How Britain Used Warships To Blockade In WW1 | First World War | Timeline

[Music] in August 1914 the two greatest navies in the world made ready for war now the Royal Navy will shift the question of the German future if they do not come out and fight they will be dug out like rats from a hole but the two fleets rarely met instead a new kind of war evolved more stealthy more cruel a war not against battleships but people [Music] the world's capital ships in 1914 with the products of a cold war Britain's HMS dreadnought except the benchmark heavy armor big guns fast [Music] Germany at 13 and 7 building America Britain 20 [Music] repeats Potenza [Music] [Music] Britain and Germany were the main opponents staring each other down across the North Sea the longer the two sides looked at the map the more obvious their problems became Germany's ships couldn't get clear of the North Sea to the south the channel blocked by mines and the Dover patrol to the north the British Grand Fleet at Scarpa flow [Music] but Britain couldn't get to the German fleet unless it came out from its heavily protected bases and if they actually met in the North Sea the result could be catastrophic [Music] the site everyone [Music] battleship its back [Music] the journey took the back stairway [Music] Jackie Fisher Britain's sharpest and predicted radical tree the use of submarines has convinced them selling water nothing can stand against them the submarine is the coming type of war vessel for sea fighting it means that the whole foundation of our traditional naval strategy has broken down two days into the war Germany unleashed ten u-boats into the North Sea to hunt down British fleet one of them u21 made her way to the Firth of Forth where the British Cruiser HMS Pathfinder was leaving Rosyth naval base [Music] new 21 Sankar with a single torpedo within a fortnight the Germans had more good news this 1927 film celebrates the voyage have kept in Bennigan's on the u9 [Music] through my prismatic glasses I noticed a small masthead coming into view near the master lunch it looked like the mast of a warship could this be the first sight of the enemy that we were to have during the war the u9 had found the British cruisers hope have a clear and Chrissy on patrol of the Dutch coast practically they were nicknamed live bait to scooter captain Vatican seized his chance fire torpedo at 500 meters three ship formation 31 seconds later but to [Music] on board was killed Musgrave we were welcomed by a terrific crash and the whole ship shook and all the crockery in the pantry fell then crécy and hug arrived and led down their boats the al-baqir went down suddenly and we slid down her side into the water Musgrave jumped into the North Sea and became the only man in the war to be sunk on three ships within one hour I swam to the hub and was just going on board when she was struck and sank in three minutes I then swam on to the Cressy and was hauled up beside with a rope but she was struck also and we sank geography Woola was chief of Germany's Imperial naval cabinet on our return from the morning ride the first news of the successful torpedo attack by the u9 on three english cruisers we are all delighted and the Kaiser is in seventh heaven the British were appalled First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill got the blame over 1,400 men many of them young cadets had died in a single submarine attack Winston's war babies they were called British submarine leftenant Ronald Trevor wrote to his parents the news tonight is sad but what we submariners had been expected for weeks the Commodore has repeatedly warned the Admiralty that those ships ought not to patrol the North Sea what has happened is exactly what we predicted ships standby to rescue the sinking ones crew then the submarine gets two sitting shots commander-in-chief of the British Grand Fleet was Admiral John Jellicoe he joined the Navy in 1874 as a midshipman known as silent chat he was experienced capable and cautious he ended patrols off the German coast confining his most valuable ships to Scarpa flow in Brussels but the very limits of the u-boats range he warmed the Admiralty the Germans have shown that they rely to a very great extent on submarines mines and torpedoes and there can be no doubt that they possess an actual superiority over us in these particular directions Germany's forward submarine base was on the island of Heligoland the u-boats were ordered to sweep the North Sea but the British had gone [Music] on the 16th of December 1914 hoping to lure the British out five German warships steamed across the North Sea at 7:00 in the morning they'd have been far on Scarborough and happily there was a terrific crash he thought about the sudden thunder but when another crash came we rushed to the window and saw a lot of smoke and cried it's the Germans two of the wee girls along to me and said lots of Germans going to kill us 122 people died in the attack it was the first time enemy warships had killed anyone on the British mainland in over a century Jellico too had been thinking about attacking the enemy's homeland but his weapon would not be a hit-and-miss naval bombardment but a blockade tight as a drum and lethal what we have to do is starve and [ __ ] Germany the destruction of the German fleet as a means to an end and not an end in itself here was a use for those huge battleships essentially sealing the exits in Germany's freaking out to the vital filter is getting in the North Sea would become new at NC Jellico was helped by an invention more important than dreadnaughts or even submarines Wallis every day every German ship radioed its position back to Fleet headquarters at bill hands Harley across the North