World War I Today

Map showing the territorial gains (darker shades) of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, primarily at the expense of Turkey, agreed in the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War. Despite its gains, Bulgaria also lost territory to both Romania and Turkey.

Image text: The Balkan States According to the Treaty of Bucharest; Acquisitions of New Territory shown by darker shades

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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 Krieg

The European War

Reverse:

Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, Basel

Kunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel

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Flags of the World War, 1914. The Central Powers — Germany (with its national and battle flags) and Austria-Hungary — are above the Entente Allies — Russia and England (both naval rather than national flags), France, Belgium, Japan, Serbia, and Montenegro. Neutral nations are at the bottom. Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers in October 1914, and Bulgaria in October 1915. Rumania joined the Allies in August 1916. Greece had a more reluctant relationship with the Allies who occupied Salonika in 1915. Greece did not formally join the Allies until 1917.

Image text: Flaggenkarte zum Weltkrieg 1914.

Deutschland, Österreich, Deutsche Kriegsflagge, Ungarn, Russland, England, Frankreich, Belgien, Japan, Griechenland, Serbien, Montenegro, Bulgarien, Türkei, Rumänien

Flag Card of the World War 1914

Germany, Austria, German battle flag, Hungary, Russia, England, France, Belgium, Japan, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania

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Detail of a German postcard map of the Western Front, showing the northwestern end of the line and the Channel coast. German forces occupied Ostend, Belgian and Allied forces Nieuport. The Belgian Government was based in Furnes (Veurne).

Image text: Westl. Kriegsschauplatzes

3. Dover-Calais-Paris

Festungen, Forts, Eisenbahn

Western Front

3. Dover-Calais-Paris

Fortresses, Forts, Railroads

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Memorial statue to Prime Minister David Lloyd George in Parliament Square, London, United Kingdom.

Image text:

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Friday, July 10, 1914

"Tschirschky: . . . he was still considering what demands could be put that would be wholly impossible for the Serbs to accept.

Kaiser Wilhelm: Evacuate the Sanjac! Then the row would be on at once! Austria must absolutely get that back at once, in order to prevent the union of Serbia and Montenegro and the gaining of the seacoast by the Serbians!" ((1), more)

Saturday, July 10, 1915

"On Friday I again took down a German wounded — this time a German of the Kaiser's or Crown Prince's Bodyguard (the German Crown Prince is against us here). He was dying. . . . I asked in German if he wanted anything. He just looked at me and then chokingly murmured, 'Catholic.' I asked a soldier to fetch the priest and then two brancardiers (stretcher-bearers) and the doctor — the priest and I knelt down as he was given extreme unction. That is a little picture I shall never forget — all race hatred was forgotten. Romanist and Anglican, we were in that hour just all Catholics and a French priest was officiating for a dying German . . ." ((2), more)

Monday, July 10, 1916

"We have brought a most valuable cargo of dyestuffs to our American friends, dyestuffs which have been so much needed for months in America and which the ruler of the seas has not allowed the great American Republic to import. While England will not allow anybody the same right on the ocean because she rules the waves, we have, by means of the submarine, commenced to break this rule.

Great Britain cannot hinder boats such as ours to go and come as we please. . . .

Our boats will carry across the Atlantic the mails and save them from British interruption. We trust that the old friendly relationship with the United States, going back to the days of Washington, when it was Prussia who was the first to help America in its fight for freedom from British rule, will awake afresh in your beautiful and powerful country." ((3), more)

Tuesday, July 10, 1917

"The Germans on July 10th violently bombarded the British lines north of Nieuport, on the Belgian coast, leveling all the British defenses in the dune sector, destroying the bridges over the Yser River and capturing a mile of trenches. The British losses were 3,000 in killed and captured. During this engagement the superiority of the German air forces was apparent. The British airmen retaliated the next day by dropping several tons of bombs on five towns in Flanders occupied by the Germans, setting fire to German ammunition dumps." ((4), more)

Wednesday, July 10, 1918

". . . the real moment to make peace will be reached as soon as the totality of American reinforcements will have landed in Europe. The enemy will then be really anxious. You must make peace when he fears you most, and very often he fears you more before an offensive campaign than after it.

Mr. Balfour found that this was a new way of envisaging the end of the war. In common with Mr. Lloyd George, he did not believe a military victory impossible on account of the weariness of Austria and Turkey . . ." ((5), more)

Quotation contexts and source information

Friday, July 10, 1914

(1) Excerpt from a telegram from the German Ambassador in Austria-Hungary Tschirschky to German Secretary of State Jagow on July 10, 1914 with annotations by Kaiser Wilhelm.

Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Berchtold met with his Emperor Franz Joseph on July 9 to discuss the approach to take with Serbia, that is, whether to initiate military action immediately, or after delivering an ultimatum with conditions that Serbia would never accept. Berchtold reported the conversation to Tschirschky the following day. Berchtold had said he would be glad to know what Berlin thought. Tschirschky reported the conversation to Jagow.

The Sanjac (or Sanjak) of Novi Pazar had been an Ottoman administrative area until seized by Serbia and Montenegro from Turkey in the First Balkan War in 1912. Previously lying between the two countries, it gave the two victors a common border. Union with Montenegro would give Serbia access to the Adriatic coast.

Saturday, July 10, 1915

(2) Excerpt from a letter written July 11, 1915, by Leslie Buswell recounting events of the previous week, including this of a German soldier with holes in both lungs dying on Friday, July 9. Earlier in the week, on July 6, Buswell had been impressed that the French had sent a more-seriously wounded German in his truck rather than less-seriously wounded French soldiers. A German attack on Sunday, July 4, recaptured in a day French territory the French had spent the previous six months regaining. The French retook their lost ground on July 5, 6, and 7. Buswell, a driver with the American Ambulance Field Service, volunteers attached to the French Armies, was stationed at Pont-à-Mousson, France, north of Nancy. Each unit consisted of 20 to 30 ambulances capable of carrying three wounded lying down, and three seated. The Ford trucks could deliver men to a doctor in under an hour, greatly increasing their chances of survival.

Monday, July 10, 1916

(3) Evading the English blockade, the German merchant submarine Deutschland surfaced in Chesapeake Bay on July 9, 1916, docked at Norfolk, Virginia, and sailed to Baltimore, Maryland the next day. The large submarine was capable of transporting goods such as rubber, nickel, and materials for explosives that Germany desperately needed. The governments of the Entente Allies jointly protested that the Deutschland was a warship rather than a merchant, and should be interned until the end of the war. The United States disagreed, and the submarine returned to Germany, arriving in Bremen on August 23. Deutschland made a second journey, reaching Long Island Sound and New London, Connecticut on November 1. After returning to Germany a second time, she failed to sail again. Her younger sister ship Bremen left for the United States, but never arrived. By April, 1917 the United States and Germany were at war, leaving few destinations for a merchant submarine.

Tuesday, July 10, 1917

(4) After the French army mutinies that peaked in May and June, 1917, French Commander in Chief Henri Philippe Pétain launched limited offensives, and asked for a British offensive while his army recovered. British commander Douglas Haig settled on an offensive in Flanders, where his preparations on the flat terrain were visible to his enemy.

Wednesday, July 10, 1918

(5) Excerpt from the War Diaries of Albert, King of the Belgians on his July 10, 1918 meeting with the British War Committee in London, a group that included Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. The Committee wanted victory, expecting it in 1919. The King cannot have endeared himself to them when he declared, 'Those who refuse to show a certain good will towards avoiding a fifth year of war would bear a heavy responsibility in the annals of history. It would be criminal to attempt nothing to avoid the further bloodshed which would result.'