World War I - Week 7 - September 14-20, 1914
POLITICAL
Sep. 18 - Britain's King George V delivers speech to Parliament declaring: "We are fighting for a worthy purpose, and we shall not lay down our arms until that purpose has been fully achieved".
MILITARY
Sep. 15 - Germans begin month-long counterattack in Aisne, Arras, and the Argonne Forest.
Sep. 15 - Russians occupy key Austrian-Hungarian city of Czernowitz and advance toward the major fortress of Przemsyl.
Sep. 16 - Second Austrian-Hungarian invasion of Serbia fails.
Sep. 17 - Newly formed German 9th Army halts the Russians advancing on A-H forces. This pattern of the Germans Army rescuing the Austrian-Hungarians would repeat itself for the remainder of the War.
QUOTES
"Against the vast majority of my countrymen, even at this moment, in the name of humanity and civilization, I protest against our share in the destruction of Germany. A month ago Europe was a peaceful comity of nations; if an Englishman killed a German, he was hanged. Now, if an Englishman kills a German, or if a German kills an Englishman, he is a patriot, who has deserved well of his country". - Bertrand Russell, British philosopher.
ZONE OF THE ARMIES
At the outbreak of War in August 1914 and the subsequent German invasion, France was divided into the Zone of the Armies and the Zone of the Rear. As Chief of the French General Staff, General Joseph Joffre was a virtual dictator in the Zone of the Armies which covered the entire northeastern portion of France occupied by the German Armies. Civilian movement was strictly regulated and journalists were banned from all areas even remotely near the front lines. Even the French President and legislative Deputies were only allowed access by chaperoned tours specifically authorized by Joffre. There was little to no French civilian control over the military in the two years Joffre was in command. In this way, the French and British public were not told of the horrendous casualties being inflicted on their armies, catastrophic defeats went unreported, and minor victories were lauded as the road to the inevitable victory which would not come until over 4 years later.
SERBIA
The great German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck decades earlier had rightfully predicted, "The great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans". The spark of the Great War in 1914 came from a teenage Serbian assassin who killed the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. The Serbians were no strangers to assassinations. Eleven years earlier, a group of army officers had carried out a coup there. They shot the King and Queen and threw their naked bodies out the window of the Belgrade palace where they were hacked to pieces by the crowd below. Serbia had been under the brutal rule of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 500 years before emerging as a small kingdom in the 19th century. With many ethnic Serbians living in the numerous neighboring territories, nationalist Serbians had long dreamed of a Greater Serbia. After the Russo-Turkish war in 1877 they gained a little land, and would gain much more from the Turks and Bulgarians after the two Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913. They entered the war in 1914 against the Austria-Hungarian Empire heavily outnumbered and severely lacking in equipment and men. Serbia had one factory producing artillery shells with an output of only 100 per day, enough to supply a single artillery piece for less than one hour of firing. In the two Balkan Wars they had suffered over 90,000 casualties in a population of less than 5 million. They were able to hold out for some time against the inept A-H armies, but in 1915 were completely destroyed with the entry of German and Bulgarian forces. Much of the population was forced into exile and they would suffer the most deaths per capita of any country involved in the War. Serbia would cease to exist as a sovereign nation until nearly 75 years later with the breakup of Yugoslavia. 
