Several momentous events overlapped in the first months of 1917. Germany
initiated unlimited submarine warfare in early February, a policy that
led directly to U.S. entry into the war. The declaration of war by the U.S.
Congress on April 6, 1917, brought a train of momentous events, starting with
the speedy dispatch of American naval units to British waters to help fight the
submarines. The U.S. government immediately seized German merchant
vessels in American ports, making them available for use against Germany;
it also dispatched an advance party of senior army commanders to France to
prepare for the arrival of a massive American army. In the midst of this striking
development, revolution broke out in Russia: bread riots in the capital at
Petrograd in early March quickly led to a breakdown in military discipline in
the city's army garrison, massive street demonstrations, and the collapse of
the monarchy. Meanwhile, the French prepared for an ambitious advance on
the western front: the Nivelle offensive.
The Nivelle offensive of April 1917 quickly produced catastrophe. Nivelle
based his plan on the view that the French army had to have a great
victory to maintain its morale. His attack had the opposite effect; its visible
failure led to massive mutinies that crippled the entire army for months to
come. The French were successful in keeping the news from the Germans.
As Petain's biographer Stephen Ryan has put it, "At no point in the course
of World War I was the military effort of the Allies in greater danger."20
Only the restorative policies of the new French commander, Philippe Retain,
starting with better food, leave policies, and medical care, then culminating
in a moratorium on costly offensives, allowed the army to recover.
World History
