Introduction to World War I in 1915
The Western Front. In November, 1914, Moltke was relieved of his duties as supreme commander and in December was replaced by General Erich von Falkenhayn. Falkenhayn's strategy was to go on the defensive in the West and commit all available resources to the East in an effort to defeat Russia and Serbia. Then, Falkenhayn calculated, he would be able to deploy all of Germany's forces in the West for decisive action against Britain and France.
The British and French tried to thwart the German plan by staging a series of offensives on the Western Front. These actions cost an appalling number of lives but accomplished nothing of military value.
The Eastern Front, 1915
The Russian army suffered many setbacks in 1915. Not only was it crippled by supply problems and corruption, it also had to face increasing German pressure in the east resulting from Falkenhayn's new strategy.
East PrussiaAfter heavy assaults on the Russian positions on the Bzura-Rawka lines during the first week in February, Hinden-burg and Ludendorff concluded that it was impossible to take Warsaw by a frontal attack from the west. They regrouped their forces and attacked a Russian army of 120,000 men that had been massing for another invasion of East Prussia.
The Russians received reinforcements and quickly counterattacked. By the first week in March they had won their way back to a corner of Prussian soil at Lyck. Further Russian advances were hampered by a shortage of rifles and ammunition. By March 10 the fighting on this part of the front had died down. Hindenburg, meanwhile, had decided to advance from the southeast through Galicia.
GaliciaThe fortress of Przemysl was the center of defense in western Galicia and controlled two of the railways from Galicia into Hungary. Przemysl had been completely cut off and surrounded by the Russians in September, 1914. It finally fell March 22, 1915, and the Russians captured 120,000 Austrians and a large store of ammunition and guns. By April 25 the Russians had a strong foothold in Galicia.
Hindenburg, however, had been massing troops for a great blow on the Russian line. Nearly a million men, including some of the best units of the German army, were formed into a powerful assault force under General Field Marshal August von Mackensen. With this army Hindenburg hoped (1) to recover Przemysl and Lemberg and to force the Russians out of Galicia; (2) to strike at Warsaw from the south and east and force its evacuation; and (3) to cut off and capture Brusilov's armies in the Carpathians. He achieved all of these goals except the last.
The Battle of the Dunajec began May 1. Przemysl was evacuated by the Russians June 2, and Lemberg was abandoned June 22. The Russian retreat came to a halt 20 miles (32 km) east of Tarnopol in eastern Galicia. Thus ended the Battle of the Dunajec, by which Hindenburg recovered Galicia for Austria just as he had recovered East Prussia for Germany by the Battle of Tannenberg. These were the two great decisive battles of the Eastern Front.
Fall of WarsawThe battle for Warsaw began July 5. One month later the last Russian troops left the city and crossed the Vistula. On September 5 Czar Nicholas II of Russia, in an effort to restore morale, decided to assume supreme command, relieving Grand Duke Nicholas. General M. V. Alekseev became chief of staff and carried out the retreat planned by the Grand Duke. In spite of its great defeat and the loss of nearly 1,000,000 men, the greater part of the Russian army was preserved intact.
The Central Powers won stunning victories and inflicted enormous casualties on the Russians in 1915, but they could not strike a decisive blow. There were too many Russian troops in the field and too much territory in which they could maneuver. In addition, the German army was weary after the hard campaigns in Galicia. Hindenburg decided not to risk a winter invasion of Russia and allowed his troops to settle down to trench warfare for the winter of 1915–16.
The Italian Front, 1915
Political BackgroundIn 1882 Italy formed the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary as a defensive measure because of a colonial dispute with France. Once relations with France improved, membership in the alliance was frustrating for Italian leaders because it worked against the ultimate goal of Italian foreign policy—the absorption of ethnically Italian lands held by Austria-Hungary.
When war broke out in 1914, Italy declared its neutrality. The Triple Alliance, Italy argued, was a defensive arrangement; since Germany and Austria-Hungary had issued the ultimatums, they were the aggressors and Italy was thus not obliged to go to war. Italy sought territory along the Austro-Hungarian Adriatic coast in return for its declaration of war, but Austria-Hungary refused. The Italian government decided that the only chance of obtaining these lands was to join the Allies. Germany pressed Austria-Hungary to accept the Italian demands, but by the time the Austrians agreed, in May, 1915, it was too late.
A month earlier, in April, Italy had signed a secret treaty with the Allies. In return for entering the war against the Central Powers, Italy was to get South Tyrol, Trentino, Trieste, and other Austrian areas; full sovereignty over the Dodecanese Islands; and an increase in colonial territory at the expense of Germany. Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary May 23, 1915. Germany broke diplomatic relations but Italy did not declare war on Germany until August 28, 1916.
