World War I in Photographs
By Andrew Webb
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About this ebook
An astonishing visual account of the "Great War", recounting the loss, the tragedy, the courage and the horror of military action in vivid detail.
Over 200 original photographs chart the events of 1914-1918, from early mobile warfare through the grim slogging matches in the trenches to Germany's last desperate throw of the dice and eventual allied victory. This book encompasses war on the ground, in the air, at sea and on the home front.
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World War I in Photographs - Andrew Webb
THE FIRST MOVE of the ‘Great War’, as the First World War would be known until the advent of the Second, was made by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After Serbia had failed to comply absolutely with the purposefully impossible terms of the Austrian ultimatum of 23 July, Austria broke off diplomatic relations on 25 July, following this with a declaration of war on 28 July. The conflict had officially begun, although it was by no means inevitable that Germany and Russia, allies of the belligerent nations, would become involved. As late as midday on 28 July, Kaiser Wilhelm was writing that in his opinion the Serbian reply to the Austrian ultimatum had ‘removed all reason for war’, and that any remaining questions could easily be solved by diplomacy. As Austrian river craft began the bombardment of Belgrade on 29 July, however, Russia felt impelled to mobilise her army in support of the beleaguered Serbs, leading in turn to full German mobilisation in support of Austria. Once these military machines were set in motion, it became almost impossible to stop them as they acquired a momentum all of their own. France refused a German demand to undertake to remain neutral in the event of hostilities between Germany and Russia, instead embarking on a general mobilisation of her own. The British remained non-committal, agreeing to support neither one side nor the other, partly in the hope that war would be averted, and partly because many in Britain felt that it was not their concern if the nations of Europe went to war.
The arrest of Gavrilo Princip (right, between two policemen) in Sarajevo immediately after his assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
As Russia persisted in her mobilisation, rejecting German demands to demobilise, the German Empire declared war on Russia on 1 August, following this two days later on 3 August by a declaration of war against France.
At the beginning of August 1914, then, a European war was officially underway, with Austria-Hungary and Germany on the one hand, and Serbia, Russia and France on the other. Despite having alliances with both France and Russia, Britain had not yet entered the fray. Germany was a traditional British ally, despite recent tensions caused by the German build-up of naval power, and neither the Entente Cordiale with France, nor the Triple Alliance with France and Russia obliged the British to go to war in support of her treaty partners.
Serbian peasant led away for interrogation by Austrian troops, 1914. The invading Austrian army quickly acquired a reputation for brutality amongst the Serbian populace.
Serbian troops retreat across the marshes at Scutari, 1914.
The British declaration of war on Germany would come on 4 August, and would stem from a circumstance no one had taken into account: the German violation of Belgian neutrality.
The Schlieffen Plan
The understandable German reluctance to wage war on two fronts simultaneously had led in 1905 to the creation of the Schlieffen Plan, named after its creator General Alfred von Schlieffen. The aim of this plan was to avoid the two-front war by a swift defeat of France in the West, within forty days, followed by a transfer of troops to the Eastern Front, there to pursue a more leisurely campaign against a Russia who would almost certainly be slow to fully mobilise her troops. This, then, was the German plan of attack in 1914.
Unfortunately, the plan depended for its success on the right wing of the attacking German armies being able to advance through Belgium, and Belgium was neutral. Belgium also intended to stay neutral, and refused the German armies permission to pass through her territory. When the Germans violated that neutrality, Britain issued an ultimatum of her own, citing the 1839 Treaty of London which guraranteed Belgian neutrality, and demanding that all German forces be withdrawn. When a withdrawal was not forthcoming, Britain declared war on Germany.
German troops cross the border into Belgium, violating Belgian neutrality.
Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of Staff of the German Army until 1906 and originator of the controversial Schlieffen Plan for an invasion of France.
Belgian prisoners are marched off into captivity by invading German forces.
The British army of the time, however, was essentially a colonial police force: professional and well-trained, but above all small; no more than 150,000 men, in contrast to the German army of over 4 million, 1.5 million of whom were deployed on the Western Front in August 1914. On 7 August, therefore, Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, issued an appeal for 100,000 men to join the British army. The ensuing crowds outside recruiting offices were so huge that mounted police had to be called to keep order, and special outdoor recruiting offices were set up around the country. By the end of the year, well