The Siege of Tsingtao (August-November 1914)

By the late nineteenth century, China had a handful of colonies from the imperial European powers, ranging from Macau and Hong Kong in the south to Beijing and Port Arthur in the north. Germany officially became a nation on January 18, 1871 and remained hungry for colonies all over the world, to catch up with the other imperialistic powers. After the Berlin Conference of 1884, Germany gained colonies in Africa. After the deaths of two German missionaries in 1897 in the Shangdong province of China, Germany used their deaths as an opportunity to form a defensive base the following year at Kiaochow, which they leased for 99 years. The Germans then increased their influence in the region and built Tsingtao as their port and home base for the German East Asian Squadron.

At the turn of the century, Chinese anti-imperialists began the Boxer Rebellion (August 1899-September 1901) as they tried to seize the colonial strongholds in China, like Beijing. The Boxer Rebellion then led to the Germans increasing their defenses at Tsingtao, by building trenches, batteries, other fortifications, and the laying of mines in the harbor.

The German presence at Tsingtao was viewed as a threat by the many of the other European powers. Great Britain then built a colony at Weihaiwei, Russia built a colony at Port Arthur, and the French at Kwang-Chou-Wan. Japan, another significant power in the region, began to have good ties with Britain, to offset German presence in the region. On January 30, 1902, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed. This alliance was also to deter their mutual rival, Russia. Japan managed to prove itself as a significant power after defeating Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).

After the assassination of Austria-Hungarian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in June 1914, and shortly after Europe became at war in August 1914, the British called for assistance from Japan against Germany, and they began to move on the German port of Tsingtao. Japan was more than obliged to assist Britain in fighting Germany, because they had been gaining land thought the Pacific region and desired to grab colonial lands as well.

The main force that arrived against the Germans in Tsingtao were from the Japanese, assisted by some British soldiers (to prevent Japan from gaining more territory). Japan's navy was under the command of Admiral Sadakichi Kato and along with some English warships, they began a blockade of Tsingtao on August 27, 1914. On September 2, the Japanese land at Lungkow to the north of Tsingtao and on September 18, at Laoshan, to the east. The Japanese forces were under the command of General Kamio Mitsuomi and numbered about 60,000 strong, which included the small British force of about 1,000 men and 500 Sikhs under the command of Brigadier General Nathaniel Walter Barnardiston. Defending Tsingtao was about 3,650 soldiers under the command of German naval captain and governor Alfred Meyer-Waldeck and the Austria-Hungarian captain, Richard Macovicz, of the protected cruiser, SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth.

Admiral Sadakichi Kato

General Kamio Mitsuomi

Brigadier General Nathaniel Walter Barnardiston

Captain and Governor Alfred Meyer-Waldeck

In addition to the 60,000 allied troops were 142 Japanese artillery pieces, a Japanese seaplane carrier (with an unknown amount of aircraft), 5 battleships, 2 battlecruisers, and 2 destroyers. In addition to the 3,650 German defenders, 324 Austria-Hungarians from the Kaiserin Elisabeth, helped to defend Tsingtao. The Central Powers also had a protected cruiser, a torpedo boat, and 4 gunboats, as well as an unknown, small number of aircraft.

As the Japanese troops drew closer to the defenses of Tsingtao, the German defenders pulled back from the first and then the second lines of defense to concentrated their forces closer to the port. On September 6, the first air-sea battle of history took place outside of the harbor. On September 17, Japanese calvary raided the German rear guard at Tsimo, forcing them to retreat even closer to Tsingtao. Throughout the campaign, the German torpedo boat managed to sink multiple allied warships, until it was scuttled on its return to harbor on October 17. On October 31, the Japanese began shelling the fort and digging trenches around Tsingtao. Seven days later, on November 6, waves of Japanese soldiers overwhelmed the 3rd line of German defenses and captured the port. The next day negotiations began and Tsingtao became under Allied control on November 16.

