In 1914 the Balkan
states of Bosnia and
Herzegovina had been
annexed from Turkey
and taken into the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. This was strongly
resented by many Serbs
and Croats and a nationalist
group, The Black Hand,
was formed. Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria,
and his wife, had decided
to inspect Austro-Hungarian
troops in Bosnia. The
Black Hand supplied
a group of students
with weapons and a Serbian
nationalist student,
Gavrilo Princip, assassinated
the Archduke and his
wife on the 28th June
1914.
Exactly one month
later the Austrian government
blamed the Serbian government
for the assassination
of Franz Ferdinand and
declared war on Serbia.
Although Russia was
allied with Serbia,
Germany did not believe
that she would mobilize
and offered to support
Austria if necessary.
However, Russia did
mobilize and, through
their alliance with
France, called on the
French to do the same;
this resulted in Germany
declaring war on Russia
on 1st August.
Two days later on
the 3rd August 1914,
Germany declared war
on France. German troops
poured into Belgium
as directed under the
Schleiffen Plan, drawn
up in 1905. The British
Foreign Secretary, Sir
Edward Grey, sent an
ultimatum to Germany
demanding their withdrawal
from the neutral Belgium.
Germany did not withdraw
from Belgium and Britain
declared war on Germany
on the 4th August, sending
the BEF (British Expeditionary
Force) to the continent
soon after. In Britain
thousands of men rushed
to join up, answering
Lord Kitcheners call
to arms.
In Europe, the German
advance through Belgium
to France did not go
as smoothly as they
had hoped. Despite a
French counter-attack
that saw the deaths
of many Frenchmen on
the battlefields in
the Ardennes, the Germans
continued to march into
France; they were eventually
halted at the river
Marne.
The BEF had advanced
from the northern coast
of France to the Belgian
town of Mons and although
they initially held
off the Germans, they
were soon forced to
retreat and hold a line
at the Marne. Further
north in Belgium the
British lost a huge
number of men at the
First battle of Ypres
during October and November.
By Christmas, all hopes
that the war would be
over had gone and it
saw men of both sides
digging themselves into
the trenches of the
Western Front from the
Channel Coast in Belgium
down through France
to the Swiss border.
By the end of 1914,
Turkey had come into
the war on the side
of the Germans.
Poison gas was used
for the first time at
the Second Battle of
Ypres on the 2nd April
1915. The gas, fired
by the Germans, claimed
many British and Canadian
casualties near the
village of St. Julien.
Meanwhile in the
spring of 1915, the
Russians appealed for
help from Britain and
France to beat off an
attack by the Turks.
The British Navy responded
by attacking Turkish
forts in the Dardenelles.
Unfortunately the initial
success was not followed
up and a landing on
the peninsular was planned
to neutralize the forts,
defeat the Turks and
move on to capture Constantinople
(now Istanbul). On the
morning of the 25th
April British, French,
Australian and New Zealand
troops landed on Gallipoli.
After nine months of
pointless fighting,
in trenches reminiscent
of The Western Front,
the British evacuated
their troops in early
January 1916, virtually
without a shot being
fired.
HMS
Irresistable,
sinking
after
hitting
a mine
in the
Battle
of Gallipoli
in 1915
At the end of May
1916 the only truly
large-scale naval battle
of the war took place
off Jutland in the North
Sea. German forces,
confined to port by
a British naval blockade,
came out in the hope
of splitting the British
fleet and destroying
it ship by ship. The
German did a great deal
of damage to British
ships before withdrawing
and the British Admiral
Jellicoe decided not
to give chase. Although
British losses were
heavier than the German,
the battle had alarmed
both the Kaiser and
the German Admiral Scheer
and they decided to
keep their fleet consigned
to harbour for the remainder
of the war.
During late 1915
and early 1916, the
Germans mounted an attack
on the French at Verdun
designed to 'bleed the
French dry'. Although
the fighting continued
for nine months, the
battle was inconclusive.
Casualties were enormous
on both sides with the
Germans losing 430,000
men and the French 540,000.
To relieve pressure
on the French, the British
were asked to attack
the German line on the
Somme in northern France.
It would be the first
time that many of the
Pals, who had rushed
to join up together
in 1914 and 1915, had
gone into battle. On
the 1st July nearly
20,000 British troops
were killed along a
19 mile stretch of the
trenches on the Somme;
the battle went on for
a further five months
and achieved very little.
At the end of 1916,
David Lloyd George became
Prime Minister of Britain
and formed a war time
coalition. Lloyd George,
who had never trusted
the ability of his own
Commander, General Haig,
to direct the war, persuaded
the war Cabinet to appoint
the French General Nivelle
as supreme war commander
over Haig's head.
As 1917 progressed,
the Americans entered
the war sending troops
to The Western Front.
In April, Vimy Ridge
(near Arras in Northern
France), was captured
by Commonwealth troops
in one morning. A similar
victory occurred on
the Ypres Salient when
the Messines ridge was
taken within a few hours
on the 6th June. However,
Haig delayed the next
stage of the battle
on the Salient, resulting
in thousands of men
being slaughtered attacking
the Passchendaele ridge
in the mud and rain;
it was finally taken
in November after two
months hard fighting.
A similar attack at
Cambrai in France, where
tanks were used in large
numbers to punch a hole
in the German lines,
had some initial successes
but little gains.
In April 1918, the
Royal Flying Corps and
the Royal Naval Air
Service were merged
to form the Royal Air
Force. In the spring
of 1918, the Germans
embarked on a series
of offensives from behind
their fortified positions
on the Hindenburg Line
in northern France and
on the Ypres Salient
in Belgium, gaining
considerable ground.
Elsewhere, however,
British successes forced
the Turks and Bulgarians
to sue for peace.
The
poppy,
a symbol
of remembrance
of the
fallen
in World
War
One
In September, with
the German war economy
at breaking point, British,
Commonwealth, French
and American forces
counter-attacked across
the whole of the Western
Front. For the next
100 days they rolled
the Germans back through
their fortified lines,
up to 75 miles in some
cases. After taking
almost all of German-occupied
France and part of Belgium,
on the 11th November
an Armistice can into
being at 11.00 a.m.
The war was effectively
at an end, although
it was not concluded
until Germany was forced
to sign the Treaty of
Verseilles on the 28th
June 1919.
From 1914 to 1918,
some 70 million men
around the world were
mobilized, and of that
number 13 million perished.
Britain and its Commonwealth
countries suffered 3.25
casualties (either dead
or wounded), whilst
Germany suffered 6.5
million casualties.
Ironically, an outbreak
of Spanish Flu on the
continent in mid-1918
that lasted into 1919
killed 25 million people
across Europe, including
the British Isles.
