shredward

from the History Channel: January 28, 1915 Germans sink American merchant ship In the country's first such action against American shipping interests on the high seas, the captain of a German cruiser orders the destruction of the William P. Frye, an American merchant ship. The William P. Frye, a four-masted steel barque built in Bath, Maine, in 1901 and named for the well-known Maine senator William Pierce Frye (1830-1911), was on its way to England with a cargo of wheat. On January 27, it was intercepted by a German cruiser in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Brazilian coast and ordered to jettison its cargo as contraband. When the American ship's crew failed to fulfill these orders completely by the next day, the German captain ordered the destruction of the ship. As the first American merchant vessel lost to Germany's aggression during the Great War, the William P. Frye incident sparked the indignation of many in the United States. The German government's apology and admission of the attack as a mistake did little to assuage Americans' anger, which increased exponentially when German forces torpedoed and sank the British-owned ocean liner Lusitania on May 7, 1915, killing more than 1,000 people, including 128 Americans. The U.S., under President Woodrow Wilson, demanded reparations and an end to German attacks on all unarmed passenger and merchant ships. Despite Germany's initial assurances to that end, the attacks continued. In early February 1917, when Germany announced a return to unrestricted submarine warfare, the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with the country. By the end of March, Germany had sunk several more passenger ships with Americans aboard and Wilson went before Congress to ask for a declaration of war on April 2, which was made four days later. The first American ships arrived in Europe within a week, marking a decisive end to U.S. neutrality. from the History Channel:

January 27, 1918 Workers prepare to strike in Germany Plagued by hunger and increasingly frustrated with the continuing Great War, hundreds of thousands of long-suffering German workers prepare for a massive strike in Berlin. Although the year 1917 had brought a string of military triumphs to the Central Powers—Kaiser Wilhelm, on a visit to the Western Front in December, told his troops that the year's events proved that God was on the side of the Germans—it had also seen hunger and discontent on the home front rise to unprecedented levels. There were a total of 561 strikes in 1917, up from 240 the year before and 137 in 1915. Real wages—or the ratio of wages to cost of living—were falling, with disastrous effects for industrial and white-collar workers alike. War with Russia had cut Germany and Austria-Hungary off from a crucial supply of food and the Allied naval blockade in the North Sea, in effect since early in the war, had exacerbated the resulting shortages. At the beginning of 1918, the thorny negotiations between Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk promised to delay a much-needed influx of food and resources even longer. Discontent flared first in Austria, where flour rations were cut in mid-January. Strikes began almost immediately in Vienna and by January 19 there was a general strike throughout the country. Food shortages were even worse in Germany, where some 250,000 people had died from hunger in 1917. On January 28, 1918, 100,000 workers took to the streets of Berlin, demanding an end to the war on all fronts. Within a few days, the number was up to 400,000. The Berlin strikers enjoyed support in a string of other major cities, including Dusseldorf, Kiel, Cologne and Hamburg. By one estimate, more than 4 million took to the streets across Germany. The reaction of the German government and the army—frightened by visions of Bolshevik-style revolution and worried the workers' revolt would further delay the peace talks at Brest-Litovsk—was swift and decisive. On January 31, a state of siege was declared and the ringleaders of the strikes were arrested and court-martialed. One hundred and fifty were imprisoned, while 50,000 more were drafted into the army and sent to the front.

from the History Channel: January 26, 1918 Ukraine declares independence Soon after the Bolsheviks seized control in immense, troubled Russia in November 1917 and moved towards negotiating peace with the Central Powers, the former Russian state of Ukraine declares its total independence. One of pre-war Russia's most prosperous areas, the vast, flat Ukraine (the name can be translated as "at the border" or "borderland") was one of the major wheat-producing regions of Europe as well as rich with mineral resources, including vast deposits of iron and coal. The majority of Ukraine was incorporated into the Russian empire after the second partition of Poland in 1793, while the remaining section—the principality of Galicia--remained part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and was a key battleground on World War I's Eastern Front. Immediately following the overthrow of the czar in February 1917, Ukraine set up a provisional government and proclaimed itself a republic within the structure of a federated Russia. After Vladimir Lenin and his radical Bolsheviks rose to power in November, Ukraine—like its fellow former Russian property, Finland—took one step further, declaring its complete independence in January 1918. But Ukraine's Rada government, formed after the secession, had serious difficulty imposing its rule on the people in the face of Bolshevik opposition and counter-revolutionary activity within the country. Seeing Ukraine as an ideal and much-needed source of food for their hunger-plagued people, Germany and Austria brought in troops to preserve order, forcing the Russian troops occupying the country to leave under the terms of the treaty at Brest-Litovsk, signed in March 1918, and virtually annexing the region, while supposedly recognizing Ukrainian independence. In the words of Wilhelm Groener, a German army commander in Kiev, "The [ukrainian] administrative structure is in total disorder, completely incompetent and in no way ready for quick results….It would be in our interests to treat the Ukrainian government as a 'cover' and for us to do the rest ourselves." The defeat of the Central Powers and the signing of the armistice in November 1918 forced Germany and Austria to withdraw from Ukraine. At the same time, with the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire, an independent West Ukrainian republic was proclaimed in the Galician city of Lviv. The two Ukrainian states proclaimed their union in early 1919, but independence was short-lived, as they immediately found themselves in a three-way struggle against troops from both Poland and Russia. The Ukrainian government briefly allied themselves with Poland, but could not withstand the Soviet assault. In 1922, Ukraine became one of the original constituent republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.); it would not regain its independence until the U.S.S.R.'s collapse in 1991. from the History Channel:

