Ep. 163: World War I – 5 Battles
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on a war known as the Great War, World War I.
The first world war started on the 28th of July, 1914 and ended on the 11th of November, 1918. It was a global conflict that would eventually lead to the fall of four great imperial dynasties in Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey.
The war was primarily fought by the Central Powers which mainly included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, against the Allies which was mainly France, Great Britian, Russia, Italy, Japan, and from 1917, the United States.
The war was actuated by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This started a series of domino-like effects with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, Russia then coming to the defence of Serbia, to which Germany then entered and declared war on Russia. Which was then followed with the United Kingdom and France being drawn in to the conflict.
The war was marked by trench warfare with trenches stretching roughly 475 miles long from the English Channel to the Swiss Alps. This resulted in stagnant battles with high casualties. The use of new technologies such as machine guns, tanks, planes, and poisonous gas only added to these casualties and deaths.
The war ended in 1918 where Germany sought an armistice. The eventual treaty would lead to heavy reparations and loss of land to Germany which would then help sew the seeds for World War II.
Today’s mnemonic will be on five battles of World War I.
So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
World War I[j] or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare and the use of artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons (gas).
World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated 9 million military dead and 23 million wounded, plus up to 8 million civilian deaths from causes including genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the Spanish flu pandemic, which killed millions.
The causes of World War I included the rise of Germany and decline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standing balance of power in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by industrialisation and imperialism.
Growing tensions between the great powers and in the Balkans reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. After Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia; by 4 August, France and the United Kingdom were drawn in, with the Ottomans joining in November.
Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east. However, this failed, and by the end of the year the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward.
In April 1917, the United States entered the war on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution; Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December, followed by a separate peace in March 1918.
That month, Germany launched an offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing a revolution at home, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918.
The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the Treaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states, including Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I]
Mnemonic
World War I – 5 Battles Mnemonic – MuST Get Victory
(Picture the US coming into the First World War in 1917 with the motto of “Must Get Victory”)
1. Battle of the Marne (1914)
2. Battle of the Somme (1916)
3. Battle of Tannenberg (1914)
4. Battle of Gallipoli (1915)
5. Battle of Verdun (1916)
Five Fun Facts
1. The Battle of Marne. At the beginning of World War I the Germans’ aim was to knock out France early before turning to Russia. This was going as planned but they were unable to sustain their momentum due to a lack of reinforcements. The British and French launched a counter-offensive at the Marne and forced the Germans to retreat. Interestingly this battle marked the end of mobile warfare on the Western Front with both sides digging in, to trench warfare.
2. The Battle of the Somme in 1916 was a joint operation between British and French forces. Their aim was to inflict a decisive victory over the Germans on the Western Front. This joint military operation was mitigated however due to the German pressure on the French at Verdun. This meant that the British would have to take on the main offensive role, which they did at great expense with 19,240 killed on the first day, making it the bloodiest day in British military history.
3. The Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 was one of the first battles of World War I where Russian troops attempted to invade German territory. Russian General Samsonov led his Second Army from the southwest, while General Rennenkampf marched the First Army through the northeast. This strategy however was to backfire as miscommunication by the Russians and an overstretched army allowed the Germans to cut off supply lines resulting in the capture of 95,000 troops, as well as enough guns and equipment to fill six trains back to Berlin.
4. The idea of the Gallipoli campaign was to capture Constantinople which is now Istanbul and consequently knock Ottoman Turkey out of the war, as well as allow access to allied ships to pass through the Dardanelles. At dawn on 25 April 1915, Allied troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Ottoman Turkey. There were two landings, the British 29th Division landing at Cape Helles and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landing north of Gaba Tepe in an area later dubbed Anzac Cove. Both landings were quickly contained by Ottoman troops and neither the British nor the Anzacs were able to advance, which eventually ended in evacuation.
5. The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War I. It began in February 1916 with a German attack on the fortified French town of Verdun. A ten-hour opening bombardment by the Germans set the French on the back foot, however, they held and were eventually assisted by British and Russian offensives which forced the Germans to reduce their strength in the French town. Ultimately French casualties amounted to around 400,000, and German casualties around 350,000.
Three Question Quiz
Q.1. The assassination of who led to the start of the First World War and which city was he assassinated in?
Q.2. Which battle lasted 10 months, the longest of the war?
Q.3. What was the name of the British ocean liner to be sunk by a German U-20 submarine on the 7th May 1915 killing 1,197 people?
Bonus Q. The Zimmermann telegram urged which country to attack the United States?
Bonus Q. The formal peace treaty with Germany was signed where and in what year?
Mnemonic Recap
World War I – 5 Battles Mnemonic – MuST Get Victory
(Picture the US coming into the First World War in 1917 with the motto of “Must Get Victory”)
1. Battle of the Marne (1914)
2. Battle of the Somme (1916)
3. Battle of Tannenberg (1914)
4. Battle of Gallipoli (1915)
5. Battle of Verdun (1916)
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. The assassination of who led to the start of the First World War and which city was he assassinated in?
A. Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo
Q.2. Which battle lasted 10 months, the longest of the war?
A. Battle of Verdun
Q.3. What was the name of the British ocean liner to be sunk by a German U-20 submarine on the 7th May 1915 killing 1,197 people?
A. RMS Lusitania
Bonus Q. The Zimmermann telegram urged which country to attack the United States?
A. Mexico. That telegram was intercepted by the British
Bonus Q. The formal peace treaty with Germany was signed where and in what year?
A. Versailles hence The Treaty of Versailles, signed on the 28th of June, 1919
Word of the Week
manqué
[ mahng-key ]
adjective
having failed, missed, or fallen short
Example
After World War I Hitler viewed Germany as manque and was intent on rectifying this in World War II.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/manque-2024-10-26/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/10-significant-battles-of-the-first-world-war
https://online.norwich.edu/online/about/resource-library/6-important-battles-world-war-i
https://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/ww1/quiz/
https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/education/activity-and-games/first-world-war-multiple-choice-quiz