Global War and Peace
The First World War
NARRATOR:
The murder of Franz Ferdinand did not immediately set Europe alight. International tensions in
early July remained low. But behind the scenes in Vienna, Austria-Hungary’s leaders were
planning how to take revenge on Serbia without getting stamped on by Serbia’s powerful friends.
Even before the assassination, Army Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf had pressed for war
against Serbia no fewer than 20 times. Now he made his case again.
CONRAD VON HÖTZENDORF:
[reading] I expressed to his majesty my opinion that war with Serbia was unavoidable. That is
entirely correct, said his majesty. But how are you going to wage war if everyone, in particular
Russia, is going to attack us? We have backing from Germany, I replied. His majesty gave me a
searching look and said, can you be certain of that?
NARRATOR:
This was the moment when what could have been just another war in the Balkans began to turn
into the First World War. Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph now asked the German kaiser
for support. On the 6th of July, he got just the answer he wanted.
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR, Berlin:
[reading] The German government is of the opinion that we must decide what is to be done.
Whatever we decide, we may always be certain that we will find Germany at our side, a faithful
ally and friend of our monarchy.
NARRATOR:
Germany’s crucial decision to back Austria was made with no care for the consequences. Neither
the kaiser nor his senior political and military leaders took any steps to find out what AustriaHungary had in mind. It was an extraordinary oversight, because nothing in the Balkans
happened in isolation.
Europe was divided into two camps. On one side were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. On
the other were France and Russia. War with one could mean war with the others. No one knew
how Russia would respond if one of the leading Balkan countries was attacked. She might go to
war with Austria to protect Serbia. Then Germany would have to fight to protect Austria.
The Germans thought the Russians might stay out of it. The German ambassador in St.
Petersburg insisted Russia couldn’t risk war for fear of internal revolution. The German foreign
minister decided Austria would quietly settle with Serbia. The German chancellor, BethmannHollweg, was almost as confident.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com BETHMANN-HOLLWEG:
[reading] The crime of Sarajevo was reprehensible. But politically, it would have the positive
results of making Russia thoroughly disgusted with the Serbs. [28:45]
NARRATOR:
It was Germany’s confident support that pushed Austria forward. But far from plunging the
world into war in 1914 out of aggression, Germany was just nudging it closer out of
incompetence and wishful thinking. The kaiser was so sure no war was brewing that he went on
holiday.
In Sarajevo, the trial of Gavrilo Princip was underway. The court had plenty of evidence to prove
that Serbian army officers had helped him, and with Germany’s unconditional support, that was
enough for Austria. She sentenced Princip to 20 years in jail, where he died in 1918. She sent
Serbia an ultimatum. This document was Austria’s excuse for war. It was filled with demands so
extreme and insulting that Serbia could never accept them. But just in case they did, the Austrian
ambassador in Belgrade was ordered to reject any reply as unacceptable. He delivered the
ultimatum at 6 p.m. on the 23rd of July, 1914.
Slavka Mihajlovic was a Belgrade doctor.
SLAVKA MIHAJLOVIC:
[reading] The news of the ultimatum spread quickly, and soon there was a real alert. Streets and
bars were crowded with anxious people. Everybody wondered what answer our government
would give, whether a new war would be avoided.
NARRATOR:
Austria’s ultimatum caught the world’s diplomats napping.
BAVARIAN DIPLOMATIC REPORT:
[reading] The French government, the French press, and public opinion have been inconceivably
surprised. Paris is almost dead. All the ambassadors but one are out of town. The Italian
ambassador is in Ireland.
NARRATOR:
The kaiser was on his yacht in Norway when the text of the Austrian ultimatum arrived.
ADMIRAL GEORGE VON MULLER, Chief of the Imperial Naval Cabinet:
[reading] The kaiser arrived on deck as usual after breakfast, and said to me, I’m still holding the
wireless message. That’s a pretty strong note for once in a while. It certainly is, I replied, but it
means war. Whereupon the kaiser observed that Serbia would never risk a war.
