spawned by the war and the breakup of empires, the repercussions of Germany's defeat and problems with the [|Treaty of Versailles] are agreed to be factors contributing to [|World War II]. [|[15]
 * World War I** (**WWI**), which was predominantly called the **World War** or the **Great War** from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the **First World War** or World War I thereafter, was a [|major war] centred in [|Europe] that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's [|great powers], [|[5]] which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the [|Allies] (based on the [|Triple Entente] of the [|United Kingdom] , [|France] and [|Russia] ) and the [|Central Powers] (originally centred around the [|Triple Alliance] of [|Germany] , [|Austria-Hungary] and [|Italy] ; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). [|[6]] These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. [|[7]][|[8]] More than 9 million combatants [|were killed] , largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth- [|deadliest conflict] in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved. [|[9]]

African campaigns
Lettow surrendering his forces to the British at Abercorn Main article: [|African theatre of World War I] Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of [|Togoland]. On 10 August, German forces in [|South-West Africa] attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in [|German East Africa], led by Colonel [|Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck] , fought a [|guerrilla warfare] campaign during World War I and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. [|[30]]

Serbian campaign
Declaration of war. Austro-Hungarian government's telegram to the government of Serbia on 28 July 1914. Serbian troops artillery positions in the [|Battle of Kolubara]. Main article: [|Serbian Campaign (World War I)] Austria invaded and fought the Serbian army at the [|Battle of Cer] and [|Battle of Kolubara] beginning on 12 August. Over the next two weeks Austrian attacks were thrown back with heavy losses, which marked the first major Allied victories of the war and dashed Austro-Hungarian hopes of a swift victory. As a result, Austria had to keep sizable forces on the Serbian front, weakening its efforts against Russia. [|[31]] Serbia’s defeat of the Austro-Hungarian invasion of 1914 counts among the major upset victories of the last century. [|[32]]

German forces in Belgium and France
German soldiers in a railway goods van on the way to the front in 1914. A message on the car spells out "Trip to Paris"; early in the war all sides expected the conflict to be a short one. Main article: [|Western Front (World War I)] At the outbreak of the First World War, the German army (consisting in the West of [|seven field armies] ) carried out a modified version of the [|Schlieffen Plan], designed to quickly attack France through neutral Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border. [|[10]] The plan called for the right flank of the German advance to converge on Paris, and initially the Germans were successful, particularly in the [|Battle of the Frontiers] (14–24 August). By 12 September, the French, with assistance from the [|British forces], halted the German advance east of Paris at the [|First Battle of the Marne] (5–12 September). The last days of this battle signified the end of mobile warfare in the west. [|[10]] The French offensive into Germany, launched on 7 August with the [|Battle of Mulhouse], had limited success. In the east, only one field army defended [|East Prussia], and when Russia attacked in this region it diverted German forces intended for the Western Front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the First [|Battle of Tannenberg] (17 August – 2 September), but this diversion aggravated problems of insufficient speed of advance from rail-heads not foreseen by the [|German General Staff]. The Central Powers were denied a quick victory and forced to fight a war on two fronts. The German army had fought its way into a good defensive position inside France and had permanently incapacitated 230,000 more French and British troops than it had lost itself. Despite this, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of early victory. [|[33]]

Asia and the Pacific
Main article: [|Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I] New Zealand [|occupied] [|German Samoa] (later Western Samoa) on 30 August. On 11 September, the [|Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force] landed on the island of [|Neu Pommern] (later New Britain), which formed part of [|German New Guinea]. Japan seized Germany's Micronesian colonies and, after the [|Siege of Tsingtao], the German coaling port of [|Qingdao] in the Chinese [|Shandong] peninsula. Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the German territories in the Pacific; only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea remained. [|[34]] [|[35]]

