Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I

Warbox
conflict=Asian and Pacific theater of World War I
partof=World War I
campaign=


caption=
date=August 3, - November, 1914
place=China, Bismark Archipelago, Caroline Islands, German New Guinea, German Samoa, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands
result=Allied victory
combatant1=Allies:
flag|Empire of Japan
flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
flagicon|Australia Australia
flagicon|New Zealand New Zealand
flag|United States|1912
flag|Russian Empire

combatant2=Central Powers:
flag|German Empire
flagicon|Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=
notes=

The Asian and Pacific Theatre of World War I was a largely bloodless conquest of German colonial possession in the Pacific Ocean and China. The most significant military action was the careful and well-executed Japanese Siege of Tsingtao, but smaller actions were also fought at Bita Paka and Toma in German New Guinea. All other German possessions in the Pacific fell without bloodshed.

The conquest of Tsingtao

Tsingtao was the most significant German base in the area. It was defended by 600 German troops supported by 3,400 Chinese colonial troops and Austro-Hungarian soldiers and sailors occupying a well designed fort. Supporting the defenders were a small number of vessels from the Imperial German Navy and Austro-Hungarian Navy. The Japanese sent nearly their entire fleetFact|date=April 2008 to the area, including six battleships and 50,000 soldiers. The British sent two military units to the battle from their garrison at Tientsin numbering 1,600.

The bombardment of the fort started on October 31. An assault was made by the Imperial Japanese Army on the night of November 6. The garrison surrendered the next day. Casualties of the battle were 200 on the German side and 1,455 on the Allied side.

Thai reinforcements

The Thai government sent 1284 Thai soldiers to the European Theatre in 1918 in order to assist the Allies in the last battles of the war. Many fought alongside American and British units, and at least 19 died under enemy fire. In addition, 95 Thai nationals were accepted into French aviation schools and may have engaged in some of the final air engagements of the war.

Participation in World War One may have helped Thailand to be accepted as a founding member of the League of Nations in 1920. A further motivation for war in Thailand was the system of extraterritorial rights accorded to German, American, British, and French nationals in the country. These privileges, imposed on the Thai state during the colonial era, were gradually revoked in the postwar era. The United States ceded her rights in 1920, followed by Britain and France in 1925. [ [http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/thailand.htm First World War.com - Feature Articles - Thailand and the First World War ] ]

Miscellaneous

The German troops in Tsingtao were naval and marine personnel supplied by the Imperial government (as German Army troops were from the constituent states).

A German warship was docked in Guam when the United States declared war. The ship and its crew were quickly captured. They became the first prisoners of war for the US in that conflict.

Around 1917 the Japanese sent several light cruisers and destroyers to the mediterranean in order to assist the allied fleets against the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian navies. In June the Japanese destroyer was torpedoed and severly damaged by the Austro-Hungarian submarine U27.

The SMS "Emden" was left behind by Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee. The ship harried merchant vessels of the Allies and destroyed over 30 of them. Engaged by the HMAS "Sydney" at the Battle of Cocos the ship was destroyed. A group of sailors under the command of Hellmuth von Mücke managed to escape towards the Arabian peninsula (then part of the Ottoman Empire - an ally of the German Empire during WWI).

The German government was accused of being behind Zhang Xun's monarchist coup in China to prevent Duan Qirui's pro-war faction from supporting the Allies. After the coup failed in July 1917, Duan used the incident as a pretext for declaring war on Germany. An even more serious plot was Germany's funding of the Constitutional Protection Movement which geographically split China into two rival governments for eleven years.

References

See also

* Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force
* Hindu-German Conspiracy
* Kadaververwertungsanstalt

Sources

* Keegan, John "World War One" (1998) pgs. 205-206.
* Falls, Cyril "The Great War" (1960) pgs. 98-99.