How World War One Started

By the time the Austrian prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, on 28th June 1914, parts of the Balkans had already been at war with Turkey and it’s Ottoman empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had taken advantage of the situation to annex the former Ottoman province of Bosnia-Herzegovina and nationalism had led to a volatile mix of states. The whole region was a powder-keg waiting to explode with a huge mixture of religion and languages.

After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria issued a list of demands against the Serbian government. Although Serbia did make wide concessions there seemed to be little to stop the Austrians wanting a war with Serbia. Serbia were not interested in another war having just been involved in the action with Turkey but In July 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia and the fuse had been ignited. German had already said it would stand by Austria while Russia had stated their army would be mobilised the moment Austrian soldiers moved into Serbia.

Britain and France were also allied to Russia and Germany saw this as an opportunity to move on their traditional enemy, France.

They chose to do this by marching straight through neutral Belgium so within weeks Europe was at war.

Western Front
The Western Front saw the stalemate of trench war stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss border with France. Between 1915 and 1917, there a number of major offensives at various points resulting in horrific numbers of men killed for little or no gain.

Once the United States joined the war in 1917, the toll was started to tell on Germany in terms of losses and economic strain. They sued for peace and at 11 o’clock on 11th November 1918 the Armistice treaty was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest and the “War To End All Wars” was over

Passchendaele
The small village of Passchendale is 5 miles north-east of Ypres. The third battle of Ypres was also known as the Battle of Passchendaele and was fought in 1917. Along with the Somme, Passchendaele is one of the names that for many symbolise the Great War.

On 18th July 1917, a massive artillery barrage was launched against the German lines. It last for 10 days and over 4 million shells were fired. All this achieved was to warn the Germans that a massive assault was coming. The infantry attack started on 31st July by the time the offensive ended in November 1917, 310,000 British soldiers and 260,000 German soldiers had lost their lives for the sake of a few kilometres of land.

The church in Passchendaele was completely destroyed and has since been rebuilt and within the church, you will find the memorial windows in honour of the 66th Division. Other places of importance are the Passchendaele New British Cemetery which has over 2,000 graves, 1,600 of which are unidentified.

Crest Farm is one of the official Canadian memorial sites and in nearby Zonnebecke is the Passchendaele Memorial 1917 Museum which houses many exhibits of equipment, armaments and personal effects.

Tyne Cot is the largest of all the cemeteries with a total of 11,856 graves of British and Commonwealth soldiers. It’s very well signposted and is just to the south of Passchendaele.

Riems and Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was fought between 21st February 1916 and 19th December 1916 between the French and German armies. This was one of the longest and most terrible battles of the First World War resulting in around 250,000 deaths and 500,000 wounded from both sides.

After the war, the whole area was designated a memorial and planted with trees – preserving miles of trenches and shell holes. This makes Verdun a unique battlefield with many more relics than the Somme or Ypres.

The Somme
The Somme offensive was a joint British and French operation launched on 1st July 1916 along a 30km front. After days of artillery barrage on German positions, the day began with 19 mines before fired at 7:30am.

The Hawthorne Mine actually exploded 10 minutes early and the 40,000 lbs of ammonal used left a crater around 100m x 150m and 25m deep. That day saw the British Army suffer it’s worst every casualty toll with 58,000 men being killed or wounded. By the end of the offensive in November 1916, Britain had suffered 420,000 casualties, France 200,000 and the Germans 500,000.

The Allied forces made some gains but no more than 12km at any point. We can offer a choice of 2 tours to the Somme with varying itineraries. Places that we visit include Newfoundland Park, Hawthorne Ridge, Delville Wood, Memorial to the Missing in Theipval.

Ypres
The small Belgium town of Ypres dates back to Roman times and was a key strategic position on the Western Front. There were 3 main battles here; 31 Oct – 22 Nov 1914, 22 April – 25 May 1915 and 21 July – 6 November 1917.

The battle in 1917 was also known as the Battle of Passchendaele. Ypres was known as “Wipers” by British soldiers during the war. There are many museums, memorials and cemeteries in and around Ypres with possible the most significant being the Menin Gate Memorial.

Every evening since 1928, traffic around the Menin Gate is stopped while the Last Post is sounded. This tribute is given in honour of the memory of the British Empire soldiers who fought and died there. During German occupation in World War Two, this ceremony was stopped but was resumed on the eve of liberation on 6th September 1944.

The gigantic Cloth Hall which was built in 1304 had been virtually destroyed but has been fully restored.
The main façade is 125m long and the bell tower is 70m tall with a clarion of 49 bells.
On a clear day, there is an excellent view from the top.

Gallipoli
The Dardanelles Straits were a vital piece of water which was preventing Britain from sending supply ships to help Russia. Taking control of the Straits away from Turkey would open up this passage of supply and possibly take German’s ally, Turkey, out of the war. The stalemate of the Western Front gave rise to the idea that opening a new front would lead to a better chance of success.

At the time, Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty and his plan was to have his battleships pound the enemy defences before landing forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The campaign started on 19 February 1915 and lasted for the rest of the year. The Turkish defences were stronger than anticipated and the straits were mined with resulted in 2 British and 1 French battleships being sunk and a further 3 crippled (1 British, 2 French).

By the end of the campaign, over 44,000 allied soldiers had been killed in action with a further 97,000 wounded. The Turks had lost over 86,000 men killed and 164,000 injured. In addition to the allied casualty figures, a further 145,000 British soldiers became casualties from illness.

Ironically, the most successful part of the campaign was the evacuation of the soldiers where the Turks were deceived and did not realise the evacuation was in progress until nearly all the soldiers had gone.

Armistice Day 2008
The Armistice Treaty was signed between the Allies and Germany and marked the end of the First World War on the Western Front. It was sign at 11am on the 11th November 1918 – “The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”.

Each year, the 11th of November is a day of Remembrance around the world – Remembrance Day (UK, Australia and Canada), Poppy Day (South Africa and Malta), Veterans Day (USA) and Armistice Day (New Zealand, France and other Commonwealth countries).

In many of these countries, 2 minutes silence is observed at 11am on the 11th November and parades take place on the Sunday to honour all the soliders in all conflicts.

2008 marks the 90th Anniversary of the Armistice and we are able to offer tours for Remembrance Day to both Normandy and Ypres departing 9th November.

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