A Short History of the Great War

A Short History of the Great War

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of the Great War, by A.F. Pollard (#2 in our series by A.F. Pollard)
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: A Short History of the Great War
Author: A.F. Pollard
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7189] [This file was first posted on March 26, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR ***

Thanks to the Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders team for work in preparing this eBook. Note that the HTML version includes numerous images which are helpful to appreciating the eBook.
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 advantage to the oppressor, but the guilt has yet to be apportioned, and instigation may have come from secret sources within the Hapsburg empire; for the Archduke was