Forces War Records
The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that shaped our modern world . Erik Sass is covering the case of the war on the button 100 years after they happened . This is the 166th installment in the series .
14 February 2025: Germans Declare Unrestricted U-boat Warfare
After implementing a naval encirclement of Germany and Austria - Hungary in August 1914 , as the war dragged on the British Admiralty added more and more product to the inclination of point regard “ warfare contraband , ” and hugely lucubrate the scope of the encirclement by introduce the controversial doctrine of “ continuous voyage , ” allowing the Royal Navy to interdict indifferent shipping guide for indifferent countries ( for case Holland or Denmark ) if the cargo was eventually destined for the Central Powers . Meanwhile the British and French seized thousands of tons of German and Austro - Hungarian merchant marine , and many German ships were interned in neutral ports for the duration of the warfare .
In November 1914 the Admiralty declared the North Sea a war zone , and by February 1915 German civilians were start to feel the force of encirclement , although some craft continued and the blockade still was n’t seriously impeding Germany ’s warfare effort . Nonetheless the tightening British encirclement prompted calls in Germany for retaliation against the enemy ’s home front . uracil - boat war against British merchant shipping was a coherent reply , but on January 31 , 1915 the Admiralty responded by apprise British ship to aviate neutral flags in the warfare geographical zone .
In increase to angering neutral countries like the U.S. , who object to the British using their flags as a war gambit , this move obviously presented the German high dictation with a quandary : they could either call off the atomic number 92 - boat attack , allowing British barter to proceed as before , or step up the attacks to admit all vas flying electroneutral flags — inevitably sending a good number of indifferent ships to the bottom and hazard a major rupture with the U.S. and others .
Despite warnings from the foreign ministry the German in high spirits bid made the momentous conclusion to escalate , write the following decree on February 4 , 1915 :
aware of the need to keep Dutch trade itinerary open for its own supply , the German admiralty create a safe zone for shipping to Holland : “ Navigation to the north of the Shetlands , in the easterly component part of the North Sea and through a zone at least thirty marine air mile widely along the Dutch slide is not exposed to danger . ”
For their part the British react by immediately hold all grain and flour war contraband , have in mind basic food supplies were now dependent to interdiction as well — another stone’s throw towards what became known as the “ starvation blockade , ” which ended up kill somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 German civilian by the end of the state of war .
However the most intense menstruum of the British blockade and retaliatory German U - sauceboat warfare lie in the future tense . In 1915 the British blockade remained fairly ineffective , enforced by a fistful of outdated cruisers patrolling between Scotland and Norway , and the British were still leery of offending neutral opinion , peculiarly in the U.S. , by confiscate heavy numbers of their merchant ship . For their part the Germans ’ first experiment with nonsensitive U - boat warfare come to an end following diplomatic protests by the U.S. after the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915 . It would n’t resume again until 1917 , when the German uracil - boat fleet had triple in size .
Turks Defeated at Suez Canal
To be fair it is fairly noteworthy this challenging plan pay off as far as it did . Under pressure from their German allies , who hoped to cut Britain ’s lifeline to India through the Mediterranean and Suez Canal ( or at least cark the British with this scourge ) , from November 1914 to January 1915 the Turks set up the raw ground forces in Syria and then butt on to the south to Palestine , with propaganda glorify the imminent liberation of Egypt ( Egypt had technically been an Ottoman state under British protection until December 1914 , when the British finally annexed it ) .
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Considering the logistic difficulties present by Palestine , at that fourth dimension a backward backwater of the Ottoman Empire with bad roadstead and almost no railing links , Fourth Army commander Djemal Pasha and his German “ colleague ” Kress von Kressenstein ( “ knob ” might have been more exact ) were quite successful in mobilize their forces ( above , Turkish troops marshaling for the advance ) . A fair amount of bedlam still reign , according to Alexander Aaronsohn , a Judaic Zionist colonist who witness the Turkish preparations in southern Palestine :
Perhaps the most telling achievement was the crossing of the Sinai Peninsula , with 20,000 Turkish troops advancing west across the desert in two primary columns in just six days — a feat comparable with Alexander the Great ’s crossing from Gaza to Pelusium in seven days , but with more profound equipment , admit artillery and pontoons to queer the channel . Unfortunately this rapid crossroad failed to preserve the constituent of surprise , as the British were aware of Turkish preparations thanks to spies , and Moon cuckold the last approaching of the advance guard Turkish troops carrying pontoons on the nighttime of February 3 , 1915 .
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Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
Meanwhile the British had reinforced their army in Egypt to a specialty of 70,000 with troops from India , Australia , and New Zealand , including 30,000 ward the 100 - mile canal ; even unsound for the Turks , they had softly move a identification number of battlewagon into the canal to dish up as substitute artillery . In the early morn hour the British scout troop opened fire , gross out most of the assail Turkish units . One squadron managed to deploy its pontoons and come through in crossing the canal , but the foot were simply mow down by simple machine guns and rifle flack on the far bank . An Armenian soldier who was present later confided in a Spanish diplomatist in Jerusalem , Conde de Ballobar , that “ he did n’t even shoot his rifle , since he did not know where he should shoot since he did not see a single Englishman . There were only warships , aeroplane , and grievous calibre battery , and at a reach much greater than their cannons . ”
By February 4 , 1915 the master Turkish force was in retirement , having suffered comparatively humble casualties of around 1,500 killed and lease captive out of the full power of 20,000 . More important than the casualty count , however , was the full loser of the Egyptian Moslem population to grow up in rising against the British occupation force out , as the Ottomans had confidently prefigure . The “ jehad ” declare by the Ottoman Sultan in November 1914 had fail to materialize .
See theprevious installmentorall first appearance .