Trench warfare begins
Main article: [|Western Front (World War I)] [|Sir Winston Churchill] with the [|Royal Scots Fusiliers], 1916          [|Sunlight Soap] ad, placed in a trench (1915) Military tactics before World War I had failed to keep pace with advances in technology. These advances allowed for impressive defence systems, which out-of-date military tactics could not break through for most of the war. [|Barbed wire] was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances. [|Artillery], vastly more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with [|machine guns] , made crossing open ground extremely difficult. [|[36]] The Germans introduced [|poison gas] ; it soon became used by both sides, though it never proved decisive in winning a battle. Its effects were brutal, causing slow and painful death, and poison gas became one of the most-feared and best-remembered horrors of the war.[// [|citation needed] //] Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, however, technology began to produce new offensive weapons, such as the [|tank]. [|[37]] Britain and France were its primary users; the Germans employed captured Allied tanks and small numbers of their own design. After the [|First Battle of the Marne], both [|Entente] and German forces began a series of outflanking manoeuvres, in the so-called " [|Race to the Sea] ". Britain and France soon found themselves facing entrenched German forces from [|Lorraine] to Belgium's coast. [|[10]] Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended the occupied territories; consequently, German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy. Anglo-French trenches were only intended to be "temporary" before their forces broke through German defences. [|[38]] Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915 at the [|Second Battle of Ypres], the Germans (violating the [|Hague Convention] ) used [|chlorine] gas for the first time on the Western Front. Algerian troops retreated when gassed and a six-kilometre (four-mile) hole opened in the Allied lines that the Germans quickly exploited, taking [|Kitcheners' Wood]. [|Canadian soldiers] closed the breach at the [|Second Battle of Ypres]. [|[39]] At the [|Third Battle of Ypres], Canadian and [|ANZAC] troops took the village of [|Passchendaele]. Men in Melbourne collecting recruitment papers          In the [|trenches] : [|Royal Irish Rifles] in a [|communications] trench on the [|first day on the Somme], 1 July 1916. On 1 July 1916, the [|British Army] endured the bloodiest day in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, on the [|first day] of the [|Battle of the Somme]. Most of the casualties occurred in the first hour of the attack. The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army almost half a million men. [|[40]] Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years, though protracted German action at [|Verdun] throughout 1916, [|[41]] combined with the bloodletting at the [|Somme], brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts at frontal assault came at a high price for both the British and the French // [|poilu] // (infantry) and led to [|widespread mutinies], especially during the [|Nivelle Offensive]. [|[42]] Canadian troops advancing behind a British [|Mark II tank] at the [|Battle of Vimy Ridge]. A French assault on German positions. Champagne, France, 1917. Officers and senior enlisted men of the [|Bermuda Militia Artillery] 's [|Bermuda] Contingent, Royal Garrison Artillery, in Europe. The British [|Grand Fleet] making steam for [|Scapa Flow], 1914          A battleship squadron of the [|Hochseeflotte] at sea Throughout 1915–17, the British Empire and France suffered more casualties than Germany, because of both the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides. Strategically, while the Germans only mounted a single main offensive at [|Verdun], the Allies made several attempts to break through German lines. Tactically, German commander [|Erich Ludendorff] 's doctrine of " [|elastic defence] " was well suited for trench warfare. This defence had a lightly defended forward position and a more powerful main position farther back beyond artillery range, from which an immediate and powerful counter-offensive could be launched. [|[43]] [|[44]] Ludendorff wrote on the fighting in 1917, > The 25th of August concluded the second phase of the Flanders battle. It had cost us heavily ... The costly August battles in Flanders and at Verdun imposed a heavy strain on the Western troops. In spite of all the concrete protection they seemed more or less powerless under the enormous weight of the enemy's artillery. At some points they no longer displayed the firmness which I, in common with the local commanders, had hoped for. The enemy managed to adapt himself to our method of employing counter attacks ... I myself was being put to a terrible strain. The state of affairs in the West appeared to prevent the execution of our plans elsewhere. Our wastage had been so high as to cause grave misgivings, and had exceeded all expectation. [|[45]] On the battle of the Menin Road Ridge, Ludendorff wrote, > Another terrific assault was made on our lines on the 20 September ... The enemy's onslaught on the 20th was successful, which proved the superiority of the attack over the defence. Its strength did not consist in the tanks; we found them inconvenient, but put them out of action all the same. The power of the attack lay in the artillery, and in the fact that ours did not do enough damage to the hostile infantry as they were assembling, and above all, at the actual time of the assault. [|[46]] Around 1.1 to 1.2 million soldiers from the British and Dominion armies were on the Western Front at any one time. [|[47]] A thousand battalions, occupying sectors of the line from the [|North Sea] to the [|Orne River], operated on a month-long four-stage rotation system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 9,600 kilometres (5,965 mi) of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for about a week before moving back to support lines and then further back to the reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the [|Poperinge] or [|Amiens] areas. In the 1917 [|Battle of Arras], the only significant British military success was the capture of [|Vimy Ridge] by the [|Canadian Corps] under [|Sir Arthur Currie] and [|Julian Byng]. The assaulting troops could, for the first time, overrun, rapidly reinforce and hold the ridge defending the coal-rich [|Douai] plain. [|[48]] [|[49]]

Naval war
Main article: [|Naval warfare of World War I] At the start of the war, the German Empire had [|cruisers] scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied [|merchant shipping]. The British [|Royal Navy] systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect Allied shipping. For example, the German detached light cruiser [|SMS //Emden//], part of the East-Asia squadron stationed at Tsingtao, seized or destroyed 15 merchantmen, as well as sinking a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. However, most of the [|German East-Asia squadron] —consisting of the armoured cruisers [|//Scharnhorst//] and [|//Gneisenau//], light cruisers [|//Nürnberg//] and [|//Leipzig//] and two transport ships—did not have orders to raid shipping and was instead underway to Germany when it met British warships. The German flotilla and [|//Dresden//] sank two armoured cruisers at the [|Battle of Coronel], but was almost destroyed at the [|Battle of the Falkland Islands] in December 1914, with only //Dresden// and a few auxiliaries escaping, but at the [|Battle of Más a Tierra] these too were destroyed or interned. [|[50]] Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval [|blockade of Germany]. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, although this blockade violated accepted international law codified by several international agreements of the past two centuries. [|[51]] Britain mined international waters to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean, causing danger to even neutral ships. [|[52]] Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. [|[53]] The 1916 [|Battle of Jutland] (German: //Skagerrakschlacht//, or "Battle of the Skagerrak") developed into the largest naval battle of the war, the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. It took place on 31 May – 1 June 1916, in the [|North Sea] off [|Jutland]. The Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral [|Reinhard Scheer], squared off against the Royal Navy's [|Grand Fleet] , led by Admiral Sir [|John Jellicoe]. The engagement was a stand off, as the Germans, outmanoeuvred by the larger British fleet, managed to escape and inflicted more damage to the British fleet than they received. Strategically, however, the British asserted their control of the sea, and the bulk of the German surface fleet remained confined to port for the duration of the war. [|[54]] German [|U-boats] attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. [|[55]] The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. [|[55]] [|[56]] The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the notorious sinking of the passenger ship [|RMS //Lusitania//] in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the "cruiser rules" which demanded warning and placing crews in "a place of safety" (a standard which lifeboats did not meet). [|[57]] Finally, in early 1917 Germany adopted a policy of [|unrestricted submarine warfare], realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. [|[55]] [|[58]] Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the U.S. could transport a large army overseas, but could maintain only five long-range U-boats on station, to limited effect. [|[55]] [|U-155] exhibited near Tower Bridge in London after the First World War. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in [|convoys], escorted by [|destroyers]. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after the [|hydrophone] and [|depth charges] were introduced, accompanying destroyers might attack a submerged submarine with some hope of success. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies, since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled. The solution to the delays was an extensive program to build new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. [|[59]] The U-boats had sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at a cost of 199 submarines. [|[60]] World War I also saw the first use of [|aircraft carriers] in combat, with [|HMS //Furious//] launching [|Sopwith Camels] in a successful raid against the [|Zeppelin] hangars at [|Tondern] in July 1918, as well as [|blimps] for antisubmarine patrol. [|[61]]

