First World War - War Against Civilians

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Introduction

  • Flip side of mobilisation - If you are mobilising all your resources in response to the war effort, there is an argument that all your human resources therefore become a reasonable target to the enemy 
  • Key issue - Whether or not, the killing of Civilians in the conflict is accidental or inccidental - Are they deliberatly targetted? - As a country are you making a deliberate choice to target civilians? - Different war than if civilians are being caught in the war
  • Civilans getting killed in war is not a new thing in 1914 - Civilians had been killed on large scales before in previous conflicts - Is it a deliberate policy? 
  • If its mainly accidental or inccidental - Can make the argument that the First World War is not that different to other wars - If you have a targetting of civillians being a policy, you can make the arguement for the First World War being a total war 
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'Armenian Massacres' / American Genocide

  • Historians have tended to use sources that are more easily avaliable - As the now Turkish government are very cagey with their information and sources regarding this event - Donald Bloxhson - Draws on neutral testimonies - Ottoman government - Summer 1915 - Systematic killings of the Armenian Christian Community in the Eastern part of now Turkey - Opertation carried out by Turkish irregular and palamilitary forces - Also huge policy of shifting the Armenian population - Population lots of this are driven south - Deserts - Die of neglect and starvation 
  • Bloxham's estimation is that a million Arminian population die - Half of the pre-war population 
  • Turkish government - No deliberate policy of Genocide
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German 'Atrocities' - 1914

  • Belguim - 1914 - Europe's big economic success story - Population of 8 million - Densely population - Highly industrialised - Schlieffen Plan - Invisions Germany winning the war by thrusting through the middle of Belguim in order to out flank and defeat the French army 
  • Belgiums have a problem - They are in the way - Army of around 300,000 soliders - They have the fortresses, which are going to act as a speedbump for this large Germany army
  • Belgian expierence of the war is a very unhappy one - In terms of almost complete occupation of their country - Although Belgian becomes 'Brave little Belgium' in British Propoganda - The reality - Belgiums get very much sidelined by the Allies - Except for propoganda purposes - Becomes a very powerful brand 
  • Part of that victomhood of Belgium is because of the German army conduct in 1914
  • Leads to people wishing to enlist in the Army to stop the Germans 
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Underlying Issues of German 'Atrocities' - 1914

  • Germany is executing their 1914 war plan - Needing to move very quickly across Belgium in order to successfully carry out the plan 
  • Franco-Prussian War - Gorilla activities in their rear areas - To prevent this happening again - Intimidate the civilian population into acquiescence 
  • Complicated factors when this plays out in 1914
    • Existence of Belgian Parmilitary organisations (IE. Uniformed but not army)
      • Used by the Germans to explain away things they have done
    • Heavier than expected resistance form the Belgian army 
      • Belgians - Put up a good fight - Makes life difficult for the Germans - Greater casulaties than expected 
    • Tired, jumpy and inexperienced German troops shooting at each other at night
      • Start shooting at each other in the night - Difficult to tell it was them fighting one another therefore they said they were being attacked 
    • Rumours of atrocities committed by Belgian civilians 
      • Within the German army - Belgian civilians are committing atrocities against German soliders when they get them alone or captured 
  • Colides and creates a very heavy handed and brutal approach to the Belgian civilians - Comes in Leuvain - end of August 1914 
  • Gets distorted by Propoganda
  • Belief in 1914 - Germans are delibertly targeting civilians - Belgiums this is the start of miserable First World War 
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Louvain - August 1914

