The origins of World War I can be traced in the ethnic and political situation of the Balkans. In 1912, a war broke out between Italy and Turkey over the latter’s African possessions. Turkey lost and was forced to hand over Libya, Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands to the Italians.

The Ottoman Empire was involved in another war, this time the First Balkan War in 1912. Having concluded peace with the Italians, it found itself engulfed in war with no fewer than four small nations over the possession of Balkan territories: Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, and later Montenegro. The intervention of larger European powers ended the First Balkan War fought from October 8, 1912, to May 30, 1913. Again Turkey lost out, shedding Crete and all its European possessions.

In 1913, the Second Balkan War erupted, as Bulgaria, unsatisfied with its earlier spoils, fought with its allies in an attempt to control a greater part of Macedonia; and when the so-named ‘Young Turks’ – Turkish army officers – denounced the earlier peace as unfair.

Between May and July 1913, Bulgaria’s former allies beat back the new aggressor, Bulgaria. Romania captured the Bulgarian capital Sofia in August. Beaten and having surrendered on August 10, 1913, Bulgaria also lost Adrianople back to Turkey. The war was fought from June 29, 1913, to August 10, 1913.

Due to the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, Austria-Hungary became alarmed at the great increase in Serbia’s territory and regional status. This concern was shared by Germany, which saw Serbia as a satellite of Russia. Serbia’s rise in power thus contributed to the two Central Powers’ willingness to risk a war.

But the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip, produced widespread shock across Europe. Ferdinand’s death at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world’s first global war.

Austria-Hungary’s reaction to the death of its heir was three weeks in coming. Arguing that the Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand, the Austro-Hungarians took the opportunity to stamp its authority on the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing their influence in the Balkans. It expected that Serbia would reject the severe terms of the ultimatum, thereby giving it a pretext to launch a limited war against Serbia.

However, Serbia had long had Slavic ties with Russia, an altogether different proposition for Austria-Hungary. While not really expecting that Russia would be drawn into the dispute to any great extent other than through words of diplomatic protest, the Austro-Hungarian government sought assurances from its ally, Germany, that the latter would come to its aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany readily agreed, and even encouraged Austria-Hungary’s warlike stance.

With German encouragement, Austria-Hungary issued severe demands to the Serbian government on July 23, 1914, saying that failure to comply with its terms would lead to war. Compliance with its harsh terms would totally humiliate Serbia. However, Russia supported Serbia and, to show it was serious about the Serbian crisis, started mobilising its armies.

Germany’s geopolitical nightmare was a two-front war. Russia’s alliance with France made that a very real possibility. Since Russia refused to cancel the mobilisation order, and France would not reveal it, the Germans could only assume the worst, a two-front war. That led to the Schlieffen Plan.

Ferdinand’s death... set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world’s first global war

This plan, devised by former Army Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen, had been carefully drafted to deal with a two-front war scenario. The plan, which very nearly succeeded, was to conquer France and to knock it out of the war on a ‘Western Front’ within five weeks. The Germans calculated that Russia could effectively mobilise for war on the ‘Eastern Front’in six weeks.

It is thought the plan would have succeeded but for the decision of the then-German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke to authorise a critical deviation from the plan that, it is believed, stemmed from a lack of nerve, and crucially slowed the path towards Paris, which ended in static trench warfare.

Still, the German plan took no account of Britain’s entry into the war. The German government gave no credence to the possibility that Britain would ignore its commercial interests (which were presumably best served by staying aloof from the conflict and maintaining its all-important commercial trading routes), and would instead uphold its ancient treaty of obligation to recover violated Belgian neutrality.

The key to this plan was the timing of railroad timetables necessary for the rapid mobilisation of Germany’s armies. With Russia already mobilising, Germany felt compelled to put the Schlieffen Plan into action before it was too late. However, that required war with France, so Germany, with no apparent provocation, declared war as Russia on August 1, 1914, as well on France on August 3, 1914. That left the question of what Britain would do.

Germany’s High Command considered the terrain and string of French fortresses along its western border with France too difficult to launch a quick offensive. The best route lay through the open low country of Belgium. But Belgium refused passage to German armies, and so Germany, driven by the strict timetable of the Schlieffen Plan, violated Belgian neutrality in order to crush France and stay on schedule.

Britain was obliged to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year-old treaty. With Germany’s invasion of Belgium on August 4, and the Belgian King’s appeal to Britain for assistance, Britain committed itself to Belgium’s defence later that day, and declared war on Germany. With Britain’s entry into the war, its colonies and dominions, including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa, offered military and financial assistance.

