World War One

World War One: Insanity in a Nutshell

“In individuals, insanity is rare; in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” 

- Friedrich Nietzsche

         Map accessed from: http://maps.unomaha.edu/peterson/funda/MapLinks/EuropeOverview/kiv28.gif

This isn't exactly the blog we had set out to write. As lovers of history we had planned to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of World War One by writing about one particular aspect of that tragic time - the destruction and rebirth of cities, towns and villages on the Western Front.

It wasn't our intention to go into any great detail about the causes and horrendous effects of that less-than-great war. That approach, at the risk of laying down another bad pun, has been done to death. Rather, we wanted to focus on the indomitable courage and determination of the people of Belgium and Northern France who rebuilt their communities and their lives on the ashes of what was left after "the tumult and the shouting" had died.

We both have a bit of a historical track record. The male side of our husband-and-wife team of writers has been extremely fortunate over a long career to have met and written about an amazing number of heroes – men and women who fought bravely in one or both world wars, Korea and, more recently in Afghanistan. You can read all about it at http://tomdouglas.typepad.com/tom_douglas/books/

The historical focus of the other half of our team stretches further back into the dimness of time. One book chronicles the exploits of a French explorer, Étienne Brûlé, who, for better or worse, helped open up North America to European settlers. Another published work traces the female lineage of Princess Diana back more than five hundred years. More details are available at: http://tomdouglas.typepad.com/tom_douglas/gail_douglas_books/

We were excited about our new project. But as we immersed ourselves in the events of the years between 1914 and 1918, we became more and more appalled and confused by what we read. The expression: Stupid is as stupid does was popularized by the movie character Forrest Gump – and World War One, as you quickly learn as you sift through books, newspaper reports and a great array of websites, was a stupid war. It was planned by stupid people for stupid reasons and fought under the command of stupid officers by naively patriotic enlistees who were lulled into throwing away their lives by a stupid slogan: For King and Country, or an equivalently stupid cri de guerre on the opposing side – Gott Mit Uns. Unfortunately, it seems the king and whatever gods the combatants prayed to had, in the immortal words of singer/songwriter Don McLean “…caught the last train for the coast.” 

Okay, let’s be fair. Not all the officers should be tarred with this Gumpian condemnation. There were a few who showed flashes of brilliance in their command. There were others who risked, and in some cases ruined, their careers by arguing with the powers-that-be over insane or at the very least hastily-thought-out decisions. But the heroic actions of a few were far overshadowed by boneheaded decisions made by generals and their cadre of overfed and under-brained senior officers – many of whom had bought their commissions with daddy’s money and/or were still fighting a 19th Century war against 20th Century weaponry.

These contentions aren't going to endear us to the armchair generals who make a hobby – and, in some cases, a vocation – out of glorifying war. Anyone daring to shout out that the greedy empire-builders of yesterday – or today for that matter – come across as naked as the proverbial jaybird is all too often vilified and stood up against a wall of words to be shot at first light.

But it isn't the men and women who served bravely on the front lines that deserve our scorn. It's those megalomaniacs who ruled the various nations at the time as well as the industrialists who profited from the mayhem and the by-the-book generals who blundered at every turn who should be branded as the butchers that they were.

Our research has brought us to one conclusion as to why many people in general still consider the "killing fields of France" hallowed ground. There were so many battles and so many combatants over that four-year period that it is next to impossible to sort out in one's mind just what happened and why. No doubt the hounds of war would like to keep it that way. After all, how do you find fresh recruits for the next slaughter if they all buy into the belief that war is an insane exercise that merely advances the careers of the military nabobs and fills the coffers of the politicians and industrialists who feed off the gore? Yes, the land is sacred, but only because it has been anointed with the lifeblood of the betrayed.

And so, while we still call our attempt here to demystify the mare's nest of events that took place from 1914 to 1918 Rising From The Ashes and touch upon a number of the cities, towns and villages that rebuilt themselves materially and spiritually from the ground up after the cessation of hostilities, we have shifted gears a bit. With this account of our take on more than four years of senseless slaughter we have tried to simplify for the reader the complexities of that madness we have come to call World War One. George Santayana, whose famous line is often misquoted, actually said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Let it be understood that by poking holes in the myth that the world conflict of 1914 to 1918 was fought for noble causes by brilliant tacticians guided by principled politicians we are not disparaging the sacrifices made by the front-line troops who died by the millions for what, initially at least, they believed to be a just cause. Honoring the memory of those men and women – and the staggering number of civilians who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time in history – should be the focal point of the ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of what at the time was ingenuously called the war to end all wars.

