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113-770: (Redirected from Spring Offensive ) Spring offensive may refer to: Military [ edit ] German spring offensive , Ludendorff's 1918 offensive of World War I Spring offensive of the White Army , a 1919 offensive during the Russian Civil War Italian spring offensive , part of the Greco-Italian War in 1941 Spring 1945 offensive in Italy , an Allied offensive in World War II Chinese spring offensive ,

226-609: A creeping barrage . The main attack was made on the open and flat sector defended by the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps . After an entire year spent in the trenches, the Portuguese were tired and had suffered heavy losses. They were being replaced in the front line by fresh British divisions, an operation that was planned to be completed on 9 April, the same day as the Germans attacked the sector. The process of relief in place

339-769: A war of attrition , yet he was not ready to give up the German gains in the west and east and was one of the main obstacles to the German government's attempts to reach a settlement with the Western Allies. Although Ludendorff was unsure whether the Americans would enter the war in strength, at a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff of the German armies on the Western Front on 11 November 1917, he decided to launch an offensive. The German government and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg , nominally

452-570: A "rear zone" where reserves were held ready to counter-attack or seal off penetrations. In theory, a British infantry division (with nine infantry battalions) deployed three battalions in the outpost zone, four battalions in the battle zone and two battalions in the rear zone. This change had not been completely implemented by the Allies. In particular, in the sector held by the British Fifth Army , which they had recently taken over from French units,

565-616: A Berlin railway station; it was filled with insurrectionary documents. Joffe and his staff were ejected from Germany in a sealed train on 5 November 1918. In the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended World War I, one clause abrogated the Brest-Litovsk treaty. Next, the Bolshevik legislature ( VTsIK ) annulled the treaty on 13 November 1918, and the text of the VTsIK Decision was printed in

678-768: A Chinese offensive in 1951 during the Korean War Easter Offensive , a spring 1972 North Vietnamese offensive during the Vietnam War 1975 spring offensive , a North Vietnamese offensive during the Vietnam War Spring offensive (various) , the Taliban term used for the annual restart of fighting after the end of winter during the War in Afghanistan Other uses [ edit ] Spring Offensive (poem) ,

791-594: A call for turning all political power over to workers' and soldiers' soviets (councils) and an immediate withdrawal of Russia from the war. At around the same time, the United States entered the war, potentially shifting the balance of the war against the Central Powers. Throughout 1917, Bolsheviks called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government and an end to the war. Following the disastrous failure of

904-576: A document accepting the Finnish independence, the loss of Ukraine and the Baltics created, from the Bolshevik perspective, dangerous bases of anti-Bolshevik military activity in the subsequent Russian Civil War (1917–1923). However, Bolshevik control of Ukraine and Transcaucasia was at the time fragile or non-existent. Many Russian nationalists and some revolutionaries were furious at the Bolsheviks' acceptance of

1017-524: A few days, to avoid being overburdened, and relied on supplies delivered quickly from the rear. The advance was slowed by supply shortages, which gave Allied commanders more time to reinforce the threatened areas and to slow the advance still more. German supply difficulties were made worse by the direction of advance, which crossed the wasteland created during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and by Operation Alberich ,

1130-422: A newly raised revolutionary force while awaiting these upheavals. Consequently, Lenin agreed to Trotsky's formula – a position summed up as "no war – no peace" – which was announced when the negotiators reconvened on 10 February 1918. The Soviets thought that their stalling was succeeding until 16 February when Hoffmann notified them that the war would resume in two days, when fifty-three divisions advanced against

1243-486: A poem by Wilfred Owen about World War I Spring Offensive Volume 1: Nuclear Winter Remixes , a 2010 album by Sole Spring Offensive , a British indie rock band See also [ edit ] Summer Offensive (disambiguation) Winter Offensive (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Spring offensive . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

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1356-490: A rump Polish state with what remained. The Baltic governorates were to become client states ruled by German princes . Czernin was beside himself that this hitch that was slowing the negotiations; self-determination was anathema to his government and they urgently needed grain from the east because Vienna was on the verge of starvation. He proposed to make a separate peace. Kühlmann warned that if they negotiated separately, Germany would immediately withdraw all its divisions from

1469-604: A temporary advantage in numbers as nearly 50 divisions had been freed by the Russian defeat and withdrawal from the war with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . There were four German offensives, codenamed Michael , Georgette , Gneisenau , and Blücher-Yorck . Michael was the main attack, which was intended to break through the Allied lines, outflank the British forces (which held the front from

1582-692: A unifying cause to the White movement and opening a rift between the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries , whose representatives withdrew from the Council of People's Commissars after its signing and later rebelled in the Left SR Uprising . The treaty was annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918 , in which Germany surrendered to the western Allied Powers . Subsequent attempts by

1695-574: The British Third Army . The artillery bombardment began at 4.40am on March 21. The bombardment [hit] targets over an area of 150 square miles [390 km ], the biggest barrage of the entire war. Over 1,100,000 shells were fired in five hours... The German armies involved were—from north to south—the Seventeenth Army under Otto von Below , the Second Army under Georg von der Marwitz and

