Original subtitles

in 1914 Europe was at the peak of its

power the great Powers had built Global

Empires and armies larger and more

powerful than any in history and that

summer they would turn them against each

other each expected to triumph over its

enemies in a short Victorious War but

instead 1914 dragged them into an abyss

with no end in sight in the decades

before the first world war broke out in

1914 industrialization led to huge

increases in wealth and urbanization but

also created Stark inequalities in

society ruling groups needed to manage

the resulting tensions so encouraging

nationalism and pride and Imperial

expansion helped to channel the anger

and energy of the popular classes

elsewhere but this caused problems

abroad Britain France and Russia had

wellestablished Empires by the late

1800s when a new player arrived on the

scene Germany became a unified state in

1871 and eventually began to create it

own overseas Empire and Blue Water Navy

to appease its growing commercial class

and to offset the powerful influence of

Social Democratic parties at home

Germany's Ambitions for its quote Place

in the Sun caused a spike in tensions

between the great Powers who were

already in competition with each other

great power rivalries became part of

popular culture with jingoistic press

militaristic education in schools and

everything from children's toys and

Thriller novels and even movies focusing

on Feats of arms or dangerous potential

enemies these political and social

tensions caused a growing anxiety among

many Europeans and the danger that they

might lead to war was heightened by

increasing

militarization as the great Powers

expanded their Empires and worried about

Rivals they also built up their military

capability and political alliances

Germany's expansion and Naval buildup

provoked reactions from the other powers

the UK responded by building even more

warships including the new dreadn class

meanwhile Austria Hungary and Russia

clashed over influence in the Balkans

where new independent states had largely

replaced the weakened Ottoman Empire

with Russian Hell by 1914 a system of

alliances bound most of the great powers

to each other for Better or For Worse

France and Russia had been Allied since

1894 and the Triple Alliance connected

Germany Austria Hungary and Italy

Britain had maintained a policy of

Splendid isolation for most of the 19th

century but its fear of German Naval

expansion brought it closer to the

franor Russian block to create the

triple aant the danger of such alliances

was that a conflict involving one or two

Powers was more likely to drag all of

them into a European War Germany felt

surrounded by potential enemies so it

tried to test on taunt resolve during

two diplomatic crises in Morocco in 1905

and 1911 the British and French held

firm but there was no war which angered

German Chief of Staff helmot f

m if we again slip away from this

Moroccan affair with our tail between

our legs and if we cannot bring

ourselves to put forward a determined

claim which we are prepared to force

through with the sword I shall despair

of the future of the German Empire I

shall then resign but before handing in

my resignation I shall shall move to

abolish the Army and to place ourselves

under Japanese protectorate we shall

then be in a position to make money

without interference and develop into

ninis Germany's worries about its

situation in Europe caused its

government to shift priority from the

Navy which had angered Britain back to

the Army which caused France and Russia

to expand their armies to many in Berlin

it seemed that time was on the onon side

and Germany's chances would be better if

war came sooner rather than later

historians still debate whether

Germany's assertiveness or franor

British refusal to share international

power played a greater role in

increasing tensions while great power

alliances hardened across Europe more

trouble was brewing in the Balkans the

austr Hungarian annexation of Bosnia

from the Ottomans in 1908 upset Russia

and angered Serbian nationalists who

wanted closer ties with South slav

populations in Austria Hungary

Russia then supported the independent

slav states in the Balkan Wars of 1912

and 1913 in which Serbia gained more

territory tensions between Austria

Hungary and Russia Rose sharply over the

Serb issue and got even worse when

Austrian counterintelligence officer

Alfred ridel was exposed as a Russian

spy in

1913 long-term causes of the war like

Imperial competition or military

alliances didn't mean that war was

inevitable for a full-on war to break

out a crisis had to come that would

force governments to decide for war on

June 28th 1914 South slav nationalist

gabilo prip assassinated Austrian Arch

duuk France Ferdinand and his wife

Sophie in Saro those shots triggered the

July

crisis following the killings Austria

Hungary blamed Serbia most historians

agree today there was some semiofficial

Serbian involvement in the crime

although whether Serbian prime minister

Nicola pasic and the rest of his

government knew about the plot is hotly

debated in any case in 1914 there was no

proof of Serbian government involvement

the assassination itself did not bring

about war directly Austria Hungary was

disappointed that other European

governments did not condemn the killings

more forcefully a view shared by the

German ambassador to Russia friederich F

Portales not only in the Press but also

in societ Society one meets almost only

with unfriendly judgments on the

murdered Arch

Duke but the Serbian response was the

one that mattered most to Austria

Hungary officially pasich issued

condolences but also claimed that the

assassinations were an internal austr

Hungarian issue the Serbian

investigation lasted only a week and

found no evidence of government

involvement Serb nationalists and

newspapers were less diplomatic some

openly blamed the austr hungarians

themselves for the killings While others

praised the Assassins when the austr

hungarians complained pases said that he

had neither the tools nor the

inclination to censor the free Serbian

press back in Vienna the Imperial

Council met to discuss their options

Chief of Staff France Conrad Fon hendor

had argued forcefully for war for years

and he wasn't alone the foreign Ministry

was flooded with letters from austr

Hungarian notables calling for an arm

response onar wrote on June

30th last year I took the liberty of

writing to say that we would have to

learn how to tolerate Serbian

impertinences without resorting to war

now the matter has acquired an entirely

different

aspect Conrad put it more

bluntly war war

war the Austrian government decided on a

military response to punish Serbia and

resolve the issue of Greater Serb

nationalism seen to be destabilizing the

Empire the war was meant to be local and

quick but attacking Serbia meant risking

conflict with Russia and for Austria

that was Unthinkable without Germany's

support after the assassinations the

German ambassador to Vienna had urged

restraint but on July 6th Kaiser vhan

made Germany's position clear by giving

Austria the so-called blank check

Austrian Ambassador count llo serin

marish reported the German promise to

Vienna the Kaiser authorized me to

inform our gracious Majesty that we

might rely upon Germany's full support

if we had really recognize the necessity

of warlike action against Serbia kaisa

vhm would regret if we did not make use

of the present moment which is all in

our

favor vhan went on to say that he felt

that Russia was not ready for war and if

Austria did attack Serbia it should do

so as quickly as possible so by early

July four outcomes seemed possible a

peaceful negotiated settlement an ostros

Serbian war in the Balkans a continental

War involving Austria Russia Germany and

probably France or a World War if

Britain and its Empire joined France and

Russia only Austria Hungary and Russia

had Direct interests in the Balkans but

the system of European alliances would

likely draw other states in as well

however neither the Triple Alliance nor

the trip on tant called for automatic

participation in a war instead each

state had to decide how far they were

willing to go the triple onon Powers

generally preferred a negotiated

settlement to the crisis if war did

break out Britain and France favored

limiting the war to the Balkans although

