A world undone: the story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (112 page)

“theater of decision”: Churchill,
Unknown War
, 280.

“I can only love and hate” and “the fatherland’s evil angel”: Herwig, 132.

Conrad’s offensive began: Stone, 113.

While one Austrian army captured: Herwig, 137.

The Germans began their assault: Asprey,
German High Command
, 162.

Counterattacks by eleven Russian divisions: Stone, 112.

Russia, at this time, had approximately: The numbers of Russian and Central Powers divisions are in Stone, 112.

Ludendorff claimed that a hundred thousand soldiers: Ibid., 118.

“we failed strategically”: Churchill,
Unknown War
, 299.

The winter campaign, by the time it ended: Stone, 122.

It was invented in 1884: Ellis, 36.

Rudimentary methods of underground tunneling: This matter is the sole subject of Barrie,
War Underground
.

A war that introduced so many: Buehr, 5.

The Germans calculated: Marshall, 85.

“I intensely disliked the thought”: Rutherford, 115.

“in no circumstances can we”: Ibid., 116.

“it would have been possible”: Liddell Hart,
Real War
, 147.

“To attack Turkey…would be”: Higgins, 104.

“The unavoidable losses must be accepted”: Magnus, 323.

“having entered on the project”: Ibid., 325.

It was defended by only: Figures on German and British troop strength are in Clark,
Donkeys
, 49.

Their way would be cleared: Winter,
Haig’s Command
, 37.

“led by donkeys”: Clark,
Donkeys
, frontispiece.

He had lost 11,600 men: Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 174.

“I was wounded”: Arthur, 76.

“I am being most reluctantly driven”: Higgins, 164.

“must be a deliberate”: James, 65.

All along the strait: Moorehead, 67.

“The first ammunition dump”: Arthur, 83.

With Przemysl the Russians had captured: Herwig, 139.

“Out of approximately 19,500 square miles”: Asprey,
German High Command
, 180.

“supreme contempt for death”: Tschuppik, 121.

The offensive began on April 5: French data are in Mosier, 145.

When Joffre finally allowed: Ibid., 148.

The explosion was followed: Casualty figures are in Groom, 97.

This time, however, when the guns: Data on chlorine gas are in Barrie, 62.

The advancing Germans were shocked: Groom, 102.

“Left at 6:30
P.M
. for reserve”: Lewis, 83.

They had taken forty thousand: Asprey,
German High Command
, 180.

“The profitless slaughter pit”: Gilbert,
Churchill
, 3:516.

“If the English will leave me alone”: Marshall, 110.

Two hundred transport ships: Ship and troop numbers are in Moorehead, 107.

Sanders by now had six Turkish divisions: Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 219.

The British, when they came ashore: Moorehead, 140.

By then half the Turks: Ibid., 141.

“A galling fire rained on us”: Palmer and Wallis, 125.

Twelve thousand Anzacs got ashore: James, 111.

“I don’t order you to attack”: Moorehead, 131.

“dig, dig, dig”: James, 130.

Three days later nineteen thousand: Ibid., 141.

On May 26 twenty-five thousand: Ibid., 150.

“came over in two great waves”: Arthur, 114.

A corporal at Anzac Cove: Palmer and Wallis, 127.

By May 8 the British and French: Casualty figures and the quotes by Hamilton and Fisher are in Moorehead, 156.

In the years leading: German figures are in Strachan,
First World War
, 995.

The French, who thought they had: British, French, and German consumption data are in ibid., 998.

When Grand Duke Nicholas told: Stone, 144.

Being essentially bankrupt: Ibid., 153.

He got three hundred and fifty thousand skilled industrial workers: Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 189.

He thereby started a gender revolution: Ferguson, 268.

Historians who have examined: Uses of shell shortages for political advantage are explored at length in Stone, 144-63, and Strachan,
First World War
, 993-1005.

“as soon as we were supplied”: Strachan,
First World War
, 1001.

Conrad, however, remained desperately short: Churchill,
Unknown War
, 308.

In four hours fifteen hundred: details of this bombardment are in Falls, 122; Gilbert,
First World War
, 154; and Rutherford, 121.

Worse, the Russians’ five and a half: Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian troop and division totals are in Stone, 130.

They advanced eight miles: Ibid., 139.

“finish the war in three months”: Marshall, 123.

After only forty-six minutes: Clark,
Donkeys
, 106.

Only eight percent of the British shells: Douglas Porch, “Artois 1915,” in Cowley, 76.

On that first day: Asprey,
German High Command
, 179.

The French had much greater initial success: Porch, “Artois,” in Cowley, 76.

When the battle came to its end: Evans,
Battles
, 23.

If only in numerical terms: Asprey,
German High Command
, 194.

“Success will come in the final analysis”: Gilbert,
First World War
, 173.

“a real danger…a very great national disaster”: Higgins, 196.

“It is repugnant to me”: Woodward, 48.

“We relieved our fourth”: Lewis, 112.

Its armies, in disorderly retreat: Casualty figures are in Herwig, 144, and Rutherford, 133.

“Poor Nikolasha, while telling me this”: Massie,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, 313.

“They are in despair”: Palmer and Wallis, 107.