So Europe, dragging its worldwide colonial empires in its wake, blundered into World War I. Not that everyone saw it in such negative terms. Crowds all over Europe greeted the news jubilantly. Most men saw their nation as superior to all others and expected a quick victory, much like that won by Prussia in 1870. Each nation’s army would occupy the enemy’s capital by Christmas 1914, which meant anyone not enlisting now would miss out on all the fun and glory. Little did they suspect the scope of the disaster about to befall them over the four years between 1914 and 1918.

Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on August 4. Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on August 2.

The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from August 5 to 16. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian army retreated to Antwerp and Namur, with the Belgian capital, Brussels, falling to the Germans on August 20. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about August 20 to 23.

For their part, the French had five armies deployed on its borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII (it was a scheme of mobilisation that was adopted by the French general staff in 1913, to be put into effect by the French army in the event of war between France and Germany), was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities.

On August 7, the French attacked Alsace with the aim being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The French advanced toward the Saar River and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back. They captured Mulhouse after a brief engagement on August 7, but German reserve forces engaged them in the Battle of Mulhouse from August 7 to 10 and forced a French retreat.

The German army swept through Belgium, executing civilians and razing villages. The application of ‘collective responsibility’ against a civilian population further galvanised the allies, and newspapers condemned the German invasion and the army’s violence against civilians and property, called the ‘Rape of Belgium’.

After marching through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Ardennes, the German army advanced, in the latter half of August, into northern France where they met both the French army, under Joseph Joffre, and the initial six divisions of the British expeditionary force, under Sir John French. A series of engagements known as the Battle of the Frontiers ensued between August 7 and September 13. Key battles included the Battle of Charleroi on August 21 and the Battle of Mons on August 23. There were more clashes such as the Battle of Le Cateau on August 26, the Siege of Maubeuge from August 24 to September 7 and the Battle of St Quentin from August 29 to 30.

The German army came within 70 kilometres of Paris, but at the First Battle of the Marne from September 6 to 12, French and British troops were able to force a German retreat by exploiting a gap which appeared, ending the German advance into France.

Following the Battle of the Yser from October 16 to 31, the Belgian forces controlled a 35-kilometre length of Belgium’s Flanders territory along the coast, with their front following the Yser river and the Yperlee canal, from Nieuwpoort to Boesinghe. Stationed to the south was the sector of the British expeditionary force. Here, from October 19 to November 22, the German forces made their final breakthrough attempt of 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres. Heavy casualties were suffered on both sides but no breakthrough occurred.

Germany’s geopolitical nightmare was a two-front war

It is interesting to note that after the battle, Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, reasoned that it was no longer possible for Germany to win the war and on November 18 he called for a diplomatic solution, but Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff disagreed. By Christmas 1914, the British expeditionary force guarded a continual line from the La Bassée Canal to south of St Eloi in the Somme valley. The remainder of the front, south to the border with Switzerland, was manned by French forces.

The war in the Eastern Front began with the Russian invasion of East Prussia on August 17 and the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. The first effort quickly turned to a defeat after the Battle of Tannenberg from August 23 to 30. The second incursion was successful, with the Russians controlling almost all of Galicia by the end of 1914. The Russians won the Battle of Galicia in September and began the Siege of Przemysl, the next fortress on the road towards Kraków.

This early Russian success in 1914 on the Austro-Russian border was a cause for concern to the Central Powers and considerable German forces had to be transferred to the east to take pressure off the Austrians. By the end of 1914, the main focus of the fighting shifted to the central part of Poland, west of the river Vistula. The Battle of the Vistula River from September 29 to October 31 and the Battle of Łódz from November 11 to December 6 brought little advancement for the Germans, but at least kept the Russians at a safe distance. The Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies continued to clash near the Carpathian Mountains throughout the winter of 1914-1915.

Meanwhile, Japan, honouring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany on August 23. Two days later, Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan. Italy, although allied to Germany and Austria-Hungary, avoided entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both.

In short, Italy was committed to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a ‘defensive’ war; arguing that their actions were ‘offensive’, it declared instead a policy of neutrality. The following year, in May 1915, Italy finally joined the conflict by siding with the Allies against its two former allies.

On March 9, 1916, Germany declared war on Portugal with the latter declaring war on Germany. US President Woodrow Wilson declared an American policy of neutrality, an official stance that would last until 1917 when Germany’s policy of submarine warfare, which seriously threatened America’s commercial shipping and almost entirely directed towards the Allies, forced the US to finally enter the war on April 6, 1917.

The Central Powers initially consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary and their associated empires. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers on October 29, 1914, followed by Bulgaria on October 14, 1915.

Relevant artefacts and information can be seen at Heritage Malta’s National War Museum in Valletta.

Charles Debono is curator, National War Museum.