Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/September 2015/Op-ed


 * By TomStar81

In September of 1915, two separate yet equally important events occurred that would have long-term implications for the Allied-aligned nations of Great Britain and Russia, both emerging as a result of the failure of their respective armed forces to push forward in their campaigns. In the east, the Imperial German Army had successfully mounted a three-month campaign that had seen the Imperial Russian Army repeatedly forced to fall back, allowing the German Empire to gain ground against its easternmost foe. Southeast of the Imperial Russian Army's three-month retreat, military forces of the British Empire successfully mounted an invasion of Gallipoli, only to have their initial success stall and backfire later in August. With the loss of initiative in both the Gallipoli campaign and the Russian Western Front, decisions would be made for these two allied powers that would have long-lasting geopolitical implications.

Since May, the Imperial German Army had been hounding the Imperial Russian Army on what was for the Germans the eastern front of the war. The Russians had thus been forced to fall back repeatedly over the course of the ensuing three months, culminating in the September 1915 halt of the German advance, at the expense of half a million casualties, roughly along the line of Riga-Jakobstadt-Dünaburg-Baranovichi-Pinsk-Dubno-Ternopil. Czar Nicholas II took advantage of the loss of faith in Stavka to relieve Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia of his command of the Imperial Russian Army, which led to Nicholas II assuming direct control of the army in the face of a poorly executed Russian withdrawal from the Eastern Front. This had the inadvertent effect of removing the safety buffer between Nicholas II and the army's campaign, so that the Russian Emperor and the army would shoulder the blame for the continued failure and losses sustained by Russia's military in World War I. This fueled the discontent and resentment that the Russian populace felt towards their monarch, and would in time come to be a rallying point for the communist and socialist activists emerging in Russia.

Meanwhile, the British Empire and the French Third Republic were experiencing similar problems in Southeastern Europe. In April of 1915 the Triple Alliance had opened the Gallipoli Campaign with amphibious assaults and naval bombardments intended to make it easier for the Imperial British and French Third Republic forces to advance and take out the Ottoman Empire. By August, this advance had stalled out somewhat due to various factors including naval actions and massively entrenched forces on the intended fronts. In an effort to restart the invasion, the British Empire and French Third Republic launched the August Offensive, a massive campaign aimed at achieving a breakout to get the invasion back on track. The August offensive would see Imperial Ottoman, Imperial British, and French Third Republic forces clash during the Battle of Sari Bair, Battle of Krithia Vineyard, Battle of Lone Pine, Battle of Chunuk Bair, Battle of the Nek, Battle of Scimitar Hill, and the Battle of Hill 60 in an effort to advance against the Ottomans, only to end up failing to achieve any of the major strategic, tactical, or operational goals laid out for the offensive. In the aftermath of this failure, the campaign would dwindle somewhat for the next few months until respective allied commands elected to effect an evacuation of Gallipoli in late 1915, ending the British Empire and French Third Republic's efforts to advance against the Ottoman Empire in Gallipoli.

As with the Imperial Russian Army's long retreat, the collapse of the Allied offensive in Gallipoli had lasting repercussions for the military. General Sir Ian Hamilton, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force's commanding general, was recalled in the aftermath of the failed August Offensive, effectively ending his military career. In total almost 568,000 men had been committed to the failed operation, with 252,000 men killed in action or due to the insufferable conditions in the trench lines during the campaigns, which included swarms of flies due to the presence of the dead on the field, the god-awful smells of the decaying bodies, an outbreak of dysentery due to poor sanitary conditions, and a poor supply situation which adversely effected Allied operations. In a marked contrast to the Imperial Russian Government, the decision by the British Empire to recall General Hamilton had no major downstream effects beyond ending the officer's military career, while Czar Nicholas II's decision to remove his ranking general would, as noted, lead the country to rise up against the Imperial Russian Government before the end of World War I.