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TEN MILESTONES OF WORLD WAR I
Agence France Presse
February 12, 2014 Wednesday 4:17 AM GMT
PARIS, Feb 12 2014
>From the first Battle of the Marne in September 1914 to the Allied
counter-offensive of mid-1918, here are the 10 key moments of World
War I:
--1914--
- September 5/12: After a month-long westward offensive, with Paris
almost within reach, German troops are stopped in the First Battle
of the Marne. A joint French-British counteroffensive led by French
General Joseph Joffre successfully pushes them back north and east.
The losses from this first major battle are dizzying, with some
250,000 dead and wounded on each side.
- November 17: The war, which all sides expected to be brief, shows
no sign of ending as the Western Front stabilises from the North Sea
to Switzerland. This marks the beginning of the conflict's iconic
trench warfare, which lasts until March 1918. Dug in at times just a
few dozen metres (yards) apart, the troops learn to live in the mud
as protection from shelling.
--1915--
- April 22: First use of chemical warfare, in this case a
chlorine-based compound, by the Germans at Ypres in Belgium. Two
years later in the same area they experiment a second weapon, dubbed
"Yperite" or "Mustard Gas."
- April 25: Start of the Armenian massacre by Ottoman Empire forces,
with the arrest and execution in Constantinople of 2,300 Armenian
figures. Over the next 16 months, the alleged genocide kills between
600,000 and 1.5 million people, according to various sources. The
Ottomans dispute the numbers and the term genocide and say the
Armenians were providing support for Russian troops.
The same day, French and British forces land at Gallipoli, along
the Dardanelles straits to try and force open a supply line to their
Russian allies. The operation, launched by Winston Churchill, is a
dismal failure, with the Allies suffering 180,000 dead before they
withdrew in January 1916.
--1916--
- February/June: The Battle of Verdun is launched by German troops and
becomes the overall symbol of the war for France. Saved in extremis
by General Philippe Petain, the French army and its German adversary
suffer horrendous casualties numbering more than 770,000 of which
more than 300,000 are deaths.
French infantrymen, known as "poilus," nonetheless stand their ground
and prevent a decisive German breakthrough.
- July 1/November 18: The Battle of the Somme is launched by British
troops and becomes the bloodiest of them all. Overall casualties number
1.2 million, of which 400,000 are dead or missing. Territorial gains
are minuscule and this time it is the German soldiers who hold fast.
--1917--
- January 9: Germany declares all-out submarine warfare with more than
150 U-boats to break a British naval blockade and choke off supplies
to Britain and France.
- April 6: The submarine campaign backfires as the United States
abandons the neutrality it had observed up till then, in spite of
attacks such as the 1915 sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitania,
and declares war on Germany.
- November 6/7: Following the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II
in February, Russian Bolsheviks seize power during the October
revolution, named according to the Russian calendar. On December 15,
Lenin concludes an armistice with the Germans, the Brest-Litovsk
Treaty, which allows Berlin to redeploy forces to the Western Front.
--1918--
- July 18: After blunting months of German offensives, the Allies
counter-attack at Villers-Coteret in what is dubbed the second Battle
of the Marne. US forces participate in strength and tanks help to
finally break through. German troops are forced into a general retreat
that leads to the armistice of November 11.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Agence France Presse
February 12, 2014 Wednesday 4:17 AM GMT
PARIS, Feb 12 2014
>From the first Battle of the Marne in September 1914 to the Allied
counter-offensive of mid-1918, here are the 10 key moments of World
War I:
--1914--
- September 5/12: After a month-long westward offensive, with Paris
almost within reach, German troops are stopped in the First Battle
of the Marne. A joint French-British counteroffensive led by French
General Joseph Joffre successfully pushes them back north and east.
The losses from this first major battle are dizzying, with some
250,000 dead and wounded on each side.
- November 17: The war, which all sides expected to be brief, shows
no sign of ending as the Western Front stabilises from the North Sea
to Switzerland. This marks the beginning of the conflict's iconic
trench warfare, which lasts until March 1918. Dug in at times just a
few dozen metres (yards) apart, the troops learn to live in the mud
as protection from shelling.
--1915--
- April 22: First use of chemical warfare, in this case a
chlorine-based compound, by the Germans at Ypres in Belgium. Two
years later in the same area they experiment a second weapon, dubbed
"Yperite" or "Mustard Gas."
- April 25: Start of the Armenian massacre by Ottoman Empire forces,
with the arrest and execution in Constantinople of 2,300 Armenian
figures. Over the next 16 months, the alleged genocide kills between
600,000 and 1.5 million people, according to various sources. The
Ottomans dispute the numbers and the term genocide and say the
Armenians were providing support for Russian troops.
The same day, French and British forces land at Gallipoli, along
the Dardanelles straits to try and force open a supply line to their
Russian allies. The operation, launched by Winston Churchill, is a
dismal failure, with the Allies suffering 180,000 dead before they
withdrew in January 1916.
--1916--
- February/June: The Battle of Verdun is launched by German troops and
becomes the overall symbol of the war for France. Saved in extremis
by General Philippe Petain, the French army and its German adversary
suffer horrendous casualties numbering more than 770,000 of which
more than 300,000 are deaths.
French infantrymen, known as "poilus," nonetheless stand their ground
and prevent a decisive German breakthrough.
- July 1/November 18: The Battle of the Somme is launched by British
troops and becomes the bloodiest of them all. Overall casualties number
1.2 million, of which 400,000 are dead or missing. Territorial gains
are minuscule and this time it is the German soldiers who hold fast.
--1917--
- January 9: Germany declares all-out submarine warfare with more than
150 U-boats to break a British naval blockade and choke off supplies
to Britain and France.
- April 6: The submarine campaign backfires as the United States
abandons the neutrality it had observed up till then, in spite of
attacks such as the 1915 sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitania,
and declares war on Germany.
- November 6/7: Following the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II
in February, Russian Bolsheviks seize power during the October
revolution, named according to the Russian calendar. On December 15,
Lenin concludes an armistice with the Germans, the Brest-Litovsk
Treaty, which allows Berlin to redeploy forces to the Western Front.
--1918--
- July 18: After blunting months of German offensives, the Allies
counter-attack at Villers-Coteret in what is dubbed the second Battle
of the Marne. US forces participate in strength and tanks help to
finally break through. German troops are forced into a general retreat
that leads to the armistice of November 11.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress