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World war one in the Balkans
Posted by science vision on 02:44
World war one in the BalkansAfter repelling three Austrian invasions during August-December 1914, Serbia fell to combined invasion by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, (the latter of which joined the Central Powers in September, 1915) in October 1915. The Serbian army was defeated at Gjilan Kosovo (near the ancient mining city of Novo Brdo), then retreated into Albania and Greece. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure the Greek government into war against the Central Powers. Unfortunately for the Allies, the pro-allied Greek government of Eleftherios...
Italian participation: world war one
Posted by science vision on 02:43
Italian participation: world war oneItaly had been allied to the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882, but had its own designs against Austrian territory in the Trentino, Istria and Dalmatia, and maintained a secret 1902 understanding with France, effectively nullifying its alliance commitments. Italy refused to join Germany and Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the war, because their alliance was defensive, while Austria had declared war on Serbia. The Austrian government started negotiations to obtain Italian neutrality in exchange for French territories (Tunisia), but Italy joined the Entente by signing the London Pact in April...
Ottoman Empire: world war one
Posted by science vision on 02:39
Ottoman Empire: world war oneThe Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October–November 1914, due to the secret Turko-German Alliance signed in August 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via the Suez canal. The British Empire opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns. In Gallipoli, the Turks were successful in repelling the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), forcing their eventual withdrawal and evacuation. In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the disastrous Siege of Kut (1915–16), British Empire forces reorganised and...
Canada's greatest military victories: world war one
Posted by science vision on 02:37
Canada's greatest military victories: world war oneThroughout 1915-17, the British Empire and France suffered many more casualties than Germany, but both sides lost millions of soldiers to injury and disease. Around 800,000 soldiers from the British Empire were on the Western Front at any one time. 1,000 battalions, each occupying a sector of the line from the North Sea to the Orne River, operated on a month-long four-stage rotation system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for around a week before moving back to support lines and then further back to the reserve...
War begins: world war one
Posted by science vision on 02:35
War begins: world war oneAdvances in military technology meant that defensive firepower out-weighed offensive capabilities, making the war particularly murderous, as tactics had failed to keep up. Barbed wire was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances; artillery, now vastly more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with machine guns, made crossing open ground a nightmarish prospect. By 1915 both sides were using poison gas. Neither side ever won a battle with gas, but it made life even more miserable in the trenches and became one of the most feared, and longest remembered, horrors of the war.After the First Battle of the Marne, both...
World war One: Hopes and fears
Posted by science vision on 02:33
World war One: Hopes and fears
In 1914, the perception of war was romanticized by many people, and its declaration was met with great enthusiasm. The common view on both sides was that it would be a short war of manoeuvre, with a few sharp actions (to "teach the enemy a lesson") and would end with a victorious entry into the enemy capital, then home for a victory...
Haut-Rhin, France 1917 :world war one
Posted by science vision on 02:30
Haut-Rhin, France 1917 :world war oneThe Serbians occupied defensive positions against the Austrians. The first attack came on August 16, between parts of the 21st Austro–Hungarian division and parts of the Serbian Combined division. In harsh night-time fighting, the battle ebbed and flowed, until Stepa Stepanovic rallied the Serbian line. Three days later the Austrians retreated across the Danube, having suffered 21,000 casualties as against 16,000 Serbian. This marked the first major Allied victory of the war. The Austrians had not achieved their main goal of eliminating Serbia, and it became increasingly likely that Germany would have to maintain...
About World War I
Posted by science vision on 02:28
About World War I
Some of the first hostilities of the war occurred in Africa and in the Pacific Ocean, in the colonies and territories of the European powers. On August 1914 a combined French and British Empire force invaded the German protectorate of Togoland in West Africa. Shortly thereafter, on August 10, German forces based in South-West Africa attacked South Africa, part of the British Empire. Another British Dominion, New Zealand, occupied German Samoa (later Western Samoa) on 30 August; on September 11 the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of Neu Pommern (later New Britain), which formed part of...
A Culmination of European History: world war one
Posted by science vision on 02:26
A Culmination of European History: world war one
A localized war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was almost a given due to Austro-Hungarian Empire's deterriorating world position and the Pan-Slavic, separationist movement in the Balkans, which garnered the support of Slavic elements in Russia, primarily due to Russia's own wishes for a warm water port. Imperial Russia's expansion eastwards is a historical theme that deserves attention - a "threat" only reinforced by the experiences of the Germans in the Napoleonic Wars and Thirty Year's War - where their precarious position in the center of Europe led to the decision for an active defense...