War in the Balkans
Main articles: [|Balkans Campaign (World War I)], [|Serbian Campaign (World War I)] , and [|Macedonian front (World War I)] Austrian troops executing captured Serbians. Serbia lost about 850,000 people, a quarter of its pre-war population. [|[62]] Faced with Russia, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, [|Belgrade]. A Serbian counter attack in the [|battle of Kolubara], however, succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first ten months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats, however, scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join in attacking Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of [|Slovenia], Croatia and [|Bosnia] provided troops for Austria-Hungary, invading Serbia as well as fighting Russia and Italy. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. [|[63]] Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern [|Albania] (which they had invaded at the beginning of the war). The Serbs suffered defeat in the [|Battle of Kosovo]. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat towards the Adriatic coast in the [|Battle of Mojkovac] in 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians conquered Montenegro, too. The surviving 70,000 Serbian soldiers were evacuated by ship to Greece. [|[64]] In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at [|Salonica] in Greece, to offer assistance and to pressure the government to declare war against the Central Powers. Unfortunately for the Allies, the pro-German [|King Constantine I] dismissed the pro-Allied government of [|Eleftherios Venizelos], before the Allied expeditionary force could arrive. [|[65]] The friction between the king of Greece and the Allies continued to accumulate with the [|National Schism], which effectively divided Greece between regions still loyal to the king and the new provisional government of Venizelos in Salonica. After intensive diplomatic negotiations and an armed confrontation in [|Athens] between Allied and royalist forces (an incident known as [|Noemvriana] ) the king of Greece resigned, and his second son [|Alexander] took his place. Venizelos returned to Athens on 29 May 1917 and Greece, now unified, officially joined the war on the side of the Allies. The entire Greek army was mobilized and began to participate in military operations against the [|Central Powers] on the Macedonian front. Bulgarian soldiers in a trench, preparing to fire against an incoming airplane After conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In 1917 the Serbs launched the [|Toplica Uprising] and liberated for a short time the area between the [|Kopaonik] mountains and the [|South Morava] river. The uprising was crushed by joint efforts of Bulgarian and Austrian forces at the end of March 1917. The Macedonian Front in the beginning was mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing [|Bitola] on 19 November 1916 as a result of the costly [|Monastir Offensive] which brought stabilization of the front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough, after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had withdrawn. This breakthrough was significant in defeating Bulgaria and Austro-Hungary, which led to the final victory of WWI. The Bulgarians suffered their only defeat of the war at the [|Battle of Dobro Pole] but days later, they decisively defeated British and Greek forces at the [|Battle of Doiran], avoiding occupation. After Serbian breakthrough of Bulgarian lines, Bulgaria capitulated on 29 September 1918. [|[66]] Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against the [|Central Powers] and a day after the Bulgarian collapse, during a meeting with government officials, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. [|[67]] The disappearance of the [|Macedonian front] meant that the road to [|Budapest] and [|Vienna] was now opened for the 670,000-strong army of general [|Franchet d'Esperey] as the Bulgarian surrender deprived the [|Central Powers] of the 278 infantry battalions and 1,500 guns (the equivalent of some 25 to 30 German divisions) that were previously holding the line. [|[68]] The German high command responded by sending only seven infantry and one cavalry division but these forces were far from enough for a front to be reestablished. [|[68]]

Ottoman Empire
Main article: [|Middle Eastern theatre of World War I] The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in the war, the secret [|Ottoman-German Alliance] having been signed in August 1914. [|[69]] It threatened Russia's [|Caucasian] territories and Britain's communications with India via the [|Suez Canal]. The British and French opened overseas fronts with the [|Gallipoli] (1915) and [|Mesopotamian campaigns]. In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, and [|Australian and New Zealand Army Corps] (ANZACs). In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the disastrous [|Siege of Kut] (1915–16), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured [|Baghdad] in March 1917. A British artillery battery emplaced on [|Mount Scopus] in the [|Battle of Jerusalem]. Further to the west, the [|Suez Canal] was successfully defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August a joint [|German] and [|Ottoman] force was defeated at the [|Battle of Romani] by the [|Anzac Mounted] and the [|52nd (Lowland) Infantry Divisions]. Following this victory, a [|British Empire] [|Egyptian Expeditionary Force] advanced across the [|Sinai Peninsula], pushing Ottoman forces back in the [|Battle of Magdhaba] in December and the [|Battle of Rafa] on the border between the Egyptian [|Sinai] and Ottoman Palestine in January 1917. In March and April at the [|First] and [|Second Battles of Gaza], German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance, but at the end of October the [|Sinai and Palestine Campaign] resumed, when [|Allenby] 's [|XXth Corps] , [|XXI Corps] and [|Desert Mounted Corps] won the [|Battle of Beersheba]. Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at the [|Battle of Mughar Ridge], and early in December [|Jerusalem] was captured following another Ottoman defeat at the [|Battle of Jerusalem (1917)]. About this time [|Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein] was relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced by [|Djevad Pasha], and a few months later the commander of the [|Ottoman Army] in Palestine, [|Erich von Falkenhayn] , was replaced by [|Otto Liman von Sanders]. A reorganised Egyptian Expeditionary Force, with an additional mounted division under Field Marshal [|Edmund Allenby], broke Ottoman forces at the [|Battle of Megiddo] in September 1918. In six weeks, during virtually continuous operations, battles were successfully fought by British infantry and Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand, [|Light Horse], [|mounted Yeomanry] , [|Lancers] and [|Mounted Rifle] brigades. They campaigned across the [|Jordan River] to [|Amman] in the east and northwards to capture [|Nablus] and [|Tulkarm] in the [|Judean Hills], and followed the Mediterranean coast into the [|Jezreel Valley] (Esdraelon Plain), where [|Afula] , [|Jenin] and [|Nazareth] were captured, along with [|Daraa] east of the Jordan River on the Hejaz railway. Semakh and [|Tiberias] on the [|Sea of Gallilee], were captured on the way northwards to [|Damascus] and [|Aleppo]. The [|Armistice of Mudros] was signed on 30 October, when two and a half Ottoman armies had been defeated and captured. Russian forest trench at the Battle of Sarikamish Russian armies generally had the best of it in the Caucasus. [|Enver Pasha], supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, was ambitious and dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been lost to Russia previously. He was, however, a poor commander. [|[70]] He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops; insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter, he lost 86% of his force at the [|Battle of Sarikamish]. [|[71]] General [|Yudenich], the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus with a string of victories. [|[71]] In 1917, Russian [|Grand Duke Nicholas] assumed command of the Caucasus front. Nicholas planned a railway from Russian Georgia to the conquered territories, so that fresh supplies could be brought up for a new offensive in 1917. However, in March 1917 (February in the pre-revolutionary Russian calendar), the Czar was overthrown in the [|February Revolution] and the [|Russian Caucasus Army] began to fall apart. German soldiers in [|Jerusalem] Instigated by the Arab bureau of the British [|Foreign Office], the [|Arab Revolt] started with the help of Britain in June 1916 at the [|Battle of Mecca] , led by [|Sherif Hussein] of [|Mecca] , and ended with the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. [|Fakhri Pasha], the Ottoman commander of [|Medina] , resisted for more than two and half years during the [|Siege of Medina]. [|[72]] Along the border of Italian Libya and British Egypt, the [|Senussi] tribe, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scale guerrilla war against Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in the [|Senussi Campaign]. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916. [|[73]]