1808-522: The Eighteenth Army under Oskar von Hutier , with a Corps (Gruppe Gayl) from the Seventh Army supporting Hutier's attack. Although the British had learned the approximate time and location of the offensive, the weight of the attack and of the preliminary bombardment was an unpleasant surprise. The Germans were also fortunate in that the morning of the attack was foggy, allowing the stormtroopers leading

1921-550: The Kerensky offensive , discipline in the Russian army deteriorated completely. Soldiers would disobey orders, often under the influence of Bolshevik agitation, and set up soldiers' committees to take control of their units after deposing the officers. The defeat and ongoing hardships of war led to anti-government riots in Petrograd, the " July Days " of 1917. Several months later, on 7 November (25 October old style ), Red Guards seized

2034-508: The Kingdom of Poland was not mentioned in the treaty, as the Germans refused to recognize the existence of any Polish representatives, which in turn led to Polish protests. The treaty stated that "Germany and Austria-Hungary intend to determine the future fate of these territories in agreement with their populations." Most of the territories were in effect ceded to Germany, which intended to have them become economic and political dependencies, where

2147-727: The Ludendorff offensive , was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during the First World War , beginning on 21 March 1918. Following American entry into the war in April 1917, the Germans decided that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the United States could ship soldiers across the Atlantic and fully deploy its resources. The German Army had gained

2260-715: The Red Guards , in March 1917. The continuing war led the German Government to agree to a suggestion that they should favour the opposition Communist Party ( Bolsheviks ), who were proponents of Russia's withdrawal from the war. Therefore, in April 1917, Germany transported Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and thirty-one supporters in a sealed train from exile in Switzerland to Finland Station, Petrograd. Upon his arrival in Petrograd, Lenin proclaimed his April Theses , which included

2373-615: The Somme River to the English Channel ) and defeat the British Army. Once that was achieved, it was hoped that the French would seek armistice terms. The other offensives were subsidiary to Michael and were designed to divert Allied forces from the main offensive effort on the Somme. No clear objective was established before the start of the offensives and once the operations were underway,

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2486-676: The Winter Palace and arrested the Provisional Government in what is known as the October Revolution . A top priority of the newly established Soviet government was to end the war. On 8 November 1917 (26 October 1917 O.S) Vladimir Lenin signed the Decree on Peace , which was approved by the Second Congress of the Soviet of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies . The Decree called "upon all

2599-612: The independence of Finland , which it had recognized in January 1918, and pledged to end its war with the Ukrainian People's Republic , which the Central Powers had recognized under the prior Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (9 February 1918). A supplementary protocol signed in August 1918 required Russia to pay Germany war reparations of six billion marks. The treaty was controversial in Russia, giving

2712-552: The 1939–1940 Winter War , and by invading and occupying Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania , and parts of Romania (Bessarabia and northern Bukovina) in 1940. During World War II the Soviet leadership was thus able to overturn the majority of the territorial losses incurred at Brest-Litovsk, except for the larger part of Finland, western Congress Poland , and Western Armenia . Emil Orlik , the Viennese Secessionist artist, attended

2825-540: The 25/26 March – before requests came in from Haig. The Allies reacted by appointing the French General Ferdinand Foch to coordinate all Allied activity in France, and subsequently as commander-in-chief of all Allied forces everywhere. The success of Operation Michael led German infantry to advance too far from its supply bases and railheads. The stormtrooper units leading the advance carried supplies for only

2938-544: The Aisne, whereas Foch and Haig did not overcommit reserves to the Aisne. Ludendorff sought to extend Blücher-Yorck westward with Operation Gneisenau, intending to draw yet more Allied reserves south, widen the German salient and link with the German salient at Amiens. The French had been warned of this attack (the Battle of Matz ( French : Bataille du Matz )) by information from German prisoners, and their defence in depth reduced

3051-533: The Allied Powers but ultimately failed. Some Germans later blamed the occupation for significantly weakening the Spring Offensive. The Germans began slowly but steadily withdrawing personnel from the occupied territories from east to west as the troop transfers to the Western Front continued throughout 1918. Local independence movements, particularly those based in what is now Belarus and Ukraine, moved in to fill

3164-507: The Austrian front; Czernin dropped that threat. The food crisis in Vienna was eventually eased by "forced drafts of grain from Hungary, Poland, and Romania and by a last moment contribution from Germany of 450 truck-loads of flour". At Russian request, they agreed to recess the talks for twelve days. The Soviets' only hopes were that time would make their allies agree to join the negotiations or that

3277-763: The Baltic states re-emerged as independent nations. In the Treaty of Rapallo , concluded in April 1922, Germany accepted the Treaty's nullification, and the two powers agreed to abandon all war-related territorial and financial claims against each other. This state of affairs lasted until 1939, when after signing the secret protocol to the Nazi-Soviet pact , the Soviet Union was able to advance its borders westward by invading Poland in September 1939, by conquering parts of eastern Finland in