It is estimated that: Death totals for Armenians in 1915 are in Balakian, 179.

In the years after the war: U.S. high commissioner Mark Bristol is quoted in ibid., 367.

Hamilton sent a telegram: Hamilton’s troop request is in James, 307.

His August casualties totaled forty-five thousand: Casualty figures for Suvla and Gallipoli are in James, 297 and 301, and Marshall, 118.

In late 1914, claiming: Numbers of Polish Jews displaced in 1914 and 1915 are in Rutherford, 152.

Four million head of cattle: Ibid.

Not long after taking Warsaw: Data on what was captured at Novo Georgievsk are in Gilbert,
First World War
, 180, and Rutherford, 153.

By now the Germans: Prisoner of war totals are in Stone, 165.

“even though, by doing so, we suffer”: Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 129.

“duty to the country which God”: Massie,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, 320.

“God be praised…The Emperor releases me”: Rutherford, 155.

“You are about to write a glorious page”: Ibid., 156.

“Perhaps a scapegoat is needed”: Ibid., 156.

The capture of Vilna had come: Asprey,
German High Command
, 190.

“On the whole Hindenburg no longer bothers” and “Hindenburg himself is becoming”: Ibid., 204.

“Now are you convinced” and “On the contrary!”: Ibid., 188.

In the Second Battle of Champagne: Troop numbers are in ibid., 197, and artillery totals are in Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 185.

The Third Battle of Artois: The number of divisions at Artois and Loos are in Liddell Hart,
Real War
, 188.

“it will cost us dearly”: Ibid., 187.

His early gloom: BEF data are in ibid., 190.

A corporal in the Sherwood: Arthur, 104.

His men meanwhile were huddled: Liddell Horta, 101.

When the British tried to resume: Casualty figures are in Clark,
Donkeys
, 173.

“nauseated by the sight”: Winter,
Haig’s Command
, 41.

“Coming back over the ground”: Arthur, 421.

In the end the casualties: Casualty numbers for Second Champagne, Third Artois, and Loos are in Evans,
Battles
, 25.

“If there had been even one division”: Liddell Hart,
Real War
, 195.

Haig’s own position was far from unassailable: Haig’s duplicity is examined in detail in Winter,
Haig’s Command
, 38-41.

His explanation was stark: Rutherford, 168.

“I remember things scattered”: Arthur, 116.

Serbia lost some two hundred thousand troops: James, 348.

“I’m twenty-one years old”: Palmer and Wallis, 141.

PART FOUR

1916:
Bleeding to Death

A
n enormous literature on the great battles of 1916 has grown up over nine decades. In approaching the Battle of Verdun, the author found two works to be particularly helpful as overall guides:
The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916
by Alistair Horne, and
The Road to Verdun
by Ian Ousby. A volume requiring special acknowledgment in connection with the Battle of the Somme is
The First Day on the Somme
by Martin Middlebrook. Both battles are dealt with helpfully in
Attrition: The Great War on the Western Front, 1916
, by Robin Neillands, and the year’s diplomatic background is illuminated by
Divide and Conquer: German Efforts to Conclude a Separate Peace, 1914-1918
, by L. L. Farrar, Jr. In connection with 1916 as well as other years, Stone’s
The Eastern Front
and Herwig’s
The First World War: Germany and Austria
are rich in information about the war in the east.

More than twelve hundred guns: The size of the German bombardment at the start of the Battle of Verdun is, like so many aspects of the Great War, a question to which there appears to be no conclusive answer. Stevenson, on page 132 of
Cataclysm
, says the Germans had 1,220 guns. Divergent numbers in other recent histories are 1,300 (Clayton, 100), “about 1,200…over half of them heavy caliber” (Ousby, 63), “1,521 heavy guns” (Herwig, 183), and “850 heavy guns” (Gilbert,
First World War
, 231).

All through the morning: Asprey,
German High Command
, 222.

“Thousands of projectiles”: Austin, 4:54.

Nine divisions came forward: Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 132.

In the Gorlice-Tarnow campaign: Casualty figures and the Falkenhayn quote are in Herwig, 179.

Three hundred and thirty-five thousand: Ousby, 7.

This had brought to 2 million: Mosier, 18, puts French casualties by the end of 1915 at 2,478,000 with 941,000 dead or missing. Neillands gives comparable totals of 1,932,051 and 1,001,271 respectively.

Some two hundred thousand British were dead: Neillands, 36.

Italy’s entry into the war: Isonzo casualty figures are in Banks, 201.

By the start of 1916 the British: Mosier, 34, gives a total of 987,000.

The Germans had generally been far more careful: The success of the Germans in keeping their casualties below Entente levels is examined and discussed at length in several parts of Mosier and Ferguson.

They also understood, however: The German and Entente division totals are in Herwig, 178. Clayton, 196, says the Entente had ninety-five French, thirty-eight British, and six Belgian divisions versus 117 German.

Forty French divisions: The number of divisions that Joffre originally planned for the Somme offensive is in Clayton, 96.

“the Russian armies have not been completely”: Neillands, 60.

“She is staking everything on a war”: Ibid.

Since then, however, his pessimism: The assurances of the German naval leaders are in Asprey,
German High Command
, 219.

“There can be no justification”: Ibid.