Italian participation
Main article: [|Italian Campaign (World War I)] Further information: [|Battles of the Isonzo] Austro-Hungarian mountain corps in Tyrol Italy had been allied with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882 as part of the [|Triple Alliance]. However, the nation had its own designs on Austrian territory in [|Trentino], [|Istria] , and [|Dalmatia]. Rome had a secret 1902 pact with France, effectively nullifying its alliance. [|[74]] At the start of hostilities, Italy refused to commit troops, arguing that the Triple Alliance was defensive and that Austria–Hungary was an aggressor. The Austro-Hungarian government began negotiations to secure Italian neutrality, offering the French colony of Tunisia in return. The Allies made a counter-offer in which Italy would receive the [|Southern Tyrol], [|Julian March] and territory on the [|Dalmatian] coast after the defeat of Austria-Hungary. This was formalised by the [|Treaty of London]. Further encouraged by the Allied invasion of Turkey in April 1915, Italy joined the Triple Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May. Fifteen months later Italy declared war on Germany. a Hungarian soldier on the Italian front Militarily, the Italians had numerical superiority. This advantage, however, was lost, not only because of the difficult terrain in which fighting took place, but also because of the strategies and tactics employed. [|Field Marshal] [|Luigi Cadorna], a staunch proponent of the frontal assault, had dreams of breaking into the [|Slovenian] plateau, taking [|Ljubljana] and threatening [|Vienna]. Cadorna's plan did not take into account the difficulties of the rugged Alpine terrain, or the technological changes that created [|trench warfare], giving rise to a series of bloody and inconclusive stalemated offensives. Depiction of the [|Battle of Doberdò], fought in August 1916 between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian army. On the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the mountainous terrain, which favoured the defender. After an initial strategic retreat, the front remained largely unchanged, while Austrian [|Kaiserschützen] and [|Standschützen] engaged Italian [|Alpini] in bitter hand-to-hand combat throughout the summer. The Austro-Hungarians counterattacked in the [|Altopiano of Asiago], towards Verona and Padua, in the spring of 1916 (// [|Strafexpedition] //), but made little progress. Beginning in 1915, the Italians under Cadorna mounted eleven offensives on the [|Isonzo front] along the [|Isonzo River], northeast of [|Trieste]. All eleven offensives were repelled by the Austro-Hungarians, who held the higher ground. In the summer of 1916, the Italians captured the town of [|Gorizia]. After this minor victory, the front remained static for over a year, despite several Italian offensives. In the autumn of 1917, thanks to the improving situation on the Eastern front, the Austro-Hungarian troops received large numbers of reinforcements, including German [|Stormtroopers] and the elite [|Alpenkorps]. The Central Powers launched a crushing offensive on 26 October 1917, spearheaded by the Germans. They achieved a victory at [|Caporetto]. The Italian Army was routed and retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) to reorganise, stabilising the front at the [|Piave River]. Since in the Battle of Caporetto the Italian Army had heavy losses, the Italian Government called to arms the so-called '//99 Boys// (//Ragazzi del '99//): that is, all males who were 18 years old. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarians failed to break through, in a series of battles on the [|Piave River], and were finally decisively defeated in the [|Battle of Vittorio Veneto] in October of that year. From 5–6 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reached [|Lissa], [|Lagosta] , [|Sebenico] , and other localities on the Dalmatian coast. [|[75]] By the end of hostilities in November 1918, the Italian military had seized control of the entire portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the London Pact. [|[76]] In 1918, Admiral [|Enrico Millo] declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia. [|[76]] Austria-Hungary surrendered in early November 1918. [|[77]] [|[78]]

