Why was 1917 such a pivotal year

April - British combat pilots on the Western Front suffer a 50 percent casualty rate during Bloody April as the Germans shoot down fighter planes. The average life expectancy of an Allied fighter pilot is now three weeks, resulting from aerial dogfights and accidents.

April 2, - President Woodrow Wilson appears before the U. Congress and gives a speech saying "the world must be made safe for democracy" then asks the Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.

April 9, - The British Army has one of its most productive days of the war as 3rd Army, supported by Canadian and Australian troops, makes rapid advances north of the Hindenburg Line at Arras and Vimy on the Western Front. The expansive first-day achievement in snowy weather includes a 3. However, similar to past offensives, the inability to capitalize on initial successes and maintain momentum gives the Germans an opportunity to regroup and further gains are thwarted.

The British suffer , casualties during the offensive, while the Germans suffer , April 16, - The French 5th and 6th Armies attack along a mile front south of the Hindenburg Line. The new offensive comes amid promises of a major breakthrough within hours by the new French Commander-in-Chief, Robert Nivelle, who planned the operation.

Nivelle once again utilizes his creeping barrage tactic in which his armies advance in stages closely behind successive waves of artillery fire. However, this time it is poorly coordinated and the troops fall far behind. The Germans also benefit from good intelligence and aerial reconnaissance and are mostly aware of the French plan.

Nivelle's offensive collapses within days with over , casualties. April 16, - Political agitator Vladimir Lenin arrives back in Russia, following 12 years of exile in Switzerland. Special train transportation for his return was provided by the Germans in the hope that anti-war Lenin and his radical Bolshevik Party will disrupt Russia's new Provisional Government.

Lenin joins other Bolsheviks in Petrograd who have already returned from exile including Joseph Stalin. Congress, authorizing a draft. The small U. Army, presently consisting of , men, will be enlarged to 4,, via the draft. May 19, - The Provisional Government of Russia announces it will stay in the war. However, Russian soldiers and peasants are now flocking to Lenin's Bolshevik Party which opposes the war and the Provisional Government.

May June 1, - The mutinous atmosphere in the French Army erupts into open insubordination as soldiers refuse orders to advance. More than half of the French divisions on the Western Front experience some degree of disruption by disgruntled soldiers, angry over the unending battles of attrition and appalling living conditions in the muddy, rat and lice-infested trenches. The new Commander-in-Chief, Henri Petain, cracks down on the mutiny by ordering mass arrests, followed by several firing squad executions that serve as a warning.

Petain then suspends all French offensives and visits the troops to personally promise an improvement of the whole situation. With the French Army in disarray the main burden on the Western Front falls squarely upon the British.

Upon detonation, 10, Germans stationed on the ridge vanish instantly. The British then storm the ridge forcing the surviving Germans to withdraw to a new defensive position further eastward.

February 1 st : Germany resumed its unrestricted submarine warfare campaign. February 10 th : The first use of the convoy system for British merchant ships taking coal to France. March 12 th : President Wilson ordered the arming of US merchant ships. Russian troops mutinied and joined demonstrators in Petrograd. With thanks to our annual sponsors.

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Hanisch, Ernst: Der lange Schatten des Staates. The entry into the war of the USA shifted the balance of power in favour of the western powers. We employ strictly necessary and analysis cookies. Analysis cookies are used only with your consent and exclusively for statistical purposes.

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