Sea in the coast guard station of constantan in Norfolk British naval intelligence was listening the German messages were passed on to a group of code breakers working one of Britain's most secret departments room 40 deep in the heart of the Admiralty old building according to one of their officers the men in room 40 were a mixed bag they knew ordinary literature and fluid and they could be relied on but of cryptography of naval journals of any nationality they knew not a job some like dilwynn Knox would help crack the German Enigma code in the Second World War but in 1915 they desperately needed some clues the break came in the Baltic Sea where a German Cruiser the Magdeburg was captured by the Russians on board they found one of the most valuable documents of the war and passed it on to their British allies this is the Magdeburg code it allowed the men in room 40 to read nearly everything the German Navy was planning [Music] oh well the Kaiser said on learning of the Magdeburg sketcher sparks are bound to live but the cars I had no idea his enemies had his coat no idea of the immense advantage they now possessed [Music] isolation stop [Music] besides a balloon see the German ships [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] brutal efficient brainchild of Morris Hankey of the committee of Imperial defence my belief in Sieber mounted the storm and digital the Germans like Napoleon might overrun the continent this might prolong but cannot affect the final issue which would be decided by economic the director of mainland [Music] the speech and widespread death and would soon be inflicted Germany began the war with a merchant fleet of nearly four million tunnels within months she lost a quarter of his ships seized in Harper's forecourt making a dash into the no-man's see Lloyd's of London kept a log of every vessel sunk their records show that on one day alone the 8th of August 1914 Germany lost 41 ships neutral countries Holland Denmark Sweden were not spare Germany depended on ports like Rotterdam for grain of raw materials so Britain of course mutual ships to submit to the [Music] starting with Holland the British pressured shipping companies into declaring their goods in every country she built up a network of agents they tracked ships coming and going who was sending what where any ship could be stopped any found with bands supplies for Germany had its cargo seized within weeks the German government started to ration food Caroline Ethel Cooper was an Australian stranded in Leipzig since the start of the war every week she wrote to her sister in Adelaide my dear Amy the government has seized the whole bread flour and meal supply of the country we are allowed any four pounds of bread and can only buy one pound of white flour at a time now that the war against neutral ships and food supplies become prices rise every week sailors like Richard Stumpf was stuck in harbour frustrated and hungry second of April 1916 we spend most of our time worrying about our bellies even the officers are embittered and dissatisfied to enter this isolation a Navy came up with a revolutionary plan an unarmed submarine over 200 feet long the could carry a cargo over thousand tons in June 1916 the Deutschland set out for America the first time a submarine had ever tried to cross the Atlantic because of the wet weather and the high running seas the deck hatches were closed most of the time the diesel engines pumped hot humid air throughout the boat sweat ran down the bulkheads water leaked around loose rivets the drinking water tasted like diesel and every meal the cooked cooked had a layer of oil across the top as we approach the American Coast captain kerning ordered the crew saying nothing to anyone at the strains we dunder ganja in the trail especially avoid mentioning the seasickness now of the two world wars it's taken for granted that America and Britain are the closest of allies naturally on the same side but in the First World War it wasn't so clear eight million Americans had German parents or grandmas [Music] 20 [Music] half Britain's war budget was spent in the States [Music] companies like Bethlehem Steel [Music] six times the perfectly just another good [Music] the brave authentic crossing dodging will Navy warships became a rallying point for anyone would suffer the British okay crossing gradually became a triumph all the neutral students we met American or others greeted us with three hoots or with their sirens only Anita Stephen sailed past in deadly silence while we were proudly raising the black white and red flag in the wind the deutschlands crew received a hero's welcome they were dinners in their honor captain Kearney was invited to meet the president the three weeks we spend in the United States were a non-stop party everywhere we went people gathered round us they all wanted a souvenir of some kind they even sold the buttons of my shirt and the stripes of my tunic German families introduces their daughters when we no had to pay for beer the Deutschland returned to Germany with a vital cargo the help he gave the economy was nothing compared with the boost to German morale as even Carolina Facundo had to admit [Music] because the deutschlands got the side of those red white and black flag always makes me sick I'm glad she got across all the same but the Deutschland was too small to break the propane [Music] in Germany and Austria there were not enough people to work the land and too many officials trying to ration what food there was the situation with the hunger and queues is turning nasty people wait for potatoes in their hundreds for deep from 4:00 in the morning until the afternoon every morning they're accused line with armchairs and