What remnants of WWI lasted until 1919?

[cjepson]

I've always thought of Nov. 11, 1918 as the day World War I ended. But now I'm reading a book about cargo cults in Melanesia and it talks about the "1914-1919 war". So what parts of the war lasted past 1918?

[KneadToKnow]

Ugly site, but appears to address the question.

From the site's introduction (emphasis added):

World War 1, also known as the First World War or the Great War and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lasting from 1914 to 1919, with the fighting lasting until 1918. The war was fought by the Allies on one side, and the Central Powers on the other. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers or involved so many in the field of battle. By its end, the war had become the second bloodiest conflict in recorded history.
World War 1 became infamous for trench warfare, where troops were confined to trenches because of tight defenses. This was especially true of the Western Front. More than 9 million died on the battlefield, and nearly that many more on the home fronts because of food shortages, genocide, and ground combat. Among other notable events, the first large-scale bombing from the air was undertaken and some of the century's first large-scale civilian massacres took place, as one of the aspects of modern efficient, non-chivalrous warfare.

I hope you will enjoy viewing worldwar-1.net and find its information both helpful and interesting. The website includes an exhaustive day by day timeline, covering every event that occured during World War 1, in chronological order from 1914 through to 1919, which gives a fascinating insight into what was arguably the first industrial war in our history.

Frankly, I don't see any compelling argument for calling the 1919 stuff part of World War 1, but I'm a not a military historian.

[NoClueBoy]

Weren't there some British forces somewhat involved in the White Russian conflict? An old book I have about biplanes has a photo with a caption that suggests it. Don't know how accurate that is.

[Giles]

November 11, 1918 was just an armistice -- a general cease fire. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Giles

November 11, 1918 was just an armistice -- a general cease fire. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

Well, that does make sense.

[gunnergoz]

Originally Posted by NoClueBoy

Weren't there some British forces somewhat involved in the White Russian conflict? An old book I have about biplanes has a photo with a caption that suggests it. Don't know how accurate that is.

The United States was involved too, with the 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments being sent to Siberia from 1918-1920 to protect parts of the Siberian railway. They (and the remainder of the Allied force) were withdrawn when the Whites were defeated by the Reds in the Russian Revolution.

[dropzone]

I like to consider the wars between the former Yugoslavian states to be the last battles of WWI. but time will tell.

[Jackmannii]

The civil war in Russia isn't typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany).

I don't recall much happening on the Melanesian Front either.

[NoClueBoy]

Originally Posted by Jackmannii

The civil war in Russia isn't typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany).

That's kind of what I thought. I guess certain authors may have a different view because of cause and effect. Like how WWI and WWII added to the issues causing the Vietnam War, but the US involvement in Vietnam is not a direct continuation of the two world wars.

[merrick]

There were several "follow-on" conflicts arising from the end of World War 1 - notably the Polish-Soviet War and the Greco-Turkish War, but these are not usually regarded as part of World War 1 itself.

Most historians pragmatically mark the end of WW1 as the Armistice of November 1918. If you're going to be pedantic and insist that a war only ends when the peace treaty is definitively signed, then WW1 only ended with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 - and WW2 and the Korean War haven't ended yet.

[aesop]

Originally Posted by merrick

Most historians pragmatically mark the end of WW1 as the Armistice of November 1918. If you're going to be pedantic and insist that a war only ends when the peace treaty is definitively signed, then WW1 only ended with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 - and WW2 and the Korean War haven't ended yet.

And if you're really pedantic, you'll recall that military powerhouse Andorra did not end its state of war with the Kaiser's Germany until either 1939 or 1957, depending on which source you believe.

[Pushkin]

Originally Posted by merrick

Most historians pragmatically mark the end of WW1 as the Armistice of November 1918. If you're going to be pedantic and insist that a war only ends when the peace treaty is definitively signed, then WW1 only ended with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 - and WW2 and the Korean War haven't ended yet.

Wikipedia has a cited entry on the List of wars extended by diplomatic irregularity suggesting WWI only ended for Costa Rica in 1945 and Andorra in 1958.

[Northern Piper]

Canada also had troops involved in the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. The date 1919 seems to have been used more commonly as the terminus date back then. For instance, our local cenotaph in Regina, dedicated in 1926, has the following inscription:

To the Glory of God and the Immortal Memory of the Citizens of Regina who Gave their Lives in the Great War 1914-1919.

I think it's been more in retrospect that the 1918 armistice has been seen as the end date.

[merrick]

Originally Posted by aesop

And if you're really pedantic, you'll recall that military powerhouse Andorra did not end its state of war with the Kaiser's Germany until either 1939 or 1957, depending on which source you believe.

I count myself out-pedanted, by both you and Pushkin. But Lausanne was a bit more than a diplomatic irregularity - it made changes of thousands of square miles to the previous Treaty of Sevres, and this was the consequence of some very bloody fighting in 1920-22. However this fighting is generally regarded as seperate from WW1 even though the state of war had never officially ended.

[MEBuckner]

For the purposes of veterans' benefits, the U.S. government considers World War I to have ended on November 11, 1918. However, they also lump veterans who served with the United States military forces in Russia in with World War I, and the period for that is extended to April 1, 1920. (Although WWI is considered to have ended at the Armistice--unless you were fighting the Bolsheviks in Russia--World War II didn't officially end until December 31, 1946.)

