The World war what is termed as a war to end all wars, started with the Assasination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungarian empire in Sarejavo. Eventhought enough gunpowder was available behind, this assasination gave the spark that moth balled to the biggest war ever seen in the known history of man kind till date. The first shots of World War One occurred near a small Belgian village in August 1914. Richard van Emden recounts a little-told prologue to a war that would last for years, and ultimately cost millions of lives.

Click here to know more about the causes of World War I and Austria-Hungary's reaction to the assasination of their Arch Duke.

     The war began as a chain of events that revolved around several alliances made between countries. These pre-war alliances called for the defense of various countries under attack, and all of the major players in the war had made these alliances. These alliances combined with tensions between militarily active countries set the world up for a major war. The chain of events that led up to the war began on June 28nd 1914, when a Serbian student named Gavrilo Princep, who was part of the militant group called the "Black Hand", assassinated Austrian archduke Frances Ferdinand and his wife. The assassination was a result of the nationalism caused by the molding of the Yugoslavian provinces into a single state. The Serbian government was implicated as being involved in the plot and naturally the Austrians grew angry with them. Austria declared that they would go to war against Yugoslavia, but they were hesitant to do so because Yugoslavia held a defensive treaty with Russia. Germany had made a defensive treaty with Austria, so they promised that if Austria went ahead and made a move against Yugoslavia, Germany would defend them from Russia. Germany then told Austria to begin the war, and if it evolved into a larger conflict, Germany would support them. Germany had a variety of reasons for being willing to be involved in this war. One of these reasons was that the assassination was an example of the Hapsburg�s loss of control and if Austria were to decline to Germany's offer, Germany would be completely surrounded by enemies.1 The German government also knew that Russia would lose a major base in Europe if they were to lose Yugoslavia. An annexation of Yugoslavia would also leave Greece and Bulgaria open to attack. Germany believed that Russia would back down like they had in 1908, when Austria had annexed parts of Serbia. The only difference from the earlier conflict was that in 1908 Russia was also suffering from a revolution, but by 1914 Russia had not only stopped the revolution, but they also had recovered enough to fight against Germany or Austria. Aside from that though, Germany had recently made an alliance with Turkey, and that made them confident that they could defeat any European country. Another benefit that Germany had was that England would not enter the war if Russia were the aggressor. Little did Germany know that the general consensus around Europe was that even if Serbia had been involved in the assassination it was not grounds to conquer it.

    Germany had been developing plans for invasions into every European country since the time of Bismarck. One of these plans was called the Schlieffen Plan. The plan basically called for quick, encircling movements that would surround and destroy the enemy. This plan was used for the invasion of France and also for individual conflicts like the Battle of Tannenburg. One of the key points of this plan was that it was absolutely necessary to put all possible force behind the invasion of France and not to hold any soldiers back in reserve. It was Germany's hope to end this war quickly by attacking France immediately and overrunning it before Russia had a chance to mobilize. The violation of this plan was what many consider to have caused the Germans to lose the war. This could easily be compared to Pericles and the Peloponnesan war. He warned the Athenians that the only way they could win the war was if they did not try to expand and colonize. In this example too, they broke the condition and therefore lost the war. Anyway, the plan involved attacking Belgium and then proceeding south into France. Unfortunately for Germany, the Belgians didn't simply step aside for the Germans; they fought back, making it much harder for Germany to carry out the Schlieffen Plan. Aside from these war plans, Germany also tried to stop countries from getting involved in the war by starting revolutions in them. As we shall see, it worked in Russia but all attempts to start a revolt in Ireland failed.

    The Germans, in order to prevent England from entering the war, tried to make it appear as if Russia had really started the war. They announced that any conflict between Austria and Serbia was a local conflict in which outside powers should not interfere. Of course, the other European states saw right through this ruse and prepared themselves for a war that would involve all of the great powers.

    On July 13th, 1914, the Austrians made an ultimatum saying that they would require all Serbs to leave Albania. The Serbians were not willing to agree to any demand that would hurt their government, and they immediately mobilized for war. On July 28th, three days after Yugoslavia refused to yield to their demands, the Austrians officially declared war. The conflict was begun with the intentions of capturing a small part of Serbian territory and then bargaining that land for compliance with their demands. On July 29th and 30th, Russia began its mobilization with the intent to protect Yugoslavia from Austria. Germany's only stop from entering the war was England. Their main energies were put into trying to keep England out of the war. England, as a result of the outbreak of war, tried to begin peace talks but none of the involved parties complied. Soon after this attempt at peace, the German government decided that England was not going to remain neutral, but they decided to engage in the war anyway. This was another reason the Schlieffen Plan would fail; Britain's entry into the war was not expected, at least not so quickly.

