Did the western Allies and Russia try to cooperate in World War I as they did in World War II?
score:4
The Entente allies did cooperate and coordinate. But on a much smaller scale than in a later war and even much much less so with Russia. Among the Western powers a Supreme War Council (SWC) emerged over time. But it was only founded in 1917, after the Russian Revolution. With Russia the exchanges were minute in comparison. Diplomatic channels were used early on but more on topics like exchanging war aims. For example, Russia wanted to exclude Italy from joining the war as to not give them any stake in claiming any territory later in case of winning.
The Triple Entente had been forged among adversaries. This was especially true of Russia and Britain, whose agreement in 1907 was intended to de-escalate tensions between the two. Their uneasy relationship was dramatically transformed as a consequence of the war. As Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith said at a dinner on 9 May 1916:
One of the most gratifying results of our Alliance is the complete agreement which has been established between the British and Russian Governments in regard to Eastern affairs … The days of misunderstanding are happily over, and whether it be in Turkey or in Persia or wherever British and Russian interests come into contact with one another, we have arrived at a common policy which we are both determined loyally and in concert to pursue.
The successes of 1916 led France and Britain to agree in mid-November of that year to apply the same strategy of coordination and simultaneous offensives in 1917. At that time, the question of a conference with Russia regarding strategy arose. The Petrograd Conference, though significant for the cohesion of the alliance, was rendered irrelevant by the Russian revolution that broke out only a couple of weeks after its end.
[…]
As David Lloyd George recounted after the war:
The real weakness of Allied strategy was that it never existed. Instead of one great war with a united front, there were at least six separate and distinct wars with a separate, distinct and independent strategy for each. There was some pretence at timing the desperate blows with a rough approach to simultaneity. The calendar was the sole foundation of inter-Allied strategy … There was no real unity of conception, co-ordination of effort or pooling of resources in such a way as to deal the enemy the hardest knocks at his weakest point. There were so many national armies, each with its own strategy and its own resources to carry it through …
The failure of the French and British to coordinate their strategy and the resulting defeat in the first joint operation of the war resulted in anger and recriminations that strained Anglo-French relations. Still more problematic was the fact that there were no plans for Anglo-Russian cooperation. (Weitsman)
The Lloyd George quote is of course a bit of idealistic hyperbole. But the level of coordination did improve mainly between French and British after 1915, between East and West it was more like "We're a bit stressed, please attack from your side as well, big time, please!"
How much any supplies and financial aid would count towards "coordination" seems debatable.
— Jehuda Lothar Wallach: "Uneasy Coalition: The Entente Experience in World War I", Greenwood, 1993.
— Meighen McCrae: "Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War. The Supreme War Council and War Planning, 1917–1918", Cambridge Universiyt Press: Cambridge, New York, 2019.
— Patricia A. Weitsman: "Alliance Cohesion and Coalition Warfare: The Central Powers and Triple Entente", Security Studies, 12:3, pp79–113, 2003
Upvote:7
In WW1 Russia was formally a member of the Entente, while during WW2 the Soviet Union was cooperating with the Allies more because of a common enemy. A good example of the coordination between the members of the Entente is the year 1916: as the battle of Verdun unfolded and proved to be very costly to the French army, the British launched the Somme offensive (not so successful) in the west, while the Russian army had the Brusilov offensive (more successful). One of the goals of these attacks was indeed to relieve the pressure on the French Army.
As for equipment, I do know that some Russian rifles (Mosin-Nagant) were actually produced under license in France, in the town of Chatellerault.
There was also a corps of Russian troops fighting on the Western front, they were interned and deported following the February revolution.
More post
- 📝 When was the last time someone was condemned to slavery as a punishment in the United States?
- 📝 Identifying a sword engraved with "66. A. E. 1. 61"
- 📝 When did Averroes start to study medicine?
- 📝 Which battle was the most lopsided result in terms of casualties?
- 📝 How widespread was literacy in classical Greek in Europe during the medieval period?
- 📝 In which direction does the thumb point in the "pollice verso?"
- 📝 What was the Hundred Years' War called at the time?
- 📝 Were British plans for India disrupted by WWII?
- 📝 Army formation: veterans at the first line
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 Why the difference of opinion about the disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose
- 📝 Who started the "katana is the soul of the Samurai" meme?
- 📝 Why did the July Monarchy dispense with Montgaillard's services?
- 📝 What was the first documented mention of American English different from British English?
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 Did the Germans use a "Verdun"-like strategy at Stalingrad?
- 📝 How were maps drawn and printed in the late 19th-early 20th centuries?
- 📝 What plane would have been used to airdrop someone into occupied Europe?
- 📝 What were the first local currency systems in history?
- 📝 What gave rise to the widespread popularity of coffee?
- 📝 What cipher did Jefferson and Madison use to correspond?
- 📝 Effect of propaganda during the American War of Independence
- 📝 Do we consider Carthage as belonging to a different civilization from the Phoenician one?
- 📝 Nicknames of M36 Gun Motor Carriage
- 📝 Were metal purities in coins well known and standardized by the 1500s?
- 📝 Where was the Japanese surrender signed on Okinawa in June 1945?
- 📝 In the early Roman Republic, did every patrician family have at least one consul?
- 📝 What is the earliest example of Aryanization in Germany?
- 📝 How was the transfer of personnel from British women's military services managed?
- 📝 Did medieval kingdoms issue health related guidelines?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Did the western Allies and Russia try to cooperate in World War I as they did in World War II?
- 📝 Did the Allies try to "bribe" Franco to join them in World War II?
- 📝 Did the Allies ever seriously contemplate a "Northern Intervention" in Russia during World War II?
- 📝 How did the Allies communicate during World War II?
- 📝 Did the Axis try to "bribe" Turkey into joining them during World War II?
- 📝 Did the Germans use the V1 and V2 missile system on the Eastern Front in World War 2?
- 📝 Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
- 📝 How many pens were used by MacArthur to end the final chapter of World War II and where are they now?
- 📝 How did diplomats of the Axis powers travel and communicate among themselves in World War II
- 📝 Why did World War I victors let Germany pay reparations in German Marks and gave it the option to default via inflation?
- 📝 Why did Russia support Serbia in the years leading to World War I?
- 📝 Did the Central Powers during World War 1 try to sue for peace before the Armistice?
- 📝 During World War II, did the Luftwaffe try to bomb 10 Downing Street?
- 📝 Why did the Byzantines not try to recover Syria during the war between Ali and Muawiya?
- 📝 How did the Allies locate, identify and process Nazi War criminals?
- 📝 Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
- 📝 How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
- 📝 Did the Soviets excel in one area of weaponry during World War II?
- 📝 How did the Nazis plan to defeat America during World War II?
- 📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
- 📝 Why did the German army execute so few soldiers in World War I compared to most other armies?
- 📝 Why did Chamberlain act to appease Hitler leading up to the outbreak of World War 2?
- 📝 How did the ruling class in the Muslim world react to the discovery and colonization of the Americas?
- 📝 Why didn't China assist in the Vietnam War like they did in Korea?
- 📝 Why did the United States enter World War I?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union not "grant" Inner Mongolia to Mongolia after World War Two?
- 📝 Why was the Western Front so static in World War I?
- 📝 What goods did Germany trade during World War II, and with whom?
- 📝 Why was the Cold War carried out over the whole world instead of between Siberia and Alaska?
- 📝 Did the Germans lose the U-Boat war in World war II because of a shortage of quality, rather than quantity?