from worldwar1.co.uk: January 24, 1915 Battle of Dogger Bank At 4.45 pm (GMT) on the 23 January 1915 Rear-Admiral Hipper sailed from the Jade with the 1st and 2nd Scouting Groups of three battlecruisers, the large armoured cruiser Blücher and four light cruisers to scout the Dogger Bank region of the North Sea and attack any British light forces in the region. Unfortunately the order to Hipper from Admiral von Ingenohl, head of the German navy, was intercepted and decoded by the Admiralty's Room 40 and Vice-Admiral Beatty with his Rosyth based battlecruiser force and the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Tyrwhitt was ordered to rendezvous at Dogger Bank at 7.00 am on the 24 January. The British units left port only minutes after the German fleet. At 7.14 am, just before daybreak, of 24 January the German light cruiser Kolberg on the portside of the German fleet sighted the light cruiser Aurora of the Harwich Force. Aurora challenged the German ship which opened fire scoring two hits, Aurora returned fire also scoring a couple of hits. Hipper turned his heavy units towards the firing thinking that there were only light enemy units in the area. Almost immediately on turning Stralsund saw the smoke form Beatty's battlecruisers to the north-north-west. He decided to head for home and so turned to the south-west at 7.35 am towards the German Bight. Hipper at first thought the British ships were battleships, which he could easily outrun, but by the time he realised that they were battlecruisers the range had already dropped to 25,000 yards. The German line was in the order Seydlitz, Moltke, Derfflinger with the large armoured cruiser Blücher last. The British pursued in a staggered line a head formation with Lion leading followed by Tiger, Princess Royal and then the slower New Zealand and Indomitable. Blücher was the slowest German ship at 23 knots and along with some of the coal fired torpedo boats slowed the German force down whilst the first three British battlecruisers reached 27 knots, at one point Beatty ordered the impossible speed of 29 knots to gee on his force, the two older and slower battlecruisers of the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron gradually lagged behind despite exceeding their trial speeds. The British light forces attempted to get in a position to attack but the speeds were too high and as the smoke they were generating was interfering with gunnery Beatty ordered them out of the way. At 8.52 am Lion opened fire on Blücher but the range was too great, but by 9.00 am Blücher was within range, 20,000 yards, and Lion commenced firing followed by Tiger and Princess Royal, the first hits on Blücher being achieved at 9.09. The Germans returned fire at 9.11 concentrating on Lion. As the range closed New Zealand joined the firing and Beatty ordered his ships to engage the corresponding ship in the enemy line except Indomitable which was not in range. Unfortunately Tiger included Indomitable in her calculations and so joined Lion firing on Seydlitz, leaving Moltke alone. To compound her error Tiger mistook Lions fall of shot for her own making her aim ineffective. At 9.40 Lion scored a damaging hit on Seydlitz which penetrated the barbette of the rear turret and set fire to some of the shell propellant. The flames rose into the turret and through a connecting door, which should have been shut, to the second turret killing the crews of both turrets, 159 men in total. Fortunately for Hipper both magazines were flooded before things got any worse. Lion was not having it all her own way as by now she had all three leading German battlecruisers concentrating on her and she was repeatedly hit, the most serious hit from Derfflinger causing her port water feed to be contaminated and within half an hour her port engine to be shut down. Blücher had taken heavy punishment and her speed had dropped to 17 knots and was forced to drop out of the German line, Beatty ordered the lagging Indomitable to intercept. Lions speed was also dropping and was about to be overtaken by Tiger and Princess Royal. As this was happening a periscope was thought to be sighted from Lion and Beatty ordered a 90 degree turn to port at 10.58. This manoeuvre also had the effect of forcing Hipper to cancel an attack he had just ordered by his torpedo boats. Once clear of the perceived danger the order to change course to the north-east was given. Beatty tried to signal Nelson's famous "Engage the enemy more closely" but this was not in the signal book so "Attack the rear of the enemy" was substituted. Unfortunately Lions wireless antenna were destroyed , her signal lamps had no power and all but two of her signalling halyards had been shot away and a basic signalling error by Beatty's flag-lieutenant Lieutenant-Commander Seymour meant that the signal was combined with the course change to the north-east and so read "Attack the rear of the enemy, bearing NE" - which was Blücher. Beatty had to watch helplessly as his newly appointed second in command, Rear-Admiral Moore in New Zealand, led the British force against the already doomed Blücher and let the rest of the German force escape. Beatty transferred to the destroyer HMS Attack in order to move to Princess Royal but by the time he achieved this the battle was over. The British ships finished off SMS Blücher, in the end she was hit by torpedoes from Arethusa and destroyers, HMS Meteor being damaged by Blücher in the process. As Arethusa was rescuing survivors a British stoker called 'Nobby' Clark was helping to haul German sailors up over the side he was surprised to be greeted by a German with 'Hello Nobby! Fancy meeting you here!' - it turned out that the German sailor had been his next door neighbour in Hull before the start of world War 1. Whilst survivors were being picked up a seaplane and Zeppelin L5 bombed the operation, forcing the abandonment of rescue efforts.

from the History Channel: January 20, 1918 Goeben and Breslau battle the Allies in the Aegean On the morning of January 20, 1918, British and German forces clash in the Aegean Sea when the German battleships Goeben and Breslau attempt a surprise raid on Allied forces off the Dardanelle Straits. The Goeben and Breslau—the same two swift, powerful cruisers that had famously eluded capture by the British in the Dardanelles in 1914 to reach Constantinople and bring Turkey into the war on the side of Germany—had attempted to leave the Dardanelles and head towards Salonika, Greece, when they encountered the British fleet. Just after sunrise on January 20, the Goeben and Breslau fired upon and sank two British monitors, the HMS Raglan and the M28, leaving 127 sailors dead. With two British destroyers, Tigress and Lizard, in pursuit, the German ships continued heading south toward Lemnos Island. The two ships rounded Cape Kephalo and were driven into a British minefield where Breslau was sunk, killing 208 men. Goeben turned back and attempted to tow Breslau to safety, until it too suffered severe damage after striking several mines and was forced to run aground near Chanak (now Cannanakale) in the Dardanelles. Repaired and put back into action on January 26, the hardy Goeben sailed to Sevastopol for the surrender of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in early May. At the end of the war, the ship was formally turned over to the Turks and in 1930 became the flagship of the Turkish navy; it was retired in 1950.

from the History Channel: January 17, 1916 Winston Churchill in the Trenches Winston Churchill, beginning his service as a battalion commander on the Western Front, attends a lecture on the Battle of Loos given by his friend, Colonel Tom Holland, in the Belgian town of Hazebrouck. The Battle of Loos, which took place in September 1915, resulted in devastating casualties for the Allies and was taken by the British as a sign of the need to change their conduct of the war. In one major consequence, Sir John French was replaced by Sir Douglas Haig as British commander in the wake of that battle. “Tom spoke very well,” Churchill wrote to his wife, Clementine, “but his tale was one of hopeless failure, of sublime heroism utterly wasted and of splendid Scottish soldiers shorn away in vain…with never the ghost of a chance of success….Afterwards they asked me what was the lesson of the lecture. I restrained an impulse to reply ‘Don’t do it again’. But they will--I have no doubt.” Churchill had been demoted from First Lord of the Admiralty after the British plan to attempt a naval capture of the Turkish-controlled Dardanelle Straits met with resounding failure in mid-to-late-1915. Reduced to a minor ministerial position, Churchill resigned from the government in November 1915 and rejoined the army, heading to the Western Front with the rank of lieutenant colonel. During his six months in Belgium, the young Churchill—who would later lead his country to victory in the Second World War and be celebrated as the greatest political leader in British history—saw first-hand the hardships of war and the sacrifices that unknown, unheralded soldiers made for their country. More than once, he himself narrowly escaped death by an enemy shell. As he wrote to Clementine, “Twenty yards more to the left and no more tangles to unravel, no more anxieties to face, no more hatreds and injustices to encounter…a good ending to a chequered life, a final gift--unvalued--to an ungrateful country.”

