The Battle of Stalluponen
How did geography matter in WWI?
Geography played a vital role throughout World War I; in particular having the knowledge of the terrain and weather conditions which determined success in the battle front. Knowledge of the terrain in Prussia would have certainly benefited the Russian soldiers in the battle of Stallupönen; since the Russian Commanders drove an offensive without the height advantage. Charging the German army whose soldiers were located at the top of a cliff consequently leading to the loss of more than 5,000 Russian soldiers versus the 1,290 German casualties. Likewise, climate did impact different battles as seen in the Battle of Romani, where the exhausting heat of the desert during the summer caused many soldiers to die of dehydration. The sand dunes didn’t help either since moving men and machinery across the sand was an extenuating and almost impossible task to fulfill. Now, one might imagine going to battle with a wrong map of the battle terrain, this was the experience lived by many soldiers in the Battle of Gallipoli. This tremendous mistake cost the lives of thousands of British soldiers which ended in the demoting of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. Yet, through the battle of Gaza, one could admit All in all success in battle is strictly related to the knowledge of the terrain and climate during the fight as demonstrated by the failures of previous generals.
What was the Soldier´s experience in WWI?
Despite the rapid development and industrialization of armies throughout and before the Great War, many soldiers lived under tremendous, devastating conditions. Many of which were uneducated and starved to death. As a matter of fact many Russian soldiers lacked education, most if not all coming from the peasantry classes in Russia, who were recruited to fight for the Czar. Because of the lack of resources and food, about two million Russian Soldiers died because of starvation or lack of weapons to fight. Consequently leading to the withdrawal of the Russian Army in WWI leading to the start of the Russian Revolution. Similarly, soldiers fighting in the battle of Stalluponen must have suffered a demoralizing experience since they were the first to lose in battle tremendously. Their forces had been annihilated plus they suffered numerous loses and all within a day. Then again, a similar experience must was encountered in the battle of Gaza, where the soldiers could not see the enemy due to the foggy conditions. THis must have been traumatizing experience, to be unable to see where they are and not know what to expect. All these factors plus the fact that one might have not survived another day in battle constituted parts of the Soldier`s experience during WWI. Not even the best of technology can eliminate the devastating conditions which these men underwent.
How did imperialism play a role in the war?
Imperialism had a crucial role through the trans course of WWI since this imperialism caused the desire of expansion and also meant that those who had already expanded had more resources to feed their armies. Initially, there is written reports of Indian Sepoys who were brought to support the fight in the front at the First Battle of Ypres. In the same manner, Ypres was part of a German Offensive that was supposed to successfully conquer Belgium showing the imperialistic ideas by the German Army. . Likewise, Russian imperialism was seen in Stallupönen when the Russian First and Second Army had been destined to attack parts of Prussia and conquer land. This did not result in a Russian victory but marked the start of the war in the Eastern Front.
In what ways were many tactics or strategies of Early WWI battles still “Living in the past”.
At the beginning of WWI, many of the battle techniques emulated old style of fighting. A clear example can be found in Stallupönen where the Russian army still utilized many swords, and few rifles to fight. Likewise, the German Cavalry still was used resembling the old style of charging towards the enemy. Later on horses would be replaced by tanks. In a similar way, the Battle of Gallipoli used antique fighting techniques where they used unutilized maps of the battle to fight. Now days armies use their satellites and other devices to make a detailed sketch of the battle ground. Lastly, like in Stalluponen, the battle of Gaza was one of the last battles to have camels as part of their army. For this same reason these techniques were replaced since through the development of many different, and more lethal weapons these previously used methods became useless to a point where they were no longer used. The world during this time period would develop, militarily and leave these methods as a thing from the past.