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.