Monday, January 19, 2009

Historia del seculo vinti, Parte 3


(Languages of this post: Interlingua, English)

Le initio del Prime Guerra Mundial:

Le planos militar initial del franceses e del germanos faceva un fiasco complete. Le general Moltke comenciava le operationes del plan Schlieffen le 4 de augusto de 1914, ma ille non habeva calculate que le belgos resisterea le incursiones del armea german. Le angleses inviava a Belgio un fortia expeditionari a causa del violation del neutralitate de Belgio per le germanos. Durante iste parte del guerra il habeva 57 (cinquanta e septe) divisiones german luctante contra 24 (vinti e quatro) divisiones franceses, 7 (septe) belge, e 5 (cinque) anglese.

Vidente le impossibilitate de executar lor plan initial de circumferer Paris, le germanos concentrava lor truppas al est de Paris. Le franceses tunc essayava penetrar a in Alsacia-Lorena supponente que le germanos deberea reinfortiar lor ala dextre, destinate a circumferer le capital francese. Post lor tentativa de debilitar le fronte german in le battalia de Ardennes tamen illes discoperiva que le supponite debilitate german non existeva.

Le Battalia del Marne:

Le germanos obligava le franceses e le angleses a retroceder in octo dies de marchas fortiate usque le fluvio Marne. Illes ancora pensava que illes poterea circumferer Paris, ma le franceses reinfortiava lor ala sinistre e frustrava le effortios del germanos. Durante iste parte del guerra le germanos e le francobritannicos habeva fortias quasi equivalente (53 [cinquanta e tres] divisiones contra le 57 [cinquanta e septe] divisiones del germanos), e le angleses e le franceses sperava confrontar le germanos definitivemente in le battalia del Marne.

Iste battalia comenciava le 5 de septembre de 1914. Il habeva un brecha de 40 kilometros in le lineas german, ma le fortias francobritannic non poteva usar lo contra le germanos a causa del fatiga de lor soldatos e le manco de munitiones, e le germanos establiva un nove linea apud le fluvio Aisne.

Le germanos debeva abandonar completemente le plan Schlieffen. Illes comprendeva que le fortias unificate del franceses e del angleses esseva troppo potente pro le defaite de Francia con un sol colpo decisive. Le truppas german tamen essayava romper le fronte anglofrancese in le prime battalia de Ypres del 12 de octubre al 11 novembre, 1914, inter Arras e le costa. Iste battalia esseva multo sanguinari, e le germanos perdeva plus que 100.000 soldatos sin complir iste objectivo.

Usque tunc le germanos habeva sperate conducer un guerra fulmine, movente lor truppas rapidemente trans territorios grande, ma illes e le anglofranceses debeva luctar in trencheas, e durante tres annos le linea del fronte non se moveva plus que 15 (dece cinque) kilometros in despecto del destruction massive infligite durante omne iste battalia.

Le Offensive Russe:

In le fronte oriental, le russos invadeva le Prussia oriental e Galitzia, un region polonese dominate per Austria. De iste maniera illes contribueva indirectemente al debilitation del fortias german in le Marne proque le germanos debeva mover quatro divisiones de Francia al fronte russe. Post le battalias de Tannenberg (26-30 augusto, 1914) e un altere simile battalia, le germanos expelleva le russos del Prussia oriental.

In dispecto de un grandissime perdita de homines le russos vinceva le austriacos in le battalias de Lemberg (augusto-septembre, 1914) e occupava le Galitzia oriental. Post que le russos debilitava le fortias austriac, le franceses poteva contener le germanos plus facilemente.

Le germanos timeva un guerra de duo frontes, ma lor planos pro evitar lo faceva un fiasco decisive. Un guerra longe deveniva inevitabile. Le soldatos german esseva habile e coragiose, ma le economia del germanos se debilitava a causa del necessitate de approvisionar lor soldatos e suppler le necessitates de lor population civil. Le japoneses anque declarava le guerra contra Germania le 23 de augusto de 1914 e occupava le possessiones german in le oriente extreme e in le Pacifico. Turchia tamen se univa a Germania e bombardava le portos russe de Odessa e Sebastapol.

Le germanos tunc tentava facer un colpo decisive contra le russos in maio, 1915, ma lor attacco durava usque septembre. Le austrogermanos perdeva un grande numero de soldatos. Lor effortios tamen obligava que le russos retrocedeva, ma Austria e Germania tunc esseva troppo debile pro circumferer los. Le italianos intrava in le guerra appoiante le franceses, le angleses, e le russos. Illes aperiva un nove fronte in Isonzo, obligante que Austria aperiva un altere fronte e reducente le pression del austriacos sur le russos.