Russia was more willing to accept a

great power War over Serbia Russia

wanted to keep its reputation as

protector of the Balkan slaves and

potentially expand its influence in the

area around the Turkish Straits that

were so important to Russian trade and

power projection if it came to a great

power war France would support its Ally

in Russia and hope that Britain would

join as well in Britain a major war was

unpopular with the public business

circles and some members of cabinet some

politicians like foreign secretary

Edward Gray reasoned that if a major war

broke out the outcome would be better

for Britain if it joined Russia and

France if Germany and Austria defeated

France and Russia British interests and

security would badly suffer but there

was still significant opposition in the

UK as far as the anant powers were

concerned a major war still seemed

unlikely understanding austr German

intentions is trickier and historians

still debate them their leaders saw

little benefit in a negotiated

settlement it wouldn't resolve the issue

of Serbian nationalism or improve

Austria's position in the Balkans the

best outcome would probably come from a

localized ostros Serbian War at the same

time launching such a war meant

accepting the risk of a continental war

against France and Russia and possibly

Britain Germany had made plans for war

against France and Russia and felt that

the longer it waited the more powerful

Russia would become and the greater the

risk of defeat Germany and Austria both

decided to risk a European war against

France and Russia to resolve the Serbian

issue in Austria's favor if a general

war came Victory would allow Germany to

dominate the continent the Wild Card of

course was Britain if the UK fought

against them an austr German victory was

much less likely and would amount to a

worst case scenario so in the face of

rival alliances and conflicting goals

and expectations the great powers of

Europe faced the July crisis of 1914

after Germany's blank check to Austria

on July 6th Austria Hungary planned to

move quickly against Serbia but that was

easier said than done on July 7th the

austr hungarians planned their next step

although many were eager for War the

government was not quite United

Hungarian prime minister istvan Tisa was

at first hesitant the kingdom of Hungary

already included many serbs and war with

Serbia would only increase those

tensions Tisa insisted that a Austria

Hungary deliver an ultimatum to Serbia

to give one last opportunity for peace

or to justify eventual military action

crafting the ultimatum took time and

Tissa only approved the final text on

July 19th the ultimatum text was not the

only delay many austr Hungarian troops

were on leave for the Harvest and

mobilization would take 2 weeks

internationally the French President and

prime minister arrived in St Petersburg

on July 20th for a scheduled with the

Russians so if the austrians gave the

ultimatum to Serbia before the French

went home Moscow and Paris might quickly

develop a joint response it's debated

how much the French and Russians may

have already known about the coming

Austrian ultimatum but they did use the

meeting to portray an image of Ironclad

Unity as president Ron pank told the

Russians his primary concern was

Britain we shall have weighty matters to

discuss I am sure we shall agree on all

points but there is one question which

is very much on my mind our

understanding with England we must get

her to come into our

alliance the austr hungarians waited

until the French leaders were at Sea on

July 23rd to send the ultimatum to the

serbs of the 10 demands most concerned

the arrest of Serbian officials and the

suppression of anti-habsburg propaganda

to carry this out the ultimated demanded

that Serbia quote accept the

collaboration in Serbia of organs of the

Imperial and Royal government of Austria

Hungary this was tantamount to

surrendering Serbian sovereignty and the

austrians had deliberately drafted the

ultimatum so the serbs would have no

choice but to reject it and War could

then be declared Belgrade replied within

the 48h hour deadline and accepted all

the points except for those contrary to

the Serbian Constitution like allowing

austro Hungarian officials to prosecute

Serbian citizens the ultimatum triggered

a wave of feverish diplomatic activity

the onun powers now fully realized the

seriousness of the crisis which had

mostly been driven behind closed doors

in Vienna and Berlin until now London

Paris and St Petersburg condemned the

ultimatum although Britain suggested

mediation talks including Britain France

Germany and Italy but Berlin refused

Russo Austrian relation

were by now red hot Russian foreign

minister seday sazanov actually shouted

at the austr Hungarian Ambassador in a

meeting I know what it is you want to

make war on Serbia the German newspapers

have been egging you on you are setting

fire to Europe it's a great

responsibility you are taking on you

will see what effect this has in London

and Paris and maybe elsewhere too

thear ordered partial mobilization of

four military districts on July 24th

followed by the period Preparatory to

war on the 26th the Russian army began

to call up reservists gather supplies

and promote officers at the same time

the tar wanted to make sure that these

measures did not appear to be directed

at Germany so Austria Hungary had a

blank check from Germany and had made

sure that its ultimatum to Serbia was

unacceptable on July 28th 1914 Austria

Hungary declared war on Serbia the war

was still a regional one but that would

all change in the Cascade of events in

the coming

days in reality partial Russian

mobilization was an illusion the general

staff had no plans to partially mobilize

and SAR Nicholas's generals told him

that partial mobilization would disrupt

the potential full mobilization and

still likely alarm the Germans milit AR

and political leaders of all powers were

confronted with the same problem if one

Army mobilized its neighbor would feel

pressure to do the same or run the risk

of an early defeat thanks to Modern

Railways bringing enemy troops to the

Border within days this dilemma gave the

generals increased influence over the

crisis on July 30th after overcoming the

last minute nerves the tar announced

full mobilization All Eyes now turn to

Germany

from July 29th to August 1st SAR

Nicholas and kaisa vilhelm exchanged a

series of urgent telegrams

affectionately signing Nikki or Willie

the two cousins spoke of their affection

for each other but also issued demands

on July 30th Willie wrote to

Nikki I now receive authentic news of

serious preparations for war on my

Eastern Frontier responsibility for the

safety of my Empire forces preventive

measures of Defense upon me my

friendship for you and your Empire

transmitted to me by my grandfather on

his deathbed has always been sacred to

me and I have honestly often backed up

Russia the Peace of Europe may still be

maintained by you if Russia will agree

to stop the military measures which must

threaten Germany and Austria

Hungary London now tried to mediate

again including a proposal for austr

Hungarian forces to to stop at Belgrade

on the 29th German Chancellor teal Fon

betman holg asked Britain to stay

neutral if Germany promised not to touch

French possessions foreign secretary

Edward gray now desperately sought

clarification from his own cabinet

2third of which had previously opposed

the war Cabinet member John Burns summed

up the

decision situation seriously reviewed

from all points of view it was de

decided not to

decide Britain still would not say if it

would join the anant in case of a

general war hve was now unsure of

British intentions and tried to reign in

the austr hungarians including

suggesting the Halton Belgrade plan

meanwhile the German Chief of Staff

Helmut Von mul was encouraging Conrad to

attack this led to Conrad explaining who

actually rules in Berlin bman or Mol

but the austr hungarians claimed it was

now too late to change course and a

temporary occupation of Belgrade would

not achieve their aims mul also began to

push for Germany to mobilize since the

German war plan depended on speed to

avoid a two-front war The schen Plan

called for German armies to first defeat

France while Russia was still mobilizing

then shift the German troops to the east

if Russia was allowed to mobilize first

Germany would be at a disadvantage