  • Over course of five days - Beginning August 25th - 1914 - German troops stationed in the Belgian villiage of Louvain during the opening month of World War I burn and loot much of the town, executing hundreds of civilians 
  • Fortress town - Saw heavy fighting during the first weeks of the German invasion - Belgian captial of Brussels - Louvain became the symbol, in the eyes of international public opinion, of the shocking brutal nature of the German war machine 
  • From the first days they crossed into Belgium violating that small country's neutrality on the way to invade France, German forces looted and destroyed much of the countryside and villages in their path, killing significant numbers of civilians, including women and children 
  • These brutal actions, the Germans claimed, were in response to what they saw as an illegal civilian resistance to the German occupation, organized and promoted by the Belgian government and other community leaders - Especially the Catholic Church - And carried out by irregular combatants or franc-tireurs (snipers, or free shooters) of the type that had participated in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71
  • Did not exist to any significant degree in Belgium during the German invasion, but was used as an excuse to justify the German pursuit of a theory of terror previously articulated by the Prussian Military Philsopher - Karl Von Clausewitz - Civilian population of an enemy country should not be exempted from war,but in fact should be made to feel its effect, and be forced tp put pressure on their government to surrender 
  • Burning of Louvain - Came on the heels of a massacre in the Village of Dinant, near Leige, on August 23, in which German solders had killed some 674 civilians on the orders of their corps commanders 
  • By war's end - Germans wouold kill some 5,521 civilians in Belgium - German actions in Belgium were intended to demonstrate to the Allies that the German empire was a formidable power that should be submitted to, and that those resisting that power would be met with a force of total destrution 
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Louvain - August 1914 - Part Two

  • Did not exist to any significant degree in Belgium during the German invasion, but was used as an excuse to justify the German pursuit of a theory of terror previously articulated by the Prussian Military Philsopher - Karl Von Clausewitz - Civilian population of an enemy country should not be exempted from war, but in fact should be made to feel its effect, and be forced tp put pressure on their government to surrender 
  • Burning of Louvain - Came on the heels of a massacre in the Village of Dinant, near Leige, on August 23, in which German solders had killed some 674 civilians on the orders of their corps commanders 
  • By war's end - Germans wouold kill some 5,521 civilians in Belgium - German actions in Belgium were intended to demonstrate to the Allies that the German empire was a formidable power that should be submitted to, and that those resisting that power would be met with a force of total destrution 
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German Air Campaign against Britain

  • Overall - Inavative use of cutting edge technology of the time - In some ways, the wow factor of the technology extensuated the impact for those on the recieving end of these attacks - Shock and Awh from the British - Hindsight this is not a very effective way of carrying out war 
  • How do the Germans get to the point of dropping ordinance on the British?
    • Beginning in November and December in 1914 - The Germans conduct a bombardment on towns on the East coast from the Naval forces - Great German victories of Yarmouth, Hartlypool and Whitby - This is Naval shells hitting British Towns - Arguements the Germans made at the time - There is a military purposes to this - To engage the Royal Navy - Case of Scarborough - These are defended ports - Have coastal batteries to defend them - Can make an arguement that they are legitamate military targets 
    • Germans have discovered the Zepplins - Originally invision these airships will be used for naval reconisance - Then you realise, if you can do long range reconisance with them you could drop bombs from them - Fairly new concept - Italians had been the first to do this in Libya (1911-1912) - Germans take the next step, rather than bombarding the east coast by naval ships - You can send a Zepplin over to drop bombs on the British East cost in 1915
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German Air Campaign against Britain - Part Two

    • Bombing of London - 500 causalities approximately - Not a lot compared to WWII
    • Coventry 14/15 November - 600 killed and 3,000 wounded - Psychological shock to the British people - Has never happened before - Assumption for the last couple of hundred years - Belief before that the English chanel will protect you from European wars - Yet here we have British civilians being killed by the enemy 
    • 1916 - Airraids spread to other parts of the country - Air defense seen as ineffective to British Civilians - Under pressure to stop German Aircrafts from doing this 
    • End of 1916 - Air defense system improved - British discover if you fire incendary bullets at an airship full of hydrogen - Blow up and hit the ground - Means the Zepplins are no longer effect 
    • 1917 - Germans switch to the heavy bombers - Which are much more difficult air threat to counter - Like Zepplins - Can only carry small amount of bombs - Then creates further problems for the British Air Force - British invest further resources into Aircraft Defense system
    • Across whole of the war - German airraids killed 1,400 with 3,000 wounded - Allies retaliate - Late stage of war they bomb parts of Germany
    • WWII - 60,000 killed in Britian 
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U-Boat Warfare 1914-1916 - Key Milestones

