Chapter 25 Part IV The World of Western Decline and Success since 1914

In the autumn of 1914, as one European country after another was embroiled in the carnage of the First World War, British Foreign Secretary Earl Gray commented: "The lights are going out all over Europe." To a much greater extent than he could have foreseen at the time.The First World War was destined to lay waste to all of Europe as Earl Gray had known it.It destroyed centuries-old Habsburg, Hohenzollern, Romanov and Ottoman dynasties.In its place came new leaders, new institutions, and new ideologies of which aristocracy like Earl Grey was dimly aware. Europe in 1918 was as different from Europe in 1914 as Europe in 1815 was from Europe in 1789.

The First World War also marked the end of Europe, which had dominated the globe in the nineteenth century so completely and so perversely.By the end of the war, European control had clearly weakened and was being challenged everywhere.These challenges have been managed successfully in most parts of the world.But this reprieve lasted only 20 years, as World War II completed the weakening process that began with World War I, leaving empires across Europe in disarray. Not only from the perspective of European history, but also from the perspective of world history, the First World War stands out as a historical turning point.The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the causes, process and global impact of this major event.

The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, included a clause explicitly stating that the war had been caused "by aggression by Germany and its allies."This "war crime" clause was not only of academic value, as it was also used by the Allies to justify their claims to pay reparations to the defeated Allies.As a result, it sparked a lively and protracted debate; a debate that resulted in the publication not only of thousands of articles and books, but of batches of documents totaling more than 60,000 copies.It was not until the mid-1930s that the controversy subsided, and more scholarly research concerned less "war crimes" and more attention to the historical conditions and historical forces that gave rise to war.Most historians are now able to distinguish the background causes that had been at work for decades from those that came into play in the tense weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 the direct cause of.There are four most important background factors: economic rivalry, colonial scrambles, conflicting alliance systems, and irreconcilable nationalist aspirations.

Most of Europe's great powers are embroiled in tariff wars and competition for foreign markets.For example, tariff wars broke out between Italy and France in 1888-1889, between Russia and Germany in 1879-1894, and between Austria and Serbia in 1906-1910.Due to the unusually rapid rate of industrialization in Germany in the late 19th century, the fiercest economic competition between Britain and Germany began. In 1870, Britain's industrial output accounted for 31.8% of the world's total industrial output, while Germany accounted for only 13.2%.By 1914, Britain's share of industrial output had fallen to 14 percent, largely as a result of America's soaring output from 23.3 percent of world output to 35.8 percent.However, Germany's production grew sufficiently that its share rose slightly to 14.3%, larger than the UK's share.

The surge in German industrial output meant that it competed fiercely with Britain in overseas markets.While Britain was able to maintain its economic superiority in its colonies, it lost out to pugnacious German merchants in Latin America, the Middle East, and the Far East.It is impossible to pinpoint the political implications of this economic rivalry, but it is clearly straining relations between the two countries.It also contributed to further international tensions by stimulating a naval arms race.Both countries are clamoring that naval power must be established to protect merchant shipping routes and merchant shipping.

Economic competition also fueled colonial scrambles as European powers sought new colonies to secure overseas markets for surplus capital and surplus products.Since the Germans did not engage in colonial scrambles until after the country was united in 1871, they were particularly active in demanding an empire commensurate with their growing economic might.The Pan-Germanic League targeted the wealthy colonies of small countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and insisted that Germany must also have a "prominent position."But the Germans found themselves held back by Britain's vast colonies in almost all parts of the world;

However, colonial rivalry was by no means limited to Britain and Germany. In the late nineteenth century, almost all the great powers were involved in this scramble for absolute domination, so they clashed again and again in one area after another: Britain and Germany in East and South West Africa, Britain and France in the Chase and the Nile. The basin, Britain and Russia in Persia and Afghanistan, Germany and France in Morocco and West Africa, successively clashed. SYSTEMS OF ALLIANCES These colonial rivalries in turn gave rise to conflicting systems of alliances; these systems of alliances largely contributed to the wars. When war broke out in August 1914, a German official commented hopelessly: "It all comes from this damned alliance system, they are the bane of modern times."