During the campaign for the capture of Tsingtao, the Allies had 727 dead and 1,335 wounded. They lost a destroyer, a protected cruiser, and a battleship was damaged. The Central powers had 199 dead, 504 wounded and all of their ships were scuttled. The German dead were buried at Tsingtao and the 4,700 soldier who became prisoners were brought to war camps in Japan where they were treated very well. Tsingtao was a major loss for the Germans, as the Kaiser Wilhelm II. said, "It would shame me more to surrender Tsingtao to the Japanese than Berlin to the Russians." Although a major loss for the Germans, the battle of Tsingtao was a great morale boost for them, since they held out for so long under a six to one ratio of infantry. Now that Japan was in the war, they began to seize the German islands of Micronesia, the Caroline Islands, and the Marshall Islands. Great Britain invited Australia and New Zealand to take many of the southern Pacific islands to keep them out of Japanese control.

Bibliography

Duffy, Michael. "The Siege of Tsingtao, 1914." August 22, 2009. http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/tsingtao.htm.

Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. The Fall of Tsingtao. A. Barker, 1975. Print.

Pattee, Phillip G. At War in Distant Waters: British Colonial Defense in the Great War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013. Print.

Young, A. Morgan. Japan Under Taisho Tenno: 1912-1926. New York, NY: Routledge; 1 edition, 1928. Print.

The Naval Race

It is difficult to determine all of the causes that led to World War One. But one of the causes was the naval race that lasted from 1906-1914. All of the major European powers tried to participate in the race, but it was mainly a competition between Great Britain and Germany.

Before the invention of the plane, travel by sea was very important, and it still remains important after its invention. Sea travel provides quicker and cheaper travel than via land and it also allows travel over seas and oceans. The Mediterranean Sea was and is still one of the most important trade routes throughout all time. Its control is vital to international trade in peacetime and military transportation in wartime.

Before the mid-nineteenth century, all ships were wooden. But with the invention of the ironclad, the USS Monitor in 1862, the idea of completely metal ships came into being. Wooden ships would be used for a while longer, but metal ships would begin to increase with the turn of the century. In 1906, the United Kingdom revolutionized the ironclad into a early battleship called the HMS Dreadnought, which would again change naval power completely. It would become its own class of warship for a while until it would become obsolete itself. With the launching of the HMS Dreadnought, the naval race for supremacy of the seas that would last nine years would begin between the European powers and lead to World War One that would stretch over all of Europe and much of the world.

The HMS Dreadnought was a 17, 900 ton ship that was 526 feet in length. It had ten 12 inch guns, eighteen 4 inch guns and five torpedo tubes. At its thickest point, its belt armor could reach eleven inches thick. Its top speed was 21.6 knots.

After the launching of the HMS Dreadnought, Germany sought to keep up with Britain and both tried to outdo the other. By 1910, Great Britain had 11 Dreadnoughts and 5 Dreadnought battle cruisers, in comparison to the German 8 Dreadnought and 2 Dreadnought battle cruisers. By the beginning of World War One in 1914, Great Britain had a total of 29 Dreadnoughts and 9 Dreadnought battle cruisers to the 17 German Dreadnoughts and 7 Dreadnought battle cruisers. Britain had desired to have double the amount of warships of the two greatest powers, but by the outbreak of war, they had about a ratio of twelve to ten. Among the other European powers, France had ten Dreadnoughts, Russia had four and Austria-Hungary had three.

During the war, the navies would not play too large of a part in the outcome, due to the fact that no nation desired to risk the loss of a significant portion of their navy. The British held a blockade of Germany in an effort to restrain their traveling. There were a multiple small skirmishes fought around Europe in the North Sea and Mediterranean. One of the most famous being the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea. Its outcome is still debated and it did not change much in the war except make both sides even more conservative with their navies.

Recommended Readings:

Edwards, Giles. "How the Dreadnought sparked the 20th Century's first arms race." June 2, 2014. BBC, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27641717.

Wilde, Robert. "The Anglo-German Naval Race." 2015. About Education, http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/worldwar1/a/The-Anglo-German-Naval-Race.htm.

Hickman, Kennedy. "World War I: HMS Dreadnought." 2015. About Education, http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/cwturningpts.htm.

Unikoski, Ari. "The War in the Air - Naval Warfare." August 22, 2009. http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/navalwarfare.htm.