Tommy's Notes Repository

5 - 5 Major Battles

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Major Battles and Heroes of WWI

Battle of the Frontiers 1914

  • A series of battles fought along the eastern fronteir of France and in Southern Belgium.
  • Fighting broke out after Belgium declared neutrality and Germany demanded passage through France.
  • Belgium refuses and Germany invades
  • Great Britain declares support for Belgium and joins the war
  • 500,000 + dead and wounded
  • German victory

First Battle of the Marne 1914

  • Takes place almost immediately after the conclusion of the Battle of the Frontiers
  • 2 million plus soldiers involved in the conflict. 500,000 casualties
  • French Victory

First Battle of Ypres (Race to the Sea) 1914

  • The first of 3 battles located in Ypres. Contrl of the city meant control ove rports in English Channel and the North Sea
  • 1 million soldiers involved, 200- 250k Casualties
  • Indecisive conclusion

Battle of Verdun

  • Longest single battle of WWI ( Feb - Dec 1916 )
  • Launched by the Germans in an effort to cripple France
  • 600k-750k casualties
  • French Victory

Battle of Gallipoli

  • Modern warfare’s first major beach landing
  • The Triple Entente suffers a crushing defeat in its invasion of the Ottoman Empire
  • Approximately 500,000 casualties, Ottoman Victory
  • Young Winston Churchhill is involved in the defeat

Battle of the Somme

  • One of the deadliest battles in history
  • 3 million total men involved
  • 1 million total casualties
  • Majority of British Army is inexperienced
  • Single worst day in British Military History
  • Indecisive result

Battle of Passchendaele

  • Battle to take control of Ypres from the Germans
  • Little ground was won
  • It ended up costing each side nearly 500,000
  • Results in the worst disaster of the war for both sides.

Russia Withdraws from the Conflict and America Enters

  • US enters WWI April 1917
  • US mobilizes 4.7 million soldiers, lose approximately 116,000
  • Russia withdraws from the war March 1918
  • Russia lost 1.7 million soldiers

German Spring Offensive(1918)

  • With Russia out of the war, the Germans suddenly had a large influx of soldiers to use on the Western Front
  • Germany attempts to win the war before American can fully mobilize their armed forces
  • Nearly 1.5 million casualties
  • Pyrrhic victory for the Germans

Battle of Meuse-Argonne and the Hundred Day Offensive

  • Part of the 100 Day Offensive
  • Last major conflict of the war
  • Approximiately 10 million soldiers take part in it
  • 2 million + casualties
  • German defeat
  • End of WWI

T.E. Lawrence

  • British commanders in the Arab Revolt in the Ottoman Empire
  • Helped to coordinate the conflict

Alvin York

  • Received a Medal of Honor for leading an attack on the German machine gun nest, killing 25, and capturing 132 prisoners
  • Conscientious Objector

Attack of the Dead Men

  • The incident gets its name from the bloodied, zombified appearance of the Russian combatants after they were bombarded by poison gasses and the 100 Russian Men’s counterattack
  • Russian victory

Francis Pegahmagabow

  • The most highly decorate dindigenous soldier in Canadian history, and the most effective sniper of WWI
  • Effective marksman and scout
  • Credited with 378 kills, captured 300 Germans

The Red Baron

  • German Ace pilot, known for his bright red plane
  • Most decorated fighter pilot of World War I
  • Involved in “Bloody April” where 80 Allies were shot down

Adrian Carton de Wiart

  • Known as the “Unkillable Soldier” who fought in both World Wars
  • Shot repeatedly and blinded in his left eye, survived two plane crashes, and tunneled out of a prisoner of war camp
  • “Frankly, I had enjoyed the war” ( writing about his experiences in WWI ) Henry Johnson
  • Famed member of the Harlem Hellfighters
  • Fought off a German raid in hand to hand combat in the Argonne
  • Rescued a wounded soldier and suffered 21 wounds
  • Received the French Croix de Guerre
  • Posthumously received the Medla of Honor

Harlem Hellfighters

  • The 369th Infantry Regiment, formed in 1913, a unit of African American soldiers
  • Spent 191 days in WWI, more than any other American Soldiers
  • Was the first of the Allied troops to reach the Rhine River, had no prisoners taken.

Milunka Savic

  • Serbian war heroine who fought in the Balkan region
  • Most decorated female combatant in the recorded history of warfare

Christmas Truce

  • On Christmas Day, 1914, several ceasfires were issued along the Western Front
  • German and British soldiers left the trenches and met in No Man’s Land
  • They exchanged gifts, sang carols, and played soccer together