Vantage the Germans had started

preparing on July 28th but on the 31st

Kaiser vham announced pre-mobilization

the or state of threatening danger of

war the decision led to another flurry

of telegrams Germany demanded that

Russia cease mobilization while

simultaneously asking Austria Hungary to

prepare for operations against Russia

the Germans also asked for French and

British neutrality in a seemingly

imminent Russo German war in Britain a

third royal cousin King George now

called on the tar to end

mobilization prime minister Herbert

aswith recalled the moment he presented

a draft telegram to the

king the poor King was hauled from his

bed and one of my strangest experiences

was sitting with him I read the message

and the proposed answer all he did was

suggest that it should be made more

personal and direct by the insertion of

the word words my dear Nikki and the

addition at the end of the signature

Georgie and so as July 1914 came to an

end there was a frenzy of diplomatic

messages between European capitals for

many military leaders though it was too

late for any more talk and they began to

pressure the politicians to act on July

31st French General Joseph jafra asked

his government to reverse its more

passive policy and mobile I president po

described the meeting which lasted into

the we hours of August

1st jof appeared with the Placid face of

a calm Resolute man whose only fear is L

France outstripped by German

mobilization the most rapid of them all

might speedily find herself in an

irreparable state of

inferiority France finally mobilized at

400 p.m. on August 1st in Berlin mul was

having the same conversation with

Chancellor holg and 30 minutes later

Germany announced their mobilization by

7:00 p.m. Moscow told Berlin that Russia

would not stop its mobilization and so

Germany declared war on Russia on August

2 German troops were on the move not

East but West into neutral Luxembourg

this was in accordance with the schen

plan which the Germans said was a

strategic necessity the British position

was still not clear

London sent ambiguous messages to Berlin

suggesting that Britain might remain

neutral if Germany did not attack France

Kaiser vham now asked mul to abandon the

schen plan and stop his armies from

marching across the French border F mul

replied that stopping the massive and

complex mobilization was impossible and

suicidal the Kaiser was angry and his

answer showed that he did not fully

understand his own military machine

your illustrious Uncle F mul the Elder

would not have given me such an answer

if I order it it must be

possible soon after the Kaiser learned

that there was no formal British offer

to stay neutral and gave his armies the

green light to follow the plan and

invade Belgium Luxembourg and France by

August 2nd the mood in Britain had

shifted towards intervention the British

informed the French that they would

block block any German Naval movements

in the channel and would uphold Belgian

neutrality Belgian neutrality was

Britain's final red line but it was a

line that Germany had already begun to

cross the same day Germany delivered an

ultimatum to Belgium that it had

prepared back on July 26th the Germans

claimed the French plan to enter Belgium

so Germany had no choice but to move in

preemptively if Belgium resisted the

Germans would consider it an enemy

Brussels replied to L on August

3rd the intentions Germany ascribes to

France are in contradiction with the

formal declarations made to us the

infringement of Belgium's independence

with which the German governments

threaten her would constitute a flagrant

violation of international law no

strategic interest justifies such a

breach of law the Belgian government is

firmly resolved to repel every

infringement of its rights by all means

in its power

that same day the final dominoes began

to fall Italy declared that it would

stay neutral and would not join its

Triple Alliance Partners in war Germany

claimed France was about to attack it

which wasn't true and declared war on

France on August 4th German troops

marched into Belgium Belgium appealed to

Britain France and Russia to guarantee

her independence and Britain declared

war on Germany by August 4th the great

powers of Europe were at War and the

first world war had begun in the next 4

years roughly 20 million people would be

killed or die of disease and hunger but

even before the killing stopped debates

were raging about the war's Origins and

who was to blame and they haven't

stopped since shortly after the outbreak

of the war each of the powers published

a so-called color book making its case

as to how to understand the July crisis

and basically blaming the other side

after the war each side still blam the

other and the Allies put the

responsibility squarely on the Central

Powers in the post-war peace treaties

since then the evidence of 1914 has been

interpreted in many different ways as

historians have tried to answer who was

at fault for starting the war for years

many historians concluded that all the

powers shared some of the blame for the

War beginning then in the 1960s German

historian Fritz Fisher made one of the

most influential arguments he claimed

that the German government and milit Ary

Elites had grandiose plans and wanted to

achieve them through War the fiser

school claims Germany had long planned a

war aimed against Russia and France and

directly LED austr Hungarian actions in

order to escalate events more recently

other single Powers have been fingered

for their role in the crisis Sean mcmein

emphasized that Russia's actions turned

a Balkan War into a continental one and

Nile Ferguson blamed Britain for its

mistakes and naive t

some other recent interpretations like

Christopher Clark's Sleepwalker theory

suggest the war was largely unintended

and resulted from miscalculations

misunderstandings and perceived

insecurities he argues that Germany felt

Russia and Britain were unlikely to

become involved and tried its best to

localize the conflict in the

Balkans another debate centers around

whether the war was inevitable here the

recent consensus is that the alliance

system did not for Force any state to

fight as Italy proved by staying neutral

in

1914 this line of thinking stresses that

there were many times when things might

have taken a different turn like if

Austria had acted more quickly against

Serbia or if Britain had taken a clear

position right from the start of the

crisis there's also a discussion about

culture and mentality in 1914 historian

James Joel for example suggests that the

cultural military and strategic sight

gist saw War as a practical and indeed

desirable tool for social change and

defense of national interests since

Modern War also involved the need for a

quick mobilization VIA Rail timetables

military commanders became as or even

more important than politicians in the

crisis but their inflexible strategies

could not respond to the political needs

so perceived military necessity dictated

political action Russian politicians

wanted partial mobilization not to scare

Germany but did did just that and German

politicians did not want to bring

Britain into the war but their armies

marched into Belgium and did just that

this was the exact opposite of Claus

ofit's concept that war is politics by

other means and it's an important aspect

of understanding how the crisis ended in

a world war the war that started with

the July crisis in 1914 lasted more than

4 years but the war amongst historians

to make sense of it all still rages more

than a century later but those future

debates were far from the minds of the

people of Europe in August 1914 men from

every city town and Village rushed to

their mobilization Depot troop trains

sped towards the borders and the armies

marched towards the enemy in the hot

summer sun many civilians and soldiers

were caught up in a sort of war fever

nicknamed the spirit of 1914 in Germany

fed by jingoistic headlines in the press

and soon by organized government

propaganda crowds gathered to see off

the men and women stuck flowers in the

muzzles of their rifles and in Austria

Hungary people rioted against local

serbs in Paris angry citizens looted

dairy shops thought to belong to a

German company but they were actually

swiss but War enthusiasm was not as

widespread as once believed for Millions

especially in rural areas the war was

