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 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
Allied soldiers fortifying shell craters after an advance. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot, 1918 Edition.
Image text: A startling new situation confronted the Allies in their recent advance against the Germans. They are fortifying in a concealed way chains of shell craters due to intensive artillery firing of months.
Alexander Kerensky, leader of Russia's Cadet party and a member of the Provisional government in 1917 as Minister of Justice, War, and Prime Minister. From 'The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings Compiled from the Mid-Week Pictorial Published by the New York Times Co. New York City N.Y.' © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company 1914 - 1919
Image text: Alexander Kerensky, who was head of the Russian Government when the Russian front collapsed.
Headstone of an unknown British soldier among those of French soldiers at the National Cemetery, Craonnelle, France. © 2014 by John M. Shea
Image text: A Soldier of the Great War
"The new Commander-in-Chief of the German forces in the East [Paul von Hindenburg] resolved at the beginning of November to take advantage of this change in the situation to make a surprise flanking movement with the assistance of the efficient German railways . . . He, therefore, arranged for the transference of considerable portions of the 8th Army from Lithuania and for the transport of the mass of the 9th Army, which was retreating from the Vistula above Warsaw, into the area of Thorn and Gnesen. . . .During these happenings in the East until November 12, on which day the offensive of the 9th Army, under the leadership of General von Mackensen, began from Thorn and Gnesen, the offensive which was begun in Flanders in the middle of October, and is popularly styled the Ypres Battle, was carried out." ((1), more)
"Friday, November 12, 1915Under the double pressure of the Austro-Germans on the north, and the Bulgarians on the east, the unfortunate Serbians have been crushed, despite a heroic resistance.On November 7, the town of Nish, Serbia's ancient metropolis and the birthplace of Constantine the Great, fell into the hands of the Bulgarians. Between Kralievo and Krujevatz, the Austro-Germans have crossed the Western Morava, capturing masses of booty at every step.Yesterday the Anglo-French advance guard established contact with the Bulgarians in the Vardar valley, near Karasu. But the intervention of the Allies in Macedonia has come to late. Before long there will be no more Serbia!" ((2), more)
"On 12 November [1916], hoping for better luck, I undertook my second mission, which was to test the communications between units in our crater positions. A chain of relays concealed in foxholes led me to my destination.The term 'crater positions' was accurate. On a ridge outside the village of Rancourt, there were numerous craters scattered, some occupied by a few soldiers here and there. The dark plain, criss-crossed by shells, was barren and intimidating. . . .By the time I emerged from the woods, it was day. The cratered field stretched out ahead of me, apparently endlessly, with no sign of life. I paused, because unoccupied terrain is always a sinister thing in a war." ((3), more)
"By the morning of the twenty-ninth we should have been in Petrograd, but we had only gotten as far as Tsarskoye Selo. That same day an anti-Bolshevik revolt broke out in the capital. At four in the afternoon I was called to the telephone. It was the Mikhailsky Castle calling from the very center of the city, where the headquarters of the government supporters were located. They begged me to send help, but we were unable to give it.The final act in the tragedy of the Provisional Government's struggle for the freedom and honor of Russia was played out on October 30, near Pulkovo, the site of the famous observatory. Against us were arrayed 12,000 men variously armed. The so-called Pulkovo Heights were occupied by Kronstadt sailors. We had 700 Cossacks, one armored train, the first infantry regiment to reach us from the front, and a few field guns." ((4), more)
"Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers of the Allied Armies:After resolutely repulsing the enemy for months, you confidently attacked him with untiring energy.You have won the greatest battle in history and rescued the most sacred of all causes, the Liberty of the World.You have full right to be proud, for you have crowned your standards with immortal glory and won the gratitude of posterity.F. FochMarshal of FranceCommander in Chief of the Allied Armies." ((5), more)
(1) Summary by General Erich von Falkenhayn Chief of the German General Staff of events on the Eastern and Western fronts in early November 1914. In the East, a German-Austro-Hungarian advance in September and October, almost to the gates of Warsaw, was reversed by the Russians. Von Hindenburg's plan required Falkanhayn to send available men and supplies to the Eastern Front, weakening the German position in the Battles of Yser and Ypres, the major engagements in the Battle of Flanders on the Western Front.
General Headquarters and its Critical Decisions, 1914-1916 by Erich von Falkenhayn, pp. 33, 34, copyright © 1920 by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publication date: 1920
(2) Entry for November 12, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. The Allied (primarily French) troops under General Maurice Sarrail that had landed at Salonika, Greece at the beginning of October, 1915 were not able to break through the Bulgarian forces barring their route to Serbia. The Serbian army's only route of retreat was westward, out of the country through Albania.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 103, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(3) German Ensign Ernst Jünger was wounded by shrapnel in September, 1916. During the month he was either in hospital or recuperating, his unit was wiped out in fighting at Guillemont in the Battle of the Somme. After his return in November, he was stationed by the woods of St-Pierre-Vaast, ten kilometers north of Péronne and the Somme River. In 'hoping for better luck' Jünger refers to the night (a few before) he stumbled into the woods and a British phosgene gas attack. The night of November 12, immediately after our extract, he was hit by a sniper's bullet that went through one calf and grazed the other, and spent another two weeks recuperating.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 114–115, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(4) Alexander Kerensky was head of the Provisional Government that the Bolshevik Revolution overthrew. He managed to escape Petrograd, and spent the following days trying to rally troops to retake the capital. As he writes in his memoir, Russia and History's Turning Point, he gathered half-hearted support that was defeated. Tsarskoye Selo was the summer palace of the deposed Tsar. His dates, October 29 and 30 are November 11 and 12, New Style. Kronstadt was an island naval base in the gulf west of Petrograd, and strongly supported the revolution.
Russia and History's Turning Point by Alexander Kerensky, page 443, copyright © 1965 by Alexander Kerensky, publisher: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, publication date: 1965
(5) General order issued by Ferdinand Foch on November 12, 1918, the day after the Armistice between the Allies and Germany took effect.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 488, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