1916, le anno de longe battalias sanguinari indecisive:

Durante le tertie anno del Prime Guerra Mundial omne le fortias militar se trovava in un impasse sanguinari e paralytic. Omne paises que participava in le guerra perdeva numeros enorme de soldatos in conditiones infernal, specialmente in le battalias de Verdun e del Somme.

In 1916 Francia e su alliatos consentiva actuar conjunctemente de un maniera organisate in duo frontes principal. Ma le germanos, con le proposito de liberar se del necessitate de luctar continuemente in trencheas, initiava un nove offensive contra Verdun le 21 de februario. Illes sapeva que Verdun occupava un importante position strategic e esseva un loco de multe valor symbolic e dunque sperava que le franceses mobilisarea omne lor fortias pro defender lo e que ibi illes poterea dar un colpo definitive al armea francese.

Le franceses respondeva como le germanos sperava. Ma, post quatro menses de combates exceptionalmente sanguinari, le germanos non compliva lor objectivo. Al fin del offensiva, le 12 de julio, Germania habeva sacrificate 240.000 (vinti e quatro mille) homines e le franceses 275.000 (duo centos septanta e cinque mille). Simultaneemente, in le fronte oriental, le russos facilemente vinceva le armea austrohungare, capturante 200.000 (duo centos mille) prisioneros, e le italianos poteva occupar Galitzia.

Le angleses conduceva un grande offensive sur le fluvio Somme. In despecto del concentration de lor fortias, illes non poteva rumper le fronte e penetrava solmente unes pauc kilometros. Iste battalio esseva mesmo plus sanguinari que illo de Verdun, que se prolongava, producente cinque menses de combates quasi completemente sin interruptiones. Post lor effortios, le angleses perdeva 400.000 (quatro centos mille) homines, le franceses 200.000 (duo centos mille), e le germanos 450.000.

Germania e Austria tamen conquireva Romania, debilitante fortemente le armea russe, que durante le prime annos del Guerra habeva sacrificate unes 3.800.000 (tres milliones octo centos mille) soldatos.

Le defaite final de Germinia in 1918:

In le primavera de 1918, le germanos interprendeva unes offensivas con resultatos positive, inter illos un secunde attacco sur le Marne. Ma in lor tertie attacco sur iste fronte Francia e su alliatos vinceva le armea de Ludendorff. Le maxime chef del franceses, le marechal Foch, comenciava un serie de attaccos que progressivemente debilitava le armea german.

Le 8 de augusto, con le adjuta de tanks, le alliatos del franceses rumpeva le fronte occidental e recuperava lo que le germanos habeva ganiate le primavera. Le germanos esseva troppo debile pro luctar multo efficacemente, e Francia e su alliatos, incoragiate per lor successos, aperiva un offensiva in omne le frontes.

In le oriente, le alliatos habeva successos simile. Illes penetrava le fronte de Bulgaria, un complimento que produceva un armistitio. Post rumper le fronte turc, le angleses conquireva Damasco in Syria. Le 27 (vinti e septe) septembre, Ludendorff recommendava fortemente un armistitio, que le governamento german demandava un mense postea (le 26 [vinti e sex] de octobre) post capitular ante unes demandas del presidente statounitese, Wilson.

Le 29 de octubre Karl I de Austria demandava un armistitio post le defaite de Vittorio Veneto a manos del italianos. Duo dies postea Turchia anque capitulava. E le 23 (vinti e tres) e le 28 (vinti e octo) de octobre le croatas e le checos, respectivemente, declarava lor independentia.

Le problemas interne de Germania deveniva extrememente tense. Le populo german, que durante annos habeva sacrificate multissimo pro continuar un guerra inutile, se rebellava contra su governamento aperte- e massivemente. Le fortias militar german se motinava in decembro, e Wilhelm II debeva abandonar Germania e refugiar se in le Paises Basse.

Scheideman, le secretario de Stato, proclamava un nove republica german, e le 11 de novembre de 1818 Germania capitulava definitivemente. Le germanos habeva volite negotiar un tractato de pace, ma le alliatos refusava e imponeva sur le germanos conditiones de pace severissime.

In 1919 le economista anglese John Maynard Keynes precocemente admoneva que le dur conditiones de pace imponite per le alliatos perpetuarea le ruina del economia german, causante rebelliones inter le germanos, e presentarea un grande periculo de un altere periodo de destabilisation europee periculose.

Le consequentias del guerra:

Post le Prime Guerra Mundial le population del paises que habeva participate in le guerra esseva extrememente demoralisate. Unes 8.500.000 (octo milliones cinque cento mille) europeos habeva morite in le guerra, que habeva clarissimemente demonstrate le incompetentia del governamentos europee pro mantener relationes stabile e rationabile inter se.

Le guerra anque provocava un serie crise economic in Europa proque le homines qui moriva in le guerra esseva juvene. In conditiones de pace, illes haberea essite inter le plus productive sectores del population. Francia habeva perdite 20% (vinti e quatro pro cento) de su population active, Germania 15% (dece cinque pro cento), e Britannia e Italia 10% (dece pro cento).

