December 29, 1914

One hundred years ago today the trigger to one of the most tragic events of World War One occurred. It was on this date that Ottoman forces assaulted the Russian city of Sarikamsih in the Caucasus (located in northeast modern-day Turkey).  

The assault of Sarikamsih was the center piece of a larger battle, that lasted from December 22, 1914 to January 17, 1915, which was an unmitigated disaster for the Ottoman forces. The Ottoman high command had been encouraged by earlier success in November against the unprepared Russian forces along the border and it was the high command's hope that pressing on to the oil fields of the east Caucasus  before the Russians could fully prepare would yield success. But for the Ottoman forces to push farther into Russia they would have to cross the narrow passes of high mountains of the Caucuses. The Ottoman army lacked sufficient winter uniforms and supplies but the attack was ordered and the Ottoman forces, 118,000 strong, began to enter into the passes of the Alluhüekber Mountains and worked its way to its objective, the rail station at Sarikamsih.

The Ottoman army skirmished with the Russian forces as it had climbed to an altitude of more than 6000 feet above sea level as it headed towards Sarikamsih. It was the dead of winter and temperatures regularly reach 20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). Before Sarikamsih was reached a series of Russian ambushes took its toll on the Ottoman forces and Ottoman soldiers died by the thousands due to hypothermia and thousands more suffered from frostbite.

By the time the Ottomans reached Sarikamsih its long supply lines were spread so thin over the poor mountain roads that the Ottoman soldiers were extreme short on supplies. Hungry, exaustated, short on ammunition and freezing the Ottoman forces were ordered to launch a direct assault of the prepared Russian defenders of Sarikamsih. The attack was crushed and the Russians began deploy its forces, who were well rested, well supplied and dressed for cold weather, to surround what was left of the Ottoman survivors. What was left of the Ottoman invasion force tried to retreat but was slowed by snow storms and overtaken by the counter attacking Russians.

Between the freezing weather and the clashes with Russian forces the losses were terrible. Of the 118,000 Ottoman soldiers who marched to Sarikamsih only 11,000 would return. As tragic as the loss of the Ottoman soldiers' lives it was not the most tragic aspect of this battle, as World War One would see it share of slaughter on the battlefield. What made this battle so tragic was its aftermath. By all accounts the Ottoman forces fought with bravely and determination during the battle, but poor planning and preparation by the commanders lead to this disaster. Unwilling to accept responsibility for this colossal failure, when the Ottoman General who commanded the attack reported to the Ottoman government he blamed the local Armenian population for the defeat. L ocal Armenians did volunteer to fight with the Russians and some served as guides as they knew the terrain well and this was no small help to the Russians. But blaming the Armenians for the Ottoman loss was little more than an distract from the blatant incompetents of the Ottoman commanders.

But the damage was done. Almost 100,000 Ottoman soldiers had been killed or captured in less than a month and there was a wave of anger in the nation and in the government and the Armenians would become the target of that anger. Over the next year the Ottoman government would began systematic oppression and deportation to concentration camps of the Armenian people which would result in the deaths of approximately one million Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the war in 1918 it is estimated that another half million would be killed. The Ottoman Empire would state that these deaths were part of the larger conflict of the war and mostly due to unintended  disease and starvation in the Armenian concentration camps, a position the modern Turkish government still maintains. But much of the western world refers to this as the Armenian Genocide. The first of sadly many industrialized genocides of the 20th century.

December 25, 1914

One hundred years ago today World War I had been raging for almost five months. Already hundreds of thousands had been killed and over a million wounded. Even in the cold of winter the war was still very active. But in late December there was a lull in the fighting along a stretch of the Western Front in Belgium. With no major actions taking place here, exhausted Allied (mostly British) and German soldiers faces off in their trenches, in places no more than a hundred yards apart from each other. It was along this portion of the Front that something happened that no one would have expected.

The events that transpired seem so near unbelievable that it could easily be dismissed as a myth.  But letter after letter and journal entry after journal entry tell the same story (or versions of it, as similar events happened in many different places).

It began on Christmas Eve. In the hopes of boosting the morale of their troops France, Great Britain and Germany issued special Christmas packages to all their soldiers on the Front. They contained extra food, tobacco and alcohol, along with things not normally issued. Soldiers opened small packages with candies and desserts, paper and pencils for letters home, and other small trinkets. The care packages worked and spirits were high, and as the sky darkened on that Christmas Eve British observers noted unusual activity in the German lines. Popping up along the parapets the German soldiers mounted small sprigs of evergreen trees adorn with lit candles. Soon after singing could be heard coming from the German trenches. The British soldier’s interests were peaked and listened intently. The German singing continued into the night until the British heard these words as the Germans began a new song: “Stille nacht, heilige nacht.” The words were unfamiliar to most of the British but the melody was not, “Silent night, holy night.” In a purely spontaneous action some of the British soldiers joined in the singing and by the end of the song both the German and British trenches were singing in full force. Ending together with “Jesus der Retter ist Da!”  and “Christ the Savior is here!” Throughout the night the old Christmas hymns were sung as the tunes were known to both sides.

When the sun started to rise on Christmas day the men in both trenches went about their daily chores but other than occasional the distant fire of artillery no shots were heard. Suddenly, a German soldier started shouting: “English! English! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” and two hands went up above the German parapet. Then a man crawled out. He picked up one of the sprigs of pine adorn with lit candles and started walking to the British trench. Soon a few more Germans climbed from the trench and followed suit. As the pack of Germans crossed No-mans-land, the wary British troops manned the firing line. The approaching Germans shouted again “Don’t shoot!”  Suddenly a British soldier set down his rifle and climbed out of the trench, then another and another. They approached the Germans and came face to face with them. They exchanged “Merry Christmas” and “Frohe Weihnachten,” shook hands and the Germans gave their impromptu Christmas trees to the British. More and more men from both sides started to join the growing throng in the middle of the battlefield. Eventually the commanding officers from both sides met and mutual agreed to a truce for Christmas day. For the remainder of the day no shots were fired and Germans and British passed freely across the battlefield to one another trenches. The men gave gifts to each other from their Christmas care packages. Throughout the day the men from both armies shared stories, joked and showed off pictures of family. There are multiple accounts that various locations parts of the battlefield was cleared and the men played soccer. In some locations along the Front it was more solemn. Where fighting was heavy weeks before No-man's-land was littered with bodies preserved by the winter cold and the soldiers from both sides joined to bury their fallen comrades. Other accounts note that Catholic army chaplains held Christmas mass (which was universally done in Latin at that time) for the soldiers, and the Catholics from both nations took communion. As the day waned and the sun set, men shook hands and parted with a final “Merry Christmas” and “Frohe Weihnachten” and returned to their trenches.

