August 28, 1914

One hundred years ago today the first major naval battle of the war occurred, the Battle of Heigoland Bight. Up to this point there had been many small naval engagements in oceans all over the globe. The British navy had penned in most of the German navy in its home waters early in the war. The German Navy was trapped in its harbors in northern Germany, not powerful enough to face the British navy concentrated in confines of the North Sea. The British navy was not powerful enough attack the German Navy close to shore where it would have support from submarines, mines, costal artillery and short ranged coastal ships. So the two navies were locked in a standoff.

On August 28, 1914 the British navy attempted to ambush a German patrol off the German coast. The goal was to take on the German navy in small pieces as it left the safety of its harbors. Giving Great Britain a naval victory and boost sagging moral after a string of defeats in France and Belgium. of the British army   

The battle began around 7:00am, by 3:00pm the battle was over. It was a major victory for the British, who suffered less than one hundred causality and only one ship suffered significant damage. The German navy lost six ship (three midsized, and three smaller ships) and six more ships were badly damaged, over 1,000 German sailors were killed, wounded or captured.    

Historically speaking the battle was not very large. But it had a huge impact on the war. In the early 20th century navies were the pride of nations, and any nation that wanted to be taken seriously on the international stage needed a large modern navy, which both Great Britain and Germany had. But the German navy was untested and fairly recently constructed. The German Kaiser, the Emperor of Germany, was so fearful of losing these ships, that were such a source of pride to the German people and the Kaiser, that he ordered that German navy remain in its harbors after the battle as to not risk further losses. This fear was not entirely unjustified, as the British Navy had shown itself to be a great threat and it was possible the war would be won on land in a few weeks. So it made sense not to risked expensive warships if there was not need.

But the withdraw of the German navy meant that Great Britain had essentially neutralized the German navy as threat, and with one small battle assured itself control of European waters. The Kaiser's ordered frustrated the German Naval command, which would turn to other methods to threaten Great Britain at sea and in the processes changed naval warfare forever. The era of submarine warfare was about to begin.  

On land on this day Austria-Hungary declared war on Belgium.