January 16,1917 Zimmermann Telegram Intercepted The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded telegram dispatched on January 16, 1917 by the German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German Ambassador to the United States, Johann von Bernstoff. On January 19, Bernstoff, per Zimmerman's request, forwarded the telegram to the German Ambassador to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. Zimmerman sent the telegram in anticipation of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by the German Empire on February 1, an act which the German High Command feared would draw the United States into the war on the side of the Allies. The telegram instructed Ambassador Eckhardt that if the U.S. appeared likely to enter the war he was to approach the Mexican government with a proposal for a military alliance. He was to offer Mexico material aid in the reclamation of territory lost during the Mexican-American War, specifically the states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Eckardt was also instructed to urge Mexico to help broker and alliance between Germany and Japan. On February 1, Germany had resumed "unrestricted submarine warfare", which caused many civilian deaths, including American passengers on British ships. This caused widespread anti-German sentiment. Publication of the telegram greatly increased this feeling. Besides the highly provocative anti-US proposal to Mexico, the telegram also mentioned "ruthless employment of our submarines." The Zimmermann Telegram was intercepted and decoded by British cryptographers of Room 40. On February 19, 'Blinker' Hall, the head of Room 40, showed the telegram to the secretary of the US Embassy in London, Edward Bell. Bell was at first incredulous, thinking it was a forgery, then enraged. On February 20 Hall informally sent a copy to the US Ambassador, Walter Page. On February 23, Page met with the British Foreign Minister, Lord Balfour, and was given the ciphertext, the message in German, and the English translation. Page reported the story to President Wilson, including details to be verified from telegraph files in the US. At first, the telegram was widely believed to be a forgery by British Intelligence. This belief, which was not restricted to pacifist and pro-German lobbies, was promoted by German and Mexican diplomats, and by some American papers, especially the Hearst press empire. However, first on March 3, and later on March 29, Arthur Zimmermann himself admitted that the telegram was genuine. Wilson responded by asking Congress to arm American ships so that they could fend off potential German submarine attacks. A few days later on April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. On April 6 Congress complied, bringing the United States into the Great War. Zimmermann's message was: On the first of February, we intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavour to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and make peace together. We shall give generous financial support, and an understanding on our part tha Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. the details of the settlement are left to you. You are instructed to inform the President (of Mexico) of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence with this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call to the attention of the President that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.

from the History Channel: January 14, 1915 South African troops occupy Swakopmund in German Southwest Africa As part of an attempt to display its loyalty to the British empire and, perhaps more importantly, enlarge its own sphere of influence on the African continent, South Africa sends troops to occupy Swakopmund, a seaside town in German-occupied Southwest Africa (modern-day Namibia). When war broke out in 1914, South African Prime Minister Louis Botha immediately pledged full support for Britain, antagonizing a portion of South Africa’s ruling Afrikaner (or Boer) population, who were still resentful of their defeat, at the hands of the British, in the Boer War of 1899-1902. That conflict had pitted the Boers, descendants of South Africa’s Dutch settlers who controlled two republics—the gold-rich Transvaal and the Orange Free State—against the colonial armies of Great Britain. A stiff Boer resistance, including an extensive campaign of guerrilla warfare, had ultimately been repressed by brutal methods—including concentration camps—introduced by the British commander in chief, Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener (who later became Britain’s minister of war). Under the terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging, which ended the Boer War in 1902, the Boer republics were granted eventual self-government as colonies of the British empire. They received their own constitutions in 1907 and in 1910 the British Parliament’s South Africa Act established the Union of South Africa as a united self-governing dominion of the British empire. Botha, the leader of the South African Party, became its first head of government. In 1914, Botha and Minister of Defense Jan Smuts, both generals and former Boer commanders, were looking to extend the Union’s borders further on the continent. Invading German Southwest Africa would not only aid the British—it would also help to accomplish that goal. The plan angered some Afrikaners, who were resentful of their government’s support of Britain against Germany, which had been pro-Boer in their war against the British. Several major military leaders resigned over their opposition to the invasion of the German territory and open rebellion broke out in October 1914. It was quashed in December and the conquest of Southwest Africa, carried out by a South African Defense Force of nearly 50,000 men, was completed in only six months. On July 9, 1915, Germans in Southwest Africa surrendered to South African forces there; 16 days later, South Africa annexed the territory. At the Versailles peace conference in 1919, Smuts and Botha argued successfully for a formal Union mandate over Southwest Africa, one of the many commissions granted at the conference to member states of the new League of Nations allowing them to establish their own governments in former German territories. In the years to come, South Africa did not easily relinquish its hold on the territory, not even in the wake of the Second World War, when the United Nations took over the mandates in Africa and gave all other territories their independence. Only in 1990 did South Africa finally welcome a new, independent Namibia as its neighbor.

from the History Channel: January 13, 1916 Battle of Wadi In an attempt to relieve their compatriots under heavy siege by Turkish forces at Kut-al Amara in Mesopotamia, British forces under the command of Lieutenant General Fenton Aylmer launch an attack against Turkish defensive positions on the banks of the Wadi River. British forces under Sir Charles Townshend had occupied Kut, a town on the Tigris River in the Basra province of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) by September 1915. On December 5, the Turks had begun a siege of the town, inflicting heavy casualties. In response to Townshend’s calls for assistance, the British regional command, led by Sir John Nixon, assembled a relief force led by Aylmer that included three new infantry divisions dispatched from India. On January 4, 1916, Aylmer set out up the Tigris from the British forward base at Ali Gharbi with 19,000 troops, 46 guns and two aircraft. His path was blocked by 22,500 Turkish troops and 72 guns under commander Nur-Ur-Din at Sheikh Sa’ad, just 15 kilometers upriver from Ali Gharbi and 32 kilometers from Kut. On January 6, Aylmer’s forces launched an initial attack, which the Turks quickly repelled, resulting in heavy British losses; another attack the next day failed as well. On the night of January 8-9, however, when Aylmer’s forces struck again, they were surprised to find that the Turkish troops had withdrawn for some unknown reason; Nur-Ur-Din was subsequently removed from command after he failed to justify the withdrawal. Still, after losing more than 4,000 men, Aylmer’s troops were exhausted and demoralized as they continued to make their way up the Tigris toward Kut, and their progress was hampered by the region’s typical shortage of available roads and supply routes. Meanwhile, the Turkish army under new regional commander Khalil Pasha set up new and firmer defensive positions—with some 20,000 troops—along the banks of the smaller Wadi River, through which the British would have to pass in order to reach Kut. Aylmer, aware of these enemy movements, planned to surround the Turkish forces, sending troops around to secure the area immediately behind the Turkish lines while simultaneously attacking with artillery from the front. The attack, which began in the early afternoon of January 13—postponed from the morning because of a persistent mist and a slow advance by artillery across the river—quickly lost the intended element of surprise, as the outnumbered British forces on both sides of enemy lines struggled to assert themselves against a robust Turkish defense. By the time Aylmer called off the attack at the end of the day, his troops had gained control of the Wadi, but it was a small advance that was unworthy of the 1,600 men killed or wounded in the attack and did little to bring relief closer to Townshend’s beleaguered forces at Kut. In April 1916, after nearly five months under siege, Townshend finally submitted, along with 10,000 of his men, in the largest single surrender of British troops up to that time. The British won back Kut in February 1917, on their way to the capture of Baghdad the following month.