3390-484: The Bolsheviks at the peace conference. On 15 December 1917, an armistice between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers was concluded. On 22 December , peace negotiations began in Brest-Litovsk. Arrangements for the conference were the responsibility of General Max Hoffmann , the chief of staff of the Central Powers' forces on the Eastern Front ( Oberkommando-Ostfront, Ober Ost ). The delegations that had negotiated

3503-450: The Bolsheviks. Again, the negotiators met in the fortress in Brest-Litovsk, and the delegates were housed in temporary wooden structures in its courtyards because the city had been burnt to the ground in 1915 by the retreating Russian army. They were cordially welcomed by the German commander of the Eastern Front, Prince Leopold of Bavaria , who sat with Joffe on the head table at the opening banquet with one hundred guests. As they had during

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3616-582: The Central Committee that "you must sign this shameful peace in order to save the world revolution". If they did not agree, he would resign. He was supported by six Central Committee members, opposed by three, with Trotsky and three others abstaining. Debate in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was intense, with Left SRs jeering Lenin as a traitor. The measure passed 116 to 85. Trotsky resigned as foreign minister and

3729-506: The Central Powers, were determined to separate from Russia on the principle of self-determination that the Bolsheviks themselves espoused. Joffe "looked as if he had received a blow on the head". Pokrovsky wept as he asked how they could speak of "peace without annexations when Germany was tearing eighteen provinces away from the Russian state". The Germans and the Austro-Hungarians planned to annex slices of Polish territory and to set up

3842-539: The Chief of the General Staff, were not party to the planning process. Eventually it was decided to launch Operation Michael near Saint-Quentin , at the hinge between the French and British armies, and strike north to Arras. The main reason for the choice was tactical expediency. The ground on this sector of the front would dry out much sooner after the winter and spring rains and would therefore be easier to advance across. It

3955-611: The Entente Powers a telegram, known as the Milyukov note , affirming to them that the Provisional Government would continue the war with the same war aims that the former Russian Empire had. The pro-war Provisional Government was opposed by the self-proclaimed Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies , dominated by leftist parties. Its Order No. 1 called for an overriding mandate to soldier committees rather than army officers. The Soviet started to form its own paramilitary power,

4068-496: The German government and the high command began to favour offering more lenient terms to the Allied Powers in exchange for their recognition of German gains in the east. The treaty marked a significant contraction of the territory controlled by the Bolsheviks or that they could lay claim to as effective successors of the Russian Empire. While the independence of Poland was already accepted by them in principle, and Lenin had signed

4181-531: The German retirement to the Hindenburg Line from February to March 1917. After a few days, the German advance began to falter, as the infantry became exhausted and it became increasingly difficult to move artillery and supplies forward to support them. Fresh British and Australian units were moved to the vital rail centre of Amiens and the defence began to stiffen. After fruitless attempts to capture Amiens, Ludendorff called off Operation Michael on 5 April. By

4294-421: The German superiority of numbers on the Western Front had sunk to 207 divisions to 203 Allied, a negligible lead which would be reversed as more American troops arrived. German manpower was exhausted. The German High Command predicted they would need 200,000 men per month to make good the losses suffered. Returning convalescents could supply 70,000–80,000 per month but there were only 300,000 recruits available from

4407-570: The Germans by surprise and halted their advance. Gneisenau was called off the following day. Losses were approximately 35,000 Allied and 30,000 German. Ludendorff now postponed Hagen and launched the German Seventh, First and Third Armies in the Friedensturm (Peace Offensive) of 15 July, a renewed attempt to draw Allied reserves south from Flanders and to expand the salient created by Blücher–Yorck eastwards. An attack east of Rheims

4520-489: The Germans losing all of the ground that they had taken in the Spring Offensive, the collapse of the Hindenburg Line , and the capitulation of Germany that November. The German High Command—in particular General Erich Ludendorff , the Chief Quartermaster General at Oberste Heeresleitung , the supreme army headquarters—has been criticised by military historians for the failure to formulate sound and clear strategy. Ludendorff privately conceded that Germany could no longer win

4633-399: The Germans once the front had broken. Despite French and British resistance on the flanks, German troops advanced to the Marne River and Paris seemed a realistic objective. There was a frenzied atmosphere in Paris, which German long-range guns had been shelling since 21 March, with many citizens fleeing and the government drawing up plans to evacuate to Bordeaux. Yet again, losses were much

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4746-456: The Germans, in First World War terms. However, victory was not achieved and the German armies were severely depleted, exhausted and in exposed positions. The territorial gains were in the form of salients which greatly increased the length of the line that would have to be defended when Allied reinforcements gave the Allies the initiative. In six months, the strength of the German army had fallen from 5.1 million fighting men to 4.2 million. By July,

4859-482: The Polish city of Cholm and its surroundings, and they would provide desperately needed grain. Czernin no longer was desperate for a prompt settlement with the Russians. When they reconvened, Trotsky declined the invitation to meet Prince Leopold and terminated shared meals and other sociable interactions with the representatives of the Central Powers. Day after day, Trotsky "engaged Kühlmann in debate, rising to subtle discussion of first principles that ranged far beyond