What happened the next day varied from place to place. In some places fighting resumed the next day as usual. But in a few places the fraternization continued unabated until New Year’s day. Reports on both sides note the fighting was halfhearted in most place following the Christmas truce with warning shots being fired more often than shooting to harm. Fighting would not truly resume along this part of the Front until one, or both, of the units stationed at the front during Christmas were rotated off the frontline.

As word of what happened trickled back to the high command of the opposing armies the leadership was mortified and many of the units that participated were broken up and reorganized into other units.

Only the British even officially acknowledge that the Christmas truce even occurred, though the scale was played down. The French, Belgian and German governments denied it even happened, even many years after the war. But the evidence is overwhelming that these events did occur, both in official and personal records. Though the majority of the soldiers involved were British and German, many French and Belgians also observed the truce, though often in a less spectacular fashion.  In some places the fraternization was limited to singing together and on Christmas day signs were put up written in the broken language of their enemies which read something like “You no shoot, we no shoot, Merry Christmas.” All told over 100,000 soldiers participated in the cease fire.

There was very little later punishment for the fraternization during Christmas, mostly because to do so would be to official acknowledge that it occurred and it was the strategy of the high command of the nations involved to dismiss the events and claim it was all rumors and hearsay. 

As for why this happened it is hard to say. Just as it is hard to say why things were able to go back to the way they were so quickly. But that Christmas day something reached across national boundaries. It even went beyond a religious commonality. Companies of Indian Hindu soldiers fighting for the British joined in the day’s events, as did the German Jews who at this time made up a notable portion of the German population.  British, French, German, Canadian, Australian, Indian and Belgian soldiers laid down their weapons for a time and were linked by their common humanity. In a world choked by war when everything went dark, on Christmas day a small shaft of light shown though and there was a moment of peace, one hundred years ago today. 

 

December 20, 1914

Authors Note: This post will introduce the use of some simple maps I have drawn to help explain the events described.

One hundred years ago today the First Battle of Champagne began on the Western Front. By this point in the war trench warfare was fully established all along the Western Front. Manned trenches  stretched continuously from the English channel to the Swiss border. Neither the French, British or German armies had planned for, or even trained for, this type of warfare. Though the use of trenches in warfare dated back to ancient times they had never been constructed on this scale. None of the militaries involved, from the lowest ranking foot soldier to the highest ranking general had any practical experience in dealing with this situation. Any solution would have to come from trial and error and the First Battle of Champagne was the first major attempt to break the deadlock brought on by the creation of the trenches.

At the start World War One the conventional wisdom of the day was that wars were won by aggressive action and brilliant maneuvers. War was to be won much like a game of chess, the player who got all of his pieces in the right places would win. It would be the French who would be the first to apply this thinking to trench warfare with disastrous results.

 

The German invasion into France had been stopped and now the French were trying to expel the Germans from French territory and it seemed by mid December that an opportunity had presented itself. The frontline was shaped like massive bulge (Grey redlined line) that meant that the German forces at the tip of the bulge could be attack from two sides (in this case from the north and the south). Additionally, the Germans realized that the goal of capturing Paris and crushing the French in one fell swoop before Russia could react was not going to happen. Despite Germany's successes in the east, it had to relocate thousands of troops from the Western Front to the Eastern Front to keep from being overwhelmed by the Russian army. Following these movements the French now enjoyed a numerical advantage over the Germans, who were relying on their trenches to make up for their reduced numbers. With the Germans outnumbered and in a vulnerable position the textbook action was for the French to attack, and thus the First Battle of Champagne began.

 

The plan was for the British would launch a series of attacks in northern Belgium (Figure A) prior the main French attack. This would distract the Germans and cause them to move reinforcement to the north were they could not help against the French offensive. Then the French would attack to the north (Figure B) and south (Figure C) of the bulge (or in military terms "salient") in German lines in the Champagne region (hence the name of the battle). This would force the German forces (Figure D) to retreat as they would not risk being cut off and surrounded by the French forces. The Germans would fall back until they could "straighten" their front line (Figure E) so they would no longer have a vulnerable salient (or bulge) for the French to attack. This would allow France to retake much of the territory they had lost to the Germans. But the battle did not go even remotely as planned. 

 

The British attack failed to make any progress against the Germans (Figure A) or even serve as much of a distraction. The French main attacks (Figure B) stalled. The French made almost no progress against the German trenches and could not break through the German lines. The French quickly realized that attacking at specific points was yielding little result. The German could funnel all their reinforcement into the trenches at the points of the French attacks and every German artillery piece for miles could be focused on right were the French were trying to break through. So the French began expanding the width of their attacks (Figure C) in the hopes that the Germans would have to spread themselves (and their artillery support) so thin that at some point the French would achieve a breakthrough through the weakened German lines. But all that was accomplished was that more and more French soldiers were drawn into an offensive that was going nowhere, all the while casualties mounted. Occasionally the French were able to push the Germans back and capture a portion of the Germans front line trenches here and there. But the Germans would inevitable counter attack and the French would be forced back to their own trenches, and no progress would be made.