THE HINDENBURG/LUDENDORFF TEAM
Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff were the most important figures in the direction of German military affairs throughout most of the War. At the outbreak of the War, Hindenburg was nearly 68-years old and had been retired for 3 years. He was a decorated veteran of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Not known as a great thinker, his reputation rested on being solid, dependable, and nerveless. After the surprising defeats against Russia in August, he was called back into service to command the Eighth Army, the only German force protecting the eastern front from the Russian "steamroller". Every commanding General in the German Army was traditionally partnered with a very able and intelligent strategist as Chief of Staff. It would be Hindenburg's good fortune to be allied with the dominant figure of the War on the German side, Erich Ludendorff. Ludendorff's abilities were recognized early in his career when appointed to the General Staff in 1895 as a lowly Captain. He would spend the next ten years as a protege of the developer of the Schlieffen Plan plotting the German war strategy for the coming war. He was cold and friendless, his work seemingly being his only pleasure. In August 1914 Ludendorff was promoted to General and given command of a regiment carrying out the invasion through Belgium. After the tremendous bombardment of the great fortress in Liege he drove up to the Citadel with only a driver thinking it had already been captured by German troops. After pounding on the door, he entered and was surprised to accept the surrender of the fort by the remaining Belgian troops. For this he was awarded the Pour Le Merite (the Blue Max), Germany's highest military medal. 
The first time Hindenburg and Ludendorff ever met was at the train station in eastern Germany where they assumed command of the retreating German Army. They quickly restored order and would carry out the annihilation of the Russian 2nd Army at the Battle of Tannenburg in early September 1914. Both would go on to greater glory and power in the War which will be covered later in the series.
Later in their lives, both would have interesting interactions with Adolf Hitler. Hindenburg would later be elected President of Germany and was reluctantly forced to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. Upon his death a short time later at the age of 86, Hitler would assume complete control. He despised Hitler and would always sneeringly refer to him as "that Corporal". Ludendorff would never get over the bitter defeat of Germany in 1918 and sought to overthrow the newly formed democratic but weak Weimar Republic. As a war hero figurehead recruited by the tiny Nazi Party, with Hitler he led the ill-fated Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. Hitler was imprisoned for a short time while Ludendorff was not charged and spent the rest of his lonely life writing his memoirs. 
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The quote by Bertrand Russell makes one stop and think. Interesting.
Serbia really suffered a lot during the war. I've studied the history of Serbia and the surrounding Balkan countries. Interesting part of the world, with a history that dates back thousands of years.
I visited Yugoslavia a number of times before the BalkanWars of the 90's.
Hindenburg's capture of ''the Cidatel'' is a footnote, but in my mind a very interesting piece of history.
Another good one Pokermike.
BTW, Yugoslavia means, ''Land of the South Slav's''.
Not 'Land Where They Made the Yugo'?
Glad you like it Kavika. The Balkans has always been an interesting region. The mixture of so many ethnicities: Serbs, Croatians, Slovenes, Albanians, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians, Austrians, Greeks and more. In addition, they are made up of Catholics, various Orthodox Christians, and Muslims which lead to further conflict. For centuries it was battleground of their larger neighbors the Hapsburgs, Russians, and Turks. A mountainous and tough topography makes for a tough and unforgiving people.
One misunderstanding in my piece which I will now correct and clarify. It was Ludendorff, not Hindenburg, who captured the Citadel in Belgium.
Yup, where they made the Yugo, and it's cousin the Weego, which is the 4 door model.
The more I look at the development of WWI, theit appears that a fair number of the military commanders ranged fromunimaginative to inflexible to downright incompetent. The same tardy Allied followup after the (somewhat unexpected) victory at Marne once again gave the German armies time to regroup at the river Aisne and set up (another) entrenched defensive line along the Chemin des Dames Ridge.
Once the Germans were settled in on the ridge of the north bank of the River Aisne, the Allies were in a position of having to attack the enemy on higher ground, against fixed artillary and machine gun emplacements. After two weeks of fruitless effort, the Allied forces basically abandoned the effort to break the German line, and both French/BEF and German forces began moving northward, each attempting to manouevre around the other.
Had Allied commanders been quicker on the uptake following the early success in stopping the German advance (and thereby disrupting the Schlieffen Plan), it appears fairly likely that 'trench warfare' could have been averted, changingthe entire course of the Western Front and potentially saving millions of lives...
KITCHENER WANTS YOU
I have a question for you Mike. Is Gen Hindenburg who they named the Zeppelin after?
Also how did the Serbs manage to escape the genocide that the Armenians suffered under the Turks? What made the difference?
