World War I - Week 4 - August 24-30, 1914
POLITICAL
Aug 25 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Japan
Aug 26 - Allies take over German colonies in Cameroon and Togoland in west Africa
Aug 29 - New Zealand occupies German colony of Samoa
MILITARY
Aug 25 - Serbia repulses initial invasion by Austria-Hungary
Aug 26-29 - Battle of Tannenberg on the Eastern Front
Aug 28 - Naval battle at Heligoland - British Royal Naval sinks 3 German cruisers and 1 destroyer
Aug 30 - Paris bombed for the first time by German airmen
QUOTES
"All the success in the Western Front will be unavailing if the Russians arrive in Berlin." - German Chief of Staff General von Moltke.
"His strategy seemed designed for Poddavki." (a Russian form of checkers in which the object is to lose all one's men). - Russian Colonel about strategy of Northern Front commander, General Jilinsky.
"The Tsar trusted me. How can I face him after such a disaster?" - Commanding General Samsonov of the Russian 2nd Army after the annihilation of his army at Tannenberg and shortly before walking in the forest and shooting himself in the head.
BATTLE OF TANNENBERG
The first major decisive battle of the War occurred between Aug. 26-29. German strategy was to defeat France quickly with 7 Armies and hold off the slower Russian advance in the east with only 1 Army. The Russians mobilized much quicker than expected and had two large Armies (each larger than the single German Army) enter East Prussia to encircle and crush the German 8th Army and proceed on to Berlin. The German General Prittwitz panicked and retreated into the German heartland. He was not well-thought of by the General Staff (OHL) or by his men, being referred to as Der Dicke (Fatty). He was quickly replaced by the dynamic team of Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Eric von Ludendorff who would later control the entire German army until the Armistice in November 1918.
The Russian 1st and 2nd Armies advanced after an exhausting two-week march and were very short on supplies and hadn't eaten in three days. They were also separated by 50 miles of lakes and swamps. Through interception of uncoded Russian transmissions the Germans decided to defeat the 2nd Army first and then deal with the resting 1st Army later. The Germans utilized their excellent railway system to transport troops from the north, surround the Russian 2nd Army and destroy it completely. Russian casualties numbered 250,000 of which 92,000 were taken prisoner while the Germans suffered only 37,000 casualties. In the coming weeks the Germans would go north and attack the 1st Army at Masurian Lakes.
THE RUSSIAN ARMY
The Russian Army had one great strength and many weaknesses. Its great strength was in almost unlimited manpower. Upon mobilization the Russians could field 3.5 million men and within weeks double to 7 million. This was the vaunted "Russian steamroller" which the French and British hoped would drive through the Germans in the east and take pressure off them in the west. The Russians also held a two-edged advantage in the sheer size of its territory. The wide-open spaces allowed the Russians to trade space for time (as in WWII), but would hinder it in the offensive due to an extremely poor logistical system of roads and railroads.
The average Russian soldier was an illiterate peasant, brave and hardy as any. They were renowned for accepting any hardship without complaint, and on the defensive had few equals. But when poor leadership often led them into hopeless losing battles they would surrender without hesitation or shame. Their supplies were equally poor and almost always in shortage. Thousands of soldiers went into battle without rifles and were forced to commandeer rifles only after their comrades had been killed. Steel helmets were unknown until later in the War.
The Russian military leadership with few exceptions was a sad joke. Most top Generals
were appointed either due to being related to the Tsar or through their charm in court. The Russian Minister of War(1908-1914), Sukhomlinov bragged, "Look at me. For instance I have not read a military manual for the last 25 years". The Chief of Staff, Grand Duke Nikolai, was a cousin of the Tsar and chosen chiefly because of his imposing figure (he was 6'6"). The civilian military leaders were both incompetent and corrupt. The first words of the Grand Duke in a meeting of the military leadership was, "Gentlemen, no stealing".
TSAR NICHOLAS II
Nicholas is one the most tragic and certainly the most reluctant Great Power leader of the War. Upon ascending to the Russian Crown in 1894, he said "What I am going to do? I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling. I have no idea of even how to talk to the ministers".
Personally, he was not very bright and was weak of character. He would have best been served as a rich aristocratic country gentleman spending time with his beloved wife and 4 lovely daughters and his hemophilia-afflicted son Alexei. Tragically the entire family would be assassinated in 1918 by the Bolsheviks following the Communist takeover the previous year.
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The installments of the three previous weeks can be found in the History & Sociology subsection of Health, Science & Tech listed at the top.
More excellent information pokermike.