  • 1914:
    • 13th September: U9 sinks HMS Hogue, Cressy and Aboukir killing 1,400
      • Hugely unexpected success - Shows potential of the weapon system 
      • Prior to First World War - Not great expectation of what you will be able to do with these U-Boats 
      • Not against civilians - The 1,400 are sailors - Legitamate target of war 
      • The ability of a signal U-Boat firing torpedos to sink ships - Wow moment from the German navys point of view 
  • 1915:
    • 4th February: Germany declares unrestricted U-Boat warfare around Britian 
      • If you are coming into the waters around Britian, you are a legitamate target to the Germans 
    • 28th March: British liner Fashoda torpedoed, American killed
    • 7th May: Sinking of the Lusitania - 1,200 dead including 124 Americans
      • Causes a huge outrage in political circles - Strong political reaction from Americans who condemn this and start to put pressure on the Germans 
    • 1st September: Germany states intention to follow 'cruiser rules' for passenger ships
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U-Boat Warfare 1914-1916 - Key Milestones - Part T

  • 1916:
    • 23rd March: Sinking of channel ferry Sussex
    • 4th May: Germany states intention to follow 'cruiser rules' for merchantmen
  • Fundamental issue - U-Boat of the First World War - Limited weapon system - Small gunboat - Can for certain periods of time - Accurate desciption of a U-Boat - Single Gun - Torpedo number is unlimited
  • U-Boat designed as a coastal defense vessel - Head out from a port, stay close to port, act defensively against those who come close - Limited range - Not designed for cruise to last long time 
  • Germans - Early and unexpected success - Three of them - September 1914 to March 1915
  • Start using them to attack merchant ships - Rules of war limit this - 'Cruiser rules' - That if I am in my cruiser and come across enemy merchant ship, I tell them to stop, if they don't, I shoot at them once they get the message - Take crew off ship and then we sink the ship - The ship is destroyed but no casulaties 
  • For First Part of the War - They do do this - Problem is that they have a lack of supplies 
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U-Boat Warfare 1914-1916 - Key Milestones - Part T

  • U-Boats - No one has envisioned these as being used so they have included them in the rules - German argument - They aren't breaking the rules by using the U-Boats as there not covered in the rules
  • U-Boats are very small and they are not made for long trips - Can't take the crew of the merchant ship onboard as there isn't room - Could stop the merchant ship and give them time to move into lifeboats and then sink their ships - But once merhcnat ships starts to have lines they can send a wireless message in this time to say where the the U-Boat is - Germans at threat - British start using Q-Ships - British send out merchant ships - Heavily armed - Waiting for U-Boats to appear - When U-Boat comes in close - Use guns to sink the U-Boats 
    • Problem for the Germans is, if you give them time they might give away the location of the U-Boat or try and fight back - Logical thing to do is stay submerged and fire your gun - Militarily effective and politically problematic
  • Germany between 1914 and 1916 have a stop go - Inconsistancy in Germany policy 
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Conclusion

  • What does this tell us about how the war is being fort?
    • Germany is being trapped - They have to defend themselves - As it is going to lose the war
    • Germanys frustration - They are prepared to cross the lines of war
    • Link to outcome of the war - If we take the view that the American joining the war on the side of the Allies in 1917 determines the outcome - Then why do the Americans join? 
      • One of the core reasons they do is because of Germany's choices in targetting civilians - Especially on the high sea 
  • 'Who Today Remembers the Armenians?'
    • Quote from Adolf Hitler in August 1939 
    • Essentially in the Second World War - It had become normal to go after civilians 
    • Chilling quote 
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