January 12, 1916 Kaiser awards Pour le Mérite Max Immelmann becomes the first pilot to be awarded Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. The medal is known forever after in the German Air Service as the "Blue Max" in honor of Immelmann. Pour le Mérite was awarded by Kaiser Wilhelm II on January 12, 1916. Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke, members of FA62, and stationed at Douai, had each claimed their eighth victories within a few minutes of each other that very morning. Oswald Boelcke received Pour le Mérite at the same ceremony. Dinner at the mess that night turned into quite a celebration. Cheers, shredward

from the History Channel: January 9, 1917 Battle of Khadairi Bend begins After several months of preparations, British troops under the command of their new regional chief Sir Frederick Maude launch an offensive against Turkish forces at Khadairi Bend, to the north of Kut, Mesopotamia. The British had previously occupied Kut, a strategically important town located on the Tigris River in the Basra province of Mesopotamia—modern-day Iraq—but had surrendered it, along with 10,000 troops under Sir Charles Townshend, in late April 1916 after a five-month siege by the Turks. The humiliating loss of Townshend’s forces caused the British War Office to seek a replacement for Sir John Nixon as regional commander in Mesopotamia. Maude, a cautious and systematic general, arrived in Mesopotamia in mid-1916 as commander of the front-line corps on the Tigris, relieving General George Gorringe, and was soon given command of the entire front. By October 1916, Maude had become determined to use the 150,000 troops under his command to launch a renewed offensive toward Kut. On January 7 and 8, 1917, General Maude’s forces launched a series of minor diversionary attacks nearby as a lead-in to what turned out to be an unusually effective bombardment by artillery on January 9 at Khadairi Bend, a heavily fortified town in a loop of the Tigris north of Kut. The resulting battle continued for almost three weeks, including two counterattacks by the Turks, before the town fell on January 29. In a report Maude made of the offensive several months later, he recounted “severe hand-to-hand fighting” and “heavy losses” by the enemy at Khadairi Bend, which contrasted with some of the quicker victories earned by the British in the preceding months. The Battle of Khadairi Bend proved to be just a prelude to the major Allied offensive in Mesopotamia, the Second Battle of Kut, which began the following month and ended with Kut in British hands. Spurred on by victory, Maude’s forces continued toward the region’s most important city, Baghdad, which fell on March 11. Also on this day, the rearguard of the Newfoundland Regiment was evacuated from the Gallipoli peninsula: the disastrous Dardanelles campaign was finally over.

from the History Channel: January 8, 1917 Wilson outlines the Fourteen Points In an address before a joint meeting of Congress, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson discusses the aims of the United States in World War I and outlines his famous "Fourteen Points" for achieving a lasting peace in Europe. The peace proposal, based on Wilson's concept of "peace without victory," called for the victorious Allies to set unselfish peace terms, including freedom of the seas, the restoration of territories conquered during the war and the right to national self-determination in such contentious regions as the Balkans. Most famously, Wilson called for the establishment of "a general association of nations"—what would become the League of Nations—to guarantee political independence to and protect the territorial lines of "great and small States alike." Wilson's principal purpose in delivering the speech was to present a practical alternative both to the traditional notion of an international balance of power preserved by alliances among nations—belief in the viability of which had been shattered by the Great War—and to the Bolshevik-inspired dreams of world revolution that at the time were gaining ground both within and outside of Russia. Wilson hoped also to keep a conflict-ridden Russia in the war on the Allied side. This effort met with failure, as the Bolsheviks sought peace with the Central Powers at the end of 1917, shortly after taking power. In other ways, however, Wilson's Fourteen Points played an essential role in world politics over the next several years. The speech was translated and distributed to the soldiers and citizens of Germany and Austria-Hungary and contributed significantly to their decision to agree to an armistice in November 1918. Like the man himself, Wilson's Fourteen Points were liberal, democratic and idealistic—he spoke in grand and inspiring terms but was less certain of the specifics of how his aims would be achieved. At Versailles, Wilson had to contend with the leaders of the other victorious nations, who disagreed with many of the Fourteen Points and demanded stiff penalties for Germany. The terms of the final peace treaty—including an ineffectual League of Nations convention that Wilson could not even convince his own Congress to ratify—fell far short of his lofty visions and are believed by many to have ultimately contributed to the outbreak of a second world war two decades later.

from the History Channel: January 7, 1915 Bolshevik envoy approaches German ambassador in Turkey As Bolshevik groups work to foment revolution among Russia's peasants, Alexander Helphand, a wealthy Bolshevik businessman working as a German agent, approaches the German ambassador to Turkey in Constantinople to let him know how closely German and Bolshevik interests are aligned. "The interests of the German government are identical with those of the Russian revolutionaries," Helphand claimed. The Bolsheviks were working feverishly to destroy the czarist regime and break the country into smaller socialist republics. At the same time, Germany was depending on a major upheaval within Russia to break the stalemate on the Eastern Front and push the immense but volatile country toward peace negotiations with the Germans. Helphand persuaded the German Foreign Ministry that a mass strike was the key to revolution in Russia—and that Germany should lend a hand to the Bolsheviks in their efforts to engineer that strike. The conversation marked the beginning of Germany's growing interest in the fomentation of the Russian revolution—an interest that culminated in their facilitation, in April 1917, of the return of exiled Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin from Switzerland to Petrograd in a train that passed over German soil. His journey was the result of efforts made by the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to convince the Kaiser and the army that Lenin's presence was paramount to the success of revolution in Russia—a revolution Germany should support despite the inherent threat Marxism posed to imperial regimes like the kaiser's. Germany did not have to wait long to see the results of its investment. In November 1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power. Barely a month later, Russia sought peace with Germany.

