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.

  

September 1, 1914

One hundred years ago today the German army continued its advance into France. It was now only 35 miles from Paris.

In Russia as a reaction to anti-German sentiment, the Russian Empire changed the name of the city of St. Petersburg (or Sankt Petersburg) , which was the capital of the Empire and its most populous and economically important city, to Petrograd. The was done because both Sankt and Petersburg are German words. Petrograd is Russian for "Peter's City."