met with uncertainty and Dread French

military doctor Lou MRE recalled the

moment the news came to his

village everyone stopped as though

petrified we understood the women cried

the men fixed to the sidewalk looked at

the clock tower as the bell told when

the chiming stopped there was a deep

silence some had also expected

internationally minded socialists might

stop a war with a general strike across

the continent but despite a few

demonstrations most socialist parties

and unions sided with their governments

the German social Democrats all voted

for war credits and French anti-war

socialist leader Jean jores was

assassinated by a radical nationalist

his colleague Gustav erve rallied to the

cause between Imperial Germany and

Republican France there's no hesitation

our choice is made VI La France

Republican is

socialist and so all the great powers of

Europe went to war for the first time in

a century and once the armies met on the

field of battle the fears of those not

cheering in the streets would be borne

out the German war plan the schen or

schen M plan was to send most of their

armies through neutral Belgium and then

swing into France in a wide Arc passing

west of Paris to encircle and crush the

French within 6 weeks then German units

could head east to deal with Russia

which would mobilize much more slowly

the plan ignored logistical limitations

and probably required more men than

Germany had but the bulk of the 1.7

million German troops in the west

marched into Belgium confident of

Victory the Belgian Army had just

100,000 men far too small to stop the

massive German Force streaming across

its borders and they hadn't properly

coordinated with the French and British

due to their former neutrality there

were some important fortresses

especially around the edge and namur

whose garrisons tried to hold up the

German advance until French help could

arrive but the Germans brought up super

heavy artillery 420 mm guns and austr

Hungarian 305 mm Siege mortars Belgian

General Gerard Lan was in command of the

forts near

lege when the big Siege mortars entered

into action they hurled against us

shells weighing a th000 kilos the

explosive force of which surpasses

anything known hither to I had hardly

Advanced a few feet in the gallery when

a great blast passed by and I was thrown

violently to the ground I managed to get

up and continue on my way only to be

stopped by a choking cloud of poisonous

fumes looking out of the peephole I saw

to my horror the fort had fallen slopes

and counter slopes being a chaos of

rubbish while huge tongues of flame were

shooting forth from the throat of the

Fortress as the fighting raged around

the edge German officer Eric ludendorf

becomes a national hero for jumping in

and taking command of a brigade in the

midst of the battle the belgians fought

as well as they could but pull back

quickly even though French and British

troops entered Belgium to help in

conquered areas German troops fear of

mostly imaginary fronti and a sense of

impunity LED them to kill some 5,500

Belgian civilians and they will

eventually execute 900 French civilians

as well Allied propagandists later used

reports real and exaggerated of these

atrocities to create The Narrative of

the rape of Belgium the French High

command still didn't know the main

German force was coming through Belgium

and the much smaller British

expeditionary force and French Fifth

Army run right into it the Germans

rolled them back forcing Allied units to

fight desperate delaying actions the bef

briefly delayed the Germans at moss on

August 23rd but the Germans outflanked

the British and forced them to retreat

Captain William Mor's unit never

received the retreat order and was

trapped we decided to sell our lives

dearly I ordered my men to fix bayonets

in charge which the gallon fellows did

splendidly but we got shot down like

nine pins as I loaded My Revolver I was

hit in the right wrist I'd not gone far

when I got a bullet through the calf of

my right leg which brought me down the

Germans had a shot at me on the ground

to finish me off that shot hit my sword

which I wore on my side this turned the

bullet and saved my

life the rest of the bef made another

stand at lato on the 26th while the

French Fifth Army did the same at giz on

the 29th and the bef was so exhausted it

didn't help them the Germans pushed on

at Breakneck speed and the Allied great

Retreat continued not only for Allied

soldiers but Belgian and French

civilians alongside

them one of the saddest sights of that

day was the huge Columns of refugees on

the main road to geese carts heaped with

household Treasures led by crying women

and frightened children these carts were

ruthlessly swept off the road to make a

passage for the troops this was

absolutely necessary of course in spite

of its

cruelty while the allies were reeling in

the north along the franco-german border

the French army sprang into action

according to its plan 17 French forces

Advanced into Germany and counter German

moves with attacks in the ardan region

the result was the Battle of the

Frontiers a massive Clash from August

14th to 24th French infantry took the

fight to the Germans but often without

enough artillery support and sometimes

into prepared German positions the

result was Slaughter German artillery

and machine guns mow down Frenchmen in

their tens of thousands on August 22nd

alone around 21,000 French soldiers were

killed French Captain inar was among the

wounded the charge was hardly begun when

it faltered under rapid fire at close

range from the enemy Sheltering behind

Earthworks I could not see my number two

section and I looked back and saw that

the number three and number four

sections had not followed our advance I

set off immediately to the leading

section but I barely had time to go a

few steps before I got a bullet that

hammered into the top of my left arm the

shoulder was shattered my arm hanging

only by pieces of Flesh I fell half

fainting the Germans had planned to

allow the French to advance in the East

to help them with their encirclement but

Crown Prince R couldn't resist the

chance to pursue the defeated enemy and

his formations pushed farther west than

planned this actually helped the French

who now realized the seriousness of the

threat from the North French Commander

General Jose jof admitted plan 17 had

failed sacked dozens of generals and

took the risk of Shifting troops by rail

in the midst of operations to counter

the German threat to his left initially

he wanted to create a strike force near

Amya and hit the Germans in the flank

but the Germans were too fast the new

French sixth Army raised in Paris and

reinforced by units from the East would

protect the French capital and threaten

the German flank along the mar River

just 50 km from Paris the German Advance

became more and more menacing and some

in the German headquarters felt that the

battle and the war had already been W

but in the field the situation was

getting more and more difficult for the

Germans chief of the general staff

helmet F mul was nervous he gave

conflicting orders and began to

doubt we have had success but have not

yet won Victory is the destruction of

enemy resistance when Million Man armies

uphold one another the Victor takes

prisoners where are our Prisoners the

worst is yet to

come he ordered his two westernmost

armies to pass east of Paris and as they

did a gap opened up between them as they

approached the mar French intelligence

and aerial reconnaissance revealed the

sudden change and the gap on September

3rd in a dramatic meeting jafra

convinced British commander field

Marshall John French to send the

battered bef into the line again and

ordered a General

offensive the fate of the country

depends on the coming battle all our

efforts must go towards attacking and

repelling the enemy troops that can no

longer Advance must hold the ground

they've conquered at any cost and be

killed on the spot rather than

retreating in the present circumstances

no failure will be

tolerated the French threw everything

they had into the battle of the mar from

September 5th to 12th they even brought

a few thousand men to the front in

civilian taxi cabs and the Allies

outnumbered the Germans 1.1 million to

750,000 though the Germans had 3,300

guns to the Allies 3,000 in many parts

of the line though it seemed at first

