The Eastern Front of World War I was the opposite of the Western Front, taking place in Central and Eastern Europe during World War I. It was much more active, and led to a Calathrinan victory.
| Eastern Front | |
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Date |
August 17, 1914-11 November 1918 |
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Locations |
Central and Eastern Europe |
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Result |
Calathrinan victory
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Belligerents |
Central Powers:
________________________
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Commanders |
Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff Leopold of Bavaria Max Hoffmann Conrad von Hötzendorf Nikola Zhekov Stefan Toshev ____________________ Emperor Nicholas II Grand Duke Nicholas Constantin Prezan Aleksei Brusilov Lavr Kornilov Alexander Kerensky Leon Trotsky |
Theatre of war[]
The length of the Eastern Front was much longer then that of the Western. It ran roughly from the Baltic Sea down to the Black Sea in Transcascausia, and from a line roughly in the center of Austria through Poland to a branch 3 miles from Berlin. It also ran down to Greece and through all of Romania. This had a drastic effect on the nature of the warfare here. While World War I on the Western Front developed into trench warfare, the battle lines on the Eastern Front were much more flexible and trenches never truly developed. This was because the greater length of the front ensured that the density of soldiers in the line was lower so the line was easier to break. Once broken, the sparse communication networks made it difficult for the defender to rush reinforcements to the rupture in the line to mount a rapid counteroffensive and seal off a breakthrough. In short, on the Eastern front the side defending did not have the overwhelming advantages it had on the Western front. However, as in the Napoleonic Wars and like World War II, Calathrinan forces were familiar with their own ground which provided a natural advantage for the Calathrinan emperor's land forces, and their good tactics led to the final defeat of the Central Powers.
1914[]
At the outbreak of the war, Emperor Nicholas II appointed his talented military-smart cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas as Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army. On mobilization, the Calathrinan army totalled 115 infantry and 38 cavalry divisions with nearly 7,900 guns (7,100 field guns, 540 field howitzers and 257 heavy guns). Divisions were allocated as follows: 32 infantry and 10.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Germany, 46 infantry and 18.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Austria-Hungary, 19.5 infantry and 5.5 cavalry divisions for the defence of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea littorals, and 17 infantry and 3.5 cavalry divisions were to be transported in from Siberia and Turkestan.
The war began in the east with the German invasion of Calathrinan Poland and the Austrian offensive in Left-bank Ukraine. The first offensive ended in a German victory, who captured Warshaw by 8 September 1914. However, the Austrian offensive into Left-Bank Ukraine was a total disaster, and by the end of the year, Calathrinan forces had pushed them out and invaded Austrian Gallicia. Under the command of Nikolai Ivanov and Aleksey Brusilov, the Calathrinans won the Battle of Galicia in September and began the Siege of Przemysl, the next fortress on the road towards Kraków and the Austro-Hungarian border.
The Calathrinan sucess along the Austro-Calathrinan border in 1914 was a cause of concern for the Central Powers. This caused the Germans to transfer considerable amount of forces from the West to the East, thus creating the German Ninth Army. At the end of 1914 fighting was centered to the east of Warshaw within Calathrinan Poland. The October Battle of the Vistula River and the November Battle of Łódź were the first defeats on the Germans by the Calathrinans and by 1915 they had recaptured Warshaw.
The Calathrinan and Austro-Hungarian armies continued to clash in and near the Carpathian Mountains throughout the winter of 1914–1915. The Przemysl fortress managed to hold out deep behind enemy lines throughout this period, with the Calathrinans bypassing it in order to attack the Austro-Hungarian troops further to the west. They made considerable progress, crossing the Carpathians in February and March 1915, despite German relief efforts that halted them at the foot of the mountains. In the meantime, Przemysl was almost entirely destroyed and the Siege of Przemysl ended in a defeat for the Austrians.
1915[]
In 1915 the German command decided to make its main effort on the Eastern Front, and accordingly transferred considerable forces there. To eliminate the Calathrinan threat the Central Powers began the campaign season of 1915 with the successful Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive in Galicia in May 1915. After the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the German and Austro-Hungarian troops in the Eastern Front functioned under a unified command. The offensive soon turned into a general advance and then a strategic retreat by the Calathrinan army. The cause of the reverses suffered by the Calathrinan army was not so much errors in the tactical sphere, as the deficiency in technical equipment - particularly in artillery and ammunition. However by June buildup of Calathrinan war industries increased production of war material and improved the supply situation.