The First Battle of Champagne would last for more three months with the final attacks were not called off until March. Casualty estimates of the battle vary but approximately 90,000 French soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. The Germans loss were only half as many, around 45,000. The battle was a brutal early lesson in the hazards of trench warfare, which strongly favored the defender. The French learn that relatively small numbers of defending soldiers in a trench supported with machine guns and artillery could resist a much larger force. It was also learned that any attack against an enemy trench that was not supported by artillery fire (to make the defenders keep their heads down) was essentially suicidal. Finally the French saw how even if portions of the first,  or even second, line of enemy trenches were captured they were vulnerable to counter attacks from the defenders in support trenches because it was very hard, as the battle raged, to move up the supplies and heavy weapons needed defend the captured trenches.      

The First Battle of Champagne failed to move the frontline as the French had hoped. This failure would set the tone for the Western front, which would become an obsession with finding a way to break through the enemy's trenches, end the stalemate and get the armies moving again.      

 

December 16, 1914

One hundred years ago today the German navy attacked the coastal towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in Northeast England. At 6:35 in the morning a squadron of nine German warships approached the Northeast English coast and separated into three groups to attack these towns. At 8:00 the first German ship opened fire and by 9:30 the German ships withdrew. In that hour and a half over 1000 shells were fired at the three towns, leaving 137 dead and 592 wounded, most of which were civilians.  

The Germans did not intend, or view, this action as a terror attack. Each of these towns had a fortified harbor (and the British defenders did return fire killing eight German sailors and wounding twelve) and the intended targets of the German attack were the harbor and coastal industrial facilities. However, in the process hundreds of nearby civilian homes were destroyed.

Though the harbor and the industrial facilities were deemed legitimate military targets, there was little value in attacking them. The primary target of the raid actually had nothing to do with any of these coastal towns, but rather the British navy. The British navy greatly outnumber the German navy. The German naval command knew that it would likely lose a large scale pitch naval battle, as the British could muster more ships then they could. It was the hope of the German naval command that an attack on British soil would trigger rash response, and the British would quickly send a small force rather than take the time to assemble a larger one. The idea was that raids like this would allow the German navy to deal with the British Navy in a piecemeal fashion.

Ultimately the Germans failed in their goal as the attacks did not draw the British navy into an ambush and the cautious British response forced the Germans to withdraw, but only after extensive damage was done to these towns.  

The attack was to reverberate though the psyche of the British people. The outcry of the attacks on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby became a rallying against Germany and at the same time shook the British people's faith in their navy.

Across the Atlantic these attacks further soured the American popular opinion of Germany which was becoming increase pro British and French.   

December 8, 2014

One hundred years ago today the German East Asia Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee was destroyed off the Falkland Islands by the British Navy. Under Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee command the German East Asia Squadron had harassed French and British interest a world away from the battlefields of Europe. From India, to French Polynesia, to the coast of Chile, the German East Asia Squadron had raided shore facility, attacked merchant ships and clashed with the British navy as it worked its way home to Germany. However, off the coast of the Falkland Islands (off the coast of Argentina in the Atlantic ocean) ships from the British Navy caught up with the German East Asia Squadron and defeated it.

The months of prior success had made Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee something of a mythical figure, making his defeat a shock in Germany. Even today the destruction of the German East Asia Squadron at the Falkland Islands is something of a mystery. The attack, successful or not, would reveal the Squadron's position to the British and the Squadron had secured enough fuel (in the form of coal) to make it all the way back to Germany, so there was no need to raid the base for coal. Also any damage to the British naval presence in Falkland Islands would be quickly repaired. So why Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee ordered the attack is unknown. Perhaps Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee had become over confident, or perhaps he underestimated the British presence in the area.There is some evidence that British intelligence had broadcast phony orders to Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee using stolen German naval codes, tricking him into attacking the Falklands and luring him into a trap. However, this has never been definitively proven as intelligence services rarely take credit for their actions.

Regardless of how the battle started it ended with the sinking of all of the German East Asia Squadron resulting the deaths of almost all of the over 2000 German sailors including Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee.

December 1, 2014

One hundred years ago today the Battle of Limanowa began. Fought in what is today southeast Poland, the battle was the last major operation to be headed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Eastern Front.

To the north German and Russian forces were clashing as German forces tried to move towards Warsaw. Austria-Hungary hoped to take advantage of this situation by launching an offensive of its own to the south near Krakow. Nominally the Austro-Hungarian attack was a success. The Russian defense mounted near Limanowa was defeated and took heavy losses. However, even with the bulk of the Russian army to the north fighting German forces the Austro-Hungarian attack had been badly mauled. Even though the Russians were forced to retreat. Cold weather, heavy snow and high losses prevented Austro-Hungarians from being able to take advantage of it, and no further offensive action was take.

Though this battle had little impact on the war military it did have a major impact politically. After a chain of failures and catastrophic casualties on the Eastern Front the Austro-Hungarians gave up on independent military action against Russia. For the remainder of the war all Austro-Hungarian major operations on the Eastern Front were put under German command and control. Where it would assume a support role to the larger, more effective German army.  

November 15, 1914

One hundred years ago today the pivotal Battle of Kolubara was fought in Serbia.  

Leading up to this battle Austria-Hungary launch a third invasion into Serbia on November 6, 1914. Austria-Hungary had invaded Serbia twice before, only to be defeated by the Serbian army. Austria-Hungary was determine to have this invasion succeed as it was under enormous pressure on the Eastern Front and it needed to end the Serbian campaign to turn its full attention to the east.

The Austro-Hungarian invasion began with early success and by November 8, 1914 the Serbian defenders had started to falter and by November 10, 1914 Serbian army was in full retreat to defensive position along the Kolubara river. Serbia was in a dire situation. Its army lacked sufficient ammunition, supplies, heavy weapons and winter clothing. The Serbian government sent out pleas for supplies to Great Britain, France and Russia but this yielded little results. With defeat at the door the Serbian government debated whether to try to make peace with Austria-Hungary but it was decided that the Serbian army should fight on, as to surrender at this point would likely lead to annexation of Serbia by Austria-Hungary.

On November 15, 1914 250,000 beleaguered and poorly equipped Serbian soldiers held the east bank of the Kolubara river, with an additional 150,000 soldiers protecting the northern flank. These forces were faced by 450,000 well equipped Austro-Hungarian soldiers to the north and west . Celebrations were being held in Austria-Hungary that the war in Serbia would soon be over. The next day Austro-Hungarian forces assaulted the Serbian positions along the Kolubara.