[lisiate]

Originally Posted by Jackmannii

The civil war in Russia isn't typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany).

I don't recall much happening on the Melanesian Front either.

Well the Australians occupied German New Guinea and the surrounding islands.

Other than that I can't think of much. I think Von Spee's East Asian Squadron passed well to the north of Melanesia. ANd the Emden mainly operated in the Indian Ocean.

[Ashley Pomeroy]

My grandad was given one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory...ted_Kingdom%29

It was his reward for fighting in the Great War. It reads "The Great War for Civilisation 1914-1919". There seem to have been 13m+ of the things churned out. Wikipedia has the following, baffling explanation:

"The dates of the war were in every case 1914 to 1918, except that of the British Empire, which gave the dates as illustrated (1914 to 1919 with 1921 being the year in which the war ended in point of Parliamentary law but in 1919 under common law relating to the status and functions of the monarchy)."

Thank God civilisation was saved, eh?

[NoClueBoy]

Maybe they couldn't impose the harsher treaty conditions on the Germans without the threat of armed retaliation that still being in an open state of war could threaten? I'm really just WAG-ing here.

[Paul in Qatar]

According to Sinclair's Only Yesterday, the US Army casualty list was still appearing in American papers in 1919.

[Martini Enfield]

I've seen war memorials in towns in Australia and New Zealand referring to "The Great War Of 1914-1919", FWIW. But mostly WWI is acknowledged to have ended 11/11/1918, as has been mentioned.

[Donnerwetter]

As far as Germany is concerned, there were "Freikorps" (free corps), volunteer military units, that fought against Soviet troops in the Baltics in 1919 and against Polish insurgents in Silesia in 1920/21. They also played an important part in the civil unrest in Germany in from 1918 - 1920 which was to some degree a civil war.

Some Freikorps were more or less officially recognized and even endorsed by the new German government and were later integrated into the new German military while others could be described as bands of thugs.

However, it would be inaccurate to describe these conflicts as a part of WW I.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Jackmannii

The civil war in Russia isn't typically regarded as a part of WWI, nor is internal strife elsewhere (i.e. in Germany).

I don't recall much happening on the Melanesian Front either.

I have always understood the fighting in what became the Soviet Union is regarded as being part of WW1. Maybe not typically, but there is a lot that is "untypically" known about WW1. Such as there being an Armistice and not a surrender. (Mentioned above).

[cjepson]

Originally Posted by lisiate

Well the Australians occupied German New Guinea and the surrounding islands.

This may have been what the book I'm reading (mentioned in the OP) was referring to... it's in a chapter on New Guinea.

[Meurglys]

Also in June 1919 German airmen 'scuttled' a large part of their airship fleet rather than surrender it to the Allies as the Versailles Treaty would have demanded they do...

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Meurglys

Also in June 1919 German airmen 'scuttled' a large part of their airship fleet rather than surrender it to the Allies as the Versailles Treaty would have demanded they do...

Are you certain of this? The german High seas Fleet was scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919, but I have never heard of any airfleet being "scuttled". How do you scuttle an airplane?

The Fokker D VII's from memory had to be handed over but I have not heard of them being destroyed.

[Meurglys]

Reasonably sure; I found out about it a few years ago and I'm sure I have mentions of it in at least one book I have, but when I was about to post here I checked on-line and found this page. (para 3)
It does say it was inspired by the Grand Fleet's action.
And they were airships, not planes, so I assume they 'scuttled' them by destroying the gasbags.

Wiki also mentions it in their 'airship' article

Germany's remaining zeppelins were scuttled by their crews, scrapped or handed over to the Allied powers as spoils of war

[Pushkin]

Originally Posted by Meurglys

And they were airships, not planes, so I assume they 'scuttled' them by destroying the gasbags.

Or sending someone over to have a smoke in the hangars.

I understand that every iota of German military might had to be accounted for, but it's hard to think of an airship as a "spoil" of war in the same way the German fleet was.

[Bri2k]

German airships most certainly were considered spoils of war. The British R-38 (ZR-2) was sold to the U.S. Navy because one of the German airships that should've been handed over was destroyed in its hangar by its crew. The French airship Dixmude was the ex-LZ 114, part of Germany's war reparations, as was the Zeppelin-built ZR-3 U.S.S. Los Angeles.

Bri2k

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by cjepson

I've always thought of Nov. 11, 1918 as the day World War I ended. But now I'm reading a book about cargo cults in Melanesia and it talks about the "1914-1919 war". So what parts of the war lasted past 1918?

One of the biggest ongoing events was the allied blockade of Germany. This did not stop with the armistice in 1918. The allied concern was that if they lifted the blockade during the armistice, Germany would be able to stock up on supplies and might restart the fighting. So the blockade was maintained for another eight months until the treaty was signed.

[Meurglys]

Scuttling an airship.

Apparently on 23rd June 1919, 2 days after the Grand Fleet scuttling, the airship crews hoisted the Imperial German Navy war ensigns on each airshiip, pulled away the ground supports and loosened the suspension tackles holding the zeppelins from the hanger roofs. The gas cells were no longer inflated and the 6 foot fall wrecked the metal framework and rendered the craft irreparable.

Summarised from Airshipwreck (1978) by Len Deighton & Arnold Schwartzman. It's a book detailing the fates of all the airships which met with a sorry end from 1897 until the Graf Zeppeilin in 1940. Great little book.
Yes, that Len Deighton.