the Germans were getting the upper hand

French officer Paul truo joined a failed

attack the men fix bayonets a flag is

unfurled it's too late to get to my own

regiment I pick up a dead man's weapon

slip on a cartridge belt and join the

advancing troops group it's rather

scattered and pushing forward in every

direction urged on by the bugles what's

that I'm stepping on the dead and

wounded friends and

foes the Allies kept up the pressure the

bef and part of the French Fifth Army

pushed into the vulnerable gap between

the German first and second armies

creating a crisis for many German

soldiers French Firepower was also

taking its

toll I looked death in the eye a hundred

times yesterday today we're lying

opposite an enemy with Superior

artillery whom it is impossible to

approach as he simply shoots our

infantry to

Pieces German headquarters was blinded

by the fog of War they didn't fully

realize their tactical successes but did

know of the Mortal threat posed by the

Allied Forces getting between their

armies staff Officer Colonel Hench

visited the Army commanders and in a

much debated episode the Germans decided

to retreat to the river a mul had a near

break down and was replaced by Eric V

falh the Allies tried to pursue the

Germans across the a but lacked the

strength France had been saved in what

became known as The Miracle on the mar

some historians even argue this battle

ensured Allied long-term victory in the

war there was much more fighting to come

in France before 1914 was out but the

French had stopped the Germans at the

mar and ruined the German war plan

meanwhile austr Hungarian armies were on

the March where the War Began in the

Balkans

austr Hungarian planners faced The

Dilemma right from the start at first

they were only at war with Serbia but

they couldn't send twoo many forces

there for fear of war with Russia once

Russia joined the war it made sense to

focus on the East but politically they

had to attack Serbia as well the

solution was a very awkward one Chief of

Staff France Conrad F hundorf had

divided his forces in three a small

group for the Serbian front a large

group for the Russian front and a

medium-sized group B Echelon that could

be sent to either front at first Conrad

sent B Echelon to the Balkans but he

couldn't risk it getting actually bogged

down since he needed to send it east as

soon as possible so it would play a

temporary support role before getting

back on the trains to Head East this

meant the austr Hungarian attack into

Serbia was rushed General Oscar poor a

rival of Conrads was Keen for a victory

that he could lay claim to and his army

of 140,000 men 40% of whom were serbs

bosnians or croats had far more machine

guns and artillery than the serbs the

200,000 strong Serbian Army had

experience from the recent Balkan Wars

and modern French artillery but they

were short ammunition machine guns and

rifles the austr Hungarian troops began

the so-called straf Expedition or

punitive Expedition on August 12th their

advance from the West surprised the

serbs but they immediately ran into

logistical problems heavy rain and

extreme heat the Serbian Army had

adopted Ed a defensive position Inland

from the border but Serbian Irregulars

called kitaji harassed the Habsburg

troops who had orders to show no

mercy I command that during military

operations the utmost strictness

hardness and distrust is to be shown to

every Ser if so much as one shot is

taken out our troops in a village

civilians are to be eliminated any

residence seen outside a village or

especially in a forest is to be

considered a Bandit hiding weapons if

these people look halfway suspicious

they are to be

eliminated as they Advanced austr

Hungarian troops massacred captured

kitaji but also civilians especially in

the town of shabbats some estimate austr

hungarians executed up to 4,000

civilians in about 10 days although the

numbers are debated in addition to

burning down numerous Villages Serbian

Commander radmir putnik pivoted his army

to the west and struck back back on

August 15th at the Battle of s Mountain

the Serbian night attack caught the

tired austr hungarians by

surprise after a quick burst of fire the

serbs charge in dense lines with

triumphant cries the attack comes too

unexpectedly for the troops for whom

this is the first experience of close

combat they defend themselves valiantly

at some places but at other points some

lose their

nerve after several days of desperate

fighting the austr hungarians ret R

treated and evacuated Serbian territory

by August 24th some Serbian troops take

revenge on surrendering austr hungarians

when they learned of the hapsburg

atrocities the first campaign of the

first world war ended in a Serbian

victory at the cost of 177,000 killed

and wounded while the austr hungarians

Lost 20,000 killed and wounded and 4,500

prisoners Serbian units then raided into

Austria and Bosnia but the population

did not rise up against Vienna as

Belgrade had hoped

so Serbia had won an unexpected Victory

against Austria Hungary but the stakes

were far higher on the Russian front and

there both sides immediately went on the

attack the campaign in the East began

with complications for the austrians

there were no precise War plans

coordinated with the Germans and both

sides assumed the other would move more

troops to face the Russians than they

actually did Conrad wanted the Germans

to attack out of East Prussia but they

refused to make matters worse Austrian

mobilization had been slower than

expected and Russian much faster

deployment was also an issue as Conrad's

last minute changes meant that troops

drained far from their jumping off

points and had to March tens of extra

kilometers in the summer heat many

reservists were exhausted before the

campaign even began the Russians also

had more troops 750,000 to 500,000 a lot

more Cavalry and much more and better

artillery whose Crews were trained in

indirect fire thanks to the experience

of the Russo Japanese war still Conrad

launched a large scale offensive North

to threaten Russian Poland and the rear

of Russian armies Facing East Prussia

meanwhile Russian general Nikolai ianov

planned to send the armies of his

Southwest Front towards Austrian lenberg

and eventually KRA out at first the

austr hungarians were successful on

August 23rd 24th they pushed back the

Russians at krasnik thanks to determined

infantry assaults but took very heavy

losses from the skilled Russian

Artillery still General Victor danl was

confident Russians are fleeing

everywhere our troops were Magnificent

the men are unstoppable they charge at

the enemy with unrelenting Vigor the

Russians as long as they do not

outnumber us too heavily are no match

for

us it was a similar story at the Battle

of Karu a few days later as the

austrians forced the Russians to retreat

again exhausted Austrian troops though

did didn't have the numbers or the

strength to complete the encirclement

and again paid a heavy

price the unrelenting canonade turned

the battlefield into a living hell and

the events of those terrible hours

exceeded all previously held

expectations of the

war then Russia made its move General

alexe brusilov's eth Army led the charge

into Eastern Galia smashing the

overstretched austrians at Gano Lipa in

late August and taking lber on September

3rd

they also attacked the northernmost

Austrian armies which had drifted apart

and defeated them at the Battle of ravar

rusa a massive austr Hungarian

Counterattack failed to stop the enemy

so they withdrew deep into Habsburg

territory leaving the Fortress of jish

under Russian Siege fresh Russian units

and devastating use of artillery

shattered the disorganized exhausted and

thinly spread austr Hungarian formations

order in the Habsburg units began to

break down as one austr Hungarian

Soldier

called trained convoys of all military

branches blocked the streets for Miles

all of the languages of the monarchy

could be heard screeching in a wild

cacophony of voices the drivers struck

each other with their whips H mounted

train commanders vented their

frustration with repeated shots from

their pistols hundreds of broken and

bullet-ridden wagons lay in the ditches

alongside the bloated carcasses and the

corpses of

soldiers as in ser Habsburg defeat

resulted in atrocities the Army

suspected local ukrainians of Russian

sympathies and executed many as alleged