4972-410: The Portuguese 2nd Division made a desperate defence, trying to hold their positions, which, however, were rapidly enveloped and overrun by the masses of German forces. The 2nd Division was virtually annihilated, losing more than 7,000 men. The British 40th Division , on the northern flank of the Portuguese, also rapidly collapsed before the attack, opening a gap that further facilitated the envelopment of

5085-473: The Portuguese by the Germans. However, under much less pressure from the Germans and occupying good defensive positions protected by the La Bassée Canal, the British 55th Division on the southern flank of the Portuguese were able to hold much of their position throughout the battle. The next day, the Germans widened their attack to the north, forcing the defenders of Armentières to withdraw before they were surrounded, and capturing most of Messines Ridge. By

5198-409: The Russian economy had nearly collapsed under the strain of the war effort. The large numbers of war casualties and persistent food shortages in the major urban centers brought about civil unrest, known as the February Revolution , that forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. The Russian Provisional Government that replaced the Tsar in early 1917 continued the war. Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov sent

5311-401: The Soviets to restore power in the lost territories during the Russian Civil War (1917–1922) had mixed results, with the Red Army being defeated in the independence wars of the three Baltic countries and in the Polish–Soviet War , but achieving victory in its invasions of Azerbaijan , Armenia , and Georgia and in the Ukrainian–Soviet War . The border with Turkey established by the treaty

5424-419: The armistice negotiations, both sides continued to eat dinner and supper together amicably intermingled in the officers' mess. When the conference convened Kühlmann asked Joffe to present the Russian conditions for peace. He made six points, all variations of the Bolshevik slogan of peace with "no annexations or indemnities". The Central Powers accepted the principles "but only in case all belligerents [including

5537-412: The armistice were made stronger. Prominent additions on the Central Powers' side were the foreign ministers of Germany, Richard von Kühlmann , and Austria-Hungary, Count Ottokar Czernin , both the Ottoman grand vizier Talaat Pasha and Foreign Minister Nassimy Bey. The Bulgarians were headed by Minister of Justice Popoff, who was later joined by Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov . The Soviet delegation

5650-473: The attack to penetrate deep into the British positions undetected. By the end of the first day, the British had lost 7,512 dead and 10,000 wounded and the Germans had broken through at several points on the front of the British Fifth Army. After two days the Fifth Army was in full retreat. As they fell back, many of the isolated "redoubts" were left to be surrounded and overwhelmed by the following German infantry. The right wing of Third Army became separated from

5763-447: The belligerent nations and their governments to start immediate negotiations for peace" and proposed an immediate withdrawal of Russia from World War I . Leon Trotsky was appointed Commissar of Foreign Affairs in the new Bolshevik government. In preparation for peace talks with the representatives of the German government and the representatives of the other Central Powers, Leon Trotsky appointed his good friend Adolph Joffe to represent

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5876-419: The bourgeoisie, the social revolutionaries, Tsarist diplomats, Tsarist bureaucrats, "the Kerenskys, Tseretelis and Chernovs", the Tsarist regime, and the "petty-bourgeois compromisers". The treaty opened a permanent rift between the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries . In July 1918 the Left SRs assassinated German Ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach in the hopes that it would induce Germany to annul

5989-420: The breach in the Allied lines. In this sector, the British defences in depth were complete and fully manned, some of the opening German bombardment hit only empty positions and there was no fog to give cover to the attacking stormtroopers. After a day, the Germans had achieved only minor gains and had suffered heavy casualties. Operation Mars was immediately cancelled. The German breakthrough had occurred just to

6102-458: The concrete territorial issues that divided them". The Central Powers signed a peace treaty with Ukraine during the night of 8–9 February even though the Russians had retaken Kiev . German and Austro-Hungarian troops entered Ukraine to prop up the Rada. Finally, Hoffmann broke the impasse with the Russians by focusing the discussion on maps of the future boundaries. Trotsky summarised their situation "Germany and Austria-Hungary are cutting off from

6215-453: The defence of Seicheprey on 20 April. After the British had held off the Michael advance on the Somme, the US 1st Division was moved to reinforce the line in that sector in mid-April and launched their first attack of the war on Cantigny on 28 May 1918 . The German attack took place on 27 May, between Soissons and Reims . The sector was partly held by four depleted British divisions which were "resting" after their exertions earlier in

6328-400: The defences were incomplete and there were too few troops to hold the complete position in depth. The rear zone existed as outline markings only, and the battle zone consisted of battalion "redoubts" which were not mutually supporting (allowing stormtroopers to penetrate between them). On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched a large offensive against the British Fifth Army and the right wing of

6441-487: The domains of the former Russian Empire territories more than 150,000 square kilometers in size". He was granted a nine-day recess for the Russians to decide whether to sign. In Petrograd, Trotsky argued passionately against signing and proposed that instead, "they should announce the termination of the war and demobilization without signing any peace." Privately, in correspondence with Count Otto von Czernin , Trotsky had expressed his willigness to relent to peace terms upon

