Introduction to World War I in 1914
Invasion of Belgium. On July 27 Belgium and Luxembourg were informed by Germany of its intention to pass through. Both countries were assured that no harm would come to persons or property if no opposition were encountered.
Belgian neutrality had been guaranteed by all the European powers in the Treaty of London in 1839. Despite this agreement. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg tried to persuade Britain not to declare war in the event that German troops entered Belgium. During talks on August 3 with Sir Edward Goschen. the British ambassador to Germany, Bethmann-Hollweg reportedly called the 1839 treaty "a scrap of paper" not worth fighting over. Bethmann-Hollweg's efforts were unsuccessful; when German troops entered Belgium on August 4, Britain, as well as Belgium, immediately declared war.
The German advance was halted by the Belgian army at a powerful network of fortresses around Liège. The Germans used 420-mm siege howitzers to reduce the supposedly impregnable fortresses to rubble. Albert, king of Belgium and commander of the army, positioned his forces on a line running north from Namur to Diest, but they could not check the flood of German troops. On August 18, the Belgians retreated north to Antwerp.
The German Second Army under General Karl von Bùlow took Namur the same day. General Alexander Kluck's First Army entered Brussels on August 20 and swung southward to the Sambre River, positioning itself east of Bùlow's forces. The German right wing was now prepared to invade France. With Albert's forces isolated in Antwerp, the Belgian attempt to halt the German advance had failed. However, Belgian resistance had cost the Germans almost a month's time.
It was during this early period of the war that many of the incidents that came to be termed "the rape of Belgium" occurred. While many reports of German brutality were exaggerated for propaganda purposes, some were true. Numerous villages were burned, and hundreds of civilians were murdered in reprisal for isolated cases of resistance by Belgian civilians.
The Eastern Front, 1914
Russia mobilized quickly, and two powerful armies, one under General P. K. Rennenkampf in the north and the other under General A. V. Samsonov in the south, invaded East Prussia, planning to converge on the German defenses in a giant pincer movement and smash them.
Battle of TannenbergThe initial Russian advance was successful despite poor communications, poor military intelligence, and a bitter personal rivalry between Rennenkampf and Samsonov. Moltke, fearing a deep Russian penetration, transferred forces from Belgium to strengthen German defenses on the Eastern Front. General Paul von Hindenburg was called from retirement to command the entire eastern defenses. General Erich Ludendorff was named his second in command.
On August 23, Hindenburg opened the Battle of Tannenberg. He attacked and outflanked Samsonov's army, annihilating it. Some 125,000 Russian soldiers were captured, killed, or wounded. Samsonov disappeared and probably committed suicide.
Hindenburg rapidly shifted his troops to the north in an attempt to encircle Rennenkampf. A powerful German attack on the Russians near the Masurian Lakes left Rennenkampf's forces shattered. He retreated to Russia, ending the invasion of East Prussia.
Austrian DefeatsIn Austrian Galicia the Russians under N. V. Russki and A. A. Brusilov faced the Austrians under Baron Moritz von Auffenberg. The Austrians defeated the Russians in the Battle of Zamosc-Komarów late in August but their gains were wiped out by an immediate counterattack. The Russians took Lemberg (Lvov) on September 3, captured 100,000 Austrian soldiers, and won control of the great oil fields in eastern Galicia near Kolomyya and Stry. After the fall of Lemberg, Hindenburg virtually took over supreme command of the Austrian forces. He diverted many German troops and supplies to bolster the Austrian army.
Hindenburg launched a frontal attack against Warsaw on October 16, but after three days of fierce fighting the Germans failed to take the city. In an effort to regroup, Hindenburg ordered a retreat to the Silesian frontier, but Russki crossed the Vistula River in force and pursued the retreating invaders. The Germans engaged the Russians in the battles of Lódz and Towicz, November 16–25. Here some 60,000 Germans were almost surrounded, but Rennenkampf failed to close the trap and the Germans escaped.
