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A cool, sunny summer morning some 87 years ago, two bullets were fired in a Sarajevo street that would soon set in motion a series of events that would throw the world into a struggle against itself. Gavril o Princip was the young man who fired those two fateful shots that hit Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie. The royal couple was returning from City Hall and was in route back to the Capitol. Princip, fueled with hatred at the Austro-Hungarian Empire and having a strong, loyal feeling to the Slavic nationalism motto, murdered the two, in hopes that their death would unlock the shackles binding his people to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. (Death, 1998) It was the fact that European titans were blind-sighted by different nationalistic and imperialistic views that would soon throw the world into war. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the breaking point, as on July 28, 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, officially starting what would become a four-year full-fledged world war.
Sir Edward Gray dramatized the impact of the war well, saying, "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime, " as cities in (Kirchberger, 1992, p. 45). It would be during this war, World War I, that much advancement would be made, many battles fought, and many lives lost. With Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, many countries began to take sides. Russia and Germany who were former alliances, split up due to political differences.
Germany drew alliances with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria forming the Central Powers. Twenty-eight countries including Serbia, Russia, WWI 2 the British Empire, and the United States formed alliances with each other creating the "Allies and Associated Powers" (WWI, 2001). The world seemed set-up against itself. The Allied and Central Powers spent most of their time waging fights on three main fronts: Eastern, Western, and Serbian. On the Western front, the Allied Army had been forced back towards Paris as the German Army continued to advance towards the French and British Armies. Paris seemed a vital city, as the bulk of the French and British Armies fell back to the Marne River, to protect it, setting the stage for the Battle of the Marne.
The battle began on September 5, 1914. Although no fighting began until the 9 th, the British developed strategies during this lull. The British goal was to defend Paris and hold up the German advance. The Germans made a crucial mistake that split their army in two; they allowed the British to make a counter attack on both sides of them, forcing them to retreat to the Aisne River. The Battle of the Marne was over on September 10, 1914, and the "race to the sea" had officially begun (First Marne, 2001). The possibility of gas warfare has been known since the early 19 th century (Kirchberger, 1992), although it was never officially used in warfare until the Second Battle of Ypres.
The Germans launched their attack against the Allies May 9, 1915. The gas was compressed in cylinders, released by parapets, and carried by the wind; if the wind changed it could wreck havoc on the attackers (Kirchberger, 1992). The gas was beneficial to the Germans, causing the Allies to retreat because, with no protection, the chlorine gas caused lung damage, blisters, and sometimes death. The British reserves that were brought up were hesitant to breach through the gassed area, but were nonetheless able to close the gap between themselves and the Germans. WWI 3 The chief reason for the German attack was not to obliterate the Allies with poison gas, but to ruin the participation of the British Army in Joffre's great offensive in the Artois region (Strachan, 1998). The Second Battle of Ypres lasted six weeks and resulted in 300, 000 Allied casualties (Major Battles, 2001).
Both sides used poison gas after this battle; although it did not play a decisive role in the outcome of the war, it did cause substantial casualties. Labeled the "battlefield with the highest density of dead per square yard, " (Major battles, 2001) the Battle of Verdun became one of the longest, most brutal battles of WWI. The ten-month long brawl began on February 21, 1916 when the Germans bombarded the forts with artillery near the city of Verdun, a French and Swiss vital point for the war effort. Under the command of General Henri Philippe, the French army fought the battle with the motto, "lis ne pas seront pas, " meaning, "They shall not pass!" (Major battles, 2001).
This remark meant to not let the Germans overtake the French forts. By March, the Germans overtook three forts, but, in April, the French Air Force began to secure the sky and terrain over Verdun. With the help of the Air Force and the Battle of the Somme beginning, the French were able to put Germans in a defensive mode and they soon retreated. With over 760, 000 French, British, and Germans dead, the battle seemed to benefit neither side, as no new advantages had been gained (Kirchberger, 1992). The Battle of the Somme had a great impact on the Battle of Verdun, for the British start of their great offensive of the Somme on July 1, 1916, lured the Germans from Verdun into another four-month-long assault. The Germans, while on the defense, WWI 4 were able to mow down the British as they came across their fronts.
On the first day of the attack, the British lost an astonishing number of men, some 60, 000, which was the worst day ever recorded for the British Army (Kirchberger, 1992). The British surprised the Germans with the first use of the tank during this battle. Only 18 of the 36 British tanks were deployed in the first assaults. With little coordination between the tanks and the infantry, they were of little use. Tanks, however, would have the deciding point in battles to follow (Kirchberger, 1992). Weeks of bitter fighting persisted between the French-British and the German Armies, until October, when torrential rains brought an end to the fighting (Kirchberger, 1992).