NARRATOR:
She might not have risked it on her own, but on the 24th of July, the Serbian regent, Prince
Alexander, telegrammed Russia for help. In St. Petersburg, the Russian foreign minister spoke
frankly to the British ambassador:
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER:
[reading] Austria would not have acted so aggressively without the consent of Germany. I hope
the British government would declare itself on the side of France and Russia without delay.
[31:55]
NARRATOR:
Russia was convinced that Germany was warmongering. On the 26th of July, she called up her
reserves. This was the second key stage of the crisis, as Britain’s foreign secretary, Edward Grey,
warned on the 28th.
EDWARD GREY:
[reading] From the moment the dispute ceases to be one between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,
and becomes one in which another great power is involved, it cannot but end in the greatest
catastrophe that has ever befallen the continent of Europe.
NARRATOR:
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia that same day. The first shots of the war were fired
from here, the Austrian fortress of Zemun, just across the river from Belgrade. In the dead of
night, Major Voja Tankosic had the Black Hand blow the only railway bridge.
SLAVKA MIHAJLOVIC:
[reading] Windows shattered to smithereens, and broken glass covered the floor. Patients started
screaming. Then there was another explosion, and another one. So it was true; the war had
begun.
SERBIAN SOLDIER:
[reading] How well our old city deserved the name the Turks had given her: the House of Wars.
Shells fired from all sides were criss-crossing above her. The Austrians had peculiar weapons,
the so-called Monitors, little boats armed with heavy guns circling Belgrade like rabid dogs and
firing from every direction.
NARRATOR:
It was still only a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. And on the 29th of July, as the
shells fell on Belgrade, there was a final attempt to keep it that way. A series of last-minute
telegrams flashed across Europe, tsar to kaiser, cousin to cousin.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS:
[reading] Dear Willie, an ignoble war has been declared on a weak country. The indignation in
Russia is enormous… Dear Nicky, I am exerting my utmost influence on the Austrians. I
confidently hope that you will help me to… Dear Willie, my troops shall not take any
provocative action.
NARRATOR:
But by now, the crisis was beyond the control of monarchs or politicians. It was in the hands of
the military. From the moment Russia mobilized her army, German generals knew their own
clock was ticking.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com The alliance between France and Russia meant that Germany faced a war on two fronts. Her only
hope was to deal with France in the west before the main Russian armies could invade from the
east. That left no time to wait and see. For Germany, Russian mobilization meant war. [35:00]
Germany hadn’t looked for a fight. Her generals knew a European war would be long and
devastating, even for the victors. But if it was going to happen, they thought, better sooner than
later.
GOTTLIEB VON JAGOW, German Foreign Minister:
[reading] According to more competent observation, Russia will be prepared to fight in a few
years. Then she will crush us by the number of her soldiers. Then she will have built her Baltic
sea fleet and strategic railways; our side, meanwhile, will have grown steadily weaker.
NARRATOR:
On the 1st of August, Germany declared war on Russia. Two days later she declared war on
Russia’s ally, France. Across Europe, ten million men headed off to fight. For all the bands and
flag waving, many went unwillingly to war.
GERMAN OFFICER:
[reading] Where are we off to? France? Belgium? Or the east? At the station, people waved
goodbye, some with handkerchiefs. I thought of my wife and child left alone at home. In fact, it
wasn’t so much a thought as a fearful shadow flitting over my soul.
HENRI AIMÉ GAUTHIER, French Soldier:
[reading] God, how long is this town? My bayonet’s digging in, my collar’s strangling me. When
I look up, I see a pretty girl. She was so full of admiration, so moved by it all that I realized
we’ve got to look handsome and walk tall. Off we marched to the sound of shrill brass, although
where we’re going, you die, you’re defaced, hacked up, torn apart. All down the line, my
comrades straighten up at the sight of her.
DMITRY OSKIN, Russian Soldier:
[reading] There’s great excitement among my comrades. The bachelors are calm; they’re even
joking about it. Family men are depressed. Some are saying we’ll get nothing from this war.
We’ll get beaten by the Germans. What’s in it for us peasant soldiers? Why have we got to fight
for some offended Serbs?
NARRATOR:
The leaders had little better idea why they were fighting than the men. They had no lists of war
aims. Germany and Austria, Serbia, Russia, and France were all convinced they were fighting a
defensive war forced on them by someone else. The only great power in Europe still on the
sidelines was Britain.
