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I s ught eleven succe ive ttles in two years on the mile front of the I nzo ver, with alm t no gains-but they tied down a g r­ tion of the Austrian army. More im rtantly, their ret a eements with England and France would stand in the way of ace negotiation
Turkey had come into the war on the side of Ge y, hoping to get ck me of its territory from Ru ia Winston Churchill of England sug­ gested that the Allies o n a cond front in rkey to fo e Turkey out of the war, o n supply lines to Ru ia, and break the stalemate. on May 24, the es invaded Turkey at Ga The idea was a g one. But the Turks knew of the plan well ahead of time t t the British bomb dment was ml Then when the British forces landed, they were met by the me murderous machine gun fire as had decimated the ranks of their comrades on the weste front There were 120, Allied casualti and nothing was accomplished The eatest tragedy was that the Allies were thus able to do nothing to help Ru ia and conditions there de­ teriorated
Finally in ptem r Nicholas II decided that the only way to ve R ia from total defeat was to take over supreme command at the front He could arcely have made a wor decisio Ru ia needed to get out of the war, not prolong it Nicholas was not qualified a military comman­ der. And worst of all, he left the gove ment in Ru ia in the hands of Alexandra as regent-which meant that the government was actually in the hands of Rasputin. Rasputin removed every able man left in high i­ tion in the gove ment and brought in weak, immoral men whom he con­ trolled e situation within Ru ia rapidly deteriorat
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In bruary 1916 the Germans launched an attack against the French at Verdun e French held, but casualties mounted e Allies d ided to launch a counterattack on the mme, a strategically worthl area, to re­ lieve the pre ure on the French General Douglas Haig was placed in com­ mand for the British, but he intended to u the me tacti that had gone nowhere in 1915.
The Battle of the Somme illustrates the murderous ineptn that char­ acter ed the Allied high command during the war. The Germans were aware from aerial reconnai nce that a ma r offensive was comin they improved their defensive itions, putting up new bar d wire with bar as thick as a man's thumb, in me places at a depth of thi y yards. e British neverthele went ahead with their plan