THE GREAT WAR, 1914--18
STUDIES IN MILITARY AND STRATEGIC HISTORY General Editor: Michael Dockrill, Senior Lecturer in War Studies, King's College, London This major series of books on nineteenth- and twentieth-century military, naval and air history explores hitherto neglected areas of the subject or provides fresh interpretations of existing material. This series will cover the whole range of issues - strategic, diplomatic, economic and financial- involved in preparations for, the conduct of, and the ending of wars. Published titles R. J. Q. Adams (editor): THE GREAT WAR, 1914-18: Essays on the Military, Political and Social History of the First World War David A. Charters: THE BRITISH ARMY AND JEWISH INSURGENCY IN PALESTINE, 1945-47 Andrew J. Crozier: APPEASEMENT AND GERMANY'S LAST BID FOR COLONIES John Robert Ferris: THE EVOLUTION OF BRITISH STRATEGIC POLICY, 1919-26 Alfred Gollin: THE IMP ACT OF AIR POWER ON THE BRITISH PEOPLE AND THEIR GOVERNMENT, 1909-14 John Gooch: ARMY, STATE AND SOCIETY IN ITALY, 1870--1915 G. A. H. Gordon: BRITISH SEAPOWER AND PROCUREMENT BETWEEN THE WARS: A Reappraisal of Rearmament Stephen Hartley: THE IRISH QUESTION AS A PROBLEM IN BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY, 1914-18 Brian Holden Reid: 1. F. C. FULLER: Military Thinker Forthcoming titles David Devereux: BRITISH DEFENCE POLICY TOWARDS THE MIDDLE EAST, 1948-56 Thomas R. Mockaitis: BRITISH COUNTERINSURGENCY, 1919-60
THE GREAT WAR, 1914-18 Essays on the Military, Political and Social History of the First World War Edited by R. J. Q. ADAMS Professor of History Texas A & M University in association with Palgrave Macmillan
The Miltitary Studies Institute of Texas A & M University 1990 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990 All rights reserved. No reproductions, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WClE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1990 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Vine & Gorfin Ltd, Exmouth, Devon British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data The Great War, 1914-18: Essays on the Military, Political and Social History of the First World War (Studies in Military and Strategic History). 1. World War I I. Adams, R. J. Q., 1943- II. King's College London III. Series 940.3 ISBN 978-1-349-11456-6 ISBN 978-1-349-11454-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11454-2
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Contents List of Plates Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction R. J. Q. Adams Part I 1 The Significance of the First World War in Modern History Trevor Wilson Part II 2 A Flawed Strategy: Early British Air Defense Arrangements Alfred Gollin 3 Civil-Military Relations in Germany During the First World War Martin Kitchen 4 Comment Thomas C. Kennedy Part III 5 The Canadian Military Experience in the First World War, 1914-18 Desmond Morton 6 'Maconochie's Stew': Logistical Support of American Forces with the BEF, 1917-18 Charles R. Shrader 7 Comment T. H. E. Travers Part IV 8 The AEF Leaders' Education for War Edward M. Coffman IX X xi 1 7 31 39 69 79 101 132 139 vii
Vlll Contents 9 The American Naval Leaders' Preparations for War Paolo E. Coletta 10 Comment Joseph G. Dawson Index 161 183 191
List of Plates Chapter 1: The German Offensive: A British soldier in the Ruins of Arras Cathedral. Reproduced courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. Popperfoto. Chapter 2: Vickers FB5, 1914. Courtesy the Imperial War Museum. Chapter 3: A Portrait of General Erich Ludendorff. Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of the United States of America. Chapter 5: General Arthur Currie (left) and General John J. Pershing. Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of the United States of America. Chapter 6: Logistics support for the Allies, near Esnes in the Argonne, late in the war. Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of the United States of America. Chapter 8: Portrait of John J. Pershing. Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of the United States of America. Chapter 9: Josephus Daniels, US Secretary of the Navy. Reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of the United States of America. ix