In trying to demystify the complex and at times incomprehensible parameters of the First World War on the Western Front, we hope we have shown that it was no box of chocolates. If we fail to learn a valuable lesson from this unnecessary and evil clash of Imperial Egos, then we today are just as stupid as they were then.

While many of the illustrations in this blog are photographs taken by the authors, every effort to credit those sources for other material has been made. If credit is due another creator, please contact the authors at [email protected].                                                                                                                                             

- Tom and Gail Douglas

How An Obscure Teenager Set the World on Fire

“Assassination has never changed the history of the world.”

 – Benjamin Disraeli   

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are about to take their fatal last ride      

If you were to conduct random on-the-street interviews asking people what caused the First World War, you might get a lot of blank stares, or perhaps the occasional head-scratch and a vague, “Umm, wasn’t it because some nutcase shot some royal dude in some town in Croatia or wherever?”

Oddly enough, that answer is almost right, at least as far as it goes. On June 28, 1914, a young Serbian fanatic, regarded by many as a “nutcase” did shoot a royal dude in the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, not too far from Croatia in the Balkan Peninsula.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie both died of their wounds shortly after the attack. Although the double assassination set off a chain of events that culminated in The Great War, it wasn’t so much a cause of the global blow-up as a detonator that ignited explosives already planted throughout Europe. 

The continent had been relatively peaceful since 1871, when the end of the Franco-Prussian War marked the beginning of the Belle Époque – the beautiful era. Scientific and technological advances had brought improvements in endeavors such as food production, medical care, and transportation – making for a better quality of life for many European citizens. The visual and performing arts were flourishing, international trade and investments were booming, and general prosperity seemed likely for the foreseeable future.  

Yet a peek behind the lighthearted façade of Parisian music halls, Viennese ballrooms and Munich beer gardens reveals ominous shadows. 

As industrialization moved populations from farms to cities throughout the western world, laborers began to form unions to demand better pay and safer working conditions. Women were fighting to gain access to the ballot box, risking social ostracism, jail and vicious beatings to gain the right to vote. Extreme nationalism was spreading like a viral fever while religious and ethnic minorities were clamoring for independence from their imperial masters. Opposing political philosophies and movements were popping up everywhere, the shrill voices of their passionate leaders adding to the warlike atmosphere. 

By 1914, the European powers controlled well over three-quarters of the earth’s land surface as a result of aggressive colonization, with Britain leading the pack and protecting its interests through its powerful navy that had ruled the seas for centuries. Germany was trying to challenge the British naval dominance, with limited success. 

A fierce competition was in play as Britain and the continental powers jockeyed for economic and political control of Asia and Africa, including unexploited regions still up for grabs. Clashes among nations were inevitable, and, although many dangerous situations had been smoothed over by careful negotiation, residual bitterness and resentment were festering behind the practised smiles of embassy meetings. War was beginning to tempt some ambitious leaders as a way to settle once and for all who would end up as top dog. 

A lethal component of this unstable mix was the modern weaponry being developed by profit-motivated manufacturers who knew how to start an arms race and keep it going, to the point that military spending by the major powers of Europe tripled between 1870 and 1914. With each empire trying to build a better fighting machine than its rivals, conscription of young men eighteen and over was introduced in all the major nations except Britain in order to increase the size of the armed forces. 

This edgy atmosphere led to formal agreements and informal “understandings” among the nations of Europe, ratcheting up the tension almost to the breaking point. By the summer of 1914 the starting lineups preparing for war consisted of the British, French, and Russian Triple Entente (known as the Allies once war began) ranged against the German-Austrian-Italian Triple Alliance (later known as the Central Powers). Italy, however, opted out of the conflict in 1914 and in 1915 joined the Allies.

Since a lot of influential people were convinced that some kind of European conflict was inevitable, a self-fulfilling prophecy seemed to be in the works. But if one particular realm could be said to have started World War One, the finger would have to be pointed at Austria-Hungary.