Romanian participation
Main article: [|Romania during World War I] Marshal [|Joffre] inspecting Romanian troops Romania had been allied with the Central Powers since 1882. When the war began, however, it declared its neutrality, arguing that because Austria-Hungary had itself declared war on Serbia, Romania was under no obligation to join the war. When the Entente Powers promised Romania large territories of eastern Hungary ( [|Transylvania] and [|Banat] ) that had a large Romanian population in exchange for Romania's declaring war on the Central Powers, the Romanian government renounced its neutrality, and on 27 August 1916 the Romanian Army [|launched an attack] against Austria-Hungary, with limited Russian support. The Romanian offensive was initially successful, pushing back the Austro-Hungarian troops in Transylvania, but a counterattack by the forces of the [|Central Powers] drove back the Russo-Romanian forces. As a result of the [|Battle of Bucharest] the Central Powers occupied Bucharest on 6 December 1916. Fighting in Moldova [|continued in 1917], resulting in a costly stalemate for the Central Powers. [|[79]] [|[80]] Russian withdrawal from the war in late 1917 as a result of the [|October Revolution] meant that Romania was forced to sign an armistice with the Central Powers on 9 December 1917. In January 1918, Romanian forces established control over [|Bessarabia] as the Russian Army abandoned the province. Although a treaty was signed by the Romanian and the [|Bolshevik] Russian government following talks from 5–9 March 1918 on the withdrawal of Romanian forces from Bessarabia within two months, on 27 March 1918 Romania attached Bessarabia to its territory, formally based on a resolution passed by the local assembly of the territory on the unification with Romania. Romania officially made peace with the Central Powers by signing the [|Treaty of Bucharest] on 7 May 1918. Under that treaty, Romania was obliged to end war with the Central Powers and make small territorial concessions to Austria-Hungary, ceding control of some passes in the [|Carpathian Mountains], and grant oil concessions to Germany. In exchange, the Central Powers recognised the sovereignty of Romania over [|Bessarabia]. The treaty was renounced in October 1918 by the [|Alexandru Marghiloman] government, and Romania nominally re-entered the war on 10 November 1918. The next day, the Treaty of Bucharest was nullified by the terms of the Armistice of [|Compiègne]. [|[81]] [|[82]] Total Romanian deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000. [|[83]]

The role of India
Further information: [|Third Anglo-Afghan War] and [|Hindu-German Conspiracy] Contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and good will towards the United Kingdom. [|[84]] [|[85]] Indian political leaders from the [|Indian National Congress] and other groups were eager to support the British war effort since they believed that strong support for the war effort would further the cause of [|Indian Home Rule]. The [|Indian Army] in fact outnumbered the British Army at the beginning of the war; about 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the central government and the [|princely states] sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. In all, 140,000 men served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totalled 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded during World War I. [|[86]] The suffering engendered by the war as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India after the end of hostilities bred disillusionment and fuelled [|the campaign for full independence] that would be led by [|Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi] and others. Russian troops awaiting a German attack

Initial actions
Main article: [|Eastern Front (World War I)] While the Western Front had reached stalemate, the war continued in East Europe. Initial Russian plans called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian [|Galicia] and German East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, it was driven back from East Prussia by [|Hindenburg] and [|Ludendorff] at [|Tannenberg] and the [|Masurian Lakes] in August and September 1914. [|[87]] [|[88]] Russia's less developed industrial base and ineffective military leadership was instrumental in the events that unfolded. By the spring of 1915, the Russians had retreated into Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern frontiers. [|[89]] On 5 August they captured [|Warsaw] and forced the Russians to withdraw from Poland.

Russian Revolution
Main article: [|Russian Revolution (1917)] Further information: [|North Russia Campaign] [|Vladimir Illyich Lenin] Despite the success of the June 1916 [|Brusilov Offensive] in eastern [|Galicia], [|[90]] dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew. The offensive's success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces to support the victory. Allied and Russian forces were revived only temporarily by Romania's entry into the war on 27 August. German forces came to the aid of embattled Austro-Hungarian units in [|Transylvania], and [|Bucharest] fell to the Central Powers on 6 December. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia, as the [|Tsar] remained at the front. [|Empress Alexandra's] increasingly incompetent rule drew protests and resulted in the murder of her favourite, [|Rasputin], at the end of 1916. In March 1917, demonstrations in [|Petrograd] culminated in the abdication of [|Tsar Nicholas II] and the appointment of a weak [|Provisional Government] which shared power with the [|Petrograd Soviet] socialists. This arrangement led to confusion and chaos both at the front and at home. The army became increasingly ineffective. [|[89]] Russian [|Cossacks] on the front, 1915         Signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (9 February 1918) are: 1. [|Count Ottokar von Czernin], 2. [|Richard von Kühlmann], and 3. [|Vasil Radoslavov] Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in popularity of the [|Bolshevik] Party, led by [|Vladimir Lenin], which demanded an immediate end to the war. The [|successful armed uprising by the Bolsheviks] of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across the Ukraine unopposed, the new government acceded to the [|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk] on 3 March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, the [|Baltic provinces], parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. [|[91]] Despite this enormous apparent German success, the manpower required for German occupation of former Russian territory may have contributed to the failure of the Spring Offensive and secured relatively little food or other [|materiel]. With the adoption of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Entente no longer existed. The Allied powers led [|a small-scale invasion] of Russia, partly to stop Germany from exploiting Russian resources and, to a lesser extent, to support the "Whites" (as opposed to the "Reds") in the [|Russian Civil War]. [|[92]] Allied troops landed in [|Arkhangelsk] and in [|Vladivostok].

Central Powers proposal for starting peace negotiations
On the way to [|Verdun]. "// [|They shall not pass] "// is a phrase which for all time will be associated with the heroic defense of Verdun. In December 1916, after ten brutal months of the [|Battle of Verdun] and a [|successful offensive against Romania], the Germans attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies. Soon after, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking in a note for both sides to state their demands. Lloyd George's War Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions amongst the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the U.S. was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the "submarine outrages". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of "a direct exchange of views". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities. This included the liberation of Italians, Slavs, Romanians, Czecho-Slovaks, and the creation of a "free and united Poland". On the question of security, the Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars, complete with sanctions, as a condition of any peace settlement. [|[93]] The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer, because Germany did not state any specific proposals. To Wilson, the Entente powers stated that they would not start peace negotiations until the Central powers evacuated all occupied Allied territories and provided indemnities for all damage which had been done. [|[94]]

1917–1918
French troopers under [|General Gouraud], with their machine guns amongst the ruins of a cathedral near the Marne, driving back the Germans. 1918         German film crew recording the action.

