Week 3 - 14 August 1914 - To Arms ! Deployment of Troops Flashcards
Austro-Hungarian War With Serbia
- On 12th August 1914, The Austrian Army Invaded ( Having Already Bombarded Belgrade For A Couple Of Weeks ) Belgrade ( Capital of Vienna )
- Austria-Hungary went to war to Punish, Destroy or Annex Serbia but it’s really funny when you think of how little she seemed to realise that she had a much larger and much more dangerous enemy at this point, Russia
- A part of the problem was that war against Serbia was really popular in Vienna ( Capital of Serbia ) and so Army Chief of Staff Franz Conrad sent a lot more Troops down to Serbia and a lot fewer to fight Russia as you would expect
- Another problem ( Which Pissed Off Even Austria’s Ally Germany ) was that in order to send an even larger army down to Serbia, Franz Conrad arranged for Troops that were heading to Russia to secretly head to Serbia instead without informing The Germans
- When Germany found out, they were not pleased as Russia had way more men when compared to Serbia and asked if the troops could be rerouted back to The Russian Frontier
- Eventually, Austria manages to get 2 Armies into Bosnia approximately 110 km apart from each other under the command of General Oskar Potiorek who had never actually seen any military action before
- His army was poorly trained and equipped and of course The Slavs in the army were a little hesitant about fighting other Slavs and Potiorek was also wilfully ignorant of The Modern Aspects of Warfare
- Serbia by contrast knew all about modern Warfare having been in 2 Wars in the past 2 Years
- The Serbs were also going to be fighting on their home turf in The Mountains and managed to mobilise half a million people out of a population of only around 4 million people although many of them did not have any rifles or any ammunition but they certainly had confidence despite being outnumbered 45 million to 4 million in population
- The Austrians begin crossing The Drina River to engage The Serbs
Problems Faced By Austria-Hungary In World War I
1) Austria-Hungary was Multi National and had a crazy railway system that reflected this. In different parts of the empire, the railways were different gauges and so trains could not go through and in some places the train lines would just end when they got to an internal border and you’d have to get off and carry stuffs or else go to the long way around because Hungary or Bosnia didn’t want certain trades to happen with certain people. So when Germany asked Austria to reroute her trains and turn the troops around, they said no as they could not reroute single track railways in the middle of total army mobilisation and so the troops would have to go all the way to The Balkans before they could be turned around and sent back to The Russian Front
2) There was also a huge fear of Railroad Mismanagement ( Which Was Justified ). All Nations knew that a country that could move her troops around quickly would have a big advantage over those who couldn’t. So to avoid Railroad Problems, Austria made sure that all of the trains were required to move at the speed of the slowest train on the slowest line for maximum coordination and that speed was 10 Miles / 16 Kilometres Per Hour which was the speed of Bicycles. Thus, The Austrian Army invaded Serbia at the speed of a Bicycle. Eventually, they managed to get 2 Armies into Bosnia approximately 110 Km apart from each other
France Occupies Mulhouse In Alsace
- In The West, France mounted their first offensive of The War occupying Mulhouse in Alsace on 8th August 1914
- The German Army counterattacked on 9th August 1914 at Cernay and forced The French out of Mulhouse on 10th August 1914
- The French retreated to Belfort and then on 12th August 1914 mounted a new offensive under General Paul Pau
Britain
- On 7th August 1914, Lord Herbert Kitchener ( Secretary of State of War ) called for 100,00 Volunteers since he was one of the few he thought this was going to be a long war
- Although by 10th August 1914, The Kaiser himself admitted some worries about it being a long war once Britain was involved
- Now Britain had no troops at all in Mainland Europe but she was the only country that had a purely professional army that was small but very highly trained and totalled 6 Divisions
- 4 Divisions were to be sent to France and on 12th August 1914, the first Troops of The British Expeditionary Force crossed The English Channel ( A Narrow Arm of The Atlantic Ocean Separating The Southern Coast of England From The Northern Coast of France )
- In 10 Days, they moved 120,000 Men without a single loss
- Also on 12th August 1914, France and England Declared War on Austria-Hungary
- What is interesting to note is that Britain and Austria had been on very friendly terms earlier and Britain had no commitment to Serbia
- However, if you look ahead through the August Weeks, Britain became the vocal defender of the right of Slavic Minorities in The Austro-Hungarian Empire especially The Czechs
Germany
- On 10th August 1914 in The South, 2 German Warships managed to elude The British and enter The Dardanelles
- The Turkish Minister of War Enver Pasha ( Pro German ) let them enter and said that if The British followed, they would be fired upon
- However, The Ottoman Empire was still Neutral and so the ships were sold to The Turks and given New Turkish Named and raised Turkish Flags
- On 12th August 1914, 2 Naval Blockades were established :-
1) One to prevent Cargo from reaching German Ports on The North Sea which lies between Great Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway
2) One was a French Blockade to cut off The Austrian Ports on The Adriatic Sea which separates Italy and Austria-Hungary
- In The North Sea, Submarine U-15 ( Undersea Boat ) was rammed and sunk by The British, the first of nearly 200 U Boat losses Germany would suffer in The War
- In Central Africa on Lake Nyasa, A British Gunboat captured A German Gunboat
- The German Captain, however, was not aware that he was at war with The British
The Kiel Canal
- The Kiel Canal / The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal is a 61 miles / 98 Kilometres Long Freshwater Canal that was finished in 1895 and took over 9,000 workers 8 years to build
- The Kiel Canal links The North Sea at Brunsbuttel to The Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau
- An Average of 290 Miles / 460 Kilometres is saved using The Kiel Canal instead of going around The Jutland Peninsula
- On 25th July 1914, The Kiel Canal was finally opened so that Germany could safely and quickly send ships between The North Sea and The Baltic Sea
A Summary
- Austria-Hungary wants to go to war against Serbia because of guys like Chief of Staff Franz Conrad Von Hotzendorf who have big imperialistic dreams
- The Russians do not think it is necessary for an entire Slav State to be destroyed because of an assassin or The Black Hand or whoever especially when it is their only ally in a sensitive region
- The British didn’t much care about Serbia’s State and were more concerned with Belgium and German Hegemony ( The Political, Economic or Military Predominance or Control of One State Over Others ) in Europe
- The Germans want to take on Russia now because they fear that in a few years, Russia will be too powerful but to do that, they also have to deal with Russia’s ally France who wants revenge on Germany for the last war ( Franco-Prussian War )
- These are all different wars happening at the same time but for different reasons
