Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"Too late in moving here, too late in arriving there. Too late in coming to this decision, too late in starting with enterprises, too late in preparing! In this war the footsteps of the Allied forces have been dogged by the mocking specter of "too late", and unless we quicken our movements damnation will fall on the sacred cause for which so much gallant blood has flowed."
Minister of Munitions and future Prime Minister David Lloyd George speaking in the House of Commons on December 20, 1915. The Allies had suffered many disappointments in 1915. French commander Joseph Joffre's spring and autumn offensives had ended with little gain. A combined German and Austro-Hungarian offensive had driven the Russians from Polish Russia. Italy's entry into the war had done little to drive Austria-Hungary from the war. Bulgaria's casting off of neutrality had assured the swift defeat of Serbia and defeated a Franco-British attempt to come to their ally's aid. The Franco-British invasion of Gallipoli was ending in defeat with two of three positions completely evacuated the day Lloyd George spoke. British defeats in the battles of Neuve Chapelle and Loos had just led to the replacement of British commander Sir John French by General Douglas Haig.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 216, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
Lloyd George, David Lloyd George, 1915-12-20, 1915, December, House of Commons
