The First World War & After

The catalyst for the Great War, which broke out in the summer of 1914 was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire in Sarajevo, by the Black Hand. When Austria-Hungary demanded Serbia hand over members of The Black Hand, a group of Serbian nationalists, the King Peter of Serbia refused and appealed to Russia for support. However the origins of the First World War are found in the 19th century due to the alliances which emerged in response to Germany and Italy's development into nation states. Two power blocks formed, the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary, known as the Central Powers, and the Triple Entente between France, Britain and Russia, known as the Allies.

When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany declared war on Russia and France. Germany followed the Schlieffen Plan, which stated that as it would take time for Britain and Russia to mobilise Germany should invade France quickly through the Low Countries and defeat France before having to fight Britain or Russia. Britain declared war on Germany August 4th 1914, the day that Germany invaded Belgium. In practice both Britain and Russia mobilised far quicker than Germany expected and facing the British Expeditionary Force in Flanders at the Battles of Mons and Marne, the German army chose to dig themselves in, rather than retreat and trench warfare was born. On the 19th October Turkey joined a naval offensive against Russia and revealed that the Ottoman empire was also a secret member of the Central Powers. Due to the large number of colonies, the war was fought on many fronts and was truly the first world war. For example Britain's army included troops from Canada, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Rhodesia and Australia.

Other countries were more reluctant to go to war. Although part of the Triple Alliance, Italian public opinion was so against entering the war that initially Italy remained neutral. However fearing an attack by its former allies Italy secretly negotiated with Britain and declared war on Austria-Hungary in 1915 in return for financial aid and territorial expansion after the war. In Greece public opinion was again anti-German, but King Constantine was pro-German. The Prime Minister resigned when the King refused to aid the Allies, but was re-elected with a landslide victory in 1915 and immediately mobilised the Greek army. However after inviting the Allies to use Greece as a landing base the King dismissed him. So he went to Crete, formed a revolutionary government and raised an army to march on Athens. In 1917 King Constantine was deposed and Greece declared war on the Central Powers.

Portugal declared their support for the Allies and in 1916 ordered their navy to seize German ships, provoking Germany to declare war, but most of the fighting took place on the border between Mozambique and German East Africa. The United States entered the war finally in April 1917. While opinion was against Germany, President Wilson was reluctant to embark on a European war that was costing so many lives. However the sinking of the Lusitania, a civilian ship which broke international agreements, by German U-boats in May 1915 with the loss of 128 American lives turned public opinion to the pro-war lobby. However it was strengthened by the announcement of a new submarine offensive by Germany and the Zimmerman telegram, intercepted by Britain, which proposed a treaty between Germany and Mexico that finally pushed the US into war. However they did not declare war on Austria-Hungary until December 1917.

The Allies also included Romania, Montenegro, Belgium, Serbia and Poland.

Trench Warfare

Trench warfare was unpleasant to say the least. The Germans had built their trenches on the high ground so the Allies had to take the low, and frequently waterlogged, ground. Although the British Expeditionary Force had been founded in 1909 as a force prepared to enter any foreign war and this was boosted by around 3 million volunteers, by 1916 it was realised that there would need a lot more new men, particularly as stories of life in the trenches were reaching home, and conscription was introduced for all men aged 18-45. Initially only unmarried men were drafted, but by 1918 married men as old as 50 were being conscripted.

Life in the trenches held many hazards, aside from snipers or going over the top. These included trench foot, lice, poison gas and shell shock. However most men did not spend long in the trenches. An example is my grandfather, who ran away from school 3 times when he was 17 to join up. As he had an education he was commissioned as an officer. He received his commission on 12th March 1917, by the 17th he was at the front and on the 22nd he was captured and marched down to Southern Germany, where he was held prisoner until liberated by the Americans in 1918.

He kept a diary and the day he was captured contains hourly entries, ending with: 4pm ran out of ammunition so surrendered. He was the only man alive by the time he was captured.

Trench warfare was bloody and usually consisted of battles lasting several weeks or months, with only a few kilometres gained by either side. The need for constant action in the Western front was partly due to pressure from France to take the heat off them, further south. Typically there would be several days of shelling prior to an offensive to weaken the enemy and break through the wire and guns in front of their trenches, which would be followed by a human offensive early in the morning. This was the case with the Battle of the Somme, however the shells had not cut the wire and Britain suffered 58 000 casualties on the first day.

The Flu Pandemic

In Spring 1918, another threat hit the world in the shape of the Spanish Flu. Soldiers in the trenches, weakened by weeks of malnourishment and the wounded were among the first victims, but soon the virus had spread. In May 1918 the first cases were reported in Glasgow and killed over 228 000 people in the next few months (the highest mortality rate since the cholera epidemic of 1849). In the US 450 000 people had died by December 1918.

It is estimated that globally 70 million people died of the flu and more people died in India, the worst hit country with c16 million deaths, from the flu than the entire number of people killed in the fighting during the war. However other diseases were also rife among the soldiers, one of my great uncles died on bubonic plague in Malta on his way home.

The War by Air

In 1914 the UK had only 110 airplanes, but 1918 the RAF had been formed. The war is characterised by ace pilots, celebrated for their number of victories. In Germany the Red Baron, von Richthoffen held the record. In Britain it was Mick Mannock. Notably in Britain the pilots were not allowed to wear parachutes, although almost all other countries issued them. This was in spite of a new design built by Calthrop before the war and tested at Farnborough.

The reason given was "It is the opinion of the board that the presence of such an apparatus might impair the fighting spirit of pilots and cause them to abandon [the more valuable] machines which might otherwise be capable of returning to base for repair." In response to this Mick Madden always took a revolver with him in case his plane caught fire and then he could finish himself off, rather than burn. When Mannock was finally hit, from ground fire returning home over the trenches his body was found some 250 yards from his plane, it appears he jumped.

The Impact of The War

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by a conference of 32 world leaders, representing 75% of the world's population. However negotiations were dominated by the five countries who defeated the Central Powers: France, Britain, US, Japan and Italy. The Versailles Treaty saw the creation of the League of Nations, an international alliance designed to prevent any such tragedy ever happening again. The terms for the Central Powers were harsh, particularly for Germany, who was forced to accept guilt for starting the war and provision was made for the trial of the former Kaiser. While Germany only signed the treaty under protest and the US congress refused to ratify it, many people in Britain were angry that the Kaiser was never tried.

The Great War changed the world geography. The Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman empires were broken up, with many Eastern European states gaining temporary independence, and the Arab states being divided among the victors. The Kaiser of Germany abdicated, the Greek King Constantine abdicated and the Russian royal family were first deposed, then executed. The majority of industrial land in northern France and Germany was destroyed after years of shelling. Tanks and airpower became the new staples of war and European cities were attacked from the air for the first time.

For further information look at Encyclopaedia of the First World War. A web site designed for schools with lots of details such as life in the trenches, the air war and the VADs.

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by Kirsten