What would happen over the next thirty days would be a disaster for Austria-Hungary and is still heralded today in Serbia as "The miracle of Kolubara." Despite Serbia's lack of men and war materials they were not unprepared for this attack. Choosing Kolubara to make a stand was not an idle decision. The river was in mountainous terrain but the west bank (the side the Austro-Hungarians would approach from) was fairly open, but the terrain on east bank offered a good deal of protection. Additionally the Serbians had been building fortified position along the Kolubara for weeks. When the Serbians retreated from the Austro-Hungarian border to the Kolubara they destroyed any infrastructure providing communication or transportation to deprive the Austro-Hungarians of its use. With the winter rains in full force much of roads and countryside of Serbia were a quagmire of mud, any Austro-Hungarian supplies, messages, or reinforcements to Kolubara would be significantly slowed during the course of the battle.       

For days the battle raged with the Austro-Hungarian forces regularly crossing the Serbian held Kolubara in freezing weather only to be thrown back each time at great cost to both sides. By November 28, 1914 Serbian losses mounted and it was clear that Belgrade to the north (Serbia's capital), so near the Austro-Hungarian border could no longer be defended and was evacuated and the Serbian army retreated to defensive positions to the south surrendering the city to the Austro-Hungarians on December 1, 1914.

At this point Austria-Hungary was so confident of victory it started drawing up plans for an occupational government of Serbia. But though Belgrade had fallen the Serbian army was still holding the Austro-Hungarian invasion from pressing much deeper into Serbian territory.

The grinding battle had drained the both sides but the Austro-Hungarians had become overstretched as they pushed deeper into Serbia and were struggling to keep their frontline troops supplied and in communication with commanders. On December 2, 1914 the Serbians saw their opportunity for a counter attack. Though Russia and Great Britain did not offer assistance, France eventually answered Serbia's call for supplies and by December these supplies had finally reached the frontlines allowing the Serbians to launch a sustained offensive. Everything the Serbians had was thrown into the attack. Even the Serbian's seventy year old King, Peter I, donned a uniform and was armed with a rifle and participated (though mostly symbolically) in the attack.

Not realizing the Serbians had received French supplies and not expecting a Serbian offensive (as the Serbians had been predominately fighting defensively for weeks) the Austro-Hungarians were completely caught off guard, so much so that the Austro-Hungarians were conducting a military parade in captured Belgrade as the attack commenced. With the mud bogging down messengers the Austro-Hungarians artillery and reserves miles away from the frontline were unaware of the initial attack, leaving the frontline Austro-Hungarian soldiers unsupported until it was to late and they had been overrun by Serbian forces. By December 6th it was clear that the third invasion of Serbia was a failure and the Serbian army was poised to retake lost territory.    

Having been ejected from Serbia twice before the Austro-Hungarian army took steps to prevent them from losing the territory that they had taken. But due to poor planning much of the Austro-Hungarian defensive efforts did more harm than good. As the Austro-Hungarians captured cities, towns and villages they left soldiers and artillery behind to defend these gains and fortify these positions. Though the captured towns were well defended and fortify the surrounding countryside was not. Using the hills and valleys of the Serbian countryside as cover the Serbian army surrounded each captured town cutting off the Austro-Hungarian defenders within. Often without the defenders even knowing until it was too late. Tens of thousands of Austro-Hungarian soldiers were taken prisoner this way, along with their supplies and weapons. Supplies and weapons the Serbian army desperately needed.  By December 16, 1914 Belgrade had been liberated and the Austro-Hungarians had once again been repulsed from Serbia.

The battle was a disaster for Austria-Hungary. Not only had a third invasion failed but out of the 450,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers who invaded Serbia 273,000 were killed captured or wounded. Additionally, the defeat left Austria-Hungary in political turmoil and even more diplomatically subordinate by Germany who began to increasingly view the Austro-Hungarian army as incompetent. The Battle of Kolubara would take on near mythic qualities in Serbia, but the victory was no without a high price. The 400,000 man Serbian army suffered 132,000 casualties, 22,000 of which were killed. Aside from the military losses civilian suffering was catastrophic. As the Serbian army retook much of the lost countryside it found that village after village was empty. Later military investigation and Western press revealed  the occupied parts of Serbia had been devastated, with farms destroyed, wells poisoned, buildings burned and rampant murder and abuse of the civilian population.  

November 11, 1914

One hundred years ago today British forces attacked the Mesopotamian city of Basra (in modern day Iraq). By the end of November, Basra would be secured as would the British owned oil facilities along the Persian Gulf. However Ottoman forces would continue to attack the British held positions in Mesopotamia. As the war continued British forces would take territory with each counter attack, only to be attacked from positions further and further into Mesopotamia. By the end of the war the British mission to secure coastal oil facilities would result in the occupation of much of modern day Iraq.

Also on this day the final major action of 1914 on the Eastern Front began.
 

Since the beginning of the war the front line had seesawed back and forth across the region of modern day Poland and Ukraine. Austria-Hungary had successfully repelled a Russian invasion, only to launch an invasion into Russia that would itself be repelled. Resulting in a Russian counter attack that would invade deep into Austria-Hungary. To the north Russia invaded Germany only to be defeated, resulting in a German counter invasion into Russian territory which in turn would be repulsed.

With the German and Russian front relatively unchanged from the prewar border the Russians decided on this day to launch a major offensive deeper into Austria-Hungary, where the Russian had made better progress. Midway into November each nation had its own goals on the Eastern Front. Russia launched an offensive to try to cross the Carpathian mountain range and press deeper into Austria-Hungary. Germany launched a counter-offensive toward Warsaw while the Russians were busy attacking Austria-Hungary, and Austria-Hungary strove to hold the Carpathian mountain passes and halt the Russian advance.  