cushions upon which people sit and sleep the shortage is worsened after the terrible harvest of 1916 the Germans called it the turnip winter many had nothing to eat but cattle fodder there were 50 food rods that year Oh what days of terror everything's in turmoil there was havoc in town last night the window panes were smashed in a cafe kaiser Hoff angry crowds were shouting outside bakeries and inns up at the castle they cursed the major inwards I shan't repeat the army appeared at 11:00 it's horribly cold and because the rolling stock has will have been taken for the warmth there is an extreme shortage of coal we're learning how to be freezing which isn't the most pleasant for you schools theaters and cinemas have all been closed until further notice because of the lack of coal the German Navy did nothing to help even if large parts of our battle fleet were mine at the bottom of the sea it would have accomplished more than it does know at vilhelm some people wrote graffiti on the walls dear father man you may rest assured the fleets in harbour safely moored Admiral Reinhard Scheer had been ordered not to risk his ships against the full British fleet but by mid 1916 the pressure to do something was intense on the 31st of May Germany's high seas fleet steamed out of filth on some hoping to engage the Royal Navy's battle cruisers but the British for one jump ahead the men in room 40 had already decoded Cher's orders three hours before the Germans had even left harbour the entire British Grand Fleet was on its way to intercept now the world would get the Great Sea back jump [Music] Britain's first Greek fleet action since it was a fight they had to win if Germany ended up masters of the North Sea the blockade would be finished the British Army in Europe cut off Britain herself open to invasion Admiral John Jellicoe wants Winston Churchill said the only man could lose the war in an afternoon [Music] less Mohammed than German ISM Britain's ships prefer to fight a very long range but a jump the range was just five miles [Music] [Music] [Music] our first shot bridge of a German destroyer shells ships sinking and dying [Music] at 4:30 p.m. Queen Mary was first an enormous hides of dull red flame some blacks smile amongst which was the directions and will be washed from HMS line there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today about seven o'clock we passed the wreck of a large ship which at that time we hoped was a German but later learned was one of ours she was broken right into the bow and stern was sticking up about fifty feet and quite independent but the British had the Germans outgunned and outnumbered as evening fell the German fleet broke off the action we were in a regular deathtrap there was only one way to escape the unfavorable tactical situation turn the line about and withdraw on the opposite course we had to get out of this dangerous enemy envelopment too silent Jack Jellico peering through the fog of battle he didn't look as though the Germans were running for home but lulling the British into a trap if the enemy battle feet were to turn away from advancing feet I should assume that the intention was to beat us over mines and submarines [Music] so Jellico ordered the British to turn as well away from their vulnerable phone as night fell on the 31st of May 1916 the men in room 40 tracked for a treating German fleet they passed its positions on to the Royal Navy giving Jellico our last chance to finish the Germans off but the Royal Navy failed to catch them when the German fleet made it home during the night telegrams arrived giving the estimated losses of the English which are 2 to 3 in our favor the Kaiser was therefore able to announce at breakfast we have won a great victory in the North Sea [Music] based on the maths are there the kaiser was right Germany lost 11 shifts in two and a half thousand men Britain 14 ships in six thousand but that was the kaisers battleships were back in Rome and stayed there till the end of the war the British fleet still lived in the sea and from the start Germany had replied to British blockade of her own economic war she too tried to [ __ ] the enemy by cutting off supplies this lie trader and the Merville was one of the few surface ships Germany ever sent into the North Sea her target not warships but cargo boats she sent 20,000 tons building a large collection of captured crews according to the English we are in league with the devil and have acquired the flying dutchman a captain of the mervy said recently you can imagine what a great moment it was when I had eight English captain standing in front of me and I could tell them all this is the work of the German fleet [Music] Germany's u-boats joined in the war against Allied trade [Music] one roshambo was horrified submarines are underhand unfair and damn done English as for u-boats attacking civilian ships it is impossible and unthinkable if they do they're captured crews should be hanged as virus the human blockade of Britain would have to be ruthless but Germany's Chancellor realize the effect this would have on world opinion she told Kiana the Chancellor who wished once more to discuss the Union Christian Bettman envisaged the remaining neutrals united against us as the Mad Dog among the peoples of the world that would mean the end of Germany Germany's Admirals were furious of having their hands tied but submarines were ordered to stick to the old rules of war they gave warnings of their attacks they did not attack underwater they gave much of crews time to escape Jeffrey oh gee but Britain built new ships faster than the u-boats could sink them fatin being tricked by the German blockade the British economy flourish the British firm vicars