organisation, command & control (WW1)

• Name of law that restricted civil liberties in 1914?

  DORA
• What happened to the command structures? What does this suggest?

  Due to the enormous size of forces in this conflict, more traditional decentralized command structures returned. Aside from Russia, the remaining belligerents had not really been involved in major wars since the turn of the century, therefore it took time for them to adapt to the demands of more modern warfare. Shows how quality of soldier impacts nature of war
• How did Foch command, control and organise in 1918 when he became Allied commander?

  Prior to this cooperation of British and French forces had been voluntary. Following the Doullens Conference, Foch was given centralised control of Allied strategic planning. Foch was effective at persuading rather than forcing greater cooperation within the alliance. Inter-Allied cooperation is best highlighted through the effective cooperation which helped ensure the German Spring Offensive failed but also the resulting 100 Days Offensive where the Allies and Commonwealth forces finally defeated Germany
• Permanent general staff officers?

  Other changes to command came in the form of permanent staff officers being set up for each divisional sector of the Western Front. This meant that they were able to develop an extensive understanding of the local terrain, locations of the enemy, and other valuable knowledge learned from previous engagements
• How did changes made in the 19th century serve to benefit the German leadership at the start of the war, giving them some advantages in terms of leadership and trained manpower?

  The Army was a large, professional force that’d been trained with this conflict in mind. Contrastingly, the British Army in 1914 was merely a colonial police force, a small (est. 80 000) force of soldiers that had been used to keep the peace in Britain’s colonies. This advantage only lasted until their professional forces were largely depleted as a result of the attritional struggles at Verdun and the Somme
• Example of Germany training non-commissioned officers to take over in the event of the death of officers?

  This can be highlighted with the use of stormtrooper tactics in the latter years of the war where small units (11 men) armed with light machine guns, grenades and mortars would advance and storm the enemy lines in a bid to restore mobility to the battlefield. The British followed suit and developed their own similar units (40 men) that would move quickly from crater hole to the next and storm enemy defences