RUSSIA AND THE WEST TODAY , ORIGIN OF UKRAINIAN CRISIS
As a preview to this special edition which is meant to mark 100 years since WW1 started, this writing wishes to revisit the present tension between the West and Russia on the issue of Ukraine and the former Soviet Republics in particular. The crisis is a fallout of issues that have created a perception that predates even WW1. The present Eastern Europe is made up of countries that in the 19th century were largely part of and under the control of the Ottoman Turkish Empire which was virtually in a perpetual state of war with Russia which sought to free the Slav population of Europe from the domination of an Islamic state and a middle eastern Caliphate.
Russia effectively in the 19th century destroyed the power of the Ottoman caliphate liberating and bringing into fresh subjection to the Russian empire, the majority of the Slav people of Eastern Europe. The Austro- Hungarian empire also rivaled Czarist Russia in wasting the Ottoman Turkish empire and creating a fresh hegemony over Eastern Europe particularly over the territories of Hungary, Romania and the defunct Yugoslavia. In fact the Crimean war of 1853 was fought by Britain and France to prevent Russia from completely destroying the Ottoman Turks and creating its own hegemony over Europe especially after Russia completely destroyed the Turkish fleet in the Black Sea seized the Crimea and threatened to completely deny access to the Black Sea to the fleets of both France and Great Britain in its bid to completely dominate the Ottoman Turks in the 1850's
Britain, the world's greatest sea power then. felt it couldn't take the Russian intransigence any further and decided to launch a joint sea borne invasion with France to seize the Russian Black sea port of Sevastopol and teach the Russians an unforgettable lesson and also protect the rump of the Ottoman Turkish empire still remaining. In fact the survival of the Ottoman Turkish Empire came to depend on the benevolence of the British Empire which chose to guarantee its independence until WW1 when Ottoman Turkey switched sides and joined sides with the Central Powers against the Triple Entente of France , Russia and Great Britain .
With the commencement of WW1, the Russians were once more given free reign to waste the Ottoman Turks and seize their territories together with the Slav possessions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Russia's defeat in the hands of Germany changed the game plan as she was forced by the 1917 treaty of Brest-Litovsk to shed all her Eastern European possessions including modern-day Poland and the Ukraine to the victorious Germans in 1917. Germany's defeat in 1918 once more reversed the equation as She was also forced to renounce the Brest-Litovsk treaty and relinquish to Russia all the territory except for Poland she had taken from Tsarist Russia.
The Allies in 1918 only recognized the independence of Poland but not Ukraine . Ukraine was recognised ipso- facto as part and parcel of Russia later the USSR. The post WW1 era could have been the best opportunity for the Allied Powers ,the USA included to guarantee the independence of the Ukraine if it had been important to them , but the issue never even came up as the British and the American government then were more interested in the independence of Poland and the Baltic states. The issue of the Ukraine being an independent state never even surfaced in the crafting of the Versailles treaty.
To cap it all in 1940 when the Hitler dictatorship had become a threat to Europe , Joseph Stalin was given a free hand to overrun the independent Baltic states of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania in his bid to create a buffer between the USSR and Nazi Germany. Interestingly it was Nazi Germany albeit deceitfully that fought for the 'independence' of Ukraine leading to many Ukrainians becoming sympathisers and collaborators of the Nazi regime. The world must not also forget albeit regretfully that many of the Nazi death camps in Eastern Europe were manned by Ukrainian guards including the famous Auschwitz and Sorbibor .Ukrainian units fought actively with the Third Reich and many served in the SS and were involved in atrocities against civilians particularly Jews and other minorities .
The activities of the Ukrainians in actively collaborating with the Third Reich against the Russians was largely responsible for the abominable treatment Stalin meted to almost all Russian POW''s liberated from Nazi Germany, as instances of collaboration was widespread. Western Ukraine fought on the side of Germany as provinces of Hungary and Romania. Ukraine as a nation for the first time in over 300 years became one nation when its eastern territories were detached from Romania and Hungary and joined to its eastern province domiciled in the USSR by Joseph Stalin in 1945 after WW2 . The Russians have this basic distrust for the Ukrainian people that has made it difficult for them to concede to their joining NATO and yet remain their immediate neighbor.
