A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
Map of the North and Baltic Seas (labeledNord-See and Ostsee) from a folding postcard of five battlefronts: the Western and Eastern Fronts; North and Baltic Seas, Mediterranean and Black Seas; and the Serbian-Montenegro Front.
Image text: Karten sämtl. KriegsschauplätzeÖsterreichisch-serbisch-montenegrinisher Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch - österreichisch - russischer Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch - belgisch - französ. Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch-englisch-russisch. Seekriegsschauplatz.Österreichisch - französisch-englischer Seekriegsschauplatz.Preis 20 HellerBei Änderungen der Kriegsschauplätze erscheint Nachtrag. Nachdruck verboten.Verlag Schöler, Wien-DöblingMaps all of theaters of warAustrian-Serbian-Montenegrin theater of war.German - Austrian - Russian theater of war.German - Belgian - French theater of war.English-German Russian - Sea theater of war.Austro - French-English - Sea theater of war.Price 20 HellerFor changes in the battle fronts, an addendum is shown. Reprinting prohibited.Publisher Schöler, Vienna-Döbling
The Royal Palace in Bucharest, Romania. A postcard altered to show the German flag flying over the palace.
Image text: Bucuresti. Palatul Regal, Königliches SchlossBucharest. Royal Palace
Town clock and Harbor, Halifax, Nova Scotia look to the east.
Image text: Town clock and Harbor, Halifax, Nova Scotia look to the east.Text:Town Clock and Harbor, Halifax, N.S.Reverse:This view is of special interest on account of the Historic Old Town Clock, erected many years ago by the Imperial Government.
"Disappointed in Falkenhayn, [German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg] on 6 December [1914] turned to the duumvirate of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. He found exactly what he was seeking: reassurances that the war was not lost, provided that the Army was given more men and supplies. Bethmann Hollweg, who knew nothing of military affairs, was impressed by Hindenburg's and Ludendorff's grasp of military detail. The two eastern leaders, for their part, saw the Chancellor as a welcome ally in their fight against the 'Westerner', Falkenhayn. Ludendorff equated Falkenhayn's call for an end to the war with 'treason'." ((1), more)
"The final Russian mining operations for the year produced mixed results. On the early morning of 6 December [1915], five cruisers, covered by the Petropavlovsk and Gangut, laid a minefield halfway between Hela and the southern tip of Gotland. The Russian success at radio interception enabled them to avoid a German minelaying expedition at work off Lyserort the same night. However, only the small cruiser Lübeck was damaged by the Russian field on 13 January. The far less ambitious operation in which three destroyers laid mines between Windau and Lyserort on the night of 15 December was more productive. The next morning the German cruiser Bremen and destroyer V.191 were sunk in the field, which also claimed on the 23d the destroyer S.177 and auxiliary patrol boat Freya." ((2), more)
"Before retreating, [the Romanians] destroyed the famous oil wells at Ploechti, and the wheat fields as well. In this ill-fated campaign of 100 days the Roumanians lost 200,000 men.Meanwhile, on December 6th, the civilian population had evacuated the capital, Bucharest, wishing to save their chief city from bombardment by Mackensen's heavy howitzers. The garrison had withdrawn to unite with the main army on the Sereth line.Mackensen's campaign had been wonderfully successful. Within four months after the declaration of war he had destroyed the Roumanian Army and conquered the provinces of Dobrudja and Wallachia. Early in January, 1917, the campaign in Roumania was renewed." ((3), more)
"At sea, the convoy system had begun to serve the Allied powers well. November's shipping losses were the lowest of the year, with 126 ships being sunk, fifty-six of them British. From the United States, four American battleships joined the British Grand Fleet that December. A massive 'shipbuilding crusade' was under way in the United States, to provide the merchant shipping needed for the war in 1918. There was a disaster for the Allies on December 6, many thousands of miles from the war zones: in the Canadian harbour of Halifax, a French merchant ship, the Mont Blanc, loaded with munitions for Europe, collided with a Belgian vessel and blew up. More than 1,600 people were killed and 9,000 injured: one in five of the city's population." ((4), more)
(1) The German plan to avoid a two-front war — quickly defeat France, before defeating a ponderous Russia — had failed. After defeat in the Battle of the Marne, the end of the Race to the Sea, and defeat in the Battle of Flanders (the Battles of the Yser and of Ypres), German commander Erich von Falkenhayn argued to German Kaiser Wilhelm and Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg that Germany could not defeat the combined might of Great Britain, France, and Russia, and should negotiate a separate peace with Russia. Commanding Germany's Eastern Front armies, but subordinate to Falkenhayn, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff argued that, given more men, more supplies, they could defeat Russia.
The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, page 118, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997
(2) In 1915 the Russian fleet more than held its own against the German in the Baltic Sea, securing its coast with mines.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 205, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(3) Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916 invading Transylvania, Austria-Hungary. German and Austro-Hungarian forces drove the invaders back into Romania, while a combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish army under German General August von Mackensen pushed the Romanians from southern Dobruja, a coast region between the Danube River and the Black Sea. Mackensen's army crossed the Danube from Bulgaria into Romania within striking distance of the Romanian capital of Bucharest. With the seizure of Dubroja and most of Wallachia, the remnants of the Romanian army were pushed back to Moldavia where the Russians held the Allied line. British Lieutenant Colonel John Norton-Griffiths was responsible for much the destruction of the Romanian resources, sometimes acting over local objections.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 258, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(4) In Over Here 1914–1918, Mark Sullivan describes the 'Belgian vessel' as a Belgian relief ship, and reports that two square miles of Halifax were destroyed. A train of provisions, supplies, and relief personnel left Boston, Massachusetts the night of the explosion. Delayed by a blizzard, it arrived in Halifax on the 8th. The success of the convoy system thwarted the primary aim of the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare: to drive Britain out of the war before the United States could build up adequate forces in Europe to prevent the defeat of France.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 387, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
