#firstworldwar

Women in World War I: Changing Roles & Rights

During the First World War (1914-18), as governments sought to field the largest armies possible and so conscripted millions of men to the fighting fronts, the role of women in society was greatly expanded. Women worked as nurses and medical staff, performed support duties in the armed services, and replaced men in factories and public services. The new freedoms were mostly curbed again after the war, but one lasting development was women gaining, for the first time, the right to vote in several countries, notably in Russia, Germany, the United States, and Great Britain.

Women at the Front

During WWI, Russia was the exception in permitting women to join the armed forces in fighting capacity. Maria 'Yashka' Bochkareva (1889-1920) famously petitioned the tsar in order to be allowed to do so. "Bochkareva was a brilliant success…She was four times wounded and three times decorated…She was captured and escaped; promoted corporal and then sergeant" (Shukman, 308). When the Provisional Government took power following the tsar's abdication in March 1917, Bochkareva was tasked with forming the first Women's Death Battalion. The main idea was that the well-drilled and disciplined 300 women of this battalion (who all shaved their heads) would shame male soldiers into being more disciplined themselves and inspire more men to join the armed forces. Bochkareva's battalion inflicted a serious defeat on a German army on the South-West Front in July, a victory which included the capture of 2,000 prisoners. Several other women's battalions were created in the summer of 1917, including a naval detachment.

In Britain, women who wanted to help directly on the fighting fronts could not join the armed services as combatants, but the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), later renamed the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC), was formed at the end of 1916. The WAAC operated on the home front and sent women to France from 1917, members performing such duties as catering and waitressing for male soldiers. The next year, the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was established, and in 1918, the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was formed. These three women's organisations had over 100,000 members by 1918, but women did not bear arms in them; rather, they provided support, such as clerical work, driving vehicles, catering, and maintenance work, 'freeing' men to join the fighting ranks.

More commonly, women on all sides worked as paid and fully trained nurses or volunteer medical staff in the military hospitals behind, but often still very close to, the front lines. Over 17,000 British nurses served in field hospitals on the Western Front. Daisy Spickett was one such nurse, and here she explains why she joined the medical services:

I always had in mind that I wanted to nurse and as soon as I heard of any talk of forming Red Cross Hospitals I began to make enquiries. I heard also that there was a likelihood of the War Office wanting volunteers for military hospitals, and that was what I decided I wanted. It seemed to me the only hope of getting right into the middle of everything, getting abroad and doing whatever was going, and the idea of the Army attracted me – being in the Army. But it seemed to me the thing I wanted more than anything else and that was how I put my name down for military hospitals and got my posting in July 1915.

(Imperial War Museums)

Women in the medical services not only cared for the sick and wounded but also performed many other necessary tasks, such as driving ambulances, serving as vehicle mechanics, and working in clerical administration.

Read More

10 Maps of World War I

This collection of maps tells the story of World War I (1914-1918), a global conflict that originated in Europe and emerged from a combination of militarism, alliance systems, imperial rivalries, and nationalist tensions among the major powers.

Triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, the First World War rapidly escalated into a multifront struggle involving the Allied Powers (notably Britain, France, and Russia, later joined by the United States) and the Central Powers (primarily Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire). Characterized by industrialized warfare, trench stalemate on the Western Front, and total mobilization of societies and economies, the conflict resulted in unprecedented casualties and the collapse of several empires. The war reshaped political borders, contributed to revolutionary movements, and created unresolved tensions that significantly influenced the outbreak of World War II.

Read More

Second Battle of the Marne: The Beginning of the End for Germany in WWI

The Second Battle of the Marne was, in many respects, the long-awaited turning point of the First World War. Fought in July and August 1918, it saw Germany's last advance of the Spring Offensive rebuffed by a strong Allied counterattack. With hundreds of thousands of US troops landing in Europe each month and with hundreds of new tanks at their disposal, the Allied divisions – including French, British, US, Italian, Canadian, and Australian troops – pushed the German Army into what became a permanent retreat.

Read More

German Spring Offensive: Ludendorff's Last Chance to Win WWI

The German Spring Offensive, also called the Ludendorff Offensive after its commander, was the last major German advance of the First World War (1914-18). From March to July 1918, Ludendorff launched five major attacks on the Western Front to break the deadlock of trench warfare. The Allied resistance, use of tanks, and massive reserves, along with German logistical failures, meant that the offensives, despite each starting well, eventually petered out. The German Army, which lost 800,000 men in the Spring Offensive, simply could not compete with the combined Allied forces, which now included US divisions.

Last Throw of the Dice

By the spring of 1918, the war was looking increasingly desperate from the German point of view. It was true that Russia had dropped out of the war following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Germany was thus able to withdraw troops and material from the Eastern Front to significantly boost the Western Front. 44 German divisions were moved westwards. On the other hand, the United States had finally entered the war on the side of the Allies, and this gave them a much-needed boost in men and weaponry. On the Western Front in the spring of 1918, each side could field around 4 million men, but as each week passed, tens of thousands more US troops landed in Europe. The parity in men would not last long.

At this point in the war, the Allied air forces had superior flying machines and more of them compared to the German air force. The Allies had also begun to use tanks more effectively, notably en masse at the Battle of Cambrai in November-December 1917. The Germans, meanwhile, remained sceptical of the tank's usefulness. In short, the military and economic power of the Allies combined meant that it was unlikely Germany could win the war if it dragged on for another year or more.

General Erich von Ludendorff (1865-1937) knew that if Germany had any chance at all, it would have to move quickly before the Allies grew even stronger in the field. In particular, a German advance would have to be made before the United States made a decisive military contribution to the war. This was particularly so since the U-boat campaign against Allied shipping was proving less and less effective as the enemy used armed convoys and air support to minimise losses. If Germany were to win the war, it would have to be on land. Accordingly, Ludendorff launched not one but five offensives in the spring and early summer of 1918.

The five campaigns of the Spring Offensive were:

The Somme Offensive (March-April)

The Lys Offensive (April)

The Third Battle of Aisne (May-June)

The Noyon-Montdidier Offensive (June)

The Marne Offensive (July)

Read More

Battle of Passchendaele: Haig's Folly in the Mud of Flanders

The Third Battle of Ypres was widely seen as an Allied failure. Strictly speaking, Haig had won the battle, but the gains were minimal and the costs high. The British and British Empire forces had overall suffered between 250,000 and 275,000 casualties (including 70,000 killed) in three months of fighting for no strategic gain. Haig was criticised for wasting men for the very limited gain of a salient just 5 miles (8 km) deeper into enemy territory. All of this territory would be lost in just three days during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, when the lack of British reserves, men lost at Passchendaele, was telling.

Read More

First Battle of the Marne: How Paris was Saved in World War I

Hopes of a quick German victory over France were dashed at the Battle of the Marne. The Allies, bruised and bashed, had survived the first chaotic weeks of the war. Somehow, Germany's great push had been stopped in what became known as the ‘Miracle of the Marne'. Two million men had fought, and one quarter of them had already become casualties of a war only six weeks old.

Read More