On the 2nd of August, 1914, Britain was still at peace, but only just.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com ROBERT SAUNDERS, Schoolteacher:
[reading] We’ve been in a state of great excitement, as the reservists are being called up. All the
railways are guarded. Everything points to the great war, so long expected, being upon us.
[38:30]
NARRATOR:
But Britain was the only great power who could not claim she was the victim of aggression.
Nobody had attacked her, so why should she fight? It wasn’t really to defend the rights of small
nations, at least not Serbia, according to The Manchester Guardian.
THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN:
[reading] If it were physically possible for Serbia to be towed out to sea and sunk there, the air of
Europe would at once seem cleaner.
NARRATOR:
Nor was Britain bound by treaty obligations, as the foreign secretary, Edward Grey, assured
Parliament.
SIR EDWARD GREY:
[reading] We are not parties to the Franco-Russian alliance. We do not even know the terms of
the alliance.
NARRATOR:
But in private, Grey and other leaders knew that Britain had to fight. If Britain stayed neutral, the
war would still threaten the country’s vast empire, its global trade and security. And Britain
needed to stay on friendly terms with France and Russia. Even in peacetime, she was not
powerful enough to defend her empire against everyone. In Africa and India, the safety of
Britain’s colonies depended on French and Russian goodwill. In 1914, Britain feared her friends
just as much as her enemies.
SIR GEORGE BUCHANAN, British Ambassador, St. Petersburg:
[reading] If we fail Russia now, we cannot hope to maintain that friendly cooperation with her in
Asia that is of such vital importance to us.
NARRATOR:
Above all, Britain could never afford to have Europe dominated by a triumphant Germany. If
Germany overran the Channel ports, Britain’s control of the seas would be under threat. Prime
Minister Herbert Asquith took a pragmatic view.
HERBERT ASQUITH:
[reading] It is quite against British interests that France should be wiped out.
NARRATOR:
At 11 p.m. on the 4th of August, Britain declared war on Germany.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com DAVID LLOYD GEORGE, Chancellor of the Exchequer:
[reading] It was like awaiting the signal for the pulling of a lever which would hurl millions to
their doom. The deep notes of Big Ben rang out into the night, the first strokes in Britain’s most
fateful hour since she arose out of the deep. Every face was suddenly contracted into a painful
intensity. [40:55]
ROBERT SCOTT MACFIE, British Soldier:
[reading] It’s horrible to think of all the suffering which may follow our mobilization. I suppose
the less one thinks of it, the better.
RONALD TREVOR, Royal Navy:
[reading] We never talk of death and very seldom think much about it. It’s when everyone is
asleep and you are awake that sometimes you look into the future and wonder.
NARRATOR:
The British government had a war book listing all that had to be done in an emergency. The
country’s leaders knew war would be a long and painful struggle, a slow, grinding process of
blockade, of starving the enemy out. But most civilians had no idea what they were getting into.
Across Europe there was a run on the banks. The war couldn’t last longer than a year, the French
finance minister told a British general, because the money to pay for it would run out.
Most people expected Britain, with the largest navy in the world, to fight a sea war. The foreign
secretary reassured the nation.
SIR EDWARD GREY:
[House of Commons, 3rd August 1914] For us, with a powerful fleet which we believe able to
protect our commerce, to protect our shores, and to protect our interests if we are engaged in war,
we shall suffer but little more than we shall suffer if we stand aside.
NARRATOR:
Burt Fielder was a sergeant in the Royal Marines. He reassured his wife.
BURT FIELDER:
[reading] My dear Nell, I don’t think this war is going to be half as bad as people expect it to be.
You see, it’s not a hard job for England, so there’s no need to worry yourself. As long as I can
keep you informed as to where I am, it’ll all be all right.
NARRATOR:
But the weapons with which the world went to war were so new that few had ever been fired in
anger. Countries were armed with battleships and submarines less than ten years old. Nobody
really knew how to use them. All the European powers had been stockpiling new artillery,
machine guns, explosive shells, but none had fought a major war in Europe for over 40 years.