from Wikipaedia January 6, 1916 King Edward VII sunk On 6 January 1916, King Edward VII, having transferred her flag temporarily, departed Scapa Flow at 0712 hours on a voyage around the northern coast of Scotland to Belfast, where she was scheduled to undergo a refit. At 1047 hours she struck a mine that had been laid by the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Möwe off Cape Wrath. The explosion occurred under the starboard engine room, and King Edward VII listed eight degrees to starboard. Her commanding officer, Captain MacLachlin, ordered her helm put over to starboard to close the coast and beach the ship if necessary, but the helm jammed hard to starboard and the engine rooms quickly flooded, stopping the engines. Counterflooding reduced her list to five degrees. Signals to the passing collier Princess Melita induced her to close with King Edward VII and attempt to tow the battleship; soon flotilla leader HMS Kempfenfelt also arrived and joined the tow attempt. Towing began at 1415 hours, but King Edward VII settled deeper in the water and took on a 15-degee list in a rising sea and strong winds and proved unmanageable. Princess Melita's towline parted at 1440 hours, after which Captain MacLachlin ordered Kempfenfelt to slip her tow as well. With flooding continuing and darkness approaching, Captain MacLachlin ordered King Edward VII abandoned. Destroyer Musketeer came alongside at 1445 hours, and she and destroyers Fortune and Marne, took off the crew without loss of life, the last man off being Captain MacLachlin, who boarded destroyer Nessus at 1610 hours. Fortune, Marne, and Musketeer departed to take the battleship's crew to port, while Nessus stayed on the scene until 1720 hours with tugs that had arrived to assist. After Nessus departed, the tugs continued to stand by, and saw King Edward VII capsize at 2010 hours and sink around nine hours after the explosion. At the time it was not clear whether King Edward VII had hit a naval mine or a been torpedoed. The presence of the minefield was determined from an examination of German records after the war. The wreck of King Edward VII, in 115 meters of water, was first visited by divers in April 1997. Like all British battleships since the Majestic class, the King Edward VII-class ships had four 12-inch guns in two twin turrets (one forward and one aft). Mounting of the 6-inch guns was in a central battery amidships protected by 7-inch armored walls. King Edward VII and her sisters were the first British battleships with balanced rudders since the 1870s and were very maneuverable, with a tactical diameter of 340 yards at 15 knots. However, they were difficult to keep on a straight course, and this characteristic led to them being nicknamed "the Wobbly Eight" during their 1914-1916 service in the Grand Fleet. They had a slightly faster roll than previous British battleship classes, but were good gun platforms, although very wet in bad weather. By 1914, King Edward VII and her sister ships were, like all predreadnoughts, so outclassed that they spent much of their 1914-1916 Grand Fleet service steaming at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, protecting the dreadnoughts from naval mines by being the first battleships to either sight or strike them.

from the History Channel: January 5, 1916 First conscription bill is introduced in British Parliament With the Great War edging into its third calendar year, British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith introduces the first military conscription bill in his country's history to the House of Commons on this day in 1916. Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Britain's secretary of state for war, had warned from the beginning that the war would be decided by Britain's last 1 million men. All the regular divisions of the British army went into action in the summer of 1914 and the campaign for volunteers based around the slogan "Your King and Country Need You!" began in earnest in August of that year. New volunteers were rapidly enlisted and trained, many of them joining what were known as "Pals battalions," or regiments of men from the same town or from similar professional backgrounds. Though the volunteer response was undoubtedly impressive—almost 500,000 men enlisted in the first six weeks of the war alone—some doubted the quality of these so-called "Kitchener armies." British General Henry Wilson, a career military man, wrote in his diary of his country's "ridiculous and preposterous army" and compared it unfavorably to that of Germany, which, with the help of conscription, had been steadily building and improving its armed forces for the past 40 years. By the end of 1915, as the war proved to be far longer and bloodier than expected and the army shrank—Britain had lost 60,000 officers by late summer—it had become clear to Kitchener that military conscription would be necessary to win the war. Asquith, though he feared conscription would be a politically unattractive proposition, finally submitted. On January 5, 1916, he introduced the first conscription bill to Parliament. It was passed into law as the Military Service Act later that month and went into effect on February 10. Britain had entered the war believing that its primary role would be to provide industrial and economic support to its allies, but by war's end the country had enlisted 49 percent of its men between the ages of 15 and 49 for military service, a clear testament to the immense human sacrifice the conflict demanded.

from the History Channel: January 1, 1915 Formidable is torpedoed In the early-morning hours of New Year’s Day, 1915, the 15,000-ton British HMS class battleship Formidable is torpedoed by the German submarine U-24 and sinks in the English Channel, killing 547 men. The Formidable was part of the 5th Battle Squadron unit serving with the Channel Fleet. The Formidable and the seven other battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron were under the command of Admiral Lewis Bayly, and were in the channel for firing practice on New Year’s Eve. Unbeknownst to the British, the German submarine U-24, captained by Rudolph Schneider, had been watching the squadron all day and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Schneider found his moment with the squadron heading west in Lyme Bay. At a little before 0230 hours the German submarine fired a torpedo into the starboard side of the Formidable by the fore funnel. The battleship began taking on water and began to list to its starboard side before being plunged into darkness. The German captain maneuvered the submarine into position and fired a second torpedo into the port side of the Formidable about 45 minutes after the first strike. The Formidable was now taking on water fast and capsized and sank about 90 minutes after the second torpedo strike. Only 233 of the original crew of 780 survived.

Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:44pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have found out what made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly -- a group of three genes that lets the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia. They mixed samples of the 1918 influenza strain with modern seasonal flu viruses to find the three genes and said their study might help in the development of new flu drugs. The discovery, published in Tuesday's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could also point to mutations that might turn ordinary flu into a dangerous pandemic strain. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin and colleagues at the Universities of Kobe and Tokyo in Japan used ferrets, which develop flu in ways very similar to humans. Usually flu causes an upper respiratory infection affecting the nose and throat, as well as so-called systemic illness causing fever, muscle aches and weakness. But some people become seriously ill and develop pneumonia. Sometimes bacteria cause the pneumonia and sometimes flu does it directly. During pandemics, such as in 1918, a new and more dangerous flu strain emerges. "The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease in human history, accounting for about 50 million deaths worldwide," Kawaoka's team wrote. It killed 2.5 percent of victims, compared to fewer than 1 percent during most annual flu epidemics. Autopsies showed many of the victims, often otherwise healthy young adults, died of severe pneumonia. "We wanted to know why the 1918 flu caused severe pneumonia," Kawaoka said in a statement. They painstakingly substituted single genes from the 1918 virus into modern flu viruses and, one after another, they acted like garden-variety flu, infecting only the upper respiratory tract. But a complex of three genes helped to make the virus live and reproduce deep in the lungs. The three genes -- called PA, PB1, and PB2 -- along with a 1918 version of the nucleoprotein or NP gene, made modern seasonal flu kill ferrets in much the same way as the original 1918 flu, Kawaoka's team found. Most flu experts agree that a pandemic of influenza will almost certainly strike again. No one knows when or what strain it will be but one big suspect now is the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

