Sunday Times 2
The worst war ever
‘World War One’ was regarded as the worst war ever in world history. It had caused the highest number of deaths and damage done
Nineteen-year-old Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip who fired the shots that killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife
than ever before in an international conflict. The casualties of world war one totalled more than 20 million.
Death came in brutal forms. Men were killed by machine guns, explosive shells, died in torpedoed merchant ships and some warriors died drowned in the mud of the battle fields. The war took its toll on civilians, too. Air raids caused little damage but millions were affected by starvation over the years and fell victim to diseases.
What caused the War
Many books have been written in an attempt to answer this question but for which there is no simple answer.
In 1914, the political map of Europe was dominated by five great powers: Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, France, Germany and Russia. Among these nations there was an uneasy balance of power and they formed alliances for self-protection. Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy formed a ‘Triple Alliance’. France, Russia and Britain also formed a ‘Triple Entente’. Their intention was to help the alliance members.
The seeds of World War I were sown in the 19th century with Germany begining to envy the colonies of Britain and France. In 1905, Germany quarreled with France over Morocco. Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, small nations were agitating against the might of ‘Austria-Hungary’ and the declining Ottoman Empire including Turkey. Some Hungarians saw Serbia as a threat to Austria-Hungary. In 1912, two Balkan wars erupted in Eastern Europe. From these Balkan wars Serbia emerged as a military power of some strength, confirming the fears of Austro-Hungarians.
Chain reaction
On a hot Summer’s morning in June 1914, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnia-born Belgrade student, who hated Austrian rule lurked in a street of Sarajevo, Bosnia and fired two shots and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, and his wife. The killing triggered a series of events leading ultimately to’ World War One’. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for what happened, and then declared war on Serbia, one month after the assassination in July 1914. Next day Serbia’s ally, Russia, prepared for war. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia and on August 3, on France. On August 4, Germany invaded Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany — and thus began World War One.
The two sides
Two main groups were involved in the war. They were ‘The Allies’ and the ‘The Central powers’.
The British empire, Belgium, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, the United States comprised ‘The Allies’.
Austia-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire belonged to ‘The central powers’.
US involvement
When World War One began, the United States stayed out of it. President Woodrow Wilson told the German ambassador, “We have to be neutral. Otherwise our mixed populations would wage war on each other”
On May 1915, Lusitania, one of the most splendid ocean liners in the world, prepared to sail from New York. An American millionaire, Alfred Vanderbilt, declared: “The Germans dare not sink this ship.” Six days later when the Lusitania was close to the south coast of Ireland, it was torpedoed, drowning 1,198 people including 124 Americans. Among them was Vanderbilt, who had given his life jacket to a young woman though he could not swim. The President of the United States sent a note of protest to German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, but U boats of Germany went on sinking unarmed vessels including a number of American cargo ships. So on April 2, 1917 President Wilson told the Congress that recent actions of the German government were ”nothing less than war against the United States” and declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.
Birth of fighter Aircraft
In 1914, France had about 1,500 military aircraft, Germany 1,000 and Britain 179. It was the first time aeroplanes had played a part in a war. At first they were used only to observe the enemy, but later they started throwing things at the enemy. This went a step further to fitting machine guns in the planes: thus the fighter plane was born.
Russian Revolution
For three years, Russia fought against Germans enduring enormous casualties, hunger and political chaos at home. By 1917, they were on the verge of collapse. In February 1917, the people of Petrograd rioted for food. Soldiers joined in and the riot became a revolution. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a socialist government led by Alexender Kerensky tried to introduce democratic reforms and keep the war going. When Russian offensives failed, and half-starved soldiers deserted in thousands, Vladimir Lenin of the Bolshevik Party and Leon Trotsky overthrew the Kerensky government and accepted Germany’s harsh peace terms. By the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia gave up huge expanses of its imperial territory (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Bessarabia and the Ukraine). They became nations on their own. In July 1918 the communists killed the Tsar and his family.
End of the war
“With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight to the end.” This order of the day was issued on April 12, 1918 by British commander, Field Marshal Haig, after a new German offensive. In August, the Allies counterattacked, and the Germans crumbled. One month later Marshal Foch, in charge of all Allied armies, ordered a general advance which did not stop until the Germans asked for peace on November 7.
Peace terms
Peace discussions were mediated by Marshal Ferdinand Foch, General in chief of all Allied armies. The Allied forces demanded that Germans should leave all occupied territory, surrender their arms and warships, withdraw all forces from the west of the River Rhine, return allied prisoners, and allow allied troops to occupy German territory. Foch gave Germans only 72 hours. On November 9, German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm gave up the throne and Germany became a republic. On November 11 at 5 am, German delegates entered a railway coach in the Forest of Compiegne to sign the armistice. Fighting stopped on all fronts at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918.
The peace conference
The peace conference opened in Paris. It was to be a council of ten: Two representatives from Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States. At this conference Germans signed the Treaty of Versailles, by which the size of the country was reduced by one eighth. Germany lost all its colonies and was barred from having a navy, and the size of the army was limited.
The cost
If the cost is measured according to the number of casualties, this was the bloodiest war in history up to its time. More than 8 million men died in combat and 20 million were wounded. The total number of civilian casualties was about 22 million. Where the fighting occurred, land was laid waste. Many forest land and farms were destroyed. In the area of international finance, the war left a lasting scar. In the next two decades, the world was plagued with economic problems.
Lessons to learn
Wars can be precipitated by very trivial events, but they can spread like viral infections causing harm whereever they touch. Outcome can be disastrous to man, animal and land incurring many lasting psychosocial, health and economic adverse impacts.
(The writer is a professor in medicine at
the Peradeniya University)