Balkan Front, 1914
Because of Russia's rapid mobilization on the Austrian front, Austria-Hungary had to divert some of the forces originally intended for the strike against Serbia. After the opening bombardment of Belgrade, the Austrians crossed the Drina River into Serbia on August 13. They were driven back with severe losses in the Battle of the Tser and Jadar, August 17–21, and withdrew from Serbian territory.
In September a combined Serbian and Montenegrin force invaded Bosnia-Herzegovina, hoping to induce that province's Slavic population to join in the fight against Austria-Hungary. The invaders captured Zemlin (Zemun), but their advance was halted on September 10. Meanwhile, Austrian troops had crossed the Drina again and there followed the Battle of the Drina, September 8–17. The Serbs and Montenegrins withdrew from Austrian territory but forced part of the Austrian army out of Serbia. However, the Austrians continued to hold a bridgehead at Liubovia.
After strengthening their forces in October, the Austrians began a large-scale advance early in November. The Serbs withdrew, and the Austrians took Belgrade. Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia pulled his forces back into the hills about 50 miles (80 km) south of Belgrade. On December 3 the Serbs counterattacked. The Austrians gave way on the third day and were driven out of Serbia by December 15. At the end of 1914 the Central Powers' drive in the Balkans had been checked.
Turkish Action, 1914
Turkey concluded a secret alliance with Germany on August 2, 1914, but delayed entering the war until it could strengthen its armed forces. Germany sent military aid to Turkey, including advisers, supplies, and two cruisers, the Goeben and Breslau. The German high command grew impatient waiting for the Turkish forces to engage Russia. To provoke hostilities, on October 29, the Goeben and Breslau, which had German crews but were formally part of the Turkish navy, sailed into the Black Sea and bombarded Russian ports. Early in November, Russia, Serbia, Great Britain, and France declared war on Turkey.
Naval Operations, 1914
At the beginning of the war, Great Britain was the greatest sea power, and Germany was second. The British Grand Fleet had 20 dreadnoughts (heavily armed battleships), 40 predreadnoughts (earlier, more lightly armed battleships), 9 battle cruisers,and 108 lighter cruisers. The German High Seas Fleet consisted of 13 dreadnoughts, 20 predreadnoughts, 4 battle cruisers, and 50 lighter cruisers. The total tonnage of the British navy was about twice that of the German.
In July, 1914, the British fleet was conducting maneuvers at sea. Fearing war, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill ordered the fleet to remain at sea, prepared for battle. When war was declared August 4, Great Britain's navy was quickly deployed and trapped most of the German fleet in port.
The British navy was responsible for keeping the German navy in check, and for protecting Britain's merchant marine, which brought food and raw materials into Britain, and supplied troops on the continent.
The French fleet, based at Toulon on the Mediterranean, was concerned chiefly with keeping the Austrian fleet in its base on the Adriatic. Russia had ships in the Baltic and Black Seas.
Because most of the German High Seas Fleet remained in port, there were no major naval engagements in the early months of the war.
North and Baltic SeasOn August 28 a British squadron commanded by Admiral David Beatty sank three German cruisers and a destroyer off the coast of Germany at Heligoland Bight. In September the German submarine U-9 sank three British cruisers off the Netherlands. In November and December German surface ships raided several British ports, but with little effect.
In the Baltic, naval operations on both sides began with mine laying. It resulted in the sinkings of various German and Russian vessels.
High SeasOutside European waters the Germans had only one squadron. It was cruising in the South Pacific under Vice Admiral Count Maximilian von Spee. The Emden and Königsberg were detached from this squadron and roamed the seas, preying on Allied shipping.
A British squadron of three ships under Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock met Spee at Coronel, a short distance south of Concepción, Chile, on November 1. Two of the British ships, Good Hope and Monmouth, were sunk and Cradock lost his life. The third ship, Glasgow, escaped.
The British promptly sent reinforcements under Rear Admiral Doveton Sturdee. He engaged Spee near the Falkland Islands on December 8. Four of the Germans' five ships were sunk and Spee was killed.