Again, as in the Battle of Verdun, both sides suffered extensive loses. Visions of the Battle of the Somme linger in the soldier, Fredrick Palmer's mind: "Covered with chalk dusk from crawling, their bandages blood soaked, bespattered with the blood of comrades as they lay on litters or hobbled down a communication trench, they looked blank when they mentioned the scenes they had witnessed; but they gave no impression of despair. It did not occur to them that they had been beaten; they had been roughly handled in one of a many-round fight, " (Kirchberger, 1992, p. 240). The Germans lost between 400, 000 - 500, 000 men, while the British and French Armies lost over 600, 000 (Kirchberger, 1992).
WWI 5 The Battle of Verdun and the Somme were considered a watershed, as the battles dashed both sides' hopes for imminent victory (Strachan, 1998). These battles, though, marked the true beginning of aerial warfare, as both sides began to deploy larger air forces to provide aerial support. In 1917, the airplane became a multifaceted weapon of war (Strachan, 1998). With the evolution of massed fighter tactics, both sides were able to obtain superiority over each other on certain battlefields. Great flying aces became known, as they took down many combatants. However, it was mass, not individuals, who determined the course of the war in the air as well as on the ground (Strachan, 1998).
The applied use of the airplane played an indirect role in the outcome of the war, as they were able to provide the grounded infantry with protection or by attacking reconnaissance planes and bombers. The Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916, was the one and only major sea battle between the two rivaling navies. Three British Admirals; David Beatty, John Jellicoe, and Scheer, devised a plan together to lure the enemy fleet into battle (Prior & Wilson, 1999). The German fleet, headed by Admiral Franz von Hipper, came into contact with British cruisers led by Beatty, which ran ahead of the Grand Fleet. Hipper and his fleet, though outnumbered, sank two of Beatty's ships.
Through excellent tactics and superior marksmanship, the German fleet had achieved a major success in enabling to get the Grand Fleet to retreat to the south (World War I). The Germans made no more ventures out to sea to battle again, although German U-boats continued to destroy and sink more than 8 million tons of Allied shipping goods (World War I). WWI 6 The strategy for the final attack was a huge pincer movement consisting of an American-French thrust through the Argonne-in a northern direction, and a British French thrust eastward toward Cambrai and Lille (Strachan, 1998). Through these offensives, the Allies believed they could bring under control the railroad junctions that were vital to the German Armies. These massive drives by the Allies began September 26, 1918.
While the picking through the German Army was slow at times, by October 5, the British had penetrated the Hindenburg line, causing the German Army to retreat farther back, enabling the Allies to make rapid progress (Kirchberger, 1992). The civil government in Berlin had fallen, and on the 11 th hour of the 11 th day of the 11 th month an armistice was signed. The Treaty of Versailles dismembered the Austro-Hungarian Empire and came down hard on Germany. Germany was forced to accept blame for causing World War I and was required to pay 56 billion dollars for reparations (WWI, 2001) Along with that, Germany ceded most of its' land away, and was limited to the extent of its Army.
German forces were only able to have 100, 000 men, no large guns, six warships, and no submarines or military aircraft (WWI, 2001). These measures were tough for the Germans to follow, as they did not believe they were decisively defeated and that they were the sole cause of the war. In spite of this they ratified the treaty along with France, England, Italy, and Japan. The United States never signed the treaty (Kirchberger, 1992). Many associate war with the loss of youth, of innocence, and of ideals (Prior & Wilson, 1999). World War I resulted in just that.
Casualties mounted to 10 million dead, and another 20 million mutilated (Strachan, 1998). The trail of innocence of WWI 7 young men was lost, as one soldier describes his experience of war: "Last night, lying awake I kept thinking of the Hun I hit, and wondering if I killed him. If I did, he's the first man I've ever killed. Being so close and seeing him collapse made him another human being, not just a target. But I can't say it worries me terribly-after all he started it, " (as cities in Kirchberger, 1992, p. 241). Ideals were vanquished in the dust, as nations were still irritated at each other.
World War I gave many insights into the minds of young men and a growing world. World War I will always be remembered as the "War to end all Wars, " although it was not the war that ended all wars. This war lead to a deepened feeling of hatred, that was expressed through Corporal Adolf Hitler's beliefs and his seek for revenge for the short-comings of the Treaty of Versailles to Germany, which all lead to the beginning of World War II.
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Research essay sample on Austro Hungarian Empire War On Serbia