In 1908 Austria had annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, despite the rage their action had aroused among people of Slavic descent throughout the Balkan Peninsula and Russia, the Habsburg Empire still had its eye on getting control of the neighboring Kingdom of Serbia. But the Serbs had their own plans, namely to free Bosnia from Austria and unite with it in a future Pan-Slavic Empire. 

Austria was looking for a pretext for war with the Serbs when a tubercular nineteen-year-old named Gavrilo Princip handed it to them by being in the right place at the right moment to shoot the royal Austrian couple as they rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open-topped car during a state visit. 

The Austrians were understandably outraged by the killing of their future emperor despite the fact that the archduke wasn’t particularly popular at home or anywhere else. They claimed that the secret pro-Slav military society, The Black Hand, had orchestrated the assassination, and accused the Serbian government of being behind this reactionary group. The Serb leaders denied having anything to do with the crime while promising to investigate it and punish the perpetrators. 

After nearly a month of political wrangling within the Austrian government and some patently insincere attempts to end the crisis peacefully, Austria made sure it had Germany’s full backing and then issued Serbia an ultimatum on July 23 with demands the Serbians were almost guaranteed to reject. The most draconian of these was that Serbia would give the Austrians the authority to do whatever they deemed necessary – within Serbia – to suppress any activity they considered subversive.

Since no self-respecting nation was likely to agree to that kind of condition, the Serbians were expected to turn down the obvious set-up, giving the Austrians the chance to play victim and claim that their only recourse was to declare war on its long-time nemesis as an act of self-defence. Russia would be off the hook as a would-be rescuer if Serbia were to be seen as the aggressor, and Russia’s allies in the Triple Entente could ignore the whole scuffle. Austria could get away with a limited war against a much weaker enemy and enjoy a speedy victory before the world realized anything unusual was happening in that obscure part of the world. Serbian problem solved, Austro-Hungarian Empire expanded.

But the Serbians didn’t follow the Austrian game plan. They accepted all the terms except the demand that would effectively hand their country’s independence to Austria on a platter, and suggested that even that point of contention could be left to international arbitration.

It was a clever checkmate attempt on Serbia’s part, but it didn’t work. The Austrians rejected the Serbian counter-offer out of hand, deciding they had enough justification for declaring war, hang the consequences. After all, they had Germany’s diplomatic “blank check” in their back pocket. What could go wrong?

Events began to move at warp speed. Citizens who had been lulled into enjoying an outstandingly beautiful summer without paying attention to such mundane matters as the machinations of politicians began to sit up and take notice as each day brought disaster a step closer. Keeping tabs on the sequence of war declarations, warnings, ultimatums, and more war declarations became an international spectator sport, a bit like watching a skilled pool player in action, with the cue ball caroming around with seeming abandon, sinking one ball after another.

On July 28, exactly a month after the assassination of their archduke, Austria declared war on Serbia. The very next day Austrian gunboats showed up on the Danube and started bombarding the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Russia began mobilizing its forces on July 30 for a conflict with Austria. On the last day of July the Germans warned the Russians to desist or else. At the same time they sent a message giving France twelve hours to declare themselves neutral. France basically told them to get lost, though they used slightly more formal diplomatic language. Russia widened its mobilization process to prepare for war against Germany as well as Austria.

On August 1 Germany formally declared war on Russia, and a day later “requested” safe passage for its troops to march through Belgium on their way to attack France, adding a few dire threats about the unpleasantness to come if the Belgians didn’t cooperate.

On August 3 King Albert I of Belgium turned down the German request, so Germany declared war on Belgium and upped the ante by including France on its We’re-Going-To-Get-You list. Early the next morning troops in field grey swarmed across the border into Belgium and started carrying out their threats with dreadful efficiency.

 That night the British got into the act and declared war on Germany. The sputtering fuse had finally reached the powder keg and all hell broke loose.

 Everyone but a prescient – and pessimistic – few insisted that the conflict would end by Christmas. And it did. It just wasn’t Christmas 1914.

This Wikipedia photo of nine kings who attended the funeral of England's King Edward VII in 1910 includes his successor King George V (seated middle front), Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II (standing behind King George) and Belgium's King Albert 1 (second row extreme right). Four years later, England and Belgium would be at war with Germany.

Photo of Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria

Public domain map accessed from wikimedia.org

Le Petit Journal photo is displayed at the Musee de la Grande Guerre in Meaux France

Display of weaponry is part of the collection at the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Peronne, France