This judgment is by no means unfounded.The alliance system began in 1879 when German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck concluded a treaty of alliance with Austria-Hungary.It was a defensive alliance designed to protect Germany from the French.Protecting Austria-Hungary from the Russians, as the French wanted to regain the Alsace-Lorraine region lost in 1871, and the Russians were in constant conflict with Austria-Hungary in the Balkans. In 1882, the two-nation alliance became the Triple Alliance with the accession of Italy.Its purpose was still defensive: to protect Italy from French attacks, as the two countries clashed bitterly in Tunisia.At that time, the Triple Alliance was by no means aggressive in terms of its purpose or the terms of the alliance.Both Germany and Austria-Hungary were easy-going states whose primary interest was in maintaining the status quo on the European continent.

However, from the standpoint of the other side, the Triple Alliance is another matter entirely.From the perspective of France and Russia, it is an unstoppable bloc controlling Europe, leaving them isolated and vulnerable.In addition, France and Russia had major disputes with Britain over colonial issues in several areas.Bismarck was well aware of the dangers of friendly relations between France and Russia when he forged the alliance of the two countries, but he was able to use cunning diplomacy to prevent its realization.However, after Bismarck resigned as chancellor in 1890, his successors could not continue his ingenious diplomatic maneuvers.As a result, the Franco-Russian Alliance was formed in 1894; its twin purposes were to oppose the Triple Alliance and to resist British claims for the colonies.The Franco-Russian alliance became the Triple Entente with the signing of the Anglo-French Entente in 1904 and the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907.In essence, the two treaties were de facto colonial treaties.For example, Britain and France agreed to recognize their respective interests in the Nile Valley and Morocco; Britain and Russia also agreed to divide Persia into two spheres of influence.

Thus all the great powers had now entered into two hostile systems of alliances, with all sorts of disastrous results for international relations.Whenever a major dispute arises, members of the two blocs have to support their respective allies directly involved in the dispute, even if they are skeptical of the dispute.Otherwise, they fear that their alliances will disintegrate and they will be isolated and endangered.As a result, each dispute tended to escalate into a major crisis in which all members of the two alliances would be involved, willingly or not.For example, in the crisis of 1914, Count Berchtold, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary, declared: "...we are playing a big game; in this game there are great difficulties to overcome, in this game We may fail. Unless the allies of the Triple Alliance are firmly united." This attitude explains why crises became more frequent in the decade before 1914, and why, when the member states timidly and involuntarily supported each other, Instead, these crises are becoming increasingly difficult to resolve.

