The Americans.
They joined the war over a year ago, but didn’t have much of an army and were half the world
away from the battlefields of Europe.
But over the past 14 months, they’ve built that army and are now sending it en masse
to Europe, and over the past few weeks that new army has proven itself in battle.
And what does that mean for the war?
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to the Great War.
Last week, the Austrians launched a new offensive on the Italian Front, but it not only failed,
it failed badly, and by now the Austrians are retreating back across the Piave River.
That Battle officially ended this week on the 23rd.
Also, the Ottoman 9th Army was formed in Alexandropol as part of Minister of War Enver Pasha’s
plans to try and take the Baku oilfields.
By now, with the Ottomans having circumvented recent German diplomatic plans to stop them
heading toward the Caspian Sea, the contest for who would take Baku and its oilfields
had really begun.
But who were the competitors in this contest?
1) The Ottomans.
They were the strongest military force in the area.
The 9th division of the new Army of Islam could be reinforced by the 5th and 36th, and
they were hoping to increase the Azerbaijani militia from 10,000 ish to between 20 and
30,000.
They were also planning on raising over 10,000 irregulars in Dagestan.
Enver figured it would take four weeks to take Baku, but he had already set his sights
further on the lower Volga River region and the Transcaspia.
He thought the British might try to come up from Persia and cause trouble, but the 9th
Army could oppose any force from there with 4 or 5 divisions.
2) The Germans.
They wanted the oil and badly, but they didn’t have a large enough military presence in the
region to take it, so they’d have to try diplomatically.
In July, they’ll have all the Central Powers meet with reps for the Caucasian peoples in
Constantinople and try to intrigue the oilfields their way.
Soon, though, they will conclude that the key to German control of the Baku oil lay
in Moscow.
3) The Soviets.
They were sort of in the same position as the Germans.
They didn’t have the manpower in the northern Caucasus and lower Volga to stop the Ottomans
in the field.
Still, Soviet leadership thought that Baku absolutely must remain within Soviet Russia
since the oil was necessary for the Russian economy.
Remember, the Soviets had never recognized the legitimacy of the Transcaucasian Federation’s
or Azerbaijan’s claims to control Baku.
And they were willing to fight the Ottomans in the field, but with limited Red Army available,
they’d have to ally themselves with Armenian militia, or Colonel Bicherakov’s Cossacks,
who had been supported and supplied by the British, but the British were very suspect
to the Soviets.
4) The Azeri Tartars.
This makes logical sense because the majority of the population in the area around Baku
were Tartar by blood, but by this time the Revolutionary Committee of Baku, supported
by the Red Army, was the only real power in Baku and the oilfields.
The tartars had cut the Tiflis railway, but the Committee still had connections to Russia
by the Caspian.
Earlier in the year, there had been street fighting in Baku between Armenian Christians
and Muslim Tartars, and once the Reds supported the Armenians these became massacres, and
nearly half the Muslim population of Baku fled the city.
This was a big reason why the Tartars were happy to join the Ottomans.
5) The Armenians, who were actually the least interested in the oil, but who had the most
to fear in terms of survival.
They saw as their salvation...
6) The British.
They had sent the Dunsterforce into the region- we made two great specials about that- but
had not yet sent in forces that would be substantial enough to help the Georgians and Armenians
stop the Turks, but by now the Dunsterforce was working with Bicherakov’s Cossacks,
and had brought in British and Gurkha infantry, four armored cars, and 500 trucks.
The force was to aid the Baku defenders as much as possible; those defenders numbered
some 15,000 men, but the British had yet to cross the Caspian and arrive in Baku.
These were the main players there.
And while they would try to work out who controlled what, a similar story began unfolding to the
south west earlier this month.
Back on the 4th, Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, met Emir Faisal, leader of the Arab Revolt,
and worked out what seemed a good deal for a Jewish National Home in Palestine.
In July, Faisal will write to Mark Sykes, one of the authors of the Sykes-Picot Agreement
(Gilbert), “I admit that some ignorant Arabs despise the Jews, but ignorants everywhere
are the same, and on the whole such incidents compare favorably with what the Jews suffer
in more advanced lands.”
He wasn’t wrong, since just this month thousands of Jews are killed in Ukraine by anti-Bolshevik
White Russians.
Many of them had a traditional Anti-Semitism, but it was really stoked now by the common
association of Jews with the Bolsheviks.
That was a misleading perception to a great extent, but others had misleading perceptions
as well.
On the 19th, American Commander John Pershing wrote to Edward House, President Wilson’s
advisor, that the Allies were basically finished and the only thing that will keep them in
the war is the assurance that millions of Americans were coming to fight.
He wanted and expected the American army to be increased to 3 million men- and have more
than 2.5 million of them be in France- by May 1st, 1919.
But even the fraction of those men that were already there were making a difference.
On June 26th, the Battle of Belleau Wood came to an end after three and a half weeks of
fighting with an Allied victory.
This was the first battle of the war that saw heavy American casualties.
The Doughboy Center has a website that follows the battle day by day and there’s a link
to that in the description.
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ct_bw.htm
They have an interesting preface before the day-by-day reports, and here’s part of what
it has to say:
“...Belleau Wood has been the source of a number of disputes and controversies.
Some writers... feel the battle should have never been fought, that American commanders
should have seen the predictable outcome, given the results of similar assaults against
other densely wooded patches on the Somme and in the Ypres Salient.
Thus, the American generals should have resisted French orders to mount the attack...
But also, there is considerable criticism laid at the feet of 4th Brigade Commander
James Harbord... for his lack of appreciation for the need to apply concentrated artillery
fire to the task of clearing the wood and his piecemeal tactics.”
Having said that, this battle is memorable in that it sent up a huge red flag to both
the European Allies and the Germans that the US Army was there to FIGHT.
And the Germans were impressed by their new adversary; a German intelligence officer wrote
during the battle (Gilbert) “The moral effect of our firearms did not materially check the
advance of the infantry.
The nerves of the Americans are still unshaken.”
Those American troops in action, though, wherever they were on the front, were still under French
or British Corps commanders.
That would continue for the time being, much as Pershing didn’t like it.
And the week ends, with what can only be described as a 1918 reality show kicking off in the
Caucasus, hope for a solution in Palestine, and the Americans proving their mettle.
Perceptions.
They’re important, both for planning and for morale.
Today, June 28th, 1918, is exactly four years since the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated,
and I’ll end with the content of two speeches from this week, both on the 24th, show how
the two sides perceived things at the moment.
(Chronology)
British PM Lloyd George in the House of Commons: “We are on the eve of great events”.
Allies never better prepared than now.
The recent Italian victory one of the most disastrous Central Powers defeats, which is
great because the Italian situation is worse than that of the British.
German FM Richard von Kühlmann in the Reichstag: Relations with other Central Powers satisfactory.
Russia in a state of partition.
Finnish independence achieved with German help.
Courland and Lithuania separated from Russia.
Other Baltics to be discussed with Soviets.
Caucasian affairs to be decided at conference.
INITIATIVE OF THE WAR IN GERMAN HANDS.
Duration of war uncertain- Russia planned the war, France desired it, Great Britain
“unchained” Russia.
But in light of events in Italy, a purely military decision not to be expected.
Germany ready to receive peace proposals.
Germany ready to receive peace proposals?
Did not see that one coming.
If you want to learn more about Dan Daly, one of the Marines that fought at Belleau
Wood, you can click right here for our bio episode about him.
Our Patreon supporter of the week is Douglas Pennell.
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