Yes Perrie, the tragic Hindenburg was named after the famous General. The airship itself was named after its inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
Turkish rule, while brutal to its Christian subjects in the Balkans for over 500 years, was simply the administration of distant provinces of its Empire. The Armenians lived on and within the borders of the Turkish homeland. The infamous Armenian Genocide which began in 1915 was not even the first. Twenty years before they massacred about 250,000 of them. The reasoning behind the WWI genocide was that many Armenians in both the Russian and Ottoman territories allied against the Ottomans in the hopes of obtaining their own country. The Turks used this as an excuse to distrust its Armenian subjects and decided to rid themselves of the problem. Those that were not slaughtered outright were led on forced marches into the Syrian deserts to die of starvation and exposure. I will devote an entire segment to this tragedy later in the series.
As always, thanks for the pictures Swamijim.
In all wars, militaries will always have some poor and incompetent leadership. The astounding aspect in World War I was that incompetent generals were not quickly replaced but remained in command and even promoted.
There were only two chief commanders of the British forces in the entire War. Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig, or as I call them "Dumb and Dumber". French was bad but at least he had the excuse of fighting war from the start which was to prove different from all previous wars in scope and the technology of killing. His successor, Haig, saw with his own eyes the futility of those tactics and continued using them through the worst slaughters in British military history at the Somme and Passchendaele.
In my opinion the worst French commander was the aptly named General Charles "The Butcher" Mangin. Finally, the French army mutinied for a time in 1917 after three years of being senselessly driven to slaughter by their leaders without gaining victories or regaining French territory. Order was restored by General Petain who promised the men better food, more equitable leave, and the end to wasteful and useless offensives. Ironically, in WWII he became the head of Nazi-collaborating Vichy France and was later convicted of treason in 1945. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and would die 6 years later at the age of 95.
French General Louis Franchet d'Esperey was actually quite a good battlefield leader though unfairly named "Desperate Frankie"by the British troops . He would serve throughout the entire War and would eventually be awarded France's highest military title, Marshal of France.
The history of Serbia and Turkey is quite important. The battle of ''Plains of Kosovo'' in 1389, is a milestone in Serbian history. The battle was fought in what is now Pristina in Kosovo. The leaders of both the Serbian army and the Turkish army were killed and both sides armies were wiped out. There is debate among historians as to which side won. It wasn't until 1455 that Serbia came completely under Turkish rule.
Through the following centuries there were battles for independence. The Balkan wars of the 1990's were a direct result of the Turkish invasion of the 14th century. Serbia claiming land mass to reconstruct the Serbia empire and Serbian nationalism was the main ingredient.
The UN while giving Kosovo to the Albanians, have only masked the problem in my opinion. Serbia considers Kosovo it's heartland, and sooner or later will retake Kosovo.
There is an old Serbian saying, ''May you die with your rifle on the wall'' Meaning the you'll die a coward....The Balkan feuds are far from over.
One of the reasons that incompetent men satryed in command and in fact, got promoted was the lack of lines of instantaneous communications with those 'back home', on top of a group of people who were very insular-as in, if I fire him, someone might fire me. It's pervasive in the Officer ranks of the military-much like the 'thin blue line' in police work.
I remember an argument I had on Newsvine with someone about Turkey-I was decrying the way the EU has treated Turkey, while Turkey has gone far in trying to reform itself (In fact, w/o those reforms, Edrogan and Co. would not be in power). She maintained Turkey deserved whatever it got form the EU becuase of what it had done to Serbians......I think and thought that a country's ancient past should not be held against it-or no one would talk to anyone......she was vociferous that I was wrong and the Turks deserved to be pushed off a cliff......
''A mountainous and tough topography makes for a tough and unforgiving people.''
As the Nazi's found out in WWII.
There is very little Ottoman influence/building etc left in Serbia. Most were destroyed by the Serbian's. Turkey and Serbia now are making tentative steps in restoring a relationship.