Ben que Germania habeva perdite homines e ressources material que in tempores pacific on haberea potite dedicar a production economic utile, le campos de guerra esseva foras de su territorio national. Illes qui habeva luctate contra Germania memorava isto e esseva etiam plus exigente in lor demandas de indemnisation. Ma mesmo pro le victores, le destruction material e human del guerra necessitava effortios continue e difficile pro evitar le chaos economic complete.

Post le ruina de Europa, le Statos Unite e le Union Sovietic emergeva como le polos politic e economic le plus importante del mundo. Japon anque emergeva como le potentia le plus importante de Asia.

In paises neutral, como Espania, alicun personas se inricchiva enormemente satisfaciente le crescente demanda economic inter le paises beligerante del guerra pro alimentos e altere essential productos commerical. Ma le precios de iste productos, mesmo in Espania, cresceva a causa del demanda general altissime. E como le major parte del population espaniol non poteva comprar los, le guerra presentava le paradoxo de consequentias multo negative pro multe gente in Espania.
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The Start of World War I:

The initial military plans of the French and of the Germans failed completely. General Moltke started the operations of the Schlieffen plan on August 4, 1914, but he had not calculated that the Belgians would resist the incursions of the German army. The English sent an expeditionary force to Belgium because of the violation of Belgian neutrality by the Germans. During this part of the war there were fifty-seven German divisions fighting against twenty-four French, seven Belgian, and five English divisions.

Seeing the impossibility of executing their initial plan of surrounding Paris, the Germans concentrated their troups to the east of Paris. The French then tried to penetrate Alsace-Lorraine supposing that the Germans would have to reinforce their right wing, destined to surround the French capital. After their attempt to weaken the German front in the Battle of Ardennes, however, they discovered that the presumed weakness of the Germans did not exist.

The Battle of the Marne:

The Germans obliged the French and the English to retreat in eight days of forced marches up to the Marne river. They still thought they could surround Paris, but the French reinforced their left wing and frustrated the efforts of the Germans. During this part of the war, the Germans and the French and British had almost equivalent forces (fifty-three French and British divisions against fifty-seven German ones), and the English and the French hoped to confront the Germans decisively in the Battle of the Marne.

This battle started on September 5, 1914. There was a forty-kilometer gap in the German lines, but the French and British forces could not use it against the Germans because of the fatigue of their soldiers and a lack of munitions, and the Germans established a new line next to the Aisne River.

The Germans had to completely abandon the Schlieffen Plan. They knew that the unified forces of the French and the English were too powerful to defeat France with a single decisive blow. The German troops, however, tried to break the Anglo-French front in the first battle of Ypres from October 12 to November 11, 1914, between Arras and the coast. This battle was a blood bath, and the Germans lost more than 100,000 (one hundred thousand) soldiers without accomplishing this goal.

Up to then the Germans had hoped to conduct a lightning war, moving their troops rapidly through large territories, but they and the Anglo-French had to fight in trenches, and for three years the front lines did not move more than fifteen kilometers despite the massive destruction inflicted throughout this battle.

The Russian Offensive:

On the eastern front, the Russians invaded East Prussia and Galitzia, a Polish region dominated by Austria. In this way they contributed indirectly to the weakening of the German forces in the Marne because the Germans had to move four divisions from France to the Russian front. After the battles of Tannenberg (August 23-30, 1914 [from August the twenty-third to August the thirtieth in nineteen fourteen]) and another similar battle, the Germans expelled the Russians from East Prussia.

Despite a very great loss of men, the Russians defeated the Austrians in the battles of Lemberg (August-September, 1914 [from August to September, nineteen fourteen]) and occupied east Galitzia. After the Russians weakened the Austrian forces, the French were able to contain the Germans more easily.

The Germans were afraid of a war on two fronts, but their plans to avoid one were a decisive failure. A long war became inevitable. The German soldiers were skilled and courageous, but the economy of Germany was weakened because of the need to supply their soldiers and take care of the needs of their civilian population. The Japanese also declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914, and occupied the German possessions in the Far East and the Pacific. Turkey, however, joined Germany and bombarded the Russian ports of Odessa and Sebastapol.

The Germans then tried to strike a decisive blow against the Russians in May, 1915, but their attack lasted until September. The Germans and the Austrians lost a large number of soldiers. Their efforts, however, forced the Russians to withdraw, but Austria and Germany then were too weak to surround them. The Italians entered the war in support of the French, the English, and the Russians. They opened a new front in Isonzo, obliging Austria to open another front and reducing the pressure of the Austrians on the Russians.