spies estimates vary between 1,500 and

30,000 a later austr Hungarian report

though found there was no widespread

pro-russian feeling or Espionage amongst

the Ukrainian population of East Galia

by late September Russia had captured

Galia and bukova important oil fields

and the forts at Lamberg and yaroslav

Austria Hungary had suffered 320,000

killed and wounded and 100,000 prisoners

100,000 more Habsburg soldiers were cut

off at Shish Russian losses were heavy

too 210,000 killed and wounded and

40,000 Prisoners the difference was

Russia could afford such losses and

Austria could not especially its already

small officer core Austria hungary's

Eastern offensive ended in defeat in

fact Russia's Galia offensive actually

achieved its strategic aim of crippling

the HS B armies at the same time though

the Russian offensive in East Prussia

met a different

fate when war broke out the Russian

Empire hurried to mobilize and pressure

Germany as soon as possible to help

France on August 17th two Russian armies

crossed the frontier into East Prussia

hoping to surround the smaller German

forces and threaten Berlin the Russian

invasion Force totaled 500,000 men and

about 1,650 guns while the Germans had

just 200,000 men and 770 guns but the

Germans had the advantage of local Rail

lines and the angara defensive position

based on several Lakes while the

Russians had to advance over difficult

terrain with poor roads and few supplies

the Russian armies were also separated

by an area of thick forests and lakes

and its Army commanders were at odds

with their Superior as the Russian

armies occupied German Villages the

German press was full of wild rumors of

atrocities most were exaggerated but

Russian troops did burn some small towns

and Villages and killed nearly 1,500

civilians usually on unfounded

suspicions of resistance or spying this

fired German ideas of Russian barbarism

and helped push commanders to

Counterattack in haste on August 19th

core Commander General Herman Von

franois disobeyed orders and attacked

the easternmost Russian army too quickly

and without enough artillery support the

resulting Battle of ginan Saw General

pavl renan Camp's Army throw back the

Germans a Russian officer recalled the

intensity of the

battle the fire we opened on the enemy

all along the line was so precise and

deliberate that the Germans having

suffered huge casualties had to stop and

drop to the ground many of them were

killed here in these open attacks as

they advanced in columns keeping tight

formation then German aerial

reconnaissance and radio intercepts of

uncoded Russian Communications showed

that the entire German position was

under threat from General Alexander

Samson's Army in the South German

Commander maximilan Fon pritz planned to

give up all of East Prussia and Retreat

to the Vistula River but the Army High

command removed him they appointed po

Von Hindenburg and Eric ludendorf in his

place and diverted an Army Corps from

France but the German eth Army staff

already had a battle plan the Germans

intercepted renan Camp's orders for his

army not to press the advance which

meant that he would not link up with

samsonov they quickly transferred units

along the railway and launched a

two-pronged attack against the

unsuspecting samsonov on August 23rd

confusion rained in Russian lines with

the tired hungry and thirsty troops

suddenly being driven back along the

flanks samsonov misjudged the situation

and ordered his army deeper into the

Trap by the time the Russians realized

what was happening it was too late by

August 30th samsonov Army was completely

destroyed he shot himself and the

remnants withdrew across the border

German newspapers reported a dramatic

account of the

Carnage the sight of Russians driven

into two huge lakes or swamps to drown

was ghastly and the shrieks and cries of

the dying men and horses he will never

forget so fearful was the sight of these

thousands of men with their guns horses

and ammunition struggling in the water

that to shorten their Agony they turned

the machine guns on them but even in

spite of that there was movement seen

among them for a week after

the Russians had lost 92,000 prisoners

50,000 dead and wounded and 500 guns

against German losses of just 15,000

killed and wounded ludendorf christened

it the Battle of tannenberg historic

revenge for the 1410 Battle of the tonic

Knights that they lost against the

Polish Kingdom the victory made the

reputation of the two German commanders

and the myth of tannenburg helped Propel

their military and later political

careers the Germans then turned their

attention to men in Camp who' not

Advanced to help samsonov trains rushed

units back to the North and the two

Corps from France finally arrived during

the battle of the murrian Lakes from

September 5th to 13th the German eth

Army defeated the Russians and forced

them out of all but a tiny piece of East

Prussia though this time they don't

destroy the Russian army which even

launched a successful local

Counterattack later in September before

the front settled by September a month

of Titanic struggle in Eastern Europe

had seen Serbia defeat Austria Russia

defeat Austria and Germany defeat Russia

but none of these victories or defeats

were decisive and the powers continued

to try to break the enemy the austrians

especially poor still hope to crush

Serbia they attacked again in September

and November but failed then finally

took Belgrade in early December the

serbs with fresh ammunition and weapons

from France and Russia struck back and

retook their capital on December 15th

leaving the Balkan front in a stalemate

and Serbia with tens of thousands of

hungry cold and sick refugees it could

barely care for further east the austr

Hungarian Russian and German armies all

attempted large scale offensives in the

fall and early winter of 1914 the

hapsburg Army briefly relieved the siege

of shees in October before the Russians

pushed them back again and the Germans

stopped another Russian invasion of East

Prussia at austo the Germans and austr

hungarians advanced on Warsaw and nearly

smashed the Russians before Russian

Counterattack threw them back yet more

German attacks resulted in the capture

of wuj in December that same month the

austr hungarians also managed to avoid

another disaster by stopping a major

Russian attack at the Battle of Li

manova keeping Russian forces away from

Krakow and the Hungarian interior these

battles are relatively unknown today but

cost both sides hundreds of thousands of

casualties and led to Great suffering

from millions of men fighting in wet and

wintry conditions with a dramatic lack

of artillery shells and other supplies

the ottoman Empire's entry into the war

on the central pow side in October

opened up new fronts the sultan and cff

declared a global Jihad against the

Allies but it made little difference as

the British took bazra and the Russians

attacked in the Caucasus their Berman

offensive failed and ottoman war

minister Enver Pasha ordered an

ambitious counter offensive in December

about 100,000 ottoman troops set out

into the allahuakbar mountains to

execute a complex battle plan but the

campaign quickly turned into a deadly

disaster conditions in the mountains

were extremely cold and badly equipped

ottoman units were caught up in Fierce

snowstorms tens of thousands froze to

death the Russian defenses held firm

thanks to Superior artillery and the

surviving Ottomans retreated into

Anatolia in January after suffering up

to 65% casualties there was fighting

across the globe as well Japan joined

the Allies to fulfill its alliance with

Britain but also to expand its own

Empire at German expense Japanese troops

besieged the German Colony in China at

singao taking it after a 3mon Siege in

Africa British French and German

Colonial forces battled in the west

south and east and on the high seas the

British and German navies clashed in

deadly but indecisive smaller battles

leaving Britain in control of the oceans

but the main German Fleet

intact so after months of bloody

fighting multiple fronts ended in

stalemate and the armies dug in usually

by using systems of trenches but it was

on the Western Front that 1914 saw the

introduction of modern trench warfare on

a massive scale now trenches were not

unknown before 1914 in fact they've been

used since Antiquity and even more in