This is a long-standing distrust the West must come to understand as forming part of the reason why an INDEPENDENT Ukraine as part of the Western alliance system is completely detestable to the Russian people and not just Putin . It will have to take some time for the Ukrainians to build the trust of the Russian people that they will not connive with foreigners to once more threaten Russia in a future conflict . A Russian diplomat once told me confidentially years ago that the Ukrainian people have a long history of betraying Russia and that is where the problem lies.
WORLD WAR 1
This was the setting when on June 28, 1914, Garvillo Principe,
a Serbian nationalist assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Arch Duke and heir
apparent Francis Ferdinand alongside his wife Sophie as they drove in a
motorcade on a state visit to Sarajevo a province of Serbia.
Though Serbia made serious efforts at re-approachment and
conciliation with the Austro-Hungarian government, King Charles II of
Austro-Hungary felt that the time was now ripe to teach Serbia a lesson and
stop it from meddling in its nation’s internal affairs particularly as it
touched on the issue of its treatment of its local Slav population.
Meanwhile, Russia ever protective of the Slav nations
made it clear that it would defend Serbia should any conflict arise. The
Austro-Hungarian government was determined to crush Serbia and imposed a series
of conditions for peace that were designed to humiliate Serbia.
Though Germany initially tried to pacify both sides and
settle the dispute peacefully, Russia’s antagonistic attitude towards both
Germany and Austro-Hungary created further tensions when the Austro-Hungarians
finally chose to invade Serbia.
Soon after this, Russia ordered a mobilization against
Austro-Hungary as well as against Germany too. In early August 1914, Germany
mobilized against Russia declaring war on both Russia and France her partner in
the Triple Entente to whose defense she was committed to by virtue of the
treaty obligation. Since the German plan of war involved having to attack
France through Belgium, it invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914.
Britain, having no interest in the ensuing conflict
except for its commitment to the defense of Belgium whose neutrality Germany
had brazenly violated, promptly declared war on Germany. Within a short spell, save
for Italy and Turkey all the major powers in Europe were engulfed in the
conflict which became known as the Great War. Neither Belgian nor Dutch
neutrality was respected by Germany.
The war was initially, generally well received in Europe
and both sides expected to win believing that the war would be over in at most
six months. Nobody knew that the stage was set for a long conflict (four years)
that would turn out to be the most extensive and bloody conflict in European
history claiming the lives of more than 20 million combatants and civilians.
WORLD WAR I AS IT
AFFECTED EUROPE
German Soldiers at the
Battle of Ypres
German troops in gas
masks man an antiaircraft gun in October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres
(also known as the Battle of Passendale) in Belgium. The German army first used
poison gas at the Second Battle of Ypres, in 1915, during World War I.
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The onset of World War I saw the great powers of Europe
divided into two rival camps, with the Allied or Entente powers comprising of
France, Russia, Great Britain and Italy later to be joined by the United States
and Japan. The Central powers comprised Germany, Austro-Hungary, and the
Ottoman Turkish Empire.
In order to keep our focus on the war as it affected
European history at the turn of the century, we are going to focus on the main
battles and turns of direction of the conflict as it progressed, but will
reserve most of our observations for the peace moves; particularly the
Armistice of November 1918 signed in France, because of its critical role in
shaping Europe’s future and its role in preparing grounds for the next conflict
to ensue after the Great War of 1914-18.
THE BALANCE OF POWER IN 1914
In 1914 Great Britain had the world’s largest navy and
the largest fleet of merchant ships which eventually in the course of the war came
to be known as the merchant fleet after it was armed. Credit must be extended
to the seamen for the critical role the merchant fleet played in Great
Britain’s ability to survive the German submarine net drawn around the country.
Germany had made the opening moves of the war in
attacking, France through an incursion into Belgium which brought the United
Kingdom into the war on August 4, 1914.
Germany’s
Schlieffen plan of battle produced by its Chief of General Staff Alfred Graf
von Schlieffen who was in office between 1891-1905 required that the main
thrust of its attack upon France was to bypass the French fortifications along
the Franco-German border and to strike France through its border with Belgium.
That required an attack on Belgium that violated Belgian
neutrality and drew Great Britain into the war. That attack rapidly overran
Belgium leading to the occupation of Brussels by the Germans on August 20, 1914
and soon German troops were pouring into France across the Belgian border and across
the French border.