Developments in 1917
Events of 1917 proved decisive in ending the war, although their effects were not fully felt until 1918. The British naval blockade began to have a serious impact on Germany. In response, in February 1917, the [|German General Staff] convinced [|Chancellor] [|Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg] to declare unrestricted submarine warfare, with the goal of starving Britain out of the war. German planners estimated that unrestricted submarine warfare would cost Britain a monthly shipping loss of 600,000 tons. The General Staff acknowledged that the policy would almost certainly bring the United States into the conflict, but calculated that British shipping losses would be so high that they would be forced to sue for peace after 5 to 6 months, before American intervention could make an impact. In reality, tonnage sunk rose above 500,000 tons per month from February to July. It peaked at 860,000 tons in April. After July, the newly re-introduced [|convoy] system became extremely effective in reducing the [|U-boat] threat. Britain was safe from starvation while German industrial output fell, and the United States troops joined the war in large numbers far earlier than Germany had anticipated. On 3 May 1917, during the [|Nivelle Offensive], the weary French 2nd Colonial Division, veterans of the Battle of Verdun, refused their orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Their officers lacked the means to punish an entire division, and harsh measures were not immediately implemented. Then, [|mutinies] afflicted an additional 54 French divisions and saw 20,000 men desert. The other Allied forces attacked but sustained tremendous casualties. [|[95]] However, appeals to patriotism and duty, as well as mass arrests and trials, encouraged the soldiers to return to defend their trenches, although the French soldiers refused to participate in further offensive action. [|[96]] [|Robert Nivelle] was removed from command by 15 May, replaced by General [|Philippe Pétain], who suspended bloody large-scale attacks. [|Haut-Rhin], France, 1917 The victory of Austria–Hungary and Germany at the [|Battle of Caporetto] led the Allies at the [|Rapallo Conference] to form the [|Supreme War Council] to coordinate planning. Previously, British and French armies had operated under separate commands. In December, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia. This released large numbers of German troops for use in the west. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success based on a final quick offensive. Furthermore, the leaders of the Central Powers and the Allies became increasingly fearful of social unrest and revolution in Europe. Thus, both sides urgently sought a decisive victory. [|[97]]

Entry of the United States
Main article: [|American entry into World War I]

Non-intervention
At the outbreak of the war the United States pursued a policy of [|non-intervention], avoiding conflict while trying to broker a peace. When a German U-boat [|sank the British liner RMS //Lusitania//] on 7 May 1915 with 128 Americans among the dead, President [|Woodrow Wilson] insisted that "America is too proud to fight" but demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships. Germany complied. Wilson unsuccessfully tried to mediate a settlement. However, he also repeatedly warned that the U.S.A. would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare, in violation of international law. Former president [|Theodore Roosevelt] denounced German acts as "piracy". [|[98]] Wilson was narrowly reelected in 1916 as his supporters emphasized "he kept us out of war". In January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing it would mean American entry. The German Foreign Minister, in the [|Zimmermann Telegram], invited Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States. In return, the Germans would finance Mexico's war and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. [|[99]] Wilson released the Zimmerman note to the public, and Americans saw it as //casus belli//—a cause for war. Wilson called on antiwar elements to end all wars, by winning this one and eliminating militarism from the globe. He argued that the war was so important that the U.S. had to have a voice in the peace conference. [|[100]] [|President Wilson] before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany on 3 February 1917.

U.S. declaration of war on Germany
After the sinking of seven U.S. merchant ships by submarines and the publication of the Zimmerman telegram, Wilson called for war on Germany, [|[101]] which the [|U.S. Congress] [|declared on 6 April 1917].
 * = [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png width="38" height="40"]] || [|Wikisource] has original text related to this article:
 * [|Woodrow Wilson Urges Congress to Declare War on Germany] ** ||

First active U.S. participation
American soldiers on the Piave front hurling a shower of hand grenades into the Austrian trenches         Two Allied soldiers run towards a bunker. The United States was never formally a member of the Allies but became a self-styled "Associated Power". The United States had a small army, but, after the passage of the [|Selective Service Act], it drafted 2.8 million men, [|[102]] and by summer 1918 was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. In 1917, the U.S. Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the [|Jones Act]. Germany had miscalculated, believing it would be many more months before American soldiers would arrive and that their arrival could be stopped by U-boats. [|[103]] The [|United States Navy] sent a [|battleship group] to [|Scapa Flow] to join with the British Grand Fleet, [|destroyers] to [|Queenstown], Ireland, and [|submarines] to help guard convoys. Several regiments of [|U.S. Marines] were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General [|John J. Pershing], [|American Expeditionary Forces] (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to be used as reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to be used in French divisions. The [|Harlem Hellfighters] fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit [|Croix de Guerre] for their actions at Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Sechault. [|[104]] AEF doctrine called for the use of frontal assaults, which had long since been discarded by British Empire and French commanders because of the large loss of life. [|[105]]

Austrian offer of separate peace
In 1917, Emperor [|Charles I of Austria] secretly attempted separate peace negotiations with Clemenceau, with his wife's brother [|Sixtus] in Belgium as an intermediary, without the knowledge of Germany. When the negotiations failed, his attempt was revealed to Germany, resulting in a diplomatic catastrophe. [|[106]] [|[107]]