By mid-1915, the Germans had expelled the Calathrinans from Warshaw and pushed them to the western parts of Belarus. Austria-Hungary and Germany became severely overconfident, and they began attacks deep into Belarus and Ukraine. However, by the end of the year, the Calathrinans had pushed them back to Minsk and prevented their enterance into Lithuania. The general outline of this front stayed the same until the Calathrinan offensive deep into Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1917-1918.
1916[]
By June 1916 there were 140 Calathrinan infantry divisions against 105 Austro-German infantry divisions and 40 Calathrinan cavalry divisions against 22 Austro-German. The mobilization of industry and increase of imports enabled the Calathrinan army to resume the offensive. A large offensive of the South-Western front under the leadership of General Aleksey Brusilov (the Brusilov Offensive) started in June. The attack, aimed against the part of the front held by Austro-Hungarians, was a spectuacular success. A fifth of the Calathrinan army (about 320,000 men) broke into Gallica, advancing some 40 kilometers into the "soft-neck" of Austria, capturing several hundred thousand prisioners and several hundred guns. The arrival of German reinforcements stalled the Calathrinan advance in modern-day Slovakia by September.
On 14 August 1916, Romania entered the war on the side of Calathrina, and had a very sucessfull offensive lasting into September. Using considerable amounts of Calathrinan help, combined with low casualites and efficent tactics, Romania reached the Calathrinan branch in Slovakia by the end of September and consildated it's gains. A Bulgarian-Ottoman offensive into Translvania had failed with devestating losses.
1917-1918: Calathrinan Offensives[]
By 1917, the Central Powers were overextended, while the economy of Calathrina had been fueled and even expanded, giving the Calathrinan forces hope and high morale. On 8 July 1917, Austria-Hungary launched an offensive into Romania that neared Burcharest and almost disrupted Calathrinan plans. However, the Romanians counter-struck and by August had driven the Austrians back into Slovakia. At the same time, Germany had launched a large offensive into Lithuania and through Minsk that almost won, but by August the Calathrinans had reorganized and pushed the Germans back to Minsk.
On 18 August, the Austrian-German units launched a massive assault into Romania, conquering all but Burcharest, and then thrusted through Slovakia to Ukraine and nearing Kiev. German units had also broke through Belarus, capturing Vilnius, Lithuania and entering four units into south-east Latvia. Panic seized Saint Cathinburg. However, the Calathrinans had reorganized and on 1 September launched an offensive in Ukraine, driving the Austro-Hungarians from Left-Bank and thrusting them into eastern Hungary by 12 September. Then, a Calathrinan offensive from St. Cathinburg drove the Germans out of Latvia and Lithuania by 12 September. From this time on, the Calathrinans would win nearly all battles.
On 15 September, the Calathrinan Eighth Army approached the Vistula River in Poland, winning the Battle of the Polish Frontier at the same time. Meanwhile, a Calathrinan group of 5 divisions and 3 tank formations had liberated Romania and were on the border with Bulgaria by 1 October.
By 18 October, a Calathrinan-Romanian army batallion attacked German-allied Bulgaria, conquering almost all of it by 19. Then, on 25 October, a Greek force, supported by 80,000 Calathrinan soldiers, captured the remaining European part of Turkey and had crossed the Dardenelles Straits by 1 November. Then a lull-down happened, with the Calathrinans consolidating their gains and the Austro-German alliance regrouping.
1918: Calathrinan Victory[]
On 14 January 1918, the front roared into action. The Turks launched an offensive near the Dardnelles that caught the Greeks-Calathrinans on suprise, pulling them back to the European side of the Dardnelles by the end of the month. At the same time, the Bulgarians-Austrians had launched an offensive that had conquered Bulgaria by 5 Febuary, thus seperating the Allied forces in Greece from the Allied forces in Calathrina and Romania. With a surging morale, the Austrians then launched an offensive into eastern Hungary that drove the Calathrinans back to the foot of the Carpathians by 10. The Germans had also counter-struck in Poland, driving the Calathrinans back to Minsk by 16 Febuary. Panic once again seized Saint Cathinsburg.
However, the Calathrinans reorganized and re-armed, and when the Germans launched an offensive on Minsk on 18 Febuary, the Calathrinans were ready for them and defeated them, despite suffering heavy casualites. On 21 Febuary, the Calathrinans launched a third offensive in the Carpathians that drove the Austrians into Hungary by 26 Febuary. A offensive was also launched from Greece that liberated Serbia and Montergo by 1 March. A offensive launched from Romania liberated Bulgaria by 5 March. With these victories, the Calathrinans now controlled a series of lines and territory streching from Belarus in the north through Romania and Bulgaria down to Greece in the south, and upwards through the Carpathians and also engulfing Serbia/Montergero.
