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World War I

World War I, also known as the Great War, commenced in June 1914 and ended in the early months of 1918. A war of unprecedented magnitude in its time, the conflict took the lives of at least 10 million soldiers and left 20 to 22 million wounded. The conflict was characterized by the use of aircraft, large-caliber siege guns, cannons, machine guns, and chemical shells.

One of the initial sparks for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian national. This incident caused other European nations to mobilize their militaries and honor their alliance treaties, which required them to come to the aid of other countries that were attacked. These alliances pitted Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Germany (the Central Powers) against Russia, France, and Great Britain (the Allies). The United States, siding with the Allies, sent an expeditionary force to Europe, including two African American divisions, the 92nd and 93rd.

Nationalism and Confict

Serbian nationalists, who were seeking a greater Serb nation, created great tension in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The killing of the archduke by a member of the Black Hand, an extreme Serb nationalist group, was the precipitant that the monarchy of Austria-Hungary needed to put an end to ethnic nationalist sentiment besieging the realm. Upon the death of the archduke, Austria declared war against Serbia. Not long afterward, per alliance agreement, Germany entered the conflict. Russia, having created a military coalition with Serbia, also entered the fray. Not long afterward, France and England sent in their troops.

There had been tension in Europe years before the outbreak of war. Fighting in the Balkans, the buildup of arms and armies, naval competition, rivalry over colonies, and rising nationalism led all sides to prepare for an eventual conflict. After the archduke was assassinated and Austria declared war against Serbia, German military planners quickly put into place a prewar military plan of attack, called the Schlieffen Plan, after Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen.

This military strategy called for a rapid transfer of troops by train to the west to confront French forces before engaging Russian forces in the east. Schlieffen designed his strategic military plan around a two-front war, with the understanding that Germany would bear the burden on both fronts. German forces would cross into Belgium, a neutral country, and proceed with their objective of capturing Paris.

1914

As German troops crossed into Belgium, the Belgian army put up a much stronger resistance than had been anticipated. Using siege guns, the Germans not only engaged a multiple number of Belgium fortifications, which they destroyed, but also captured the major Belgian city of Liège. By August 15, 1914, more soldiers were involved in the conflict, and there was indiscriminate shooting of civilians as Germany's military advanced toward France.

The first major armed engagement, the Battle of Marne, involving French, British, and German forces, began on September 6, 1914, and concluded three days later. By the time of this engagement, the German military was only 30 miles from Paris. Allied troops checked their forces’ advancement by mounting a counteroffensive, thus saving the city from battle or prolonged siege. The Allies then pushed the German forces to the Aisne River. This effectively stopped a quick German victory over the French army. The Schlieffen plan had not created a contingent strategy if Paris was not taken within a given time period, so this left the Germans with no alternatives. Both sides resolved to dig defensive trenches, creating static warfare.

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