from the History Channel: December 29, 1915 French government gives land for British war cemeteries On this day in 1915, the French National Assembly passes a law formally ceding the land that holds the British war cemeteries to Great Britain. The move ensured even as the war was being fought that its saddest and most sacred monuments would be forever protected. The law stated that the land was "the free gift of the French people for a perpetual resting place of those who are laid there." By the end of the war, it would apply to more than 1,200 cemeteries along the Western Front, the majority located near the battlefields in the Somme, Nord, and Pas-de-Calais regions. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, established in 1917 by a British royal charter, supervised the construction of the cemeteries and their monuments, which were designed by some of the most prominent British architects of the day. The last monument was put in place in 1938. The French office of the commission is charged with the maintenance of these cemeteries; between 400 and 500 members of its staff tend the graves and the surrounding horticulture. In addition to the cemeteries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission also tends to the numerous monuments that exist on the Western Front to commemorate the missing. One of the largest of these stands at Thiepval, on the Somme battlefield, and bears the names of 73,357 British and South African soldiers and officers who died there between July 1915 and March 1918 and whose final resting place is not known.

On November 7, 2006, singer Chris de Burgh paid £14,400 at Bonhams auction house for an original 10 page letter from an unknown British soldier that records events and incidents with the Germans on that night describing "the most memorable Christmas I've ever spent". The letter begins: This will be the most memorable Christmas I've ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don't think theres been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs. The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us—wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think theyve all come back bar one from 'E' Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir. In spite of our fires etc. it was terribly cold and a job to sleep between look out duties, which are two hours in every six. First thing this morning it was very foggy. So we stood to arms a little longer than usual. A few of us that were lucky could go to Holy Communion early this morning. It was celebrated in a ruined farm about 500 yds behind us. I unfortunately couldn't go. There must be something in the spirit of Christmas as to day we are all on top of our trenches running about. Whereas other days we have to keep our heads well down. We had breakfast about 8.0 which went down alright especially some cocoa we made. We also had some of the post this morning. I had a parcel from B. G's Lace Dept containing a sweater, smokes, under clothes etc. We also had a card from the Queen, which I am sending back to you to look after please. After breakfast we had a game of football at the back of our trenches! We've had a few Germans over to see us this morning. They also sent a party over to bury a sniper we shot in the week. He was about a 100 yds from our trench. A few of our fellows went out and helped to bury him. About 10.30 we had a short church parade the morning service etc. held in the trench. How we did sing. 'O come all ye faithful. And While shepherds watched their flocks by night' were the hymns we had. At present we are cooking our Christmas Dinner! so will finish this letter later. Dinner is over! and well we enjoyed it. Our dinner party started off with fried bacon and dip-bread: followed by hot Xmas Pudding. I had a mascot in my piece. Next item on the menu was muscatels and almonds, oranges, bananas, chocolate etc followed by cocoa and smokes. You can guess we thought of the dinners at home. Just before dinner I had the pleasure of shaking hands with several Germans: a party of them came 1/2way over to us so several of us went out to them. I exchanged one of my balaclavas for a hat. I've also got a button off one of their tunics. We also exchanged smokes etc. and had a decent chat. They say they won't fire tomorrow if we don't so I suppose we shall get a bit of a holiday—perhaps. After exchanging autographs and them wishing us a Happy New Year we departed and came back and had our dinner. We can hardly believe that we've been firing at them for the last week or two—it all seems so strange. At present its freezing hard and everything is covered with ice… The letter ends: There are plenty of huge shell holes in front of our trenches, also pieces of shrapnel to be found. I never expected to shake hands with Germans between the firing lines on Christmas Day and I don't suppose you thought of us doing so. So after a fashion we've enjoyed? our Christmas. Hoping you spend a happy time also George Boy as well. How we thought of England during the day. Kind regards to all the neighbours. With much love from Boy. shredward __________________ We will remember them.

from Wikipedia: Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914 The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, most notably Stille Nacht (Silent Night). The Scottish troops in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were calls for visits across the "No Man's Land" where small gifts were exchanged — whisky, jam, cigars, chocolate, and the like. The soldiers exchanged gifts, sometimes addresses, and drank together. The artillery in the region fell silent that night. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently-fallen soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Proper burials took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respects. At one funeral in No Man's Land, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from the 23rd Psalm: The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. The truce spread to other areas of the lines, and there are many stories of football matches between the opposing forces. In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, but in some areas, it continued until New Year's Day. The truce occurred in spite of opposition at higher levels of the military. Earlier in the autumn, a call by Pope Benedict XV for an official truce between the warring governments had been ignored. British commanders Sir John French and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien vowed that no such truce would be allowed again, although both had left command before Christmas 1915. In all of the following years of the war, artillery bombardments were ordered on Christmas Eve to ensure that there were no further lulls in the combat. Troops were also rotated through various sectors of the front to prevent them from becoming overly familiar with the enemy. Despite those measures, there were a few friendly encounters between enemy soldiers, but on a much smaller scale than in 1914. In December 1915, "When the Christmas bells sounded in the villages of the Vosges behind the lines ….. something fantastically unmilitary occurred. German and French troops spontaneously made peace and ceased hostilities; they visited each other through disused trench tunnels, and exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Westphalian black bread, biscuits and ham. This suited them so well that they remained good friends even after Christmas was over." From an account by Richard Schirrmann, who was in a German regiment holding a position on the Bernhardstein, one of the mountains of the Vosges, and separated from the French troops by a narrow no-man's-land, described by him as "strewn with shattered trees, the ground ploughed up by shellfire, a wilderness of earth, tree-roots and tattered uniforms." Military discipline was soon restored, but Schirrmann pondered over the incident, and whether "thoughtful young people of all countries could be provided with suitable meeting places where they could get to know each other." He went on to found the German Youth Hostel Association in 1919. During the first two years after the lines of the Western Front stabilized, other situations of informal armistice (i.e. armistice not imposed by high command) were recognized by both sides. According to anecdotes, inexperienced British commanders were astonished to find British and German forces both exposing themselves above the trench line within clear range of enemy guns. Artillery was often fired at precise points, at precise times, to avoid enemy casualties by both sides. Situations of deliberate dampening of hostilities also occurred by some accounts, e.g., a volley of gunfire being exchanged after a misplaced mortar hit the British line, after which a German soldier shouted an apology to British forces, effectively stopping a hostile exchange of gunfire. On 11 November 2008, the first official Truce memorial was unveiled in Frélinghien, France, the site of a Christmas Truce football game in 1914. After the unveiling and a Service of Remembrance, men from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh (The Royal Welch Fusiliers) played a football match with the German Panzergrenadier Battalion 371. The Germans won, 2-1. 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh and Panzergrenadier Battalion 371 were invited to take part because their regimental ancestors from 2nd Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers and the 134th Saxon Infantry Regiment had held the Truce at Frelinghien on Christmas Day, 1914. Before the match, as happened in 1914, a Saxon soldier rolled a barrel of beer towards the Welsh while Major Stockwell offered Lieutenant-Colonel von Sinner a plum pudding and a cigar. The football, signed by all players, is now in the possession of the Arbeitkreis für Sächsische Militärgeschichte. shredward