were the workforce of 78,000 turned out guns aeroplanes battleships and record profits if Germany was trying to play fair Britain doesn't view ships not by armed traders but carried hidden guns they look like easy prey but when submarines came to lose the cue ships uncovered their campus dance inception they often sailed on the foreign flags leftenant Heinrich Crompton on the year 41 was called by just such a tree as the two ships came within 300 meters of each other the steamer opened a heavy accurate rifle fire from all along the railing immediately joined by large calibre guns in the u41 immediately returned three rounds from the forward gun all hits to the home throughout the action this steamer continued to fly the American flag [Music] on the first of February 1915 in response to the British cocaine he declared the pole vaulters around Britain world war zone in which any ships including neutrals might be son this decision set Germany on a collision course with America the price the Lusitania was the largest most luxurious Lyman she could carry it mm there was a ragtime dance written in her honor [Music] on the 1st of May 1950 Hugh not posted a list of her departures in the New York Times next to it was an advertisement placed by the German ambassador those sailing to Britain it said did so at their own risk [Music] at 11:30 that morning the Lusitania left New York for Liverpool her captain made light of the submarine threat that's the best joke I've had many days this talk of torpedo into Lusitania [Music] this is the last picture of her ever taken the Lusitania sighted the Irish coast on 7th of May the lighthouse the old head of kinsale was traditionally used by ships on the Atlantic run to get their bearings [Music] at ten past two the Lusitania was hit by a single as I watched one fun away than the other than the other until the ship had gone and the sea was calm and all I could see was bodies and wreckage of furniture and everything that had been in the ship my husband and I got into a life birth verbs of which jammed and had to become since when I have not seen her hurt I've lost all I ever possessed and my Dead Boys pages eleven years and eight [Music] I was rescued by a true my dear husband was lost but I had the great satisfaction of finding human Saturday and seeing him laid to rest in the cemetery in Queenstown [Music] police reports were sent to relatives to identify the bodies 1200 people died on the Lusitania including 128 Americans at the battle fronts in Europe tens of thousands were dying every day but the fate of the great Cunard liner overshadowed them it led to the most widespread anti German riots of the war in Liverpool a newly arrived American joined the mob outside a German and shocked the crowd was muttering and growling and the shop was dark but there were people upstairs so why just picked up a brick and heaved it through the window then everyone took to showing them and in a few minutes the place was a wreck there were several policemen at the corner and they just grinned with the sinking of the Lusitania Germany had crossed a line the whole world hates us because we're conducting the war in such a brutal manner and the brutality is increasing I was at a party when the report of the torpedoing of the Lusitania arrived I saw two officers wives who mad with joy started to dance about the room don't forget I said that there were also women and children aboard that doesn't matter there's a dance from the more who go to the bottom the better the Lusitania came to stand for German barbarity Britain stirred the indignation with its own propaganda posters and even posed photographs rammed home what it happened [Music] the German Embassy in motion to receive conference President Woodrow Wilson himself began to see Germany as the Mad Dog God's name how could any nation calling itself civilized ooh so horrible a thing it seemed America might plan Adamic offense but operate soon gave way to caution listen reassured the nation that America would not go to war there is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight there was such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right and anyway more would be very bad for business [Music] Wilson cat the United States prepared with neutral for two more years [Music] the singing of the Lusitania was terrible but that doesn't seem reason enough to throw away more lives and profits by joining in a distant war Germany's policy in America after singular Lusitania was complex she kept her u-boats in check but not her spies [Music] in 1916 German agents brought back Tom Island unloading dinner in New York Harbor [Music] it's held 900 tons of ammunition destiny allies several thousand persons lined the seawall and acquired a real picture of what the firing line and the European war looks like the water line was one massive event the explosions were so strong they were felt in Philadelphia 90 miles away German agent slipped bombs or two ships in American ports there are several assassination attempts and even a bomb planted in the US Capitol German agents are everywhere extraordinary measures of proportion have now become necessary in all the arms factories at the docks and on board vessels even vessels of the United States Navy [Music] our enemies time Charlie's espionage operations against America came for one of the spies himself [Music] Henryk Albert left his briefcase on New York's elevated railway it held document approval the German Embassy was back during the sabotage to senior diplomats including France won't happen hitless future vice-chancellor would expand [Music] but nothing got in the way of business on the new york stock exchange when Germany won a battle allied