The first months of fighting in the First World War had seen no major breakthrough from any side. The Germans had captured about ten percent of France, and reached within sixty miles of Paris, but then reached a stalemate as both sides fortified their positions with great long lines of trenches running from Belgium to the Swiss border.

Both sides attempt to bring other countries into the war to help break the stalemate and to tip the balance in their favour. The Italians, though deeply divided, decide in the end to join the side of Britain, France and Russia. And an allied attack against the Ottomans fails at Gallipoli.

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Music composed by Freredich Chopin, Mazurka in C Sharp Minor

Picture - Sinking of the Lusitania

Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.wetalkofdreams.com

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The Russians strike hard against their most powerful enemy, Germany. Austro-Hungary help their German ally although their military forces are under-resourced, in large part because through the years the Hungarian parliament had restricted military finding by using it as a bargaining chip for political concessions.

While the Austrians attack Serbia, the Germans achieve a significant victory against Russia at the Battle of Tannenberg.

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Music composed by Alexander Scriabin - Etude in C Sharp Minor

Picture - Tannenberg Bundesarchiv, East Prussian German Infantry

Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.wetalkofdreams.com

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The first main clash of the First World War was on the borders of France and Germany and in Belgium. The Belgians put up more resistance than the Germans expect. However, the Battle of the Frontiers, on the Franco-German border, from 7 August to 6 September 1914 was a disaster for the French army, who suffered very heavy casualties. Meanwhile, the British Expeditionary Force were making their way to the front.

The war was set on a grim path of attritional fighting, and with both sides able to draw on millions more men it became virtually impossible to secure an easy victory. As stalemate was reached, the dreadful realisation set in that the combatants would be in this for the long haul.

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Music composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff (Preludes, Op. 32, Lento, in B minor)

Picture - French Bayonet Charge

Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.wetalkofdreams.com

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The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. A month later Austria retaliates by declaring war on Serbia, which in turn brings Russia and the other great powers of Europe into conflict. As Edward Grey memorably expressed it: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again on our lifetime”.

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Music composed by Frederic Chopin (Mazurkas in C sharp minor)

Picture - Franz Ferdinand, Sarajevo

Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.wetalkofdreams.com

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Why did the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand trigger the First World War?

I also describe how the long struggle between European powers for mastery in central Africa reaches its climax. 

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Picture - The Nine Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII

Music composed by Frederic Chopin (The Polish Dancer)

Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.wetalkofdreams.com

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An analogy often given to the Balkans leading up to the First World War is a tinderbox, awaiting a flame to ignite it and set off a major conflagration across Europe. In fact, the region suffered a large-scale conflict already two years before the First World War began.

Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro had all acquired their independence from the Ottoman Empire over the course of the 19th century. None of them, however, were happy with the territory under their control. Each aspired to lands still under Ottoman rule in Albania, Macedonia and Thrace. 

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Music composed by Frederic Chopin (The Polish Dancer)

Picture - King George I of Greece and Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria at Thessaloniki

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The Italian invasion of Libya 1911.

After initial successes, the Italians face strong resistance against the Ottomans and Libyans

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Music composed by Edward Elgar (The Crown of India, March of the Mogul Emperors)

Picture - Italian landing at Tripoli

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Following their countries independence in the mid 19th century, the Italians hoped to establish their status among the Great European Powers by acquiring colonial possessions. Their first main attempt was an unsuccessful invasion of Ethiopia, with a defeat at the Battle of Adowa in 1896

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Music composed by Frederic Chopin

Picture - Battle of Adwa

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In the first years of the 20th century the Austrian Empire faced numerous problems, most of all the rising sense of nationalism among its various peoples. Attempting a more assertive foreign policy, the Austrians set about a plan to formally annex Bosnia and Herzegovina, which since 1878 had been administered by Vienna but still remained under nominal Ottoman suzerainty. However, this decision backfired terribly, triggering a six month diplomatic crisis which almost led to general war 

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Music: Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony

Picture - Le Petit Journal, Balkan Crisis 1908

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The Ottoman Empire is in disarray and its treasury bankrupt. Under Sultan Abdul Hamid, the Red Sultan, there are violent suppression of uprisings of the Armenians in Anatolia. And in the Balkans the Macedonians and Albanians appeal for independence. A rebellion in Macedonia leads to the The Young Turk revolution and the overthrow of the sultan.

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Music: Mazurkas by Chopin

Picture - Sultan Abdul Hamid

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