Major battles on the Italian Front during World War I. Italy entered the war against Austria-Hungary in May 1915. In spite of many bitter battles, the Italians gained little territory. But they wore down the armies of Austria-Hungary.Fighting BeginsThe Italian strategy was to protect Italy's northern border by fortifying the passes of the Alps and to advance eastward across the Isonzo River to take Trieste. The first act of war took place at Venice on May 24 when Austrian airplanes bombed the city. Austrian battleships bombarded the Italian Adriatic coast from Venice south to Brindisi. On the same day, Italian troops crossed the frontier of Trentino, meeting little opposition.
Shortly after beginning operations, the Italians seized important mountain passes between Trentino and Trieste. By June 2 they were crossing the Isonzo River and establishing themselves on the slopes of Monte Nero, south of Tolmino. In the east they occupied Austrian soil almost up to the Isonzo. On May 31 Italian destroyers shelled Montfalcone, near the northern head of the Gulf of Trieste. It fell June 9, and two days later the Italians took Gradisca.
Early in July, the Italians attacked the Austrians along the Isonzo, but they made little progress until October 22. Even then they advanced less than five miles (8 km). Another battle was fought along the Isonzo in November and December, but the results were indecisive.
The Balkan Front, 1915
General Field Marshal Mackensen, having finished his campaign against the Russians in Galicia, gathered 250,000 men from various German fronts for an assault on Serbia. His main objective was to force a passage for ammunition and supplies through Serbia to Turkey. In early September Bulgaria concluded a military alliance with the Central Powers and began mobilizing some 400,000 troops to attack Serbia.
The Germans attacked Serbia on October 6. Bulgaria entered the war October 14. Greatly outnumbered and with little help from the Allies, the Serbian army was driven across the Albanian mountains to the Adriatic Sea. French and British troops had been landed at Salonica (Thessaloniki), Greece, in a belated attempt to aid the Serbs, but their numbers were too small to be of any great help. After the Serbian defeat these troops withdrew to Salonica.
For the time being at least, Germany had achieved its goal of a passage through the Balkans. Trainloads of food and raw materials passed into Germany from Asia Minor and the Balkans. Great quantities of arms, munitions, and men were rushed in the opposite direction to Turkey.
The Turkish Campaign, 1915
Germany wanted the Turks to strike against the Russians in the Caucasus and cut off access to the oil fields in that region; to send an expedition to Egypt and block the Suez Canal; and to seize the British-controlled oil refineries on Abadan Island south of Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf. In October, before the Turks could attack, the British landed an Anglo-Indian army on Abadan Island. It captured Basra in November. Also in November, Turkish forces led by Enver Pasha launched an invasion of the Caucasus, but in the Battle of Sarikamish (December 29-January 3) they were routed by the Russians. A Turkish invasion of Egypt was stopped by British troops in February, 1915.
In June, an Anglo-Indian division under General C. V. F. Townshend launched an invasion north from Basra into the heart of Mesopotamia (now Iraq) to free the region of Turkish control. The Anglo-Indian troops advanced with ease, defeating the Turks in several encounters. In December, however, the Anglo-Indian troops were besieged at Kut-el-Amara (Kut al Imera) by fresh Turkish forces.
The hope of aiding Russia by capturing the Dardanelles strait led to the disastrous British campaign in the Gallipoli Peninsula, which began April 25. The Allies abandoned the attack in December after suffering 252,000 casualties.
In the eastern part of Asia Minor, Turkish troops began attacking and murdering the Armenians, whom they suspected of aiding the Russians. The Turks eventually massacred more than a million Armenians.
Naval Operations, 1915
Surface ActionsThe only notable naval battle in 1915 occurred January 24. Rear Admiral Fritz von Hipper had set out with three battle cruisers, six light cruisers, and a flotilla of destroyers for a raid on the English coast. A superior British force under Vice Admiral Beatty attacked Hipper at Dogger Bank, a sand bank in the North Sea east of England. Hipper escaped, losing only one ship (the cruiser Blücher)and heavily damaging Beatty's flagship, the Lion.
In the Baltic, on July 2, a Russian cruiser squadron drove back a German fleet. After that British submarines in these waters reduced German activities.
Submarine WarfareThe German submarine campaign developed during 1915. Germany tried to cripple Great Britain by declaring the waters around the British Isles to be a zone of war in which all enemy or neutral ships would be sunk. Great Britain, in turn, ignored the rules of international law regarding blockades, and extended the meaning of contraband (war goods liable to seizure) to include almost any kind of cargo carried by ships headed for Germany.
Public opinion in the United States remained more or less neutral until a German submarine sank the liner Lusitania, which had a number of American passengers, on May 7. After receiving several strong protests from President Woodrow Wilson, Germany stated on September 1 that its submarines would not sink liners without providing for the rescue of noncombatant passengers.