World War I: Trench Warfare, Stalemate, and Armenian Genocide
Western Front: Stalemate
By early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire: trench warfare. The space between the opposing trenches was called “no man’s land.” When the officers ordered an attack, the soldiers went to the top of the trench and had to face rounds of machine-gun fire and shells of all calibers. Most of the offensives, most of the attacks on the enemy trenches, failed, and tens of thousands of soldiers died for nothing. For example, in July 1916, the British Army attacked the Germans in the valley of the Somme River. 20,000 British soldiers were killed to gain less than 10km. In February 1916, Germans launched a massive attack. After months of war, Germans and French suffered more than 300,000 deaths on each side.
1917: Russia’s War Effort Collapses
By 1916, Russia’s war effort was near collapse. Russia was not an industrialized nation. As a result, the Russian army was continually short of food, guns, ammunition, clothes, or boots. The Allies were unable to establish a supply line with Russia: in the north, the German Navy blocked the Baltic Sea, and in the south, the Ottomans controlled the straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The Russian Army had only one asset: its number, its great population. But by 1916, Russia had suffered 2 million dead and more than five million wounded. In March 1917, demonstrations in Petrograd culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak Provisional Government, which shared power with the Petrograd Soviet socialists.
Life in the Trenches
Trench warfare becomes necessary when neither side is able to advance and overtake the other. The first major trench lines were completed in November 1914. By the end of that year, more than 600 km of trenches were built, starting at the North Sea, running through Belgium and northern France, and ending at the Swiss frontier.
Most of the trenches were built according to the same basic design. The front wall of the trench, known as the parapet, was lined with sandbags from top to bottom. These provided protection. Periscopes and mirrors were also used to see above the sandbags.
The rear wall of the trench, known as the parados, was lined with sandbags as well, protecting against a rear assault. Because constant shelling and frequent rainfall could cause the trench walls to collapse, the walls were reinforced with sandbags, logs, and branches.
Trenches were dug in a zigzag pattern so that if an enemy entered the trench, he could not fire straight down the line. The main trench lines were connected by communicating trenches, allowing for the movement of messages, supplies, and soldiers. The trenches were protected by fields of dense barbed wire. The area between the two opposing armies’ front lines was known as “no man’s land.”
Armenian Genocide
In 1915, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Most sources agree that there were about 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the time of the massacre. By the early 1920s, when the massacres and deportations finally ended, some 1.5 million of Turkey’s Armenians were dead.
In 1914, the Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Military leaders began to argue that the Armenians were traitors: If they thought they could win independence if the Allies were victorious, this argument went, the Armenians would be eager to fight for the enemy.