This battle involved over two million German, Belgian and
French troops. This continued until September 6, when the French army fought
the defensive battle historically known as the first battle of the Marne’s.
German Soldiers on the
Way to the Front
German soldiers march
through the streets of Berlin on their way to the battlefront at the start of
World War I in August 1914. Both the Allies and the Central Powers expected
quick victory and greeted the outbreak of war with enthusiasm.
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Likewise, the
French attempt to enter the province of Lorraine and wrest it back from German
control was thwarted when its 19 divisions were driven back by the German 6th
and 7tharmies in the battle of Morhangue-Sarrebourg (August 20th – 22nd).
This engagement
had a telling effect on the capacity of Alfred Von Molten the German Chief of
the General to implement the Schlieffen plan whose major plank hinged on outflanking
France through an attack across Belgium.
This was done with a view to out flanking the French
defenses on the Franco-German border while whittling down the capacity of the
French to resist the double envelopment that would eventually ensue when the
German army also attacked directly across its border with France.
The weight of the thrust through Belgium was diluted by
the diversion of six newly formed (Ersatz) divisions that had been formed to
bring pressure to bear on the right wing of the thrust through Belgium and now
had to be diverted to stem the French incursion into Alsace Lorraine. The
German imperial Princes who commanded the field armies were far more interested
in seeking personal glory than in the co-ordination of their joint efforts.
At a time when their two armies were ordered to fall back
in the face of the French assault, the two Imperial Princes in willful
disobedience to the imperial Headquarters ordered a counter attack by the 5th
and 6th armies led by Crown Prince William of Germany and Prince
Rupert of Bavaria respectively.
The result was that the French were forced back to their
fortified defenses from where they were able to remain in defensive positions
while switching forces to stabilize their lines in the face of the German
offensive in the first battle of the Marne’s.
The German
offensive through Belgium almost succeeded simply because the Allies greatly
under estimated the weight of numbers that the Germans would employ in the
flanking move. While the Germans employed over fifty divisions in this move,
the Anglo-French- Belgian forces totaled about 37 divisions. Meanwhile in
tactical reality, the German armies were better trained, led and motivated.
The reality of the
strength of the German flanking move was soon to hit the Allied field
commander, French Field Marshal Joffre. He however reacted with cool and
precision in formulating on the spot, a new plan of attack and defense to
counter the Schlieffen plan.
In a series of tactical moves that ultimately became a
tactical blunder, Helmut Von Moltke, the German Chief of the General staff on
sensing that the original plan was not working like it should, decided to
improvise a new plan. The original plan had not been faithfully implemented as
it was intended because of distractions, re-deployments of armies and refusal
of the top commanders to exhibit faith in the plan as it were.
Schlieffen Plan and
Actual Troop Movements
During World War I,
Germany’s war plan was known as the Schlieffen Plan. The plan called for German
armies to invade Belgium and sweep into France, moving south and west to
capture Paris before pushing the French armies east toward the German border.
When the German armies invaded France in 1914, however, they did not follow the
plan and instead drove north and east of Paris. As a result, they did not go
far enough west to capture Paris. Failing to carry out the Schlieffen Plan,
Germany did not quickly defeat the French, and the war lasted for four more
years.
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As the French and British commanders began to discern the
German battle plan, their ability to deploy and move men to check the German incursions
also grew.
The German powerful right wing thrust through Belgium
meant to outflank and destroy the Allied armies according to the schflien plan
had not been faithfully followed as some units were withdrawn by Moltke and
sent to the Eastern front while some were sent to strengthen the attacks of the
two Imperial Princes totally uncalled for, that ended up diluting the strength
of the armies thrusting through Belgium and leaving them vulnerable to the
British and French counter thrusts that ultimately halted the Germans on the
Marne River 40 kilometers short of Paris. That notwithstanding, the German
armies advanced right close to the French capital and at a point were just 40
miles from Paris by early September 1914.
Taxicabs Bound for the
First Battle of the Marne
Taxicabs line up to carry
French troops to battle. During the First Battle of the Marne in September
1914, the Allies attacked the German armies and pushed them north and away from
Paris. French troops were rushed from Paris to the battle by any available
means.