more recent conflicts like the Crimean

War US Civil War bore War and the Russo

Japanese war but the network of trenches

that the French British and German

armies dug in 1914 was UN precedented in

its scale complexity and resistance to

attacking forces once the initial War

plans failed both sides tried to

outflank the other in what became

misleadingly known as the race to the

sea but even as the armies were sending

forces further north the front lines

began to harden by October 1914 a

network of trenches stretched nearly

unbroken from the Swiss border to the

English Channel a front line that would

only deepen over the next 3

years mobile Warfare lasted just 3

months in 1914 to be replaced by trench

warfare once these Grand defensives

failed why they failed and why new

offensives had little chance to break

the deadlock explains why trench warfare

began the arms industry had developed

deadly new technologies in the Years

leading up to 1914 and when these new

weapons were used on a mass scale for

the first time the results were

devastating so devastating that they

helped Force entire armies to take

shelter in trenches the weapons of 1914

made the open Battlefield far more

deadly than the last European great

power Wars in 1870 or 1866 the deadliest

weapon of all was artillery the French

75mm gun was considered the best field

gun in the world and rightly so thanks

to its hydraulic break system it could

fire in bursts of 15 to 30 rounds per

minute for a limited time as opposed to

about five rounds per minute for the

Prussian c64 field gun of 1870 1914

field guns had ranges of 7 to 11,000 M

far beyond the 3,500 M of 1870 and the

Germans especially had Heavy Artillery

that could fire even heavier shells even

farther the shells these modern guns

fired were also more powerful than in

previous Wars thanks to advances in

chemical explosives like melanite small

arms had also become more deadly British

Lee Enfield German Maza and French lebel

rifles all had Superior ranges and rates

of fire thanks to smokeless powder and

and multi-round clips up to 15 rounds a

minute per rifle modern machine guns

like the maxim Vickers Hotchkiss and

santen could fire 500 bullets every

minute five times as many as the

multibarrel MRA of

1870 military experts knew of these

developments before the war though they

observed them on a smaller scale like in

the Russo Japanese war and noted it in

their field

manuals bullets can still kill a man at

2,000 M at ordinary r ranges they go

through several

men what the generals were not sure of

was how this would influence fighting

would it help attackers or Defenders a

few theorists thought it might lead to a

defensive stalemate While others

especially in France felt that a

vigorous attacking Spirit would Prevail

as it had for the Japanese in some

battles in

190405 French Captain be was a supporter

of the attacking spirit in

1913 war is not so much about capability

as it is about courage

science will always yield to devotion

and firmness Above All Else every

Trooper must be inculcated with this

Spirit of ultimate sacrifice which will

later reveal itself in the

offensive however events in August and

September showed the new weapons made

attacking in the open a deadly business

as French officer shal deol experienced

firsthand suddenly the enemy's fire

became precise and concentrated second

by second the hail of bullets and the

Thunder of the shells grew stronger

those who survived lay flat on the

ground amid the screaming wounded and

the humble corpses in an instant it

become clear that not all the courage in

the world could withstand this

fire while the armies fought in the Open

men died in droves after just 5 months

of fighting in the west France had lost

265,000 dead Germany at least 85,000 and

Britain about 30,000 from its much

smaller Army and most of these were lost

in August and September before trench

warfare began these losses were

proportionally heavier than any other

year of the war and they were

unsustainable the only Escape was the

relative safety of the trenches as

French officer Pierre Dupri

observed the fire of the German heavy

guns is admirably precise and well

regulated the other day I saw six shell

craters in a 30 m diameter circle and

these shells came from more than 7,000 M

away

but however accurate their fire a trench

gives shelter Untouchable by artillery

well dug in infantry can only be

dislodged by infantry and properly by

enemy

bayonets another problem that ended

mobile Warfare and ensured trench

warfare would be around for the Long

Haul was how to actually fight given the

superiority of defensive Firepower and

the early trench systems Army struggled

to sustain any kind of success with

infantry or artillery and especially

coordinated the two Gunners had a hard

time fighting in unfamiliar situations

in Mobile War they often fired against

visible targets but in setpiece battles

and when faced with trench systems Crews

found themselves attempting to hit

targets at ranges greater than they had

trained for and with indirect fire this

required much more information which in

1914 was difficult given the problems in

command and control aerial

reconnaissance helped but aircraft were

still rare and crews could move

camouflage and dig in to hide their guns

from prying eyes as for the Infantry

assaulting an entrenched enemy was risky

business and mistakes often occurred

regulations did foresee tactics that

took into account enemy Firepower like

moving forward in shorter bursts and

with smaller groups but officers often

had difficulty coordinating their troops

and assaults often took place in denser

formations which then withered under

defensive Firepower the Germans made

this mistake at IA in October as British

Captain Henry Dylan witnessed

a great gray mass of humanity was

charging running for all God would let

them straight onto us not 50 yard off I

have never shot so much in such a short

time and it could not have been more

than a few seconds and they were

down but perhaps the main challenge was

coordinating the two main combat arms in

a way that would ensure artillery

support arrived at the right place at

the right time to help infantry attack

through enemy trenches there weren't

enough enough liaison officers to

communicate the needs of the Infantry to

the nearest Batteries and overly eager

infantry officers didn't always wait for

support before launching an attack

French Captain alons gra recalled the

suffering of his men in the absence of

artillery

support my company was sustaining heavy

losses evidently its action was

hampering the enemy who concentrated the

combined fire of his infantry artillery

and machine guns on us among the men

lying on the ground one could no longer

distinguish the living from the dead we

had no support from our artillery and

yet there were guns in our division and

in the Army Corps besides those

destroyed on the road where were they

why didn't they arrive we were

alone French commander-in-chief Joseph

JRA even put out an explicit warning to

his infantry officers not to attack

without artillery support after he

received reports of units doing just

that he chocked it up to a

misunderstanding of the doctrine of the

offensive the lack of training played a

key role

too another factor that enabled trench

warfare was the problem of command and

control the armies that took the field

were larger than ever before once

mobilized the German Army numbered about

2.3 million men and the French 2.9

Million how such vast armies would

receive and act on orders in a timely

manner and whether the commanders could

manage such masses of men had caused

many doubts among military thinkers

before the war and indeed commanders did

struggle to direct their armies in

particular the Germans who needed to

move the farthest the fastest first and

second armies lost touch on the right

wing and Fon mul ended up accepting

first Army's swing to the east after the

fact rather than approving or

countermanding the order quickly jof

admitted that many generals simply

couldn't handle his troops well enough

and relieved scores of generals in Fall

1914 part of the problem was that the

technology to quickly communicate orders

over long distances to massive moving

formations wasn't equal to the task

there weren't enough telephone lines or

telephones and what equipment was

available was often cut by shelling