German Spring Offensive of 1918
Main article: [|Spring Offensive] German General [|Erich Ludendorff] drew up plans ( [|codenamed] [|Operation Michael] ) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive sought to divide the British and French forces with a series of feints and advances. The German leadership hoped to strike a decisive blow before significant U.S. forces arrived. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918 with an attack on British forces near [|Amiens]. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres (37 mi). [|[108]] British and French trenches were penetrated using novel [|infiltration tactics], also named //Hutier// tactics, after General [|Oskar von Hutier]. Previously, attacks had been characterised by long artillery bombardments and massed assaults. However, in the Spring Offensive of 1918, Ludendorff used artillery only briefly and infiltrated small groups of infantry at weak points. They attacked command and logistics areas and bypassed points of serious resistance. More heavily armed infantry then destroyed these isolated positions. German success relied greatly on the element of surprise. [|[109]] The front moved to within 120 kilometres (75 mi) of Paris. Three heavy [|Krupp] [|railway guns] fired 183 shells on the capital, causing many Parisians to flee. The initial offensive was so successful that Kaiser Wilhelm II declared 24 March a [|national holiday]. Many Germans thought victory was near. After heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or [|motorised artillery], the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. This situation was not helped by the supply lines now being stretched as a result of their advance. [|[110]] The sudden stop was also a result of the four [|Australian Imperial Force] (AIF) divisions that were "rushed" down, thus doing what no other army had done: stopping the German advance in its tracks. During that time the first Australian division was hurriedly sent north again to stop the second German breakthrough. British [|55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division] troops blinded by tear gas during the [|Battle of Estaires], 10 April 1918. [|General Foch] pressed to use the arriving American troops as individual replacements. Pershing sought instead to field American units as an independent force. These units were assigned to the depleted French and British Empire commands on 28 March. A Supreme War Council of Allied forces was created at the [|Doullens Conference] on 5 November 1917. [|[111]] General Foch was appointed as supreme commander of the allied forces. Haig, Petain, and Pershing retained tactical control of their respective armies; Foch assumed a coordinating rather than a directing role, and the British, French, and U.S. commands operated largely independently. [|[111]] Following Operation Michael, Germany launched [|Operation Georgette] against the northern [|English Channel] ports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conducted [|Operations Blücher and Yorck], pushing broadly towards Paris. Operation Marne was launched on 15 July, attempting to encircle [|Reims] and beginning the [|Second Battle of the Marne]. The resulting counterattack, starting the [|Hundred Days Offensive], marked the first successful Allied offensive of the war. By 20 July the Germans were back across the Marne at their Kaiserschlacht starting lines, [|[112]] having achieved nothing. Following this last phase of the war in the West, the German Army never regained the initiative. German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many highly trained [|storm troopers]. Meanwhile, Germany was falling apart at home. [|Anti-war] marches became frequent and morale in the army fell. Industrial output was 53 percent of 1913 levels.

New states under war zone
Main articles: [|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk], [|Democratic Republic of Armenia] , [|Azerbaijan Democratic Republic] , and [|Democratic Republic of Georgia] In the late spring of 1918, three new states were formed in the [|South Caucasus] : the [|Democratic Republic of Armenia], the [|Azerbaijan Democratic Republic] , and the [|Democratic Republic of Georgia] , which declared their independence from the Russian Empire. [|[113]] Two other minor entities were established, the [|Centrocaspian Dictatorship] and [|South West Caucasian Republic] (the former was liquidated by Azerbaijan in the autumn of 1918 and the latter by a joint Armenian-British task force in early 1919). With the withdrawal of the Russian armies from the Caucasus front in the winter of 1917–18, the three major republics braced for an imminent Ottoman advance, which commenced in the early months of 1918. Solidarity was briefly maintained when the [|Transcaucasian Federative Republic] was created in the spring of 1918 but collapsed in May, when the Georgians asked and received protection from Germany and the Azerbaijanis concluded a treaty with the Ottoman Empire that was more akin to a military alliance. Armenia was left to fend for itself and struggled for five months against the threat of a full-fledged occupation by the Ottoman Turks. [|[114]]