from the History Channel: December 20, 1914 First Battle of Champagne begins After minor skirmishes, the First Battle of Champagne begins in earnest, marking the first major Allied attack against the Germans since the initiation of trench warfare on the Western Front. Still determined to win a quick victory, and despite early defeats in the trenches against German positions, French commander Joseph Joffre planned a major offensive stretching throughout the Artois and Champagne regions of France from Nieuport in the north to Verdun in the south. After minor attacks on December 10 near Perthes in eastern Champagne, heavy fighting occurred simultaneously at Givenchy, Perthes, and Noyon, where the numerical advantage enjoyed by the French resulted in few gains in territory. The Germans were well-entrenched and their defense proved superior. From the outset of the war, machine gun battalions were used along with the regular infantry, which proved lethally effective in Champagne. Winter weather made for dismal conditions on the battlefield: guns became clogged with mud and refused to fire, and heavy rainfall often made the trenches practically unusable. Fighting continued in the region from mid-December until mid-February, when the French paused briefly to reorganize, and then again until March 17, 1915. On that day, due to their continuing lack of gains and the strength of German counter-attacks since the beginning of the year, the French called off the attack. Joffre did not give up hope of eventual success in Champagne, however, and would begin another offensive there in the fall of 1915. from the History Channel: December 21, 1915 Sir William Robertson is appointed chief of the Imperial General Staff Shortly after Sir Douglas Haig is installed as the new commander-in-chief of the British forces, his steadfast supporter, Sir William Robertson, is appointed the new chief of the Imperial General Staff, with King George's backing and over the head of the embattled British war secretary, Sir Horatio Kitchener. Robertson, who first enlisted as a private solder in 1877, became the only man in the British army to rise from such humble beginnings to the rank of field marshal by the end of the Great War. His impressive ascent included stints as an officer in India and South Africa; positions in British Intelligence in both the Russian and colonial areas; head of the Foreign Section of the War Office in London; chief of the general staff under Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien; commandant of the Staff College from 1910 to 1913; and finally director of military training at the War Office, where he was serving when war broke out in August 1914. With the start of war, Robertson was plucked from his duties in London and sailed to Boulogne, France, as quartermaster-general of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), then led by Sir John French. When Haig replaced French on December 19, 1915, the new commander-in-chief saw his chance to appoint his ally to replace Sir Archibald Murray as chief of an Imperial General Staff that had been allowed to weaken under Kitchener's watch since before the war. The strong-willed Robertson had already concluded by the time of his appointment that the war could only be won on the Western Front. He wrote to Kitchener on December 27 that "we can only end the war in our favour by attrition or by breaking through the German line." In this view, Robertson coincided with Haig, but the force of his personality ensured that he would be more that just Haig's puppet. In his new role, he effectively served as a liaison between the army and the government. He supported the ousting of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in December 1916 in favor of David Lloyd George, then clashed bitterly with Lloyd George over the latter's attempts to subordinate Haig and Robertson himself through the formation of a Superior War Council that would direct the war's policy. In early 1918, when the new council created a strategic reserve corps of its own, against Haig's wishes and out of Robertson's command, Robertson resigned his position. He was replaced by Sir Henry Wilson. Robertson subsequently returned to London. After the war, he served as commander in chief of the British Army on the Rhine. In March 1920, he was made a field marshal. He published two memoirs about his military career: From Private to Field Marshal and Soldiers and Statesmen. Sir William Robertson died in 1933.

from the History Channel: December 18, 1916 Battle of Verdun ends The Battle of Verdun, the longest engagement of World War I, ends on this day after ten months and close to a million total casualties suffered by German and French troops. The battle had begun on February 21, after the Germans—led by Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn—developed a plan to attack the fortress city of Verdun, on the Meuse River in France. Falkenhayn believed that the French army was more vulnerable than the British, and that a major defeat on the Western Front would push the Allies to open peace negotiations. From the beginning, casualties mounted quickly on both sides of the conflict, and after some early gains of territory by the Germans, the battle settled into a bloody stalemate. Among the weapons in the German arsenal was the newly-invented flammenwerfer, or flamethrower; that year also saw the first use by the Germans of phosgene gas, ten times more lethal than the chlorine gas they previously used. As fighting at Verdun stretched on and on, German resources were stretched thinner by having to confront both a British-led offensive on the Somme River and Russia's Brusilov Offensive on the Eastern Front. In July, the Kaiser, frustrated by the state of things at Verdun, removed Falkenhayn and sent him to command the 9th Army in Transylvania; Paul von Hindenburg took his place. By early December, under Robert Nivelle, who had been appointed to replace Philippe PÉtain in April, the French had managed to recapture much of their lost territory, and in the last three days of battle took 11,000 German prisoners before Hindenburg finally called a stop to the German attacks. The massive loss of life at Verdun—143,000 German dead out of 337,000 casualties, to France's 162,440 out of 377,231—would come to symbolize, more than that of any other battle, the bloody nature of trench warfare on the Western Front. from the History Channel: December 19, 1915 Haig becomes commander-in-chief of the British army in France In the wake of the British defeat at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, Sir Douglas Haig replaces Sir John French as commander-in-chief of all British forces on the Western Front. Haig, who commanded the 1st Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Loos, had asked French to authorize the release of two reserve divisions before the battle. French eventually consented, but due to disorganization and the long distance they had to travel, the reserves arrived too late to make a difference. The offensive at Loos ended in failure, and the incident contributed to French's removal from his position in December in favor of Haig, who enjoyed some influence with King George V. The controversial Haig served as commander of the BEF through the end of the war—from devastating battles at Verdun and the Somme to the Allied offensives in 1918 that would lead to victory—despite criticism from such formidable detractors as British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who wrote later that at times he wondered if he should have resigned rather than allow Haig to pursue his strategy. -If I remember the quote right, Lloyd George said he was "brilliant to the tops of his boots" Cheers, shredward