The crisis had begun in the Balkans. And as the Austrians faced up to the Serbs, the First World
War started here as it would go on everywhere else, a war in which old scores would be settled
and the rulebook thrown away.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com MILITARY ORDERS, Austro-Hungarian Ninth Corps:
[reading] The war is taking us into a country inhabited by a population inspired with fanatical
hatred towards ourselves. An attitude of extreme severity, extreme harshness, and extreme
distrust is to be observed towards everybody. [44:05]
NARRATOR:
In some sectors, Serbian civilians did fight a guerrilla war, not in uniform, not in the regular
army. It was hard for the Austrians to tell who was a real enemy, who was not. But their reprisals
against the Serbian people were vicious. This was a war of nationalities and races, not just
against an enemy army, but against whole peoples. In the first month of the war, 4,000 civilians
in western Serbia were killed or disappeared.
MILORAD MARKOVIC, Serbian Officer:
[reading] They burned houses down, looted, raped, killed. Seventeen people, all women, girls,
children tied with rope, dead in a ditch by the road. All of them slaughtered.
MILETA PRODANOVIC, Serbian Soldier:
[reading] At 9 a.m. I went to Lazhnitsa to get some supplies for the battery. In the town you
could see the atrocities left behind by the enemy. Ten people, some children among them, had
been hanged near the church. About a hundred people their throats cut at the railway station, a
terrible sight to cast your eyes on.
NARRATOR:
At the Serbian town of Prinyava(sp), this memorial commemorates those who died. The Serbian
government commissioned a report into the massacres by a Swiss doctor, Rudolf Reiss.
RUDOLF REISS:
[reading] The massacres of the civil population were systematically organized by the command
of the invading army. It’s upon the command that all responsibility must rest, and also the
disgrace with which this army has covered itself for all time.
NARRATOR:
Austria-Hungary was far less ruthless when it came to fighting the Serbian army. That too set a
pattern for the war, a foretaste of the military weakness which would dog Austria-Hungary’s
partnership with Germany. This was a war in which events on one front could have a critical
effect on another.
Germany was relying on her ally Austria-Hungary to hold the eastern front. With Russia massing
on her borders, Germany was horrified to learn Austria had concentrated her reserves not against
Russia, but down in the Balkans to deal with Serbia. Meanwhile, the main Serbian army had
marched up from the south of the country, gathering numbers as it went. On the 12th of August,
it finally met the Austrians at Cer Mountain.
The Serbs had taken up strong defensive positions along the mountain range, and waited for the
Austrians to walk into the trap.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com EGON KISCH, Austro-Hungarian Soldier:
[reading] The Serbs surrounded us. The Serbian artillery had their range perfectly. And luckily,
so we were told by senior officers, we had arrived at the Serbian artillery practice area.
Laughable. [47:45]
NARRATOR:
The Serbs easily beat off the Austro-Hungarian attack.
MILETA PRODANOVIC:
[reading] We could see the enemy retreating along the river. Their ammunition train left all their
carts in the valley and ran away as soon as they were hit by our artillery.
EGON KISCH:
[reading] A beaten army – no, an uncontrolled mob ran towards the border in senseless panic.
Drivers whipped their horses. Officers and soldiers shoved and squeezed through between the
columns of wagons.
NARRATOR:
Austro-Hungarian prisoners captured in the first Allied victory of the war. Austria had thought
Serbia would be a pushover, swift revenge for the murder of Franz Ferdinand, but Serbia had
scattered the Austrian army.
The victories of 1914 cost Serbia 130,000 men. They did not die in vain, reads the inscription on
this memorial to Serbia’s dead. Every nation would learn that nothing in this war would be easy,
quick, or clean.
On the western front, a French ambulance driver wrote to his son.
FRENCH AMBULANCE DRIVER:
[reading] Do you ever think of your daddy, walking day and night over plowed fields and getting
very used to shells exploding all over the place? I’d really like to hear from you. How’s school?
Don’t be too quick to learn the geography of Europe. I think it’s all about to change.
[credits]
NARRATOR:
In the next episode of The First World War, German armies roll into Belgium and France,
leaving a trail of atrocities, and France, aided by Britain, fights for her life.
SOOMO PUBLISHING history.webtexts.com