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In a series of brilliant moves and orderly co-ordination
between the French and British armies operating under the norm of British Expeditionary
forces, the Allies were able to switch forces, block the path of the advancing
forces and actually begin a well co-ordinated counter attack by the beginning
of September that caused all the German forces converging on Paris to enter
into a general retreat that became known as the first battle of the Marne’s.
Forces involved on the side of the Allies were the French
5th and 6th armies and the entire B.E.F force. This
retreat saved Paris and ultimately France. For the rest of the war, Germany
could threaten but no longer capture Paris.
The reason for the Allies success in the first battle of
the Marne’s stemmed from the utter exhaustion of the German infantry advancing
into France from Germany through Belgium into Germany. Many of them had walked
over 150 miles on foot as the retreating French had destroyed roads, bridges
and rail lines that the Germans could have used to convey their troops.
The Germans were also surprised at the resilience and
tenacity of the French under attack and even in retreat. This was evident in
the small number of prisoners taken by the German army in its westward advance
into Belgium and France. At about this time, the assault of the German 6th
and 7th armies across the Franco-German border was halted in a
predictable fashion as the French resisted from their entrenched fortifications.
The German attempt at a flanking movement past the French
stronghold of Verdun was also halted, and this led to its armies digging in
along the banks of the lower Aisne River and the Chemin des Dames Ridge. The
subsequent Allied attacks were continuously repelled as it became obvious that
the defense seemed to be prevailing over the attack in this war.
The first battles of the Marne’s thus began the process
of trench warfare that was to become the dominant trait and character of the
First World War. The only option left to the Generals was to try to outflank
the opposition, with the result that a network of trenches stretching all the
way to the coast of Belgium on the Atlantic west of Ostend materialized as each
tried to outpace the other in the race to the sea.
Through Paris was saved from capture after this great
battle, granting the French some reprieve, the loss of a big portion of
industrialized northern France, where the bulk of the industries, steel and
coal mines lay; created a daunting prospect for the French in their pursuit of
victory in the war.
Meanwhile, the Germans succeeded in capturing Antwerp on
October 10, after a heavy bombardment that began on September 10, 1914. A
subsequent Allied effort to outflank the Germans near Ypres through the efforts
of the British expeditionary force (B.E.F) was also similarly met with a
counter thrust on the path of the Germans on the Belgian lines near the River
Aisne.
The subsequent
first battle of the Ypres, October to November 1914 was brought under control
only after the opening of the dams on the Ypres River which flooded the path of
the advancing Germans and turned Ypres into a muddy flood plain. With the
consolidation of the French lines and fortification along the entire line of
battle, the war settled into trench warfare. For the next three years the Allies
repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to breach the trench lines.
On the Eastern front, the greater distances involved, and
the disparity in the abilities and quality of the opposing armies made it more difficult
to tie down any side in sustained trench warfare, as the Germans had proven
their capability in penetrating the Russian lines whenever they wanted to in
major frontal assaults, in spite of their extensive trench lines and defenses.
When the Russian Commander-in Chief Grand Duke Nicholas
was pressured into launching an attack against the Central Powers from the East
by his French Allies, he ordered two Russian armies to attack East Prussia. Generals Samsonov and Generals Rennekampf led
the Russian 2nd and 1st armies respectively in the
onslaught. Although outnumbering the Germans 2-1, the attack lacked proper
coordination as both Generals had mutual dislike and disrespect for each other.
Battle of Tannenberg
German soldiers in
trenches stand by their machine guns during the Battle of Tannenberg. Germany
and Russia fought the battle in August 1914. German troops crushed the Russian
army in what became one of the most decisive battles of World War I.
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The Germans though inferior in number, read the situation
well enough to gamble on the fact that if they concentrated all their forces on
the 2ndArmy led by Samsonov, Rennekampt could be trusted not to come
to his aid and vice versa. By so doing, the Germans took each Army apart
consecutively, completely enveloped each in full scale flanking attacks and
decimated each of them in the historic battles of Tannenberg in August 26-30,
1914.
The Russians never quite recovered from this defeat, and
the loss of morale involved. At about this time General Paul von Hindenburg was
appointed as Supreme Commander over the German armies with Lt. Gen Erich Ludendorff
as his Chief of Staff.
German Commanders
Hindenburg and Ludendorff
Paul von Hindenburg and
Erich Ludendorff played a central role in directing Germany’s military forces
during World War I (1914-1918). At German headquarters, from left to right,
Hindenburg discusses war plans with German emperor William II and Ludendorff in
January 1917.