6554-416: The end of the day, the few British divisions in reserve were hard-pressed to hold a line along the River Lys . Without French reinforcements, it was feared that the Germans could advance the remaining 15 mi (24 km) to the ports within a week. The commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, issued an "Order of the Day" on 11 April stating, "With our backs to

6667-505: The enemy front-line infantry defences. Bombardment would always be brief so as to retain surprise. Bruchmüller's tactics were made possible by the vast numbers of heavy guns—with correspondingly plentiful amounts of ammunition for them—which Germany possessed by 1918 . In their turn, the Allies had developed defences in depth, reducing the proportion of troops in their front line and pulling reserves and supply dumps back beyond German artillery range. This change had been made after experience of

6780-610: The essential areas (the approaches to the Channel Ports and the rail junction of Amiens ). Strategically worthless ground, which had been devastated by years of conflict, was left lightly defended. Within a few weeks, the danger of a German breakthrough had passed, though related fighting continued until July. The German Army made the deepest advances either side had made on the Western Front since 1914. They re-took much ground that they had lost in 1916–17 and took some ground that they had not yet controlled. Despite these apparent successes, they suffered heavy casualties in return for land that

6893-431: The expulsion of British troops from Baku. The treaty freed up a million German soldiers for the Western Front and allowed Germany to use "much of Russia's food supply, industrial base, fuel supplies, and communications with Western Europe" According to historian Spencer Tucker, the Allied Powers felt that The treaty was the ultimate betrayal of the Allied cause and sowed the seeds for the Cold War. With Brest-Litovsk,

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7006-519: The first time also used as independent formations. Ironically, the offensive's initial success may have hastened Germany's defeat by undermining morale. German leadership had hitherto told their soldiers that food and other supply shortages were comparable on both sides. By breaking into Allied lines, the German soldiers realized that the Allies were in fact much better fed and supplied than they were, and thus that their leaders had been lying to them. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Soviet delegation

7119-487: The future German-Polish border. He advocated taking a small slice of Poland; Hindenburg and Ludendorff wanted much more. They were furious with Hoffmann for breaching the chain of command and wanted him to be dismissed and sent to command a division. The Kaiser refused, but Ludendorff no longer spoke with Hoffmann on the telephone since the communication was now through an intermediary. The German Supreme Commanders were also furious at ruling out of annexations, contending that

7232-454: The impact of the artillery bombardment on 9 June. Nonetheless, the German advance (consisting of 21 divisions attacking over a 23 mi (37 km) front) along the Matz River was impressive, resulting in an advance of 9 miles (14 km) despite fierce French and American resistance. At Compiègne , a sudden French counter-attack on 11 June, by four divisions and 150 tanks (under General Charles Mangin ) with no preliminary bombardment, caught

7345-458: The initial German jubilation at the successful opening of the offensive soon turned to disappointment, as it became clear that the attack had not achieved decisive results. Michael had drawn British forces to defend Amiens, leaving the rail route through Hazebrouck and the approaches to the Channel ports of Calais , Boulogne and Dunkirk vulnerable. German success here could choke the British into defeat. The attack started on 9 April after

7458-443: The initial breakthrough, Lieutenant Colonel Georg Bruchmüller , a German artillery officer, developed the Feuerwalze  [ de ] , (literally: rolling fire, rolling barrage) an effective and economical creeping barrage scheme. There were three phases: first, a brief bombardment on the enemy's command and communications (headquarters, telephone exchanges, etc.); then, destruction of their artillery; lastly an attack upon

7571-552: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spring_offensive&oldid=1191085986 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages German spring offensive 1915 1916 1917 1918 Associated articles Associated articles The German spring offensive , also known as Kaiserschlacht ("Kaiser's Battle") or

7684-492: The local German-speaking minority would be the ruling elite. New monarchies were to be created in Lithuania and the proposed " United Baltic Duchy " (which was planned to comprise Latvia and Estonia). Later in 1918, German aristocrats Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach (for Lithuania), and Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (for the planned United Baltic Duchy), were nominally appointed, but in reality never became, rulers of these envisaged new pro-German countries. This plan

7797-406: The local population became increasingly hostile to the occupation. Revolts and guerrilla warfare began breaking out all over the occupied territory, many of them inspired by Bolshevik agents. German troops also had to intervene in the Finnish Civil War , and Ludendorff became increasingly concerned that his troops were being affected by propaganda emanating from Moscow, which was one of the reasons he

7910-503: The nations of the Entente] without exception pledge themselves to do the same". They did not intend to annex territories occupied by force. Joffe telegraphed the marvelous news to Petrograd. Thanks to informal chatting in the mess, one of Hoffmann's aides, Colonel Friedrich Brinckmann, realized that the Russians had optimistically misinterpreted the Central Powers' meaning. It fell to Hoffmann to set matters straight at dinner on 27 December: Poland, Lithuania and Courland , already occupied by

8023-429: The near-empty Soviet trenches. On the night of 18 February, the Central Committee supported Lenin's resolution that they sign the treaty by a margin of seven to five. Hoffmann kept advancing until 23 February when he presented new terms that included the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Ukraine and Finland. The Soviets were given 48 hours to open negotiations with the Germans, and another 72 to conclude them. Lenin told