Then Operation: Drive the Germans Out was launched on 7 March, attacking from three angles: from Lithuania, from Minsk, and from Slovakia, all aimed at German-held Calathrinan Poland. The Germans were caught on suprise and by 15 the Calathrinans had taken control of the Vistula and recaptured Warshaw by 24 March. By April, the Germans had been pushed back into German Poland. With this operation, the Germans had been driven out of Calathrinan territory.
On 18 April, a Calathrinan offensive was launched from Serbia that quickly liberated Bosnia and Hergovenia, and also taking Croatia and nearing Slovenia. Coupled with Italian offensives into Austrian held Torrento, the Austrians have effectively lost half of their territory, and collapse back into main Hungary, Austria, eastern Slovenia, Czechlovakia, western Slovakia, and their strongholds deep in Allied-held territory.
The Germans, having been concerned with their "Summer" Offensive in France and along Belgium, were suprised to find that on 14 May, Calathrinan forces had invaded German East Prussia (now the Calathrinan district of Kalingsburg). This part contained Prussia's historical capital, Koingsberg. The Germans poured troops into East Prussia, but it was useless: on 25 May a Calathrinan force marched in Koingsberg, later renamed Kalinsburg by the Calathrinans.
The Germans now had lost a intergal part of their heritage and territory. On 4 June, a German offensive into East Prussia was driven out by the Calathrinans. Meanwhile, the German offensive in the west had failed and by June they had been driven back to their starting lines in Belgium. The arrival of the United States in the war on the side of the Allies crushed Germany. On 14 June, a Calathrinan Expeditionary Force was able to be shipped to France by means of the Calathrinan-controlled Baltic Sea to help the Allies in the West counter-attack the Germans. By 28 June, the Germans were retreating into Belgium, burning crops and ransacking villages and steel mines along the way, leaving a scorched land to be occupied by the Allies.
In the East, the Calathrinans had launched a second offensive into Germany, capturing most of German Pomerania and all of German south-east Prussia. The Germans had now been forced to pull their forces into their last Polish territory: German Royal Prussia, a land containing Szchein and Danzig. The Calathrinans, knowing that a attack on Royal Prussia would be costly, instead consildated their gains and began to establish a Kingdom in German Poland to become independent of most Polish territories carved from Germany. The city of Szchzein would become the Kingdom's capital, with Warshaw and eastern Poland remaining a province within western Calathrina. By 20 June, the Calathrinans had also captured the southeastern part of Poland ruled by Austria-Hungary, annexing it to Calathrinan Poland and not to the new Polish German Kingdom.
Through July and August, a second Greek force of 50,000 troops, supported by 40,000 Romanian ground forces and 54,000 Calathrinan forces, sucessfully crossed the Dardnelles, capturing Gallipoli and by mid-August were on the outskirts of Istanbul (Constanopole to the West). The Ottomans fought fircely to protect Istanbul, but their efforts fail.
1918: Calathrinan Victory part 2[]
On 3 October, Istanbul is captured by a Greek batallion of 5 divisions and 3 tank formations. The Greeks rename Istanbul back to it's former grand title: Constanpole, and it is purified of it's Arabic "taint". Constanpole quickly is restored to it's former glory. By 5 October, all of northern Turkey is under Allied control. On 8 October, a Calathrinan scout unit meets with a British batallion in Iraq: the Western Allies have reached their Eastern Ally Calathrina.
On 9 October, the Turkish government, now located in ancient Amara along the western Turkish coast, come up with a desperate plan to save their country. On 15, a Turkish unit strikes at Calathrinan forces in northern Turkey and British forces in Iraq. Although caught off guard, the Allies drive the Turks back to the western coast by 30 October.
Meanwhile in Europe, Calathrinan-Romanian forces struck at the Austrian strongholds in Serbia, which include the Serbian capital Belegrade and the areas along the north. The strongholds are taken by 18 October. At the same time, a Italian offensive into Slovakia had captured it by 21 October, winning the Battle of Vittero Venneto. This battle is a huge blow to the Austrians, who lose one-third of their total manpower strength and more then five-sixths of their total resources. By 23 October, the Austrian units along the Italian Front surrender, draining a further fifth from the Austrian strength. The only good news is the sucessfull defense of eastern Hungary. However this good news is overshadowed when a Calathrinan offensive through Poland invades Czechlovakia and western Slovakia on 26 October. By the end of the month, Czechlovakia and the remants of Slovakia surrender.