1916, the Year of Long, Bloody, indecisive Battles:

During the third year of the First World War, all the military forces were paralyzed in a bloody stalemate. All countries that participated in the war lost enormous numbers of soldiers in infernal conditions, especially in the battles of Verdun and of the Somme.

In 1916 France and its allies decided to organize to jointly attack the two principal fronts. But the Germans, with the purpose of freeing themselves from the need to constantly fight in trenches, initiated a new offensive against Verdun on February 21 (twenty-first). They knew that Verdun occupied an important strategic position and was strong in its symbolism, and they thus hoped that the French would mobilize all their forces to defend it and that there they would be able to administer a decisive blow to the French army.

The French responded the way the Germans hoped. But, after four months of exceptionally bloody combat, the Germans did not reach their objective. At the end of the offensive on July 12 (July the twelfth), Germany had sacrificed 240,000 (two hundred forty thousand) men and the French, 275,000 (two hundred seventy-five thousand). At the same time, on the eastern front, the Russians easily overcame the Austro-Hungarian Empire, capturing 200,000 (two hundred thousand) prisoners, and the Italians were able to occupy Galitzia.

The English started a massive charge at the Somme River. Despite the concentration of their forces, they were not able to break through the front and penetrated only a few kilometers. This battle was even bloodier than the one at Verdun, which dragged on, producing almost five months of almost unbroken fighting. After their efforts, the English lost 400,000 (four hundred thousand) men, the French 200,000 (two hundred thousand), and the Germans 450,000 (four hundred fifty thousand).

Germany and Austria, however, conquered Romania, heavily weakening the Russian army, which in the first years of the war had sacrified some 3,800,000 (three million eight hundred thousand) soldiers.

The Final Defeat of Germany in 1918:

In the spring of 1918, the Germans undertook some offensives with favorable results, among them a second attack on the Marne. But in their third attack on this front France and its allies conquered Ludendorf's army. The chief military leader of the French, Marshal Foch, then started a series of attcks that progressively weakened the German army.

On August 8, with the help of tanks, the allies of the French broke through the western front and recovered what the Germans had conquered the previous spring. The Germans were too weak to fight very effectively, and France and its allies, encouraged by their success, opened an offensive on all fronts.

In the east, the allies had similar successes. They penetrated the Bulgarian front, an accomplishment that produced an armistice. After breaking through the Turkish front, the English conquered Damascus in Syria. On September 27 (September the twenty-seventh) Ludendorff strongly recommended an armistice, which the German government asked for a month later, on October 26 (October the twenty-sixth), after capitulating to some demands by the U.S president, Wilson.

On October 29 (October the twenty-ninth) Karl I of Austria asked for an armistice after the Vittorio Veneto defeat at the hands of the Italians. Two days afterward Turkey also capitulated. And on October 23 and 28 (October the twenty-third and twenty-eighth), the Croats and the Czechs, respectively, declared their independence.

Internal problems in Germany became quite tense. The German people, who for years had sacrificed a great deal to continue a useless war, started open and massive rebellions against their government. The German military forces mutinied in December, and Wilhelm II had to leave Germany and take shelter in Holland.

Scheideman, the state secretary, proclaimed a new German republic, and on November 11, 1918 (November the eleventh, nineteen eighteen), Germany capitulated definitively. The Germans had wanted to negotiate a peace treaty, but the allies refused and imposed on the Germans very severe conditions of peace.

In 1919 (nineteen nineteen) the English economist John Maynard Keynes prophetically warned that the harsh peace conditions imposed on the Germans by the allies would perpetuate the ruin of the German economy, causing rebellions among the Germans, and would present a great danger of another period of European instability.

The Consequences of the War:

After the First World War the people in the countries that had participated in it were extremely demoralized. Some 8,500,000 (eight million five hundred thousand) Europeans had died in the war, which had very clearly demonstrated the incompetence of the European governments to maintain stable and reasonable relations among themselves.

The war also provoked a serious economic crisis in Europe because the men that died in the war were young. In conditions of peace, they would have been among the most productive sectors of the active population. France had lost 20% (twenty percent) of its active population, Germany 15% (fifteen percent), and Britain and Italy 10% (ten percent).

Though Germany had lost men and material resources that in peaceful times could have been dedicated to useful economic production, the battlefields were outside its national territory. Those who had fought against Germany remembered this and were even more severe in their demands for indemnification. But even for the victors, the material and human destruction of the war made necessary continuing and difficult efforts to avoid complete economic chaos.

After the ruin of Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the most important political and economic poles of the world. Japan also emerged as the most important power in Asia.

In neutral countries, like Spain, some people enriched themselves enormously by satisfying the growing economic demand among the belligerent countries of the war for food and other essential commercial products. But the prices of these products, even in Spain, went up because of enormous general demand. And since most of the Spanish population could not buy them, the war presented the paradox of very negative consequences for many people in Spain.

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