A final background reason was the growing nationalist aspirations of the subordinate minorities in Europe.This desire was intractable in Alsace-Lorraine, where the French still did not submit to German rule.But in central and eastern Europe it has been a nightmare, where multi-ethnic empires are in danger of being torn all but to pieces due to growing demands for national self-determination.For example, in the Habsburg Empire, the ruling Austrians and Hungarians were under the influence of the awakened Italians, Romanians, and people including Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Poles, Slovenians, and Croats. Confrontation with great Slavic people including Serbs.It is not difficult to understand, then, that Habsburg officials decided that tough measures must be taken if the empire was to survive.This decision was especially pertinent to the warlike Serbs, who were noisily trying to unify with independent Serbia across the Danube.So, after the Grand Duke was assassinated by Serbian patriots in Sarajevo, harsh conditions were sent to Belgrade.But behind Serbia is Russia, and behind Russia are France and Great Britain.Likewise, Austria-Hungary was backed by Germany and, theoretically, by Italy, so the combination of national self-determination and conflicting alliance systems plunged Europe into Armageddon. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, capital of the newly annexed Bosnian province.The assassin was a young Serbian student from Bosnia named Gavrilo Princip.In the aftermath of the trial, Princip boldly stated his beliefs and motives. "I have no regrets, because I firmly believe that I did a good thing by eliminating a man who brought us disaster. ... I have seen our people go from bad to worse. I am a farmer's son and know what is happening in the countryside All... all this has affected me, and I also know that his 'Grand Duke' is a German and an enemy of the Slavic nation.... As a future monarch, he will prevent us from uniting and implement certain laws that are obviously against our interests. reforms." Principe is by no means alone.Behind him is the Serbian secret organization "Give me unity or give me death".That is, the well-known "Mafia".Founded in Belgrade in 1911, the Mafia's avowed purpose is to realize "the national ideal: the unity of all Serbs." Its constitution states: "Preferring terror to rational propaganda, the Mafia must Members of the organization are kept absolutely confidential.” Consistent with this secret order, the organization recruited new members in a dark room facing a small table and entering Xu’s room with only one candle lit. The small table was covered with a black cloth on which lay a cross, a dagger and a revolver.The Mafia's chapter is engraved with a picture of a skull, a dagger, a bomb and a bottle of poison, and is inscribed with the slogan "Give me no unity or give me death". These indulgences reflect the fanaticism and devotion of mafia members, who are particularly active in Bosnia.The Serbian government does not support this organization. It believes that this organization is indeed a very dangerous, radical, and militant organization.But this does not prevent the Mafia from becoming an underground revolutionary organization that carries out effective agitation and terrorist activities.A Serbian diplomat in Vienna at the time attests: "In Bosnia, 1913 was the year of the formation of revolutionary organizations. . . . Everyone was shouting: 'Action, action, stop talking.' , just want to destroy everything, destroy everything with bombs, assassinations, explosives." The unfortunate Franz Ferdinand gave these Serbian revolutionaries a chance by agreeing to an official visit to the Bosnian capital.The date chosen for the visit, June 28, is St. Vidovdan's Day, the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo; the day in 1389 when the Turks conquered the medieval Serbian Empire.This was an unforgivably short-sighted decision, as Serb national sentiment was bound to be stimulated on this day, not least because of the mafia's agitation at the time.When the grand duke and his wife visited on a sunny Sunday morning, at least half a dozen assassins were waiting along the designated route, armed with bombs and revolvers.As fate would have it, when the procession stopped at the corner of the street, Princip was standing there.He drew his revolver and fired twice, one at Franz Ferdinand and one at General Posiolek, Governor of Bosnia.But the second shot missed and hit the Grand Duchess.The Grand Duke and his wife died before the doctor could save him. At this point, the "damned alliance system" began to take ruthless and deadly action.First, Germany pledged its full support to whatever action Austria-Hungary decided to take.This famous "blank check" from Berlin does not mean that the Germans need war.Rather, they thought that Russia might not have dared to support Serbia against Germany and Austria, and that the usual gesture was made very clear from the outset precisely for the sake of peace.This assumption is understandable considering the fact that this is exactly what happened when Austria annexed Bosnia from the Turks in 1908.Serbs, long eyeing the Slavic province, strongly opposed the annexation and had Russia's support.But when Germany sided with Austria, the Russians decided they could not yet risk war and decided to back down. However, this result could not have happened again in 1914.Because Russia is now more powerful than it was in 1908.It had recovered from the defeat in the Far East of 1904-05.At this time, Russia also had strong support from France; something it did not have in 1908, when France was not keen to provoke the Bosnian dispute.Therefore, the Germans thought that the crisis in Sarajevo would only be limited to a certain area. This is obviously a miscalculation. In fact, the period of great change has arrived. On July 23, Austria presented a harsh ultimatum to Serbia, requiring Serbia to explain and apologize for the incident, ban anti-Austrian publications, suppress anti-Austrian organizations, and work with Austrian officials to hold the criminals accountable, and to investigate the incident. accomplices to