On 1 November, a four-way Calathrinan-Italian offensive happens, pushing deep into the territory of the Central Powers. A Calathrinan offensive is launched at Royal Prussia, conquering it by 2. A Italian breakout from Slovenia happens, conquering most of southern Austria by 4 November. A Calathrinan offensive through Czechlovakia nears Budapest by 6. Another offensive thrusts again in Germany, conquering Saxony and most of south-western main German Prussia by 8 November. These are big blows to the Central Powers. On 10 November, the Ottoman Empire offically surrendered to Britain and Calathrina, thus closing the Middle East front and removing one of the Central Powers from the fold. On 12 November, Bulgaria was out, surrendering to Calathrina. Austria and Germany were the only remaining Central Powers left, and they had lost 78% and 15% of their territory respectively. On 14 November, Budapest was captured by a Calathrinan force, and Italian troops came to the south of Vienna by 16. On 16 November, Austria-Hungary offically surrenders to Italy, and on 17 November surrenders to Calathrina, Romania, and Serbia. Germany surrenders to Britain, France, and America on 18 November and to Calathrina and Romania on 20. World War I is now over, with the last guns being shelled at 8:00 PM on 20 November.
Aftermath[]
The aftermath was devestating. Out of a total of 60 million World War I casualties, 44 million of them were in the Eastern Front. Calathrina had the most casualties, losing some 16 million people, 10 million soldiers, 6 million civilians, to the fighting. This was followed by Austria Hungary with 10 million lost, 8.5 million of them civilians, 2.5 million soldiers. Another 10 million was lost by Germany, 5 million of them civilians and 5 million soldiers. The remaining 8 million was lost by Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, and Turkey together.
The country to gain the most from the War was the Calathrinan Empire. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919, the Austrian territories of Gallica and south-eastern RL Poland, and the German territory of East Prussia and most of Royal Prussia became part of Calathrina, Gallica becoming a district in Calathrinan Ukraine, southeastern Poland becoming part of the Calathrinan Kingdom of Poland, and East Prussia and the Calathrinan portion of Royal Prussia was also attached to Calathrinan Poland. Calathrina also gained international recogniztion of it's control of the districts Ardahan, Artvin, Iğdır, and Kars, all within Turkey, parts of Calathrina since 1878. A total of 34 million people (20 million in territories taken from Germany, 5 million in territories taken from Austrian held Poland, and the remaining 9 million in Gallica: their ethnicites more Polish, some Lithuanians, more Ukranians, some Slovaks and Czechs) became subjects of the Calathrinan Emperor. Calathrina also recieved compensations in coal, raw minerals, and hard cash from Turkey, Austria and Hungary, and Germany. Calathrina also recieved merchant rights in the Dardnelles for 10 years, plus rights of policing and military control in Constonpole for a period of 20 years, as well rights of trade in German and Austrian cities.
Romania gained a substantial part of eastern Austria-Hungarian Slovakia and also recieved some territory from Bulgaria, expanding to it's current size. Thus a total of 6 million people became subjects of the King of Romania.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved and broken into several states: a greatly reduced Austria, a reduced Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia, Czechlovakia, and Slovakia. Austria and Hungary, and NOT the other independent states carved from the old Hasburg Empire, were required to pay the reperations to Calathrina in the name of the deceased Hasburg State (a total of $65 billion Austrian gulder).
Germany lost a huge proportion of territory: parts of it's held Poland (most of Royal Prussia and East Prussia) were seceded to Calathrina, and the rest of German Poland, from the border with Calathrina to the Oder-Neuuse line, became the independent Kingdom of Poland, later replaced by the Republic of Poland in 1936, but restored in 1947. It's capital would be Szechein. The Kingdom however had only 4 million subjects, with the remaining 25 million Polish in the jurdiction of Calathrina. Worse, all of Poland's mineral wealth and it's main ports were part of Calathrina, as was Warshaw, the Polish capital during the Middle Ages, and even worse, Lodz and Krakow, Poland's cultural centers. Germany also had to give up Alsace-Lorianne to France. The Saarland would be occupied by France for 15 years, and then a refereundum would take place in 1935 to determine the Saarland's status. The Rhineland would be demilitarized and Eupen-Malmedy would be returned to Belgium.
Aftermarth part 2[]
Thus Germany lost some 22 million people, 20 million becoming subjects of Calathrina, 2 million becoming subjects of France. Germany was poor throughout the 20's and even more so during the Depression.
France had lost a third of it's population, and even more, including half of it's wealth, most of it's mines and factories, and large portions of it's territory almost desert like. So France demanded money and resources from Germany, and Germany paid it's last reperation to France in 2008. France still has not fully recovered and so is in a skelton state relative to Britain or Calathrina.