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To achieve these victories on the eastern front, the
Germans had had to withdraw two Army Corps (seven divisions) from the Western
front and this lessening of pressure helped to facilitate the French defensive victories
in the first battle of the Marne.
William II of Germany
When William II became
emperor of Germany in 1888, he abandoned Germany’s cautious foreign policy and
began competing with other European powers. He announced that Germany would
begin to acquire an overseas empire and build up its navy. His actions alarmed
both France and Britain. William II is shown here in the uniform of the
“Death’s head Hussars,” a cavalry regiment.
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On the
Austro-Hungarian front however, the Russians were more successful as the
combined attack of the Austro-Hungarian armies were not only stopped, but a Russian
counter attack subsequently developed that was so serious as to require German
intervention to prevent defeat for Austro-Hungary.
A fresh Russian effort to invade Prussian Silesia was
mounted with the combined strength of seven Armies. The planned offensive was
so massive that the word around the media world was that the Russian ‘steam
roller’ was on the move, raising Allied hopes of a decisive breakthrough in the
East.
The ingenuity of the German High command played off well
as both Hindenburg and Ludendorff used the German railway lines to send off an
army into Prussian Poland to drive a wedge between the advancing Russian armies;
and with the subsequent arrival of four German Army Corps from the Western
front, the offensive was halted in front of Warsaw along the Bzar-Rawker (River)
lines.
Francis Ferdinand
The assassination of
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Czech Countess Sophie Chotek,
precipitated World War I. They were killed by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo
Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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The Russian Armies operating in Austro-Hungary were also
forced to halt their advance along the Nida and Dunajec Rivers when their
supplies ran out. Austro-Hungary’s initial offensive against Serbia launched in
early August was brought to a halt by the able Serbian commander and lack of tactical
skill by the Austrian officer Corps (August 21-24).
The Serbs launched an offensive of their own, but had to
call it off to contain a second Austrian offensive in the west on the Drina
River. A third offensive launched by the Austro-Hungarian army broke the
deadlock and brought Belgrade under Austrian occupation by November 30, 1914 ;
however Belgrade was retaken by the Serbs on December 15, 1914 and the
Austrians were forced to retreat.
Germany’s pre-war influence and investments in Ottoman
Turkey’s politics paid off when Turkey under the control of the Young Turks
declared war against Russia and subsequently Britain and France after
ostensible acts of hostilities against the Allies which included Turkish
bombardment of the Odessa sea port and the closure of the Dardanelles straits.
Russia and the Western Allies declared war on Turkey on November 1 and 3, 1914
respectively.
Soldiers from the Ottoman
Empire
Soldiers from the Ottoman
Empire march through a town. During World War I the Ottoman Empire joined the
Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary in October 1914. The Ottoman
Empire fought Russian troops in the Caucasus Mountains and British troops in
the area now known as the Middle East.
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Allied and Central Powers
of World War I
Countries
|
Date Entered the War1
|
Allied Powers
|
Serbia
|
July 1914
|
Russia
|
August 1914
|
France
|
August 1914
|
Belgium
|
August 1914
|
British Empire2
|
August 1914
|
Montenegro
|
August 1914
|
Japan
|
August 1914
|
Italy
|
May 1915
|
San Marino
|
June 1915
|
Portugal
|
March 1916
|
Romania
|
August 1916
|
United States
|
April 1917
|
Cuba
|
April 1917
|
Panama
|
April 1917
|
Greece
|
July 1917
|
Siam (now Thailand)
|
July 1917
|
Liberia
|
August 1917
|
China
|
August 1917
|
Brazil
|
October 1917
|
Guatemala
|
April 1918
|
Nicaragua
|
May 1918
|
Costa Rica
|
May 1918
|
Haiti
|
July 1918
|
Honduras
|
July 1918
|
Central Powers
|
Austria-Hungary
|
July 1914
|
Germany
|
August 1914
|
Ottoman Empire
|
November 1914
|
Bulgaria
|
October 1915
|
1 Some countries entered
the war although they did not send troops.
2 Included self-governing dominions of the British Empire:
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.
|
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THE EUROPEAN WAR
AT SEA 1914-1915