sue.At first glance, Serbia's reply on July 25 seemed to be mediation, but in fact it was subject to various conditions.It is prevarication and unsatisfactory.Austria immediately severed diplomatic relations with Serbia and declared war on Serbia on July 28. In retaliation, Russia ordered a nationwide mobilization on July 30.The next day, Germany sent Russia a 12-hour ultimatum to stop the general mobilization.Germany received no reply, so it declared war on Russia on August 1, and on France, Russia's ally, on August 3.On the same day, Germany invaded Belgium, beginning the actual war operation.This aggression provided a good excuse for Britain to declare war on Germany on its August birthday.Thus, the European powers turned against each other only five weeks after the Sarajevo murders. The First World War began with jubilant crowds and marching soldiers singing songs like the Marseillaise, At Home or Tipperary.The inscription "Coming Home for Christmas" was written in chalk on the ranks of both sides.All nations looked forward with confidence to a short but victorious war.But they soon found themselves drawn into the torment of a protracted, brutal war in which wealth was lost and casualties were unprecedented.The war also destroyed social institutions and political structures. On July 30, when the Tsar signed the national general mobilization order, he said to the ministers: "Think about the responsibilities you want me to bear! Think about the tens of thousands of people who were sent to die!" At that time, he Little does it realize that he is signing the death notices of millions, not thousands, which also includes those of his family and dynasty. The failure of traditional strategies explains the bloody stalemate that undermined European civilization.The staffs of European armies had been preparing for war for years to prevent aggression by, or alliances between, neighboring states.The Germans had a plan developed by their chief of staff, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, as early as 1905.The "Schlieffen Plan" called for a swift, overwhelming attack on France followed by an attack on the slow-moving Russians on the eastern front.The main force of the German army should be concentrated on the northern section of the western front, ready to quickly sweep through Leslie and Luxembourg, so as to annihilate the French army in the area east of Paris, thus ending the war within 30 days. The plan was launched on August 4, when German troops crossed the Belgian frontier, although it was the guarantor of Belgian neutrality.At that time, the French also launched an attack on the Alsace-Lorraine region, determined to reach Berlin before the Germans captured Paris.However, the French were forced to halt their advance due to heavy losses, mainly because they were not equipped with enough machine guns; the rapidity of the machine guns in this war proved their effectiveness.Meanwhile, the Germans were moving through Belgium and into northern France as planned.They reached the Marne.By September 2, he had reached Chantilly, only 25 miles from Paris. At this time, the situation unexpectedly began to reverse.As the German command failed to coordinate the actions of the rapidly advancing forces, a 30-mile gap formed between the First and Second Armies.French aircraft detected the gap, and General Joffre jumped at the opportunity.He brought up troops from the Alsace-Lorraine theater of operations and the still-neutral Italian frontier, and stormed this German weak point.Since the German troops were a quarter smaller than their opponents and exhausted by the long march, they had to retreat to the edge of the natural defense line of the Aisne River.The opponent's army now began a series of roundabout movements to the flank and rear; this movement was only terminated when the front expanded from the Flemish coast to the Swiss border. During the next three years, neither side moved more than 10 miles on this front, despite repeated offensives with numerous weapons.The reason for this bloody standoff was that defensive weapons were superior to offensive weapons from the very beginning of the war.The traditional way of attack is to charge a large number of infantry under the cover of artillery fire.However, this was completely ineffective against the combination of deep trenches, barbed wire, cleverly laid mines and machine gun bunkers.Thus, the number of casualties on the Western Front in the first four months was 700,000 in Germany, 850,000 in France, and 90,000 in Britain.Contrary to the plans of the various General Staffs, the fighting on the Western Front now turned into a war of position and attrition. This was not the case on the Russian and Balkan fronts; there the distance between the two and the lack of means of transport necessitated mobile warfare.In order to relieve the pressure on the French on the western front, the Russians invaded East Prussia with an astonishing speed and powerful offensive from the beginning.The strategy worked, as the Germans mobilized four divisions from Belgium to support the Eastern Front.They had solved the problem by completely defeating the two Russian armies entering East Prussia before reaching their destination.The German commanders Hindenburg and Ludendorff took advantage of their excellent railway network to concentrate their forces against first one Russian army and then another.By mid-September, East Prussia was cleared of the invaders. Meanwhile, on the Balkan front, the Austrians were suffering humiliating setbacks.General Pociolek, who had nearly killed Princip's bullet in Sarajevo, was eager to destroy the "snake's lair." On August 12, he led 250,000 troops across the Drina River and entered Serbia.But he was resisted by 350,000 Serbian troops; 90 percent of them were veterans of the 1912-13 Balkan War.In less than two weeks the Serbs forced the Austrians back west of the Drina with the loss of a third of their forces. In September, Posiolek attacked again, capturing Belgrade on December 2.But the Serbs fought back again, and by the end of the month, the Serbian commander triumphantly declared: "There is not a single free enemy soldier left on Serbian