Fighting raged for well over month. All three nation's armies would suffer terribly due to the weather. Much of the battle was fought with temperatures well below freezing and causalities from frostbite and exposure were common. Fight in November until the end of the year would result in hundreds of thousands of casualties all sides, but the front lines would remain more or less static. The Germans would fail to reach Warsaw and the Russians would fail to cross the Carpathian mountains. With German assistance to the north the Austro-Hungarian army successfully halted the Russian advance but would not able to counterattack to reclaim lost territory.

This battle would set a pattern that would continue for the remainder of the war in the East. Austria-Hungary would have to rely on German assistance for any amount of success, the Germans would be unable to overcome the Russian's superior numbers, and the Russians would be unable to overcome superior German's training and equipment. The end result is that all three nations would be locked in a bloody deadlock, in which a military victory for either side would seem to remain just out of grasp.

 

November 7, 1914

One hundred years ago today the after weeks of siege and hundreds of casualties, the German held port of Tsingtao (in China) fell to the Japanese army. The Japanese army took 4,700 German prisoners of war. The German prisoners of war spent the remained  of the war in Japan. The Japanese government treated the German prisoners well and over one hundred chose to remain in Japan after the war.

The victory at Tsingtao solidified Japan as a rise power in East Asia.  In the past twenty years Japan had defeated its rival China in a war and two European powers, Russia and now Germany. Until Japan's victories, a European nation had never lost a war against a non-European nation in modern history. Japan's expansion in territory and power would continue until World War II.   

November 6, 1914

One hundred years ago today the British Army landed troops in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) to secure oil facilities that were in the Ottoman Empire, but were owned by British companies. Fighting in Mesopotamia would last for the remainder of the war and be the first step in the creation of many of the modern Arab nations in the Middle East.

November 2, 1914

One hundred years ago today the Russian Empire declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

By the start of November 1914 the war was going poorly for the Center Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). Austria-Hungary’s invasion of both Serbia and Russia had failed badly and Russia had taken vast tracts of Austro-Hungarian land. Despite early German successes on both Western and Eastern Fronts, the situation was now bleak. The French and British armies had halted the German advance in France, leading to a stalemate. In the East much of the Russian armies had been smashed, but with most of the German army tied down in France and with the Austro-Hungarian army in no position to provide much support, the Germans did not have the manpower to take advantage of the Russian weakness. With the winter setting in the chances of a quick victory, or any victory, in either the West or the East was quickly evaporating. Some high officials in both the German and Austro-Hungarian military and government were discussing the possibility of entering into peace negotiations and ending the war while they were in some position to negotiate peace terms. From both the Allied and Central Powers points of view the war had hit its high watermark, and could possible end sooner than later.  

But with Russia’s declaration of war (and Great Britain and France quickly following suit) on the Ottoman Empire the whole dynamic of the war would shift. Though the Ottoman Empire’s government had been reluctant to join the war, its military had been eager and was prepared for operation the day Russia declared war.

The Central Powers desperately need Ottoman Empire as an ally, and with the Ottoman Empire the Central Powers gained several advantages. First off this ensured that the Turkish straights would remain closed to Allied ships (it had closed some weeks earlier on the grounds of remaining neutral in the conflict, now there was no risk of the Allies negotiating the straights to be reopened). This was a disaster for the Russian empire. With war on its western land border almost all of Russia’s international trade had to pass through the Turkish straights. With that closed not only would it be devastating to Russia’s economy it was a massive blow to its army as well. Russia was not as industrially developed as many of the European powers and could not manufacture much of the weapons its armies needed on the scale that the war required. In the past Russia traded its vast agricultural and raw material resources for cash, which in turn it would use buy the industrial goods and modern weapons it needed. This was cheaper then manufacturing the items domestically as the Russian Empire lacked the much of the technical expertise needed to build and maintain the necessary factories. In a few months the Russian army would be short on everything it needed. By the summer of 1915 hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers would be sent to the frontlines with no weapons, no ammunition,  and would receive rations barely able to prevent starvation. 

Secondly, the Russian army would have to move hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Eastern front, were they were badly needed, to the Caucasus (the region between the Black and the Caspian Seas), where Russia shared a border with the Ottoman Empire. This region had to be defended because it was the chief producer of oil for the Russian Empire.

Thirdly, the Ottoman Empire controlled what is today Israel and Palestine and was in a prime position to attack the British controlled Suez canal, which Great Britain needed to remain open to keep the British Isles supplied with raw materials from its colonies in Asia to keep it war economy afloat. This required the British Empire to relocate troops, needed both in colonial conflicts and the Western front, to Egypt to defend the Suez.

Lastly, the Ottoman Empire had diplomatic and intelligence connections though out the  Islamic world (being the most powerful Islamic state of its day) with Ottoman weapons, supplies, intelligence and diplomatic encouragement uprising and rebellions caused conflicts for the French, British and Russian colonial forces and allies in the Islamic world stretching from Algeria to Afghanistan. This required the Allies to move even more troop out of Europe and into the Middle East and North Africa.    

All of this culminated in a great reduction of pressure for Germany and Austria-Hungary, which gave then the confidence that they could win the war after all and gave up on finding a diplomatic solution. The war would go on and there was little chance that 1915 bringing peace.

October 29, 1914

One hundred years ago today the first shots were fired that would draw the Ottoman Empire into the war.

Though the Ottoman Empire

 had signed a secret treaty with Germany to declare war on Russia early in August, the Ottoman government had been reluctant to honor this treaty (partly on the grounds it was debatable if the treaty was legally valid as it had not been signed by the Ottoman Head of State). Despite the fact that the Ottoman military had been eager to join the war the nation had remained neutral. On October 29, 1914 the Ottoman Navy forced the Ottoman Empire's hand. When the German Navy turned over the ships the Goeben and the Breslau to the Ottoman Navy it also permitted the captains of these ships to become advisors for the Ottoman navy and Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, who commanded the Breslau was made commander of the Ottoman Navy. On October 29, 1914 two ships from the Ottoman navy, under orders from Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, attacked the Russian navy while in port in the Russian city of Odessa. The Ottoman government had not sanctioned the attack and tried to resolve the situation diplomatically. The Russian government would have none of this, and would declared war on the Ottoman Empire on November 2, 2014. This gave the factions in the Ottoman Empire that wanted war what they hoped for and it dragged the factions that were trying to avoid war into supporting the military because what choice did they have. War had come and if it had to be fought, then it had to be won.      