    On July 30th, Moltke, Germany's military leader, announced a "state of imminent war danger." The next day Russia completed its mobilization, but they still maintained that they would not attack if peace talks were to begin. Germany then replied that Russia must demobilize within the next twelve hours. This short deadline shows that Germany was really itching for a war and did not expect Russia to comply in any way. Russia naturally declined to demobilize and Germany used this as an excuse to declare war. On July 31st William II ordered Germany to fully mobilize its armies. Moltke decided that a war would have to be fought and won on the western front before they could defeat Russia. If the Schlieffen Plan worked, he could concentrate all of his army on the Eastern Front. He went on to demand that Belgium allow him to cross through their country and on into France unopposed. As we shall see later, this refusal to comply was a key factor in the defeat of Germany.  

    By 1917 and 1918 the German people had begun to lose faith in the war. The government was torn between what the people wanted, a "status quo" peace, and what Hindenburg wanted, a "fruits of victory" peace. On November 7-8, 1917, a German encouraged revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, began in Russia. After much conflict, the Communist leader Lenin was appointed their new leader. He wanted peace with Germany because of the instability of his position in the Russian government.

    On December 20, 1917 the central leaders and Russia met to make a peace treaty. The talks lead to nothing and Germany began its attacks on the Balkan states. Peace talks again resumed with Russia and by 1918 Germany had concluded a peace treaty with the Ukraine. By March 3rd, a treaty was made with Russia. Germany quickly ignored previous treaties and marched straight into the Ukraine, taking Kiev on March 1. From there they proceeded directly into Russia, despite recent treaties. The attack was so effective that the Germans had reached the Caspian Sea by September 1918. On August 27, 1918, the German government decided that they had enough land, and they signed another peace treaty with Russia. At this point, Russia had pretty much surrendered to the Germans. At that point, Germany also made an alliance with Finland and deposited 150,000 soldiers in their country- soldiers that could have been used in the actual war.  

    By the summer of 1918 the Germans had concluded most of their business in the east, so half of the eastern army was sent to aid the west. By March there were 190 German divisions in the west opposed to 170 Allied. Ludendorff decided to attack the point where the English and French lines met, hoping to separate the two armies and force the English to withdraw across the sea.     On March 21, 71 German divisions prepared to attack the 26 British divisions. The British were overwhelmed and the French were pressed back. In the ensuing battle from March 21-April 5 Germany advanced 35 miles into the line, causing the British to lose 163,000 soldiers and the French to lose 77,000. The Germans tried to follow up on this success by launching an attack on April 9. This attack met with minimal success was basically considered a failure. Ludendorff then decided to launch a new offensive, this time concentrated on the French lines, in the hopes that the Germans could cut off reinforcements to the British. When the British were in a position where they were unable to secure reinforcements, the Germans would attack the them.     The offensive began on May 27th and the Germans were able to force back the French line. By June 3rd the Germans had reached a point five miles from Paris, but the Allies rallied and managed to stop the German advance. Ludendorff began to plan yet another offensive. In June of 1918 the first American soldiers fought the Germans. The Germans began their new offensive on July 15th with 51 divisions, this time against the combined forces of the British, the French, and the Americans. The German army was met with strong resistance and many losses.     Three days later, the French began a counter-offensive lead by 600 tanks. The move by the French took the Germans by surprise and the Allies began to slowly push the Germans out of Marne. The German army suffered 30,000 casualties and lost 800 artillery pieces. The Allies pressed their advantage, and on August 8, 1918, they began a huge offensive that completely broke the German's strength.

    This was the major turning point in the war, as the Germans not only lost their momentum but also began to lose more and more ground. The offensive was renewed against the German lines and the whole German army began to be pushed back. By September, the Germans had lost 1,000,000 soldiers, reducing their army from 3.5 million to 2.5 million. The previously superior German army was now down 191 divisions to the 400-500 of the Allies. The American involvement in the war rose from 200,000 in March to 2,086,000 at the end of the war.     During the days of September 14-30, Allied troops caused the entire Bulgarian front to collapse. At the same time, the Austrians were also negotiating their own peace treaty with the Allies. Meanwhile, a combined French, British, Greek and Serbian army liberated the Balkans, and by November 10 they had moved into Rumania.

    The defeat of Germany took a toll on the people. There were abject proverty allover the country. The economy was in turmoil and the number of jobless increased many fold. These entire events fuelled the rise of Nazi party(National Socialist Party) to rise with Adolph Hitler as its sole leader and then to the dictator of Germany.

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