The Russian army brave, but lead by incompetents.
The New Zealand occupation of Samoa is a very interesting part of the history of the South Pacific. The lead up to how Samoa was divided between the US and Germany (colonizing by both Germany and the US). And later the uprising of the Samoan people against the Kiwi's.
Keep'em coming.
Robert, the worst part of the story is that it gets worse, much worse.
From what I remember from school, yes. It gets worse.
I never realized that the leadership of the Russian army was so poor. Something that we know Stalin corrected in WWII. I also never knew that TsarNicholas didn't want to be king. Sometimes we are thrown into roles we didn't want and rise to the moment... sadly we know that was not the outcome here.
As bad as Tsar Nicholas was, Stalin was worse almost beyond comprehension. Stalin's paranoia led to purges in the Red Army between 1937-1839, executing between 15,000-30,000 of his military officers. He had all but 4 of his top 29 commanders shot. He was most fortunate to have saved a few excellent ones like Zhukov who would become the leading figure in the defeat of the Nazis.
Hang in there Mike, you're doing great. Unfortunately, I've been too busy and distracted by other, rather unpleasant, things to give this the time and attention it deserves. Hopefully, by the end of September, I'll be free of much of the distraction and able to comment more.
Nicholas II was given essentially no training to become leader of Russia. His father planned to begin Nicholas IIs preparation after Nick turned 30 and was 'mature' enough. Nicholas' experiences had been limited to ceremonial visits to Englad & several other European countries (he was related to damn near every ruling family). Unfortunately, Nicholas I died at an unusually early age and the young Nicholas II had to assume the Romanov throne in his mid-20 with basically no knowledge or skills. (It didn't help that he was dealing w/ major civil unrest in Russia, the rise of communism and pretty crazy manipulation & intrigue at Court by Rasputin.)
A couple of the key players in this week's installment:
Russian General Samsonov
Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg
Tsar Nicholas II (left) posing w/ his cousin, King George V of England (the lads are dressed in military uniforms of the opposite country: King George in Russian military finery, Nicholas in British garb)
Russian POWs and equipment captured in the Battle of Tannenburg
Great photos! Your contribution is appreciated, Swami.
Tnx poker... hope I'm not intruding stuff into your thread. I'd snagged these pics earler & intended to e-mail 'em to you, but unfortunately got caught up in domestic crap and simply forgot. I'm interested in providing some visual aids but don't want to step on your toes--- I'll try and be more proactive about getting pics to you directly so you can pick & choose...
You are not intruding at all. Actually it is better this way. You've got some great photos and are welcome to post them all you wish. I choose not to add too many pictures to my articles as it would make them too long and might distract from the content. The comments section is certainly the best place to insert interesting photos which also can be further discussed.
New Zealand soldiers posing with a captured German flag, in occupiedGerman Samoa 1914.
These photos are wonderful, guys. Keep on adding them.
Part of the reason Tannenburg became such a disaster was that Russian General Samsonov (commanding the 2nd Army) and General von Rennenkampf (commander of the Russian 1st Army) were both only marginally competent, and had hated each others' guts for more than a decade. Colonel Max Hoffman (the real mastermind of the German strategy) knew that Samsonov & von Rennenkamp wouldn't cooperate with one another & banked on their mutual hatred in formulating his plans.
Further adding to the disaster was the Russian's lack of secure telegraph lines, along with poor telegraphers and no cryptography equipment. This essentially forced the Russians to send their most important plans over non-secure channels in clear , a choice so monumentally stupid that when the Germans intercepted the messages, they initially thought it had to be a trick. Once they were convinced that the Russian messages were genuine, the German commanders were able to rapidly re-deploy their forces against Samsonov's unprotected flanks, and the 2nd Army was crushed with monumental losses, over90,000 taken prisoner and the loss of over 350 guns & other equipment.
Interesting side note: The 'Battle of Tannenburg' was actually nowhere near Tannenburg, which is about 20 miles west of the actuall battleground. German general von Hindenburg elected to name the encounter 'The Battle of Tannenburg' as a PR move, an attempt to erase the memory of the defeat of German knights at Tannenburg in 1410 !! (Shows how long some of these folks could hold a grudge...)
Back of a German silver medallion coin commemorating the Battle of Tannenburg. The naked guy with the sword is General Paul von Hindenburg (who had been called out of retirement at age 66 to take over the Russian front), hacking the Russian Bear (which looks surprisingly like King Kong)
New Zealand troops landing at Apia, Western Samoa, August 29, 1914. This was the first German territory captured in the Great War.