October 19, 1914

One hundred years ago today the First Battle of Ypres began (there were to be two more major battles at Ypres, and two smaller ones, before the end of the war). The battle is named for the nearby small Belgian city which is not far from the French border and the English Channel. The battle of Ypres was significant because it was the first major static battle on the Western Front. The battle would last for about month, result in hundreds of thousands of causalities and achieve little in the way of territorial or strategic gains.

On the onset of the battle both Germany and the Allies had specific goals that made a conflict at Ypres inevitable. The “Race to the Sea” had been completed, meaning that there were no gaps in the frontline stretching all the way from the English Channel to Switzerland. There was no going around the enemy at this point, if either side wanted to advance it would have to be through a defending army.

This brought the German Command’s attention to Ypres. The terrain in the region is relatively flat and open. If the Germans could break through the Allied lines at Ypres it would be a straight shot from west from Ypres to the coast of the English Channel. If the Germans could push their armies through from Ypres to the Channel then the Allied armies to the south would be cut off from the major port cities to the north at Calais and Dunkirk. This would make bring supplies from England very difficult. From there the German army could turn south and attack the Allies on their flank to the north, while keeping up the attacks from the east. It was the hope of the German high command that a poorly supplied and flanked Allied force would finally collapse ending the war once and for all.         

The British were also keenly aware of the importance of Ypres. Not only did they understand that the German offensive would like come through at Ypres. But, it was also understood that at Ypres the tables could be turned on the Germans. The British could take advantage of the same flat open terrain the Germans were hoping to exploit. If a British offensive could breakthrough at Ypres and push to the Belgian city of Ghent and then to the boarder of the neutral Netherlands then the British would deprive the Germans of the vital railroad hub at Ghent and retake the coastal Belgian cities of Ostend and Zeebrugge to the north. Without the rail lines leading from Ghent the German army would be hard pressed to supply its troops in Northern Belgium and with the British in control of the ports Ostend and Zeebrugge the British could shorten their supply lines as they advanced.

In short both the British and the Germans viewed Ypres as the way to end the war.

The battle was a devastating and indecisive for both sides. By November 22, 1914 winter weather would effectively end the battle as offensive operations were no longer be possible. Though nominally a German defeat, as their offensive failed, the battle was essentially a stalemate with both the German and the Allied armies more or less in the same position that they started the battle. 

By the end of First Battle of Ypres the nations at war were starting to learn that this war would be different from any the world had seen. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) bore the brunt of the German offensive and was all but destroyed. By this point in the war 160,000 professional soldiers from the British Empire had arrived in France to fight and, by November 22, 1914 over half of them were killed, captured or wounded. The BEF had comprised of half of Great Britain prewar army, meaning that one out of four members of the British army had become a casualty in less than four months of fighting. This was to have a lasting effect on the British army. After Ypres the professional and well trained British Army would be no more, for the remainder of the war the British army consisted of primarily volunteers and conscripts who lacked both training and experience.   

Germany would also be changed by the First Battle of Ypres. The battle would become known as the “Kindermord” or the “Slaughter of the Innocents.” This battle was in many ways the last real chance for Germany to win the war and many in the German High Command knew this. All resources had to be thrown into this fight. To replace the earlier losses of the war Germany held recruitment drives in trade schools and universities.  Hundreds of thousands of young men from the age of seventeen to twenty dropped out of schooling to answer the call of their nation. These young men, who had been civilians in August just three months earlier, were formed into regiments and fighting by October. Of the 134,000 German soldiers who were killed or wounded at First Ypres about 40,000 were these young volunteers, who it was reported, sang patriotic songs so not to get separated from one another in the thick fall mists as they charged into battle. The loss of so many of the young volunteers shocked the German nation, especially as these were considered the best and brightest of their generation. The first cracks in the German national moral, which would eventually become the undoing of the German Empire, would start to show with the Kindermord.   

September 28, 1914

One hundred years ago today the German army laid siege to Antwerp in Belgium. The siege would last until October 10, 1914 and would end with the Germans capturing the city. The siege of Antwerp would be the last major defense of eastern Belgium. After the fall of Antwerp the Belgium government would relocate to France for the remainder of the war.

Almost all of Belgium would fall under German occupation with the exception of a tiny patch of land at the very most western tip of Belgium. Belgian troops would continue to fight in the defense of what remained of a free Belgium on the Western Front and in Belgian territory in Africa for the remainder of the war.

September 24, 1914

One hundred years ago today the Siege of Przemysl began. Przemysl was a fortified city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, located in what is today Southeast Poland, along the border with Ukraine. When the Russian forces of 300,000 soldiers advanced to Przemysl the city was being defended by 93,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers and 45,000 local men forced into the defense of the city. Unlike the German army in Belgium, the Russian army did not have heavy artillery to smash the fortifications of Przemysl. The Russians hoped their superior numbers would be enough to overwhelm the defenders. For three days the Russians assaulted Przemysl with nothing to show for it but horrible losses. By the time the assault was called off the Russians suffered 40,000 casualties. The Russian strategy change from one of attack to a siege in the hopes of starving out the defenders of Przemysl. Conditions for the Austro-Hungarian soldiers and 18,000 civilians rapidly deteriorated and disease became rampant. The siege of city saw the first use of air mail in history, as messages, both military and civilian, were flown out of the city by airplane, balloons and even homing pigeons.  

The siege would initially end on October 11, 1914, as the Russian forces had to relocate to counter a Austro-Hungarian offensive. This respite allowed the civilian population to be evaluated. But the relieved would be short lived. The Russian army would return to lay siege to the city again on October 31, 1914  

September 14, 1914

One hundred years ago today a series of maneuvers began on the Western Front that would later be known as "The Race to the Sea." What this was, was alternating attempts by the Allied and German armies to outflank one another as they gradually moved north eventually hitting the "sea" or English channel which put a stop to mobile warfare on the Western Front for the next four years.