8136-557: The negotiations while awaiting revolutions in Central Europe. A renewed Central Powers offensive launched on February 18 forced the Soviet side to sue for peace. Under the terms of the treaty, Russia lost control of Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and its Caucasus provinces of Kars and Batum . The lands comprised 34% of the former empire's population, 54% of its industrial land, 89% of its coalfields, and 26% of its railways. The Soviet government also confirmed

8249-573: The newspaper Pravda the next day. In the year after the armistice following a timetable set by the victors, the German Army withdrew its occupying forces from the lands gained in Brest-Litovsk. However, relations between Russia and the Allied Powers were also bad due to the Allied Powers' intervention in the Russian Civil War against the Soviet government of Russia and its allies. The fate of

8362-497: The next annual class of eighteen-year-olds. Even worse, they lost most of their best-trained men: stormtrooper tactics had them leading the attacks. Even so, about a million German soldiers remained tied up in the east until the end of the war. The Allies had been badly hurt but not broken. The lack of a unified high command was partly rectified by the appointment of General Foch to the supreme command, and coordination would improve in later Allied operations. American troops were for

8475-539: The north of the boundary between the French and British armies. The French commander-in-chief, General Philippe Pétain , sent reinforcements to the sector too slowly in the opinion of the British commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Douglas Haig , and the British government, though the historian Elizabeth Greenhalgh disputes this, arguing that Petain sent the six additional divisions quicker than had been arranged with Haig – in 2 days instead of 4 – and arranging for extra divisions several times – 12 divisions on 23 March and 13 on

8588-676: The one side and the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire on the other. The treaty marked Russia's final withdrawal from World War I as an enemy of her co-signatories, on severe terms. In all, the treaty took away territory that included a quarter of the population and the industry of the former Russian Empire and nine tenths of its coal mines . Russia renounced all territorial claims in Finland (whose independence it had already recognized), Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , most of Belarus , and Ukraine . The territory of

8701-526: The peace "must increase Germany's material power". They denigrated Kühlmann and pressed for additional territorial acquisitions. When Hindenburg was asked why they needed the Baltic provinces he replied, "To secure my left flank for when the next war happens." However, the most profound transformation was that a delegation from the Ukrainian Rada , which had declared independence from Russia, had arrived at Brest-Litovsk. They would make peace if they were given

8814-470: The rear areas, as well as to occupy territory rapidly. Each major formation "creamed off" its best and fittest soldiers into storm units; several complete divisions were formed from these elite units. This process gave the German army an initial advantage in the attack, but meant that the best formations would suffer disproportionately heavy casualties, while the quality of the remaining formations declined as they were stripped of their best personnel to provide

8927-479: The region, and the location of the eventual western border of the Soviet Union , was settled in violent and chaotic struggles over the course of the next three and a half years. The Polish–Soviet War was particularly bitter; it ended with the Treaty of Riga in 1921. Although most of Ukraine and Belarus fell under Bolshevik control and eventually became two of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, Poland and

9040-512: The remaining Allied ports in Belgium and France while diverting Allied forces from Michael . However, these remained only secondary and weaker operations, subordinate to Michael . The constant changing of operational targets once the offensive was underway gave the impression the German command had no coherent strategic goal. Any capture of an important strategic objective, such as the Channel ports, or

9153-477: The reorganization of the national and international relations of these districts, but leave it to the population of these districts to carry out this reorganization in agreement with the neighbouring states, especially with the Ottoman Empire. Armenia , Azerbaijan and Georgia rejected the treaty and instead declared independence. They formed the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic . In

9266-403: The resumption of a German offensive although with moral dissent. Lenin was for signing rather than having an even more ruinous treaty forced on them after a few more weeks of military humiliation. The " Left Communists ", led by Nikolai Bukharin and Karl Radek , were sure that Germany, Austria, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria were all on the verge of revolution. They wanted to continue the war with

9379-399: The retreating Fifth Army, and also retreated to avoid being outflanked. Ludendorff failed to follow the correct stormtrooper tactics, as described above. His lack of a coherent strategy to accompany the new tactics was expressed in a remark to Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria —commander of one of his Army Groups —in which he stated, "We chop a hole. The rest follows." Ludendorff's dilemma

9492-411: The same on each side: 127,000 Allied and 130,000 German casualties up to 6 June. German losses were again mainly from the difficult-to-replace assault divisions. Although Ludendorff had intended Blücher-Yorck to be a prelude to a decisive offensive ( Hagen ) to defeat the British forces further north, he made the error of reinforcing merely tactical success by moving reserves from Flanders to

9605-495: The same time corresponding claims on Russia's part are taken into account, and the value of supplies confiscated in Russia by German military forces after the conclusion of peace is taken into account. The amount was equal to 300 million rubles. The Soviets additionally agreed to sell Germany 25% of the output of the Baku oil fields . Three secret clauses provided for German military action against Entente forces on Russian soil, as well as