stocks fell when Britain won her shares rose American investors were betting on the war for British Cabinet Minister David Lloyd George there was a direct connection between battle and Bank success means credit financier has never hesitate to lend to a prosperous concern France and Russia paid for the war by borrowing from Britain Britain in turn raised money on the American stock market through her Wall Street bankers JP Morgan it was spent buying American armaments American supplies of all the money raised in America to pay for the war 99 percent went to Britain and the Allies it was something that made many Germans wonder just how neutral America really was 30th of January 1916 in financial circles it is openly said that England has won the war ready and every day that it goes on after March can only make the ruin of Germany completa no matter what and military successes may be America learnt so much that by the end of 1916 the central bank warned that people were betting too heavily on Britain if the Allies lost they might never get their money back the mere thought that American cash might be backing the wrong side wiped a billion dollars of Allied stock tsunami Germany's generals felt the odds were stacking up against them they grew impatient at hesitant politicians tying their hands in view of the military situation we must lose no time in adopting the measure of torpedoing armed enemy merchantman without notice the ant ant are continuing the war with all the resources at their disposal our ambassador prophesized war with America if we persist in our intention of torpedoing armed merchantmen without warning the Kaiser wrote in the margin of the report I do not care the Kaiser didn't care because of some key German calculations his generals gambled that if America joined the Allies she would not have a decisive impact on the fighting in Europe until 1919 long before then the youbet campaign would have brought Britain and France to their knees one thing stained Germany's hand [Music] in December 1916 she put out a piece feeler to the Allies believing she could hold on to her gains the French and British leaders met in Paris and rejected the offer [Music] Germany now stick everything with a new submarine campaign you bet with sink all ships on site without learning [Music] February the second is a special and uplifting day for us judges the beginning of the oral health summary we're all holding our breaths of hoping but with this running on its we will finally cure England of our arrogance a secure a quick peace the terms of which we will dictate in April 1917 Germany sunk over 800,000 tons causing panic at the British Admiralty but Germany didn't have enough hue bows to sustain the success and Allied ships were getting better at protecting themselves merchant ships now traveled not singly but in convoy with more destroyers to protect airships and aeroplanes scouted overhead looking for the tell-tale science of submarines lying in wait 63 u-boats were sunk in 1917 three times the losses of the previous year one captured u-boat was put on display in London 30,000 people paid to view it on the first day it's German sailors couldn't believe the contrast between the Allied hem front and their early we remained in Dover for two and a half days and we were plentifully supplied with food drink and smoked if you notice nothing at the wall here there are no wooden soles bicycles with wooden tiles and the butcher shops have roads and roads exactly no prospect of starving England [Music] the war is over the second you vent campaign was a double failure it didn't deliver militarily German submarines could not sink enough Allied ships to make a difference and it was a diplomatic disaster pushing America to the very brink of war the final shelf came from the man in Rome 40 on the 16th of January 1970 Britain intercepted a coded telegram from German Foreign Secretary Zimmermann to his ambassador in Mexico City the Zimmermann telegram was made up of a thousand numerical code groups it took two weeks to decipher and as the meaning emerged the men in room 40 realized they were holding the most extraordinary intelligence of the war destined for the Mexican government the telegram outlined Germany's plan for Mexico to invade the United States we make Mexico a proposal of alliance with an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer Texas New Mexico and Arizona the settlement in detail is left to you [Music] Zimmerman schemes have rated Mexico was in the middle of a revolution US troops are already fighting phantoms on the border there was no way the Mexican government wanted more colonies but Germany's proposal was a godsend to Britain it was just what she needed to end America's neutrality two weeks into the u-boat campaign Britain called the US ambassador to the Foreign Office had passed over the Zimmermann telegram it was said britain's Foreign Secretary as dramatic a moment as I remember in all my life on the 2nd of April President Wilson went to the captain the United States and not declared war we did not declare war in spire the United States [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] three years a country played these bankers now as far as President Wilson was concerned America was fighting at crusade for international justice and democracy the North Sea would remain dead to the very end [Music] the Germans now set themselves a desperate task to win the war for American troops arrived and President Wilson's liberal crusade would be up against new ideas of socialism and revolution you [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Id: zjrJR8mxQ8Y

Length: 49min 35sec (2975 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 11 2018