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Summer 1914

1914 · 16 articles · about 60 min of reading

On 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Vienna, sure of Germany's backing, sent Serbia an ultimatum and declared war on 28 July, and within a week the conflict drew all the great powers of Europe into war. The German war plan assumed that the main blow would fall first on France, and the invasion of Belgium settled Great Britain's entry into the war. In August the French offensives collapsed and the Allies began the Great Retreat, but in September they halted the Germans from Paris to Verdun and the plan for a quick victory collapsed. The series runs from the Sarajevo assassination through the July Crisis, the chain of declarations of war and the first battles in Belgium, France and East Prussia to the German retreat from the Marne.

1914

  1. 0128 June 1914EventKey moment8 minArchduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in SarajevoThe starting point of the series: Princip's two shots become the trigger of the July Crisis, which within five weeks leads Europe to a war between the great powers.On 28 June 1914 Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, setting off the July Crisis.
  2. 025 July 1914Event2 minKaiser promises Austria-Hungary full supportThe Potsdam “blank cheque”: Wilhelm II assures Vienna that Germany will stand by it even if the quarrel with Serbia turns into a conflict with Russia.On 5 July 1914 Wilhelm II promised Austria-Hungary full support against Serbia, giving political impetus to the further escalation of the crisis.
  3. 0323 July 1914Event2 minAustria-Hungary delivers an ultimatum to SerbiaVienna gives Belgrade just 48 hours. The very shortness of the deadline shows that the aim is not diplomacy but Serbia's capitulation or a pretext for war.On 23 July 1914 Austria-Hungary handed Serbia an ultimatum with a 48-hour deadline, making demands that struck at its sovereignty.
  4. 0428 July 1914EventKey moment3 minAustria-Hungary declares war on SerbiaVienna declares war on Serbia, counting on a short, local reckoning. But behind Serbia stands Russia, and behind Austria-Hungary stands Germany.On 28 July 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia by telegram. That same night Belgrade was shelled and the First World War began.
  5. 0530 July 1914Event2 minTsar orders general mobilisation of the Russian armyNicholas II gives way to Sazonov and agrees to general mobilisation. The Peterhof decision settles that the war in the Balkans will become a war of the great powers.On the afternoon of 30 July 1914 Nicholas II, persuaded by Sazonov, agreed to general mobilisation. Its first day was 31 July.
  6. 061 August 1914EventKey moment2 minGermany mobilises and declares war on RussiaGermany declares war on Russia, and the night's episode with the telegram from London shows that the plans for moving the army could no longer be changed in a few hours.On 1 August 1914 Germany ordered general mobilisation and in the evening declared war on Russia. The war ceased to be a Balkan conflict.
  7. 072 August 1914Event2 minGermany delivers an ultimatum to BelgiumGermany demands passage through neutral Belgium. This ultimatum becomes one of the key reasons why Great Britain enters the war.On the evening of 2 August 1914 Germany demanded that Belgium allow its troops to pass through, giving it 12 hours to reply.
  8. 083 August 1914EventKey moment2 minGermany declares war on FranceWar on France: from this moment Germany fights on two fronts, against Russia in the east and France in the west.On 3 August 1914 Germany declared war on France, citing invented French air raids. The war on two fronts had begun.
  9. 094 August 1914EventKey moment2 minBritain declares war on GermanyBritain brings its whole empire into the war: a conflict that began as Austro-Serbian now engulfs all the great powers of Europe and takes on a global dimension.At 11 p.m. London time on 4 August 1914 the ultimatum expired. Britain and its whole empire found themselves at war with Germany.
  10. 104–17 August 1914Battle2 minBattle of LiègeThe first obstacle in the path of the German plan. The defence of the forts shows that Belgium will not let the Germans through without a fight, and buys France and Britain a little time.The first battle on the Western Front. The Belgian forts around Liège held up the German army's advance for almost two weeks.
  11. 117–25 August 1914Battle11 minBattle of the FrontiersThe French war plan fails: the offensives in Alsace, Lorraine and the Ardennes bring nothing but enormous losses, and the German right wing passes through Belgium as planned.In August 1914 the French offensives in Alsace, Lorraine and the Ardennes collapsed and the Germans swept through Belgium. The Allies began the Great Retreat.
  12. 1223 August 1914Battle7 minBattle of MonsThe first British battle in Europe since Waterloo: the British Expeditionary Force holds up Kluck's army, on the far right of the German wing, for one day.The first British battle in Europe since Waterloo. On 23 August 1914 the British Expeditionary Force held up Kluck's army for one day.
  13. 1323–30 August 1914BattleKey moment2 minBattle of TannenbergThe eastern side of the plan: Russia is defeated in East Prussia, but its offensive makes the Germans move two corps from the west on the eve of the Battle of the Marne.Germany's greatest victory on the Eastern Front in 1914. Samsonov's Russian Second Army was encircled and destroyed in the south of East Prussia.
  14. 146–12 September 1914BattleKey moment8 minFirst Battle of the MarneThe turning point of the summer: the plan for a quick defeat of France collapses, and Germany is condemned to the long two-front war its staff officers had feared most.In September 1914 the French and British halted the Germans on a front from Paris to Verdun and forced them to retreat. The plan for a quick victory collapsed.
  15. 159 September 1914EventKey moment5 minGermans retreat from the MarneThe day the Battle of the Marne is decided. Hentsch merely seals the retreat: it was decided by the gap between the armies, the exhaustion of the troops and Moltke's weak leadership.On 9 September 1914 the German 1st and 2nd Armies began to retreat from the Marne, sealed by Moltke's envoy Hentsch. The plan for a quick victory failed.
  16. 1614 September 1914Event2 minFalkenhayn replaces MoltkeThe epilogue: a broken Moltke loses command, and his successor, Falkenhayn, soon understands that Germany will no longer win a quick, decisive victory.On 14 September 1914 Helmuth von Moltke, broken by defeat on the Marne, was removed from command. Erich von Falkenhayn took over direction of the German army.