December 16, 1914 Germans bombard English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough At approximately 8 o'clock in the morning, German battle cruisers from Franz von Hipper's Scouting Squadron catch the British navy by surprise as they begin heavy bombardment of Hartlepool and Scarborough, English port cities on the North Sea. The bombardment lasted for about one and a half hours, killing more than 130 civilians and wounding another 500. It would unleash a damning response from the British press, which pointed to the incident as yet another example of German brutality. The German navy, however, saw the two port cities as valid targets due to their fortified status. Two defense batteries in Hartlepool responded to the attacks, damaging three of the German vessels, including the heavy cruiser Blucher. Hipper's squadron hoped to draw British forces to pursue them across waters freshly laced with mines. Another German fleet, commanded by Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, sat waiting offshore to provide support. A major confrontation did not take place, however, as the British decided to keep most of their fleet—depleted by the dispatch of their major cruisers to pursue the dangerous squadron of Admiral Maximilian von Spee—in the harbor. An attempt by the Scouting Squadron one month later to repeat the tactics used to surprise the British at Scarborough and Hartlepool resulted in the Battle of Dogger Bank, where Hipper's squadron was defeated but managed to avoid capture.

from the History Channel: December 15, 1915 British begin evacuation of Gallipoli On December 15, Allied forces begin a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire. The Gallipoli campaign resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties and a greatly discredited Allied military command. Roughly an equal number of Turks were killed or wounded. In early 1915, the British government resolved to ease Turkish pressure on the Russians on the Caucasus front by seizing control of the Dardanelles channel, the Gallipoli peninsula, and then Istanbul. From there, pressure could be brought on Austria-Hungary, forcing the Central Powers to divert troops from the Western Front. The first lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, strongly supported the plan, and in February 1915 French and British ships began bombarding the Turkish forts guarding the Dardanelles. Bad weather interrupted the operation and on March 18 six English and four French warships moved into the Dardanelles. The Turks, however, had used the intervening time wisely, setting mines that sank three Allied ships and badly damaged three more. The naval attack was called off and a larger land invasion was planned. Beginning April 25, British, Australian, and New Zealand troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, while the French pretended to land on the opposite coast to divert Ottoman forces. The Australians and New Zealanders were devastated by the Turkish defenders, who were led by Mustafa Kemal, the future President Ataturk of Turkey. Meanwhile, the British were also met with fierce resistance at their Cape Helles landing sites and suffered two-thirds casualties at some locations. During the next three months, the Allies made only slight gains off their landing sites and sustained terrible casualties. To break the stalemate, a new British landing at Suvla Bay occurred on August 6, but the British failed to capitalize on their largely unopposed landing and waited too long to move against the heights. Ottoman reinforcements arrived and quickly halted their progress. Trenches were dug, and the British were able to advance only a few miles. In September, Sir Ian Hamilton, the British commander, was replaced by Sir Charles Monro, who in December recommended an evacuation from Gallipoli. On January 8, 1916, the last of the Allied troops were withdrawn. As a result of the disastrous campaign, Churchill resigned as first lord of the Admiralty and accepted a commission to command an infantry battalion in France. from the History Channel:

Hello Shredward, december 8th .. since i just saw a history channel documentary, and wrote about a similar theme.. There's more about it here: http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/falkland.html Your quote is certainly ok, just because this battle had some impact later : Spee did not give the Falklands a wide berth, because he did not know the british fleet was waiting for him. Indeed he wanted to "raid" the Falklands to get coal for his fleet. He was almost warned, but unfortunately did not pay attention to the fishing boat that had been sent to warn him. Arriving at the harbour Spee soon realized what was going on. It would have been possible, to shell and sink the british fleet, which was coaling and out of steam, pants down. However Spee missed this golden opportunity, and tried to escape. Indeed the british fleet was not exactly waiting, but provisioning their ships to then hunt Spee and his group down - on special order of Churchill, who wanted vengeance for the sinking of the two battleships. At the end of the war, the british Navy had lost exactly 100 battleships, and Churchill had to give up his position because of that. After sighting the german fleet and their manoeuvering, provisioning was abandoned, steam made up, and the ships left the harbour to hunt Spee and his fleet. The german fleet, its main battlewagons consisting of two armoured cruisers, was indeed suffering from worn-out engines and lack of coal, and the ships were not able to outrun the battleships Inflexible and Invincible, nor able to fight them out of range. Spee then turned around to give his light cruisers the chance to slip away. " ...Inflexible opened fire on the German ships from 16,500 yards, careful to stay outside the range of the German guns. Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst was sunk first, with the admiral aboard; his two sons, on the Gneisenau and NÜrnberg, also went down with their ships. All told, Germany lost four warships and more than 2,000 sailors in the Falkland Islands, compared with only 10 British deaths. ..." But the german ship "Dresden" was able to outrun the british ships. From wikipedia: " ... Dresden was the only German cruiser to escape destruction at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, her turbine engines proving faster than her expansion-engined squadron mates. The ship then headed south back around Cape Horn to the maze of channels and bays in southern Chile. Until March 1915 she evaded Royal Navy searches while paralyzing British trade routes in the area. ..." The hunt for the Dresden took months as she made her way into the Pacific pursued by British cruisers. They eventually caught up with her at Mas a Tierra on March 13 by Glasgow, Kent and the armed merchant cruiser Orama. Glasgow had escaped from Dresden at Coronel, Dresden evaded Glasgow at the Falklands but it was Glasgow and Captain Luce who were to be final victors. The Dresden had only 80 tons of coal left, no ammunition for its main batteries, and was virtually out of action due to its engines, that had suffered badly by running at full speed all the time. Glasgow infringed Chilean neutrality at Robinson's island by opening fire on Dresden whilst she was anchored in Chilean waters. After five minutes Dresden was heavily hit and surrendered. Whilst surrender talks were going on the Germans abandoned ship and scuttling charges detonated her magazine, ending the last of Spee's squadron. Dresden suffered eight killed and sixteen wounded. Churchill had wanted his fleet to set an end to the Dresden by all means, he had pursued the last surviving ship with a personal hate. It is said that it was him who wanted to bomb the city of Dresden near the end of WW2 just because of this personal slight against him, or so he saw it. Churchill had lost his position in the British Navy due to the heavy losses of warships, and his decision to invade Turkey via Gallipoli. I know this is completely OT, but since i came about this last week i thought you might like to read it. Greetings, Catfish Hallo Catfish, Thankyou for that. I remember seeing a documentary where a diving team explored the grave of Dresden. Fascinating stuff. Not at all off-topic - this is what I hoped this thread would do; stimulate us to explore what happened, and what might have been. I have been diving through old newspaper articles, and I often find hints of how, but for a decision here, or a twist of fate there, how the world we find ourselves in today, might have turned out so differently. I am always haunted, at this time of year, by thoughts of the Christmas Truce of 1914, and how different our world today would be, if only those men had not returned to the trenches, but ended the war right there and then. Peace, shredward