French General gasan was among those

frustrated by the

shortages a few kilometers more of

telephone wire would have been worth

more to me than all the blathering on

about combined arms and the unity of

Hearts between infantrymen and

Gunners Wireless telegraphy was still

primitive and voice radio was not

effective until after the war French

intelligence was able to intercept

German messages sent by Wireless enclair

without code by German units desperate

for orders ammunition reinforcements or

to find out where their neighbors were

the Allies also suffered from

difficulties communicating as liaison

officers were few and far between

British general Horus Smith Dorian was

left completely in the dark about the

whereabouts of neighboring French forces

near MOS in

August I'd been given no information of

the somewhat serious happenings in the

French army on our right which I learned

years later namely that it had been

forced back and was already some 9 mil

south of mos with a gap of at least 9 Mi

between the right of our second core and

the left of the French 18th Corp thus

leaving us in a very vulnerable

indefensible and Salient

position communication was often reduced

to mounted Messengers relaying notes to

headquarters or the nearest working

Telegraph or telephone station not an

effective enough system to implement

complex War plan

historian Larry Addington summed up the

Dilemma like the fictional Dr

Frankenstein the general staffs of

Europe had created monsters that they

could scarcely control and whose

movements at a distance were difficult

to

gauge mobility and Logistics were

another issue the only way for the

Infantry to move forward was on foot and

the artillery could only move with

horses which could only be worked so

hard and were extremely vulnerable to

enemy fire simultaneously the defender

who was operating within his own lines

was able to reinforce the threatened

area much more quickly by taking

advantage of the roads and rail networks

in his own rear the essence of the

problem was that the attacker poor

tactical Mobility could not overcome the

defender greater operational and

strategic Mobility another reason why

mobile Warfare was replaced by trench

warfare in 1914 were Supply problems

attacking armies struggled to supply

themselves with food fod ammunition and

reinforcements while defending armies

could do so much more easily the key

aspect here is the railway as soon as a

formation moved forward into enemy-held

territory it began to move farther from

its own rail heads since armies were not

yet motorized that meant the main body

of the attackers moved only as fast as a

marching infantryman and their supplies

only as fast as a horsedrawn wagon the

defender though could shift his forces

and supplies much faster by rail this

problem helped the German schen

plan since the plan demanded more than

was humanly possible of under supplied

troops German Soldier vilhelm Hegel

described the

hardships day after day we have to March

and there's not a lot of time to rest in

the last couple of days we've marched

nearly 80 km we heard that a comrade in

the six company has shot himself because

he could not bear it anymore you can't

imagine what we have to go

through German troops marched 30 to 40

km a day with 26 kg packs and received

inadequate resupply and reinforcement

forcing them to scavenge for vegetables

in French Fields the vital Heavy

Artillery also fell behind the Infantry

it was meant to support this issue was

made worse by delays in taking over

captured French and Belgian railway

lines meanwhile French Defenders used

their shorter interior lines to quickly

shift troops around most notably at the

marn in September

1914 when the race to the Sea began the

same transport issues prevented the

Germans from getting enough troops

around the Allied flanks and the

fighting hardened into positional

Warfare there as well another logistical

issue was shell production the general

staffs had not anticipated such a heavy

rate of fire for the artillery in

pre-war planning and the guns fired much

of the existing shell Stocks by

September this contributed to the start

of trench warfare because the Army

simply didn't have enough shells to

attack early trench networks with the

necessary weight of fire French State

factories for example could only produce

10,000 shells a day in 1914 far too

little for their 3,500 guns in the field

the situation was so critical that

jeffra demanded daily reports of shells

fired and placed strict limits on shells

per gun per day German pre-war stocks

had also been used up within the first 6

weeks when they'd been expected to last

6

months so by Fall 1914 trench warfare

dominated on the Western Front the

initial plans for decisive mobile War

failed and attempts to break through the

very first trenches also failed because

armies faced insurmountable problems

lethal Firepower that favored the

defender inadequate infantry artillery

and combined arms tactics deficiencies

in command and control and logistical

shortcomings the result was that from

August to October 1914 that now famous

network of trenches crept from around

Nai to Verdan along the A and finally

through Belgium to the Sea these

defenses defeated every attempt to break

them whether by the Allies on the A and

in Champagne or by the Germans at e

German Soldier po Hub complained about

the impossibility of breaching British

trenches in

Belgium the terrible digging continues

Every Day brings new Horrors it's

impossible to get rid of those

Englishmen they've dug one trench behind

another ironically The Trenches were not

meant to be permanent commanders hoped

that entrenching would buy time and free

up forces to launch new offensives that

would return to mobile War a British

officer in Belgium expressed this desire

in

November I'm getting awfully bored by

the trenches and I'm feeling fearfully

tired I hope we won't be in them much

longer I wish they would order the

advance The War Began in July 1914 as a

regional conflict between Austria

Hungary and Serbia but just a few months

later the great powers and their Global

Empires were locked in a Titanic

bloodbath with no end in sight by the

end of the year Germany had suffered

about 800,000 casualties Austria Hungary

1.2 million the Ottomans 8,000 Britain

990,000 Belgium 50,000 Serbia

170,000 France 530,000 and Russia 1.8

million the hopes of a decisive War over

by Christmas were gone Mass armies and

modern Firepower had resulted in

exhausted stalemate in the east and

trench gridlock in the west war was

totalizing in the media the factories

and on the battlefield hundreds of

thousands had been killed and millions

displaced and yet all the powers still

believed victory was possible but the

worst was yet to

come since you're watching this massive

documentary about the pivotal year 1914

and the first world war I'm guessing you

might be a fan of detailed military

history documentaries if you're

interested in the final offensives of

the second world war in Europe we

produced two Epic World War II

documentaries about them the first is 16

days in Berlin the most detailed

documentary about the Battle of Berlin

ever produced a 4 and 1/ half hour

day-by-day breakdown of one of the

biggest battles of the entire War when

the Red Army Advanced from the Oda River

Into the Heart of Nazi Germany's capital

the second is a 3 and 1/2 hour

documentary called Rin line 45 about the

last setpiece battle on the Western

Front in which the Allies under Bernard

Montgomery attacked from the Dutch

border and ultimately cross the mighty

Ryan River both documentaries were

filmed on original location featured

detailed maps and animations expert and

Veteran interviews and more but you

can't watch 16 days in Berlin and Ryland

45 on YouTube because of our

uncompromising portrayal of the war

using authentic combat footage if you

want even more history content on nebula

check out epic history TV and their

incredible coverage of the Napoleonic

Wars or if you really want to support us

and the idea behind nebula right now you

can get the nebula lifetime membership

which allows us and nebula to invest

more into original documentaries that we

couldn't produce on YouTube to further

improve nebula and bring it to even more

platforms again that's

channel that wants you to know that in

the present circumstances no failure

will be tolerated