9718-603: The spectre of German domination in Eastern Europe threatened to become reality, and the Allies now began to think seriously about military intervention [in Russia]. For the Western Allied Powers, the terms that Germany had imposed on Russia were interpreted as a warning of what to expect if the Central Powers won the war. Between Brest-Litovsk and the point when the situation in the Western Front became dire, some officials in

9831-699: The standards of the time, there had been a substantial advance. It was, however, of little value; a Pyrrhic victory in terms of the casualties suffered by the crack troops, as the vital positions of Amiens and Arras remained in Allied hands. The newly-won territory would later be difficult to defend against Allied counter-attacks. The Allies lost nearly 255,000 men (British, British Empire and French). They also lost 1,300 artillery pieces and 200 tanks. All of this could be replaced, either from French and British factories or from American manpower. German troop losses were 239,000 men, many of them specialist shocktroops ( Stoßtruppen ) who were irreplaceable. In terms of morale,

9944-402: The stormtroops. The Germans also failed to arm their forces with a mobile exploitation force, such as cavalry, to exploit gains quickly. This tactical error meant the infantry had to keep up an exhausting tempo of advance. Notwithstanding the effectiveness of the stormtroopers, the following German infantry often made attacks in large traditional waves and suffered heavy casualties. To enable

10057-423: The strategic results were disappointing for the Germans. Hazebrouck remained in Allied hands and the Germans occupied a vulnerable salient under fire from three sides. The British abandoned the comparatively worthless territory they had captured at vast cost the previous year around Ypres , freeing several divisions to face the German attackers. While Georgette ground to a halt, a new attack on French positions

10170-400: The successful German use of defence in depth during 1917. In theory, the front line was an "outpost zone" (later renamed the "forward zone"), lightly held by snipers, patrols and machine-gun posts only. Behind, out of range of German field artillery, was the "battle zone" where the offensive was to be firmly resisted, and behind that again, out of range of all but the heaviest German guns, was

10283-442: The targets of the attacks were constantly changed, depending on the tactical situation. Once they began advancing, the Germans struggled to maintain the momentum, partly due to logistical issues. The fast-moving stormtrooper units could not carry enough food and ammunition to sustain themselves for long, and the army could not move in supplies and reinforcements fast enough to assist them. The Allies concentrated their main forces in

10396-409: The treaty and joined forces to fight them. Non-Russians who inhabited the lands lost by Bolshevik Russia in the treaty saw the changes as an opportunity to set up independent states. Immediately after the signing of the treaty, Lenin moved the Soviet government from Petrograd to Moscow to prevent Germany from capturing the Russian capital in the event of an invasion. Trotsky blamed the peace treaty on

10509-537: The treaty declared that the territory Russia took from the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) , specifically Ardahan , Kars , and Batumi , were to be returned. At the time of the treaty, this territory was under the effective control of Armenian and Georgian forces. Paragraph 3 of Article IV of the treaty stated that: The districts of Ardahan, Kars, and Batum will likewise and without delay be cleared of Russian troops. Russia will not interfere in

10622-480: The treaty, leading to the Left SR Uprising . Relations between Russia and the Central Powers did not go smoothly. The Ottoman Empire broke the treaty by invading the newly created First Republic of Armenia in May 1918. Joffe became the Russian ambassador to Germany. His priority was distributing propaganda to trigger the German revolution. On 4 November 1918, "the Soviet courier's packing-case had 'come to pieces ' " in

10735-436: The vital railway junction of Amiens , would have occurred more by chance than by design. The German army had concentrated many of its best troops into stormtrooper units, trained in infiltration tactics to infiltrate and bypass enemy front line units, leaving these strong points to be "mopped-up" by follow-up troops. The stormtrooper tactic was to attack and disrupt enemy headquarters, artillery units and supply depots in

10848-415: The void the Germans left behind and established themselves in the newly freed territories. Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Belarus , and Ukraine became independent, while Bessarabia united with Romania. Russia lost 34% of its population, 54% of its industrial land, 89% of its coalfields, and 26% of its railways. Russia was also fined 6 billion marks. At the insistence of Talaat Pasha ,

10961-518: The wake of Soviet repudiation of Tsarist bonds, the nationalisation of foreign-owned property and confiscation of foreign assets, and Entente forces landing on Russian territory , the Soviets and Germany signed an additional agreement on 27 August 1918. The Soviets agreed to pay six billion marks in compensation for German losses. ARTICLE 2 Russia shall pay Germany six billion marks as compensation for losses sustained by Germans through Russian measures; at

11074-431: The wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end." However, the German offensive had stalled because of logistical problems and exposed flanks. Counterattacks by British, French and Anzac forces slowed and stopped the German advance. Ludendorff ended Georgette on 29 April. As with Michael , losses were roughly equal, approximately 110,000 men wounded or killed, each. Again,

11187-524: The west side of the salient on 18 July, threatening to cut off the Germans in the salient. Ludendorff had to evacuate most of the Blücher–Yorck salient by 7 August and Hagen was finally cancelled. The initiative had clearly passed to the Allies, who were shortly to begin the Hundred Days Offensive which ended the war. The Kaiserschlacht offensives had yielded large territorial gains for