Allied victory: summer and autumn 1918
Main articles: [|Hundred Days Offensive] and [|Weimar Republic] The Allied counteroffensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, began on 8 August 1918. The [|Battle of Amiens] developed with III Corps [|British Fourth Army] on the left, the [|French First Army] on the right, and the [|Australian] and [|Canadian Corps] spearheading the offensive in the centre through [|Harbonnières]. [|[115]] [|[116]] It involved 414 tanks of the [|Mark IV] and [|Mark V] type, and 120,000 men. They advanced 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) into German-held territory in just seven hours. Erich Ludendorff referred to this day as the "Black Day of the German army". [|[115]] [|[117]] Aerial view of ruins of [|Vaux], France, 1918 The Australian-Canadian spearhead at Amiens, a battle that was the beginning of Germany's downfall, [|[46]] helped pull forward the British armies to the north and the French armies to the south. On the British Fourth Army front at Amiens, after an advance as far as 14 miles (23 km), German resistance stiffened, and the battle there concluded. But the French Third Army lengthened the Amiens front on 10 August, when it was thrown in on the right of the French First Army, and advanced 4 miles (6 km), liberating Lassigny in fighting which lasted until 16 August. South of the French Third Army, General [|Charles Mangin] (The Butcher) drove his French Tenth Army forward at Soissons on 20 August to capture eight thousand prisoners, two hundred guns, and the Aisne heights overlooking and menacing the German position north of the Vesle. [|[118]] Another "Black day", as described by Erich Ludendorff. Meanwhile General Byng of the British Third Army, reporting that the enemy on his front was thinning in a limited withdrawal, was ordered to attack with 200 tanks towards Bapaume, opening the [|Battle of Albert], with specific orders "To break the enemy's front, in order to outflank the enemy's present battle front" (opposite the British Fourth Army at Amiens). [|[46]] Allied leaders had now realised that to continue an attack after resistance had hardened was a waste of lives, and it was better to turn a line than to try to roll over it. They began to undertake attacks in quick order to take advantage of successful advances on the flanks, then broke them off when each attack lost its initial impetus. [|[118]] The British Third Army's 15-mile (24 km) front north of Albert progressed after stalling for a day against the main resistance line to which the enemy had withdrawn. [|[119]] Rawlinson's British Fourth Army was able to push its left flank forward between Albert and the Somme, straightening the line between the advanced positions of the Third Army and the Amiens front, which resulted in recapturing Albert at the same time. [|[118]] On 26 August the British First Army on the left of the Third Army was drawn into the battle, extending it northward to beyond Arras. The Canadian Corps, already back in the vanguard of the [|First Army], fought its way from Arras eastward 5 miles (8 km) astride the heavily defended Arras-Cambrai area before reaching the outer defences of the [|Hindenburg Line] , breaching them on the 28 and 29 August. Bapaume fell on 29 August to the New Zealand Division of the Third Army, and the Australians, still leading the advance of the Fourth Army, were again able to push forward at Amiens to take Peronne and [|Mont Saint-Quentin] on 31 August. Further south, the French First and Third Armies had slowly fought forward while the Tenth Army, which had by now crossed the Ailette and was east of the Chemin des Dames, neared the Alberich position of the Hindenburg Line. [|[120]] During the last week of August the pressure along a 70-mile (113 km) front against the enemy was heavy and unrelenting. From German accounts, "Each day was spent in bloody fighting against an ever and again on-storming enemy, and nights passed without sleep in retirements to new lines." [|[118]] Even to the north in [|Flanders] the British Second and Fifth Armies during August and September were able to make progress, taking prisoners and positions that had previously been denied them. [|[120]] American troops in [|Vladivostok], Siberia, August 1918         Close-up view of an American major in the basket of an [|observation balloon] flying over territory near front lines On 2 September the [|Canadian Corps] ' outflanking of the Hindenburg line, with the breaching of the Wotan Position, made it possible for the Third Army to advance, which sent repercussions all along the Western Front. That same day [|Oberste Heeresleitung] (OHL) had no choice but to issue orders to six armies to withdraw back into the Hindenburg Line in the south, behind the [|Canal du Nord] on the Canadian-First Army's front and back to a line east of the Lys in the north. This ceded without a fight the salient seized the previous April. [|[121]] According to [|Ludendorff] "We had to admit the necessity ...to withdraw the entire front from the Scarpe to the Vesle." [|[122]] In nearly four weeks of fighting beginning 8 August, over 100,000 German prisoners were taken, 75,000 by the [|BEF] and the rest by the French. As of "The Black Day of the German Army", the German High Command realised the war was lost and made attempts to reach a satisfactory end. The day after that battle Ludenforff told Colonel Mertz: "We cannot win the war any more, but we must not lose it either." On 11 August he offered his resignation to the Kaiser, who refused it, replying, "I see that we must strike a balance. We have nearly reached the limit of our powers of resistance. The war must be ended." On 13 August at [|Spa], Hindenburg, Ludendorff, the Chancellor, and Foreign Minister Hintz agreed that the war could not be ended militarily, and on the following day the German Crown Council decided that victory in the field was now most improbable. Austria and Hungary warned that they could only continue the war until December, and Ludendorff recommended immediate peace negotiations, to which the Kaiser responded by instructing Hintz to seek the mediation of the Queen of the Netherlands. Prince Rupprecht warned Prince Max of Baden: "Our military situation has deteriorated so rapidly that I no longer believe we can hold out over the winter; it is even possible that a catastrophe will come earlier." On 10 September Hindenburg urged peace moves to Emperor Charles of Austria, and Germany appealed to the Netherlands for mediation. On 14 September Austria sent a note to all belligerents and neutrals suggesting a meeting for peace talks on neutral soil, and on 15 September Germany made a peace offer to Belgium. Both peace offers were rejected, and on 24 September [|OHL] informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable. [|[120]] September saw the Germans continuing to fight strong rear-guard actions and launching numerous counterattacks on lost positions, but only a few succeeded, and then only temporarily. Contested towns, villages, heights, and trenches in the screening positions and outposts of the Hindenburg Line continued to fall to the Allies, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. Further small advances eastward would follow the Third Army's victory at Ivincourt on 12 September, the Fourth Army's at Epheny on 18 September, and the French gain of [|Essigny-le-Grand] a day later. On 24 September a final assault by both the British and French on a 4-mile (6.4 km) front would come within 2 miles (3.2 km) of St. Quentin. [|[120]] With the outposts and preliminary defensive lines of the Siegfried and Alberich Positions eliminated, the Germans were now completely back in the Hindenburg Line. With the Wotan position of that line already breached and the Siegfried position in danger of being turned from the north, the time had now come for an Allied assault on the whole length of the line. The Allied [|attack on the Hindenburg Line], begun on 26 September, included U.S. soldiers. The still-green American troops suffered problems coping with supply trains for large units on a difficult landscape. [|[123]] The following week cooperating French and American units broke through in [|Champagne] at the [|Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge], forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier. [|[124]] The last Belgian town to be liberated before the armistice was Ghent, which the Germans held as a pivot until the Allies brought up artillery. [|[125]] [|[126]] The German army had to shorten its front and use the Dutch frontier as an anchor to fight rear-guard actions. Men of U.S. 64th Regiment, [|7th Infantry Division], celebrate the news of the Armistice, 11 November 1918 When Bulgaria signed a separate armistice on 29 September, the Allies gained control of Serbia and Greece. Ludendorff, having been under great stress for months, suffered something similar to a breakdown. It was evident that Germany could no longer mount a successful defence. [|[127]] [|[128]] Meanwhile, news of Germany's impending military defeat spread throughout the German armed forces. The threat of mutiny was rife. Admiral [|Reinhard Scheer] and Ludendorff decided to launch a last attempt to restore the "valour" of the German Navy. Knowing the government of [|Prince Maximilian of Baden] would veto any such action, Ludendorff decided not to inform him. Nonetheless, word of the impending assault reached sailors at [|Kiel]. Many, refusing to be part of a naval offensive which they believed to be suicidal, rebelled and were arrested. Ludendorff took the blame; the Kaiser dismissed him on 26 October. The collapse of the Balkans meant that Germany was about to lose its main supplies of oil and food. Its reserves had been used up, even as U.S. troops kept arriving at the rate of 10,000 per day. [|[129]] Having suffered over 6 million casualties, Germany moved towards peace. [|Prince Maximilian of Baden] took charge of a new government as Chancellor of Germany to negotiate with the Allies. Telegraphic negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the vain hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Instead Wilson demanded the abdication of the Kaiser. There was no resistance when the [|Social Democrat] [|Philipp Scheidemann] on 9 November declared Germany to be a republic. Imperial Germany was dead; a new Germany had been born: the [|Weimar Republic]. [|[130]] [|]]