Military History

When Lieutenant-Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck stepped ashore in German East Africa in January 1914, nobody guessed that within five years he would not only be feted by his own countrymen for being the last German commander in the field to lie down his arms, but also admired and respected by his British opponents much as Erwin Rommel was to be ...

Military operations in central and southern Africa centered on the four German colonies, the largest in area and population being German East Africa (acquired 1885), the others Cameroon, Togoland and South-West Africa (all 1884).

The presence of Afghanistan on its frontier had caused much trouble for British India, and the outbreak of the World War instigated consternation for fear that the Afghans took the opportunity of Britain's preoccupation to interfere with the frontier province.

From its annexation in 1839, Aden (now part of Yemen) had been part of British India, under the authority of the governor of Bombay; its position was of considerable significance, as a station serving the Suez Canal and as a trading depot for the interior of Arabia and the Somali coast.

The near collapse of Italy emphasized the Allied need to co-ordinate their actions, to which end a “Supreme War Council” was created at the Rapallo Conference (5 Nov-ember 1917). The Council, established at Versailles, was to meet regularly and include the prime Ministers of France, Britain and Italy, and the US president, or their representativ...

Political changes had considerably influenced allied strategy on the Western Front. Asquith’s British administration, which had been compelled to change from its original Liberal composition to a coalition because of the Dardanelles mishandling, had fallen at the end of 1916 and David Lloyd George had been installed as prime minister. In France,...

1916 witnessed two of the most costly and least-inspired military operations in history, when both camps were already experiencing severe shortages of manpower (to the extent that in Britain it was necessary to institute compulsory military service for the first time). Both sides decided on offence.

The dramatic sinking of the Lusitania by a german submarine marked the second year of World War I. Most notable were also the battles at Neuve-Chapelle, of Woëvre, the second battle of Ypres, Vimy Ridge, renewed fighting in Champagne and Artois and finally the battle of Loos.