territory." Some of the battles of 1915 were dominated by the decision of the new German commander-in-chief, Erich von Falkenhain, to overturn the Schlieffen Plan.Given the stalemate on the Western Front, Falkenhayn concentrated his forces on the Eastern Front in an effort to defeat the Russians. On May 1, the German-Austrian coalition launched an offensive with outstanding results, opening a 30-mile-long gap in the enemy's defense line.The Russian soldiers retreated hastily due to the disadvantages of incompetent leaders and insufficient weapons and equipment.By late summer, Confederate forces had advanced an average of 200 miles.In addition to a total of 2.5 million military casualties, Russia also lost 15% of its territory, 10% of its railways, 30% of its industry, and 20% of its civilian population.The tsarist autocracy was dealt a blow from which it could never recover. At that time, the war of attrition on the Western Front continued.General Joffre firmly believed that intensive artillery bombardment coupled with a frontal attack by large forces would surely bring victory.However, the successive attacks did not change the front line, and the result was only heavy casualties. Meanwhile, Western powers were attempting to force their way across the Dardanelles in order to defeat Turkey and open a supply route to Russia. On November 2, 1914, after Turkey joined the Allied Powers, the Dardanelles were automatically closed to the Allied Powers, making it difficult to ship a large number of urgently needed supplies to Russia.Thus, on March 18, 1915, a squadron of 14 British and 4 French warships roared into the Dardanelles.But on the first day, three warships were sunk and two were severely damaged.This loss was not so much caused by coastal artillery fire as by mines.The British admiral in command thought the loss was heavy and ordered a retreat.In doing so he lost one of his greatest chances of winning.It is now known that the Turks had spent most of their ammunition by then, and had given up hope of holding out until the next day.The leading German officer in the Dardanelles reported: "We thought the British would return early tomorrow morning, and if they did, we might only last a few hours." If this squadron turned back again, the course of world history would How different—it is extremely interesting to speculate on that.Constantinople would be captured, Turkey would be forced out of the war, Russia would be supplied with what it needed, its army would be better off than it was then, the tsarist autocracy would probably be saved, or, at least, the Bolshevik revolution. In fact, the Allies withdrew their ships and attempted to capture the Dardanelles by land. After landing on Gallipoli Beach on April 25, the Allies gained only a few shallow footholds in the face of devastating machine-gun fire.The Turks held the high ground on the beach firmly until the Allies finally faced the truth and withdrew permanently in January 1916. The defeat in the Dardanelles, together with the crushing defeat on the Russian front, prompted Bulgaria to join the Allies on 14 IO 1915.This intervention meant the end of the brave Serbs. On October 6, the German, Austrian and Bulgarian armies attacked Serbia from three sides with overwhelming force.By the end of the year, the entire country was occupied.In one of the many epic poems written about the war, the remnants of the Serbian army fled over the Albanian mountains in the middle of winter.Few survived due to cold, disease, and hunger—not to mention hostile Albanians—and were picked up by Allied ships off the Adriatic coast. These failures in the Balkans were made up for by Italy's decision to join the Entente cause, which strengthened the Entente.Although the Italians had been ostensibly allies of the Confederate Powers, they decided to remain neutral as soon as the war began.The vast majority of Italians favored this course, not least because Austria occupied "unrecovered" territory across the Adriatic.The Allies now generously offered to give these territories, and others after the victory over Turkey, to Italy.The bait proved effective, and on April 29, Italy signed the Treaty of London, agreeing to enter the war within a month in return for territorial promises made by the treaty powers.In fact, Italy's intervention did not affect the course of the war, but forced the Austrians to transfer several divisions from the Eastern Front. By 1916, the Confederates' military fortunes were at their peak.Their armies invaded Belgium, northern France, Poland and Siberia.The Allied expedition to the Dardanelles had failed.Italy's repeated attacks on Austria were also of little consequence.But despite these victories, the Allies did not win the war.Although they controlled the continent from Hamburg to the Persian Gulf, they could not impose a peaceful settlement on the Entente. On Christmas Day 1915, General Falkenhayn submitted a memorandum to His Majesty the Kaiser in which he analyzed the dilemma and suggested a way out.After summarizing the situation on all fronts, he pointed out that France was the most vulnerable country of the Allied Powers at this time because Russia was about to end.While Britain remained safe across the Channel, France was on the verge of collapse after the bloody battle of 1915.Therefore, he proposed to attack the French fortress Verdun, which is easy to attack and difficult to defend, with all its strength.He concluded that the French High Command would have to use all its reserves to defend Verdun, and that France would lose its blood and its resolve to resist. On February 21, 1916, the Battle of Verdun broke out.The Germans concentrated 1,400 cannon on a front that was just eight miles long.After a devastating bombardment, they took Fort Doaumont.As expected, the French rushed to call in reinforcements and raised the battle cry of "don't let them pass".The German offensive continued until July, and after entering July, they switched from offense to defense.The end result: a total of 350,000 French casualties and almost as many German casualties.The bloody Battle of Verdun did not bring the decisive victory Falkenhayn had hoped for.In fact, towards the end of the