11300-506: The western European proletariat would revolt and so their best strategy was to prolong the negotiations. As Foreign Minister Leon Trotsky wrote, "To delay negotiations, there must be someone to do the delaying". Therefore, Trotsky replaced Joffe as the leader. On the other side were significant political realignments. On New Year's Day in Berlin, the Kaiser insisted that Hoffmann reveal his views on

11413-465: The year. In this sector, the defences had not been developed in depth, mainly due to the obstinacy of the commander of the French Sixth Army, General Denis Auguste Duchêne . As a result, the German creeping barrage was very effective and the Allied front, with a few notable exceptions, collapsed. Duchêne's massing of his troops in the forward trenches also meant there were no local reserves to delay

11526-466: Was also a line of least resistance as the British and French armies were weak in the sector. The intention was not to reach the English Channel coast, but to break through the Allied lines and roll up the flank of the British army from the south, pushing it back toward the Channel ports or destroying it if the British chose to stand and fight. Further operations such as Operation Georgette and Operation Mars were designed to strike further north to seize

11639-594: Was detailed by German Colonel General Erich Ludendorff , who wrote, "German prestige demands that we should hold a strong protecting hand, not only over German citizens, but over all Germans." The occupation of the western part of the former Russian Empire ultimately proved a costly blunder for Berlin, as over one million German troops lay sprawled out from Poland nearly to the Caspian Sea , all idle and depriving Germany of badly needed manpower in France. The hopes of using Ukraine's grain and coal proved abortive; in addition,

11752-421: Was initially headed by Adolph Joffe , and key figures from the Central Powers included Max Hoffmann and Richard von Kühlmann of Germany, Ottokar Czernin of Austria-Hungary, and Talaat Pasha of the Ottoman Empire. In January 1918, the Central Powers demanded secession of all occupied territories of the former Russian Empire . The Soviets sent a new peace delegation led by Leon Trotsky , which aimed to stall

11865-485: Was largely affirmed by the Treaty of Kars (1921). Under the Treaty of Rapallo (1922), Russia and Germany renounced all territorial and financial claims against each other. The Russian borders established by the treaty bear an almost exact similarity to the post-1991 borders established after the fall of the Soviet Union . By 1917, Germany and Russia were stuck in a stalemate on the Eastern Front of World War I and

11978-438: Was led by Adolph Joffe , who had already led their armistice negotiators, but his group was made more cohesive by eliminating most of the representatives of social groups, like peasants and sailors, and the addition of tsarist general Aleksandr Samoilo and the noted Marxist historian Mikhail Pokrovsky . It still included Anastasia Bitsenko , a former assassin, representing the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who were at odds with

12091-418: Was of little strategic value and hard to defend. The offensive failed to deliver a blow that could save Germany from defeat, which has led some historians to describe it as a Pyrrhic victory . In July 1918, the Allies regained their numerical advantage with the arrival of American troops. In August, they used this and improved tactics to launch a counteroffensive. The ensuing Hundred Days Offensive resulted in

12204-454: Was planned to draw forces further away from the Channel and allow renewed German progress in the north. The strategic objective remained to split the British and the French and gain victory before American forces could make their presence felt on the battlefield. The Americans were originally deployed in the quiet Saint-Mihiel sector in Lorraine where they had their first significant engagement in

12317-523: Was poorly organized by the British First Army 's command, and the Portuguese 1st Division had been withdrawn to the rear on 6 April, leaving the Portuguese 2nd Division to defend the entire sector alone. They were left with an extensive 7 mi (11 km) front, without natural obstacles which might benefit the defence. Hit hard by the bombardment and under the assault of eight German divisions,

12430-429: Was reluctant to transfer divisions to the Western Front . The attempt at establishing an independent Ukrainian state under German guidance was unsuccessful as well. However, Ludendorff completely ruled out the idea of marching on Moscow and Petrograd to remove the Bolshevik government from power. Germany transferred hundreds of thousands of veteran troops to the Western Front for the 1918 Spring Offensive , which shocked

12543-416: Was replaced by Georgy Chicherin . When Sokolnikov arrived at Brest-Litovsk, he declared "we are going to sign immediately the treaty presented to us as an ultimatum but at the same time refuse to enter into any discussion of its terms". The treaty was signed at 17:50 on 3 March 1918. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on 3 March 1918. The signatories were Soviet Russia signed by Grigori Sokolnikov on

12656-484: Was that the most important parts of the Allied line were also the most strongly held. Much of the German advance was achieved where it was not strategically significant. Because of this, Ludendorff continually exhausted his forces by attacking strongly entrenched British units. At Arras on 28 March, he launched a hastily prepared attack (Operation Mars) against the left wing of the British Third Army, to try to widen

12769-592: Was thwarted by the French defence in depth. In many sectors, the Germans, deprived of any surprise as their fuel-starved air force had lost air superiority to the Allies, advanced no further than the French Forward Zone, and nowhere did they break the French Battle (Second) Zone. Although German troops southwest of Rheims succeeded in crossing the River Marne, the French launched a major offensive of their own on

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