Also on this day the first official orders were given to French and British forces to start forming defensive positions and entrenchments. The exact day the German order was given to do the same is unclear but it was essentially around this time as well.  Neither the Allied nor the German armies were prepared for, or had trained for, defensive battle. In fact many soldiers on both sides had no digging or construction tools and actually had to scavenge local villages for shovels and pickaxes. These defensive positions would become the infamous trenches of World War One. By September 15, 1914 defensive construction began in earnest all along the Western front, even as the "Race to the Sea" crept the front ever nothward. By the end of October there were duel German and Allied defensive perimeters stretching from the Swiss boarder to the English channel, a roundabout distance of over 400 miles. Eventually both sides would turn their defensive perimeters into the nearly impenetrable  trench system in which the most of the war in the West would be fought in.   

For a video explanation of the Race to the Sea click here.

Also here are three videos explaining a little bit about what trenches were (there will be much more discussion on this in the future).

Video I

Video II (note this video ends abruptly due to camera issues)

Video III

  

 

September 13, 1914

One hundred years ago today the First Battle of the Aisne began on the Western Front. After losing the First Battle of the Marne the German army retreated about 30 miles north to the river Aisne. At this river the German army would make its stand against the advancing French and British armies. By this point in the war both the German and the Allied armies were exhausted, battered and unable, and unwilling, to engage in head on attacks. So when the German and the Allied armies began to clash again around the Aisne both sides looked for some way to gain an upper hand without directly engaging the enemy.

Over the next few days the war would change to something none of the belligerents were prepared for or expected. September 13, 1914 was the beginning of the end of World War One being fought as a nineteen century war. The era of industrial war was about to begin.   

The Battle of Tannenburg and First Battle of the Masurian Lakes

Here are four basic videos to explain the battles of Tannenburg and the Masurian lakes.  These battles were fought between Russia and Germany from late August to early September 1914. They would change the trajectory of the war and the global history of the 20th century.
 

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Note: Sorry this was not posted on time but I had some technical issues.

September 7, 1914

One hundred years ago today the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes began on the Eastern Front. The battle would end on September 14, 1914 and result in the Germans crushing the Russian invasion of Germany. The results of this battle would give the Germans the upper hand on the Eastern front for the rest of the war. I am working on a video explaining this battle in detail and will post is as soon as it is done (due to techical difficulties I was not able to complete it today).

On the other side of the world in the Pacific ocean the German East Asian Squadron began its operations against the Allied nations. The squadron consisted of six ships under the command of vice Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee. Not long after the war began the British cut all underwater communication telegraph cables to the German colonies. Before they were cut an order went to vice Admiral von Spee to impede the Allies as much as possible and left it entirely in the hands of vice Admiral von Spee as to how this was to be done. Vice Admiral von Spee described his position as such:

"I am quite homeless. I cannot reach Germany. We possess no other secure harbor. I must plough the seas of the world doing as much mischief as I can, until my ammunition is exhausted, or a foe far superior in power succeeds in catching me."

September 7, 1914 would be the first day that his "mischief" would begin. One of vice Admiral von Spee's ships, the SMS Nurnberg, flying a French flag as a deception neared the tiny British owned island of Fanning in the south Pacific. This island was a hub for an underwater telegraph cable  the known as the "Redline" that connected Great Britain to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The SMS Nurnberg disembarked sailors and by the time the British on the island realized they were German it was too late to stop them. There were no fatalities but the German sailors confiscated important documents and destroyed the communications equipment and cut the underwater cable. It would take over two weeks to repair and in this time British communications to the Pacific was severely hampered.

This would not be the least, or the last of vice Admiral von Spee's mischief.

September 6, 1914

One hundred years ago today at the Siege of Tsingtao naval history was made. Ships from the Japanese navy had been facing off against the German and Austria-Hungarian ships station at Tsingtao. On September 4, 1914 the Japanese ship the IJN Wakamiya launched a seaplane which attempted to drop bombs on German and Austro-Hungarian ships. The bombs missed but later attacks would achieve some success against sea and land targets.

This was the first time an aerial attack had been launch from a naval ship. Interest in naval aviation following the siege would lead Japan to construct the largest fleet of aircraft carries in the world, which would play a pivotal role and World War II.  

In the Balkans Austria-Hungary attempted a second major invasion of Serbia. The invasion quickly stalled when if faced counter attacks by the Serbian army. But unlike the prior invasion the Serbian army was not able to push the Austro-Hungarian army out of Serbia.

How the war was being fought was staring to change. After crossing the rivers that made the Serbian border with Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian soldiers dug trenches to provide them with a defense position to fall back to. When the Austro-Hungarian invasion was forced to retreat it retreated to these trenches. Each time the Serbians attacked the entrenched Austro-Hungarians they were defeated. The Serbians had no choice but to build trenches of their own to contain the Austro-Hungarians forces which had crossed the border (and the protective rivers it consisted of) into their country.

Trench warfare would be very hard on the Serbian army. It was chronically short on supplies and ammunition and could not easily maintain sustained fighting. Also unlike the Austro-Hungarian army which issued its soldiers waterproof boots, ideal in cold muddy trenches, the Serbian army could only issue leather shoes to is soldiers. As the armies faced off in opposing trenches, summer would turn to autumn, and autumn turn to winter. All the while the Serbian army gradually weakened. Between fighting, illness and injury the Serbian army was losing about 100 soldiers a day in the trenches.       

 

September 5, 1914

One hundred years ago today was the start of The First Battle of Marne. Until this battle the German army had advanced deep into France and was only 30 miles from Paris. At the river Marne French and British forces counter attacked the German army and forced them to retreat, halting the German advance and change the trajectory of the war.

A unique aspect of The First Battle of Marne was that was the first time in history large numbers of motor transport was used warfare. Up to this point armies walked, rode horses, or rode on trains to get where they needed to go. In World War One it was hard to get soldiers anywhere very quickly if there were not railroads going where the soldiers needed to go. The French army fighting at The First Battle of Marne desperately needed reinforcements that were stationed in Paris and there were not enough rail lines heading in the right direction to move the troops fast enough. The French army had some tucks but not enough to move large numbers of solders. 

