A Short History of the Great War

A Short History of the Great
War

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Title: A Short History of the Great War
Author: A.F. Pollard
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7189] [This file was first

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HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR ***

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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BY
A. F. POLLARD M.A., Litt.D.
FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD PROFESSOR OF
ENGLISH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
WITH NINETEEN MAPS
METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON
First Published in 1920
CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE BREACH OF THE PEACE II. THE
GERMAN INVASION III. RUSSIA MOVES IV. THE WAR ON
AND BEYOND THE SEAS V. ESTABLISHING THE WESTERN
FRONT VI. THE FIRST WINTER OF THE WAR VII. THE
FAILURE OF THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE VIII. THE DEFEAT OF
RUSSIA IX. THE CLIMAX OF GERMAN SUCCESS X. THE
SECOND WINTER OF THE WAR XI. THE SECOND GERMAN
OFFENSIVE IN THE WEST XII. THE ALLIED
COUNTER-OFFENSIVE XIII. THE BALKANS AND POLITICAL
REACTIONS XIV. THE TURN OF THE TIDE XV. HOPE
DEFERRED XVI. THE BALANCE OF POWER XVII. THE EVE OF
THE FINAL STRUGGLE XVIII. THE LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE
XIX. THE VICTORY OF THE ENTENTE XX. THE
FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE INDEX
LIST OF MAPS 1. THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE 2. THE

BATTLES OF THE AISNE 3. THE CAMPAIGNS IN ARTOIS 4.
THE DARDANELLES 5. THE RUSSIAN FRONT 6. THE
BALKANS 7. MESOPOTAMIA 8. THE CAUCASUS 9. THE
ATTACK ON VERDUN 10. THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME 11.
THE RUMANIAN CAMPAIGN 12. THE CONQUEST OF EAST
AFRICA 13. THE BALTIC CAMPAIGNS 14. THE BATTLES IN
FLANDERS 15. THE ITALIAN FRONT 16. THE BATTLES OF
ARRAS AND CAMBRAI 17. THE LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE 18.
THE CONQUEST OF SYRIA 19. FOCH'S CAMPAIGN
NOTE The manuscript of this book, except the last chapter, was
finished on 21 May 1919, and the revision of the last chapter was
completed in October. It may be some relief to a public, distracted by
the apologetic deluge which has followed on the peace, to find how
little the broad and familiar outlines of the war have thereby been
affected.
A. F. P.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR

CHAPTER I
THE BREACH OF THE PEACE On 28 June 1914 the Archduke
Francis Ferdinand, heir-presumptive to the Hapsburg throne, was shot
in the streets of Serajevo, the capital of the Austrian province of Bosnia.
Redeemed by the Russo-Turkish war of 1876-7 from Ottoman rule,
Bosnia had by the Congress of Berlin in 1878 been entrusted to
Austrian administration; but in 1908, fearing lest a Turkey rejuvenated
by the Young Turk revolution should seek to revive its claims on
Bosnia, the Austrian Government annexed on its own authority a
province confided to its care by a European mandate. This arbitrary act
was only challenged on paper at the time; but the striking success of
Serbia in the Balkan wars of 1912-13 brought out the dangers and
defects of Austrian policy. For the Serbs were kin to the great majority
of the Bosnian people and to millions of other South Slavs who were
subject to the Austrian crown and discontented with its repressive
government; and the growing prestige of Serbia bred hopes and
feelings of Slav nationality on both sides of the Hapsburg frontier. The
would-be and the real assassins of the Archduke, while technically

Austrian subjects, were Slavs by birth, and the murder brought to a
head the antagonism between a race becoming conscious of its
possibilities and a government determined to repress them. The crime
gave a moral