The blockade of Germany, during World War I, was a part of the First Battle of the Atlantic between the United Kingdom and Germany.
The British established a naval blockade of Germany early in the war. As shown later in the Battle of Jutland, the German fleet could not defeat the British fleet to break the blockade. This blockade was unusually restrictive in that even food was stopped as it was said to help the war. The Germans regarded this as an attempt to starve the German people into submission and wanted to fight back. They blockaded Britain and France.
As Germany could not fight with the big British Royal Navy on an even basis, the only possible way Germany could impose a blockade on Britain was through the submarines. The Chancellor of Germany was against this sort of blockade because it meant attacking neutral ships as those of the United States as well. But the military pushed unlimited submarine warfare forward.
On 4 February 1915, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone. Effective 18 February, Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. British ships hiding behind neutral flags would not be spared, though some effort would be made to avoid sinking clearly neutral vessels.
Up to 750,000 civilians may have died because of starvation caused by this blockade during the War. Many more had to die from starvation after the Armistice in November 1918 as the blockade was continued into 1919, in order to force Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.
The German U-boat force was now primarily based at Ostend in Belgium. So German submarines had better access to the sea lanes around England. The Germans made use of this advantage and sent out about 20 U-boats to begin the naval blockade. In January, before the declaration of "unrestricted submarine warfare" as the submarine blockade was called, 43,550 tonnes of shipping had been sunk by U-boats. The number of sinkings then steadily increased, with 168,200 tonnes going down in August.
Losses of British warships were small. Although the battleship "Formidable" had been sunk by "U-24" on New Year's Day, the fast destroyer screens soon made successful attacks on battleships and cruisers a thing of the past. On the other hand, there was little a Royal Navy warship could do to sink a U-boat if the submarine's captain was reasonably alert. The U-boat was generally safe from shelling once it had submerged. It could be rammed if it were at periscope depth, but ramming was hardly a reasonable tactic as a standard practice.
Destroyers were not able to hunt the U-boats as they were protecting the fleet, so the British pressed every vessel they could into service, including yachts and trawlers, as auxiliary patrol vessels. However, the U-boats were able to easily evade the patrols and sink merchant vessels traveling unescorted.
Militarily, unrestricted submarine warfare was proving a great success, and the U-boats stood a good chance of starving Britain into surrender. However, in terms of the propaganda war, it was a great disaster for Germany. America wanted to stay out of the European war, but American public opinion had turned against Germany, as unrestricted submarine warfare seemed to confirm the German reputation for brutality. The deaths of American citizens traveling on British vessels torpedoed by U-boats began to make headlines in the US.
When on 7 May 1915, the liner "RMS Lusitania" was sunk by a German submarine, American outrage brought the US closer to declaring war on Germany. Under threat of US retaliation, on 27 August, the Kaiser imposed severe restrictions on U-boats attacks against large passenger vessels. On 18 September 1915, he called off unrestricted submarine warfare completely.
Under military pressure on Germany early in 1917, the Kaiser declared full unrestricted submarine warfare once more. Some German diplomats believed that the Americans would avoid war at all costs, and if not, hopefully Germany could bring Britain to its knees before American power made much difference in Europe. In February, 86 vessels were sunk, followed by 103 in March, and then 155 in April. The US finally declared war on Germany in April 1917, over the Zimmermann Telegram. America and Britain together were able to defeat the U-boats.
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (born December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player who plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA) on the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers picked him in the 2003 NBA Draft with the first pick in the draft, not only for his athletics ability but for the revenue he could bring to the team and city. James did not play college basketball, and entered the NBA Draft immediately after high school. He went to high school in Akron, Ohio.
James played with the Cavaliers for his first seven seasons. During that time, he was one of the NBA's top scorers. He was selected as an All-Star several times. In 2007, he led Cleveland to the NBA Finals and swept 0-4. He was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the NBA for the 2008-09 NBA season and 2009-10 NBA season. In his MVP years, Cleveland had the best record in the NBA, but did not make it to the NBA Finals.
On July 8, 2010, on a show in ESPN called "The Decision" LeBron said that he would next play for the Miami Heat. On December 2, 2010, James played in Cleveland for the first time since leaving, scoring 38 points for the Heat as they beat the Cavaliers, 118-90. Many fans angry at James for leaving Cleveland booed him throughout the game and held up signs with negative statements against James.
In the 2011 season the Miami Heat came in second place right behind the Chicago Bulls lead by Derick Rose in the NBA. They made it to the finals of the NBA and lost in six games to the Dallas Mavericks This caused celebration in Cleveland because they hated Lebron for what he did to him.
In the 2012 Finals, LeBron James won his first championship after the Miami Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 4-1 games, after battling with the Boston Celtics 4-3 games the previous round. The next year, LeBron James won his second title when the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. In both years he won the MVP title of finals and of regular season.
In 2014, James competed a very good regular season but he wasn't the MVP. In the 2014 Finals, the Heat's Finals streak ended after being defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in five games (4-1). Shortly after those Finals had ended, LeBron James said he would use an early termination option in his contract, leaving the Miami Heat and becoming a free agent. He said this on June 24, 2014.
Then, on June 25, 2014, in a first-person essay in "Sports Illustrated," he said he would return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On July 12, 2014, James signed a two-year, $42.1 million contract to return to the Cavaliers. The deal also contains an option to become a free agent again after the 2014–15 NBA season. Lebron now plays on the Los Angeles Lakers.
In 2015, he took the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals, without Kevin Love but lost to the Golden State Warriors in 6 games after losing Kyrie Irving after he had an ankle injury. The following year he again took the Cavs to the finals against the Warriors and made history when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA championship after being down 3-1 games. No team had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals before then. He had a historic moment where he blocked Andre Iguodala on possibly the game winning layup. The Cavaliers went on to lose to the Golden State Warriors the following season.
Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship Silesia Province is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland. It can be found in the south Poland and in east Silesia (called Upper Silesia). The capital city is Katowice.
First Battle of the Atlantic