Acknowledgements The Military Studies Institute is an autonomous interdisciplinary study and research organization within the Texas A & M University. I would like to express my thanks to the members of its Board, which I have the honor to chair, for their support and assistance in conducting the symposium which brought together the scholars whose essays follow. The members include Professors James Burk, Alex Mintz and John Robertson. Also members of the Board are Dr Frank E. Vandiver, President of the University, 1982-88, and Dr Larry D. Hill, Head of the Department of History. Both were generous with their support of the Institute and this project. Among my University colleagues I am pleased to thank Professors Betty M. Unterberger and Roger A. Beaumont for their useful assistance during the symposium. There would be few books if there were not people who can translate rough and battered manuscripts into tidy and readable texts. I herewith acknowledge my great debt to Mrs Deborah Callihan and her staff in the Department of History - their cooperation and patience are a wonder of the age. I am delighted to single out for special thanks Professor Joseph G. Dawson, Director of the Institute and my close associate, who proved a good and constant friend both in need and indeed as we brought a vague idea to fruition. R. J. Q. Adams Bryan, Texas x
Notes on the Contributors Edward M. CotTman is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A former President of the American Military Institute, Professor Coffman's major works include The Hilt of the Sword: The Career of Peyton C. March (1966), The War To End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I (1986) and The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime, 1784-1898 (1986). Paolo E. Coletta retired in 1983 as Distinguished Meritorious Professor at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. His many books include the three-volume William Jennings Bryan (1964-69), Admiral Bradley A. Fiske and the American Navy (1978) and A Survey of u.s. Naval Affairs, 1865-1917 (1987). Joseph G. Dawson is Associate Professor of History at Texas A & M University and is Director of the Military Studies Institute. He is the author of Army Generals and Reconstruction: Louisiana, 1862-1877 (1982) and is Associate Editor of The Dictionary of American Military Biography (1984). Alfred GoUin is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Formerly the Official Historian of the Observer newspaper, he is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature. His many works include The Observer and 1. L. Garvin (1960), Proconsul in Politics: Lord Milner in Opposition and in Power (1964) and No Longer an Island: Britain and the Wright Brothers, 1902-1909 (1984). Thomas C. Kennedy is Professor and Chairman of the Department of History at the University of Arkansas. A Former President of the Western Conference on British Studies, in addition to many historical articles in The Historian, The Journal of British Studies, The Canadian Journal of History and other journals, he is the author of The Hound of Conscience: A History of the No-Conscription Fellowship (1981). Martin Kitchen is Professor of History at Simon Fraser University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Xl
XII Notes on the Contributors Canada. His many books include The German Officer Corps, 1890-1914 (1968), A Military History of Germany: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day (1975) and British Policy Towards the Soviet Union, 1939-1945 (1986). Desmond Morton is Professor of History and Principal of the University of Toronto in Mississauga. A former President of the Canadian Historical Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, his many publications include Ministers and Generals: Politics and the Canadian Militia, 1867-1904 (1970), Canada and War: A Military and Political History (1981) and A Peculiar Kind of Politics: Command and Control of the C E. F. (1985). Charles R. Schrader retired from the United States Army in 1987 as a Lieutenant Colonel, after 23 years of service. Dr Shrader has taught military history at the United States Military Academy at West Point, the US Army Command and General Staff College and the US Army War college and is now a writer and historical consultant. The author of many articles, he is also editor of Proceedings of the 1982 International Military History Symposium (1984). T. H. E. Travers is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of History at the University of Calgary. His books include Men at War: Politics, Technology and Innovation in the 20th Century (1982), The Killing Ground: The British Army, the Western Front and the Emergence of Modern Warfare, 1900-1918 (1987) and Samuel Smiles and the Victorian Work Ethic (1987). Trevor Wilson is Professor of History at the University of Adelaide. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Among.his works are The Downfall of the Liberal Party (1966), The Political Diaries ofc P. Scott (1970) and The Myriad Faces of War: Britain and the Great War, 1914--1918 (1986).