In what would become a French legend. The French army commandeered all the taxicabs in Paris and over the course the battle 600 Parisian taxicabs would ferry 6,000 soldiers to the battle. More important than the number of troops was that the fact that it freed up room on the trains for heavy equipment and the sight of the taxis boosted the French army's morale who saw them as a sign that that civilian population stood by them. The story of the "Taxis of the Marne" would have a impact on the French psyche for the remainder of the war, as symbol of national unity. 

At sea history was also made on this day. Not far off the eastern coast of Scotland a the German submarine SM U-21 fired a single torpedo at the British scout cruiser the HMS Pathfinder. The ship was hit and sunk in only a few minutes. This was the first time in naval history a warship had been sunk by a motorized torpedo fired by a submarine. At the start of World War One submarines were considered experimental and navies across the globe were unsure if they were viable naval vessels. By the end of the war hundreds of submarines would be built by many nations, but primarily by Germany, and over 5000 ships would be sunk by submarines.           

The First Battle of the Marne

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the First Battle of the Marne, one of the most
important battles of World War One and one of the most important events of the twentieth century. Before I go into the actual events it is important to understand the scale of the battle.

Over two and half million soldiers were involved in the battle and it resulted in over 500,000 casualties. Though later battles would have higher overall casualties, the loss of life was staggering because the battle was so short. When dealing with casualty statistics it can be easy to lose sight of the scale. To illustrate the devastation of the First Battle of the Marne, imagine that you started writing down the names of all those who were killed, wounded or went missing during the battle. Now imagine that you could write down a name every two second and you worked non-stop, twenty-four hours a day, until you had written down the name of every casualty. It would take you eleven and a half days to write down all the names. The First Battle of the Marne lasted for only eight days. That means at the First Battle of the Marne soldiers were dying, being maimed or disappearing faster than you could write down their names.

This battle and its immense loss of loss of life was to change the course of the war and change the course of world history.

For this post I did something a little different. I have included two videos explaining the battle and why it was important. The first video explains the context of the war and the events leading up to the battle, and the second video explains the battle itself.

Video One: The Events leading up to The First Battle of the Marne

Video Two: Description of The First Battle of the Marne

September 4, 1914

One hundred years ago today the Battle of Grand Couronné began and would last until the 12th of September. In an effort tie down the French forces along the Franco-German border so they could not assist the French troops to the north defending Paris, the German army launched a major offensive near the French city of Nancy. The Kaiser himself would come to observe the heavy bombardment of French positions. The attack ultimate failed and in an unexpected turn of events it would be the Germans and not the French that needed assistance near Paris in the next few days and the German troops locked in this battle were unable to be relocated north where they might have had a greater impact.

After a month of fighting and the French attack into Germany, the German counterattack in the France and the German withdrawal following the Battle of Grand Couronné, the battle lines south of the city of Nancy solidified more or less along the pre-war border with neither nation making significant headway into the other. This would be a precursor for the rest of the war, because where men fought and died along the frontline running from the city of Nancy to the Swiss border on September 12, 1914 would be the exact same spot that men would continue to fight and die for the next four years.

September 3, 1914

One hundred years ago today the French government relocated from Paris to Bordeaux (about 300 miles southwest of Paris) as it expected the German army to capture the city any day now. The French and British armies were falling back to the Seine river south of Paris to make their stand.   

September 2, 1914

One hundred years ago today the the Japanese navy landed 23,000 soldiers in China near the German controlled port city of Tsingtao, in preparation to take control of the city from Germany.    

In Europe on the Eastern front the Battle of Rawa began. Austro-Hungarian armies clashed with Russian armies near Rava-Ruska in what was then Austria-Hungary, but what is today Ukraine (Rava-Ruska is in far western Ukraine very near the border with Poland). This battle would be the last in the series of battles known as the Battle of Galicia. Some of these battles had gone well for Austria-Hungary and some had gone well for Russia, but losses on both sides were very high. But the last battle Galicia, the Battle of Rawa, was a disaster for Austria-Hungary. It suffered over 120,000 casualties, the Russians casualties were relatively light at around 34,000.

What had happened was in southern Galicia the fighting was going badly for the Austro-Hungarian armies. To support the Austro-Hungarian armies in south Galicia the Austro-Hungarian command moved some its forces from the northern part of Galicia to the south. In doing so a gap opened up in the Austro-Hungarian front line. The Russian army took advantage of this and tried to cut off the Austro-Hungarian armies in the north of Galicia, which up till this moment had fared well. Austro-Hungarian forces in northern Galicia managed to escape the trap, but just barely. They had to leave much of their supplies and equipment behind and had to literally run away to keep from being surrounded and destroyed.  With the fighting in southern Galicia going poorly for Austria-Hungary and the army in northern Galicia in full flight, the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Galicia simply collapsed. By September 12, 1914 Austro-Hungarian armies in Galicia were in full retreat all along its border with Russia. The chase would only end after over 100 miles of Austro-Hungarian territory was lost to the Russians, and the only reason the advance stopped was that it reached the Carpathian mountain range which the beleaguered Austro-Hungarian could defend more easily in the high narrow mountain passes

Though the battle was technically a victory for Russia, it was in fact a serious loss for both sides. The Galicia campaign in 1914 cost Austria-Hungary approximately 324,000 casualties, Russia fared better but still suffered approximately 225,000 in casualties. All of these losses were suffered in the space of just twenty-two day. Though both nations could replace the manpower losses, much of both armies' best soldiers were lost in the open weeks of the war, along with vast stocks of supplies. Neither side would recover from the massive loss of experience soldiers.

For the remainder of the war both Austria-Hungary's and Russia's armies would perform rather poorly. Though each nation had the manpower to conscript new troops, these soldiers would have significantly less training, less experience and were less be well equipped then the soldiers they were replacing, who marched to war early in August 1914.