year, the French counterattacked, regaining the ground lost in the spring. While the Battle of Verdun was raging on, the British were launching a powerful offensive north-west of the Somme.After a week of bombardment, the offensive began on June 1.The British army lost 60,000 people on the first day, including more than half of the officers who participated in the battle-the highest casualty rate in both the First World War and the Second World War.This kind of massacre continued until November, and after entering November, due to the rain and muddy ground, the war came to a standstill.The British and French offensive advanced about seven miles at most, and the British lost a total of 400,000 men, the French 200,000, and the Germans 500,000. Surprisingly, the Russians launched a successful offensive on the Eastern Front in 1916.To intensify their attack on Italy, the Austrians had reduced their strength on the Galician front.As a result, a 200-mile-long gash was torn "like a pie crust" in the Austrian front when General Brusilov began his feint, initially intended only to relieve the pressure on Verdun.The startled Russians flooded the gap with all their reserves and occupied the province of Galicia. The defeat of the Germans at the Battle of Verdun and the unexpected success of Brusilov's offensive prompted Romania to enter the war on August 27, 1916, on the side of the Allies.The Allies decided at this time to teach Romania a lesson, as a warning to other neutral countries who attempted to follow Romania's example.German, Austrian, Belgian, and Turkish armies marched at full speed, storming Romania in overwhelming numbers.By the end of the year, the Romanians had lost two-thirds of their country, including their capital. Romania's involvement in the war made Greece the only neutral country in the Balkans.The country was divided evenly on the question of remaining neutral or going to war.The most eminent statesman, Eliotrios Venizelos, was fully in favor of joining the Entente, but King Constantine, brother-in-law of the German Kaiser, advocated neutrality. The stalemate was broken in 1917 when the Entente decided that Greek assistance was essential to victory in Macedonia, where they had been fighting the Bulgarians inconclusively.Therefore, the Allies took various illegal measures, such as seizing the Greek fleet, blocking Greek ports, and even sending troops to land in Piraeus. On June 27, 1917, Greece finally entered the war on the side of the Entente, thus paving the way for an attack on Macedonia in 1918 that forced Bulgaria out of the war. Meanwhile, the horrific bloodshed on the Western Front continued unabated. In 1916 the Germans had gone on the offensive at Verdun, and now, in 1917, the Entente was leading.The daring General Nivelle, eminently victorious at Verdun, now replaced the cautious General Joffre.Nivetton preached with great enthusiasm a new type of blitzkrieg that would win victory with very few casualties.Despite the disapproval of many French and British military generals, Nivelle's offensive strategy was accepted. By then, the Germans had replaced Falkenhayn with Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who led the troops on the Eastern Front.After the devastating battles of Verdun and the Somme the previous year, they decided to remain on the defensive on the Western Front and engage in unrestricted submarine warfare at sea.They hoped this would force England to starve into surrender and isolate France on the Continent.The Germans knew full well that submarine warfare would risk the United States entering the war, but they were desperate that Britain would be defeated before American aid could help. As we shall see shortly, this venture nearly paid off, despite its ultimate disaster.However, the defensive strategy on land has greatly benefited the Germans.To consolidate and strengthen the various fronts, Hindenburg withdrew his forces to a new fortified position, the "Siegfried Line," commonly known as the "Hindenburg Line."This line was straighter, shorter, and more fortified.This retreat completely disrupted Veniler's plans of attack, but he persisted in carrying them out.French, British and Canadian troops leaped out of the trenches to attack as planned, only to be met with the most brutal return fire since the Great War.Veniler, however, stubbornly persisted in the attack despite all odds, until finally the French army revolted against this senseless massacre.As a result, Veniler, known at the time as "the vampire", was replaced by General Pétain; Pétain turned to the defensive and tried his best to resolve the dissatisfaction of the soldiers.Farther north, a campaign conducted entirely by British forces under General Haig was equally costly and equally futile.Hindenburg's defensive strategy was very useful to the Germans.They inflicted 400,000 casualties on the Allies and only 250,000 themselves. By this time, the nations of Europe were entering the fourth year of the most destructive and brutal war in history.Despite all the sacrifices and disasters that people have suffered, the end of the war is still in sight.War weariness and defeatist sentiments arose not only in the trenches but also among the common people in both camps.One of the most astonishing manifestations: On July 19, 1917, the Reichstag passed the Peace Resolution by a vote of 218 to 126.In Austria-Hungary, the death of the revered and aged Emperor Francis Joseph on November 21, 1917, removed the sacred creeds of loyalty and discipline.The dependent nation-states, always restless under the Habsburgs, now began to take concrete steps to gain independent sovereignty.The newly succeeded young emperor Charles did not believe that the crumbling imperial structure could last until the following winter, so he sent his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus, to France to negotiate a peace.Also in Britain, the former foreign secretary, the Marquess of Lansdowne, wrote an open letter predicting the collapse of Western civilization unless some method was adopted to end the conflict.British soldiers in the trenches expressed the same anti-war sentiment in a song; the song includes lines like this: