First Blood
The first months of the WW1 consisted of advances in each direction. While the absolute carnage the war would be famous for didn't materialize yet, the casualties were still horrendous in the beginning.
Balkan Front
In Serbia, thousands of veterans from the Balkan wars rallied for the defense of Belgrade. They brought with them valuable experience that would be very useful in the upcoming battles. Despite that, the army lacked modern weaponry and the equipment necessary to fight their larger and wealthier adversaries. There were not enough rifles to arm everybody, most troops weren't wearing the newest uniforms or none at all with reservists wearing civilian clothing and non-combat shoes. To top it all off, there weren't enough ammunition reserves to help them fend off the enemy, leaving them completely dependent on imports from France and Russia, who were also experiencing supply shortages.
The Austrians weren't exempt from having similar disadvantages. Their troops consisted entirely of conscripts, a quarter of them illiterate, who could understand neither German or Hungarian. Not to mention, most of the soldiers - Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and others- had connections to the empire's various enemies.
Despite this, knowing about Serbia's weaknesses led the Austrians to think it would collapse in less than a month. Not only do the Serbs have to defend against Austria, but they also have to keep a watch on their hostile neighbor, Bulgaria. They know the Bulgarians would want revenge for last year's humiliation. Their only hope is for Russia to defeat the Austrians before they could be overrun.
In the first shots of the war, the Austrians advanced into Serbian territory only to be met by the fierce resistance of the Serbian army. In every battle of 1914, all were won by the Serbs. Despite the Austrians momentarily occupying Belgrade on 2nd December, they were immediately thrown back. Serbia made it clear it wasn’t going to collapse in a week as the others believed.
Western Front
In the west, the Germans invaded Belgium. Their first target was the city of Liege as part of the ‘Schlieffen Plan’. Unexpectedly, they ran into stiff Belgian resistance in the ensuing battle. The Belgians also destroyed the railway lines by crashing locomotives into each other and blew up bridges as part of a scorch-earth policy to buy the French extra time to mobilize. This severely delayed the Germans' operation timetable, leaving them behind schedule.
Despite this, the Germans kept advancing. They inevitably captured Liege and moved on towards Brussels, capturing it on 20 August. As they advance across the small country, the Germans took out their frustrations on the local population in what would be called the ‘Rape of Belgium’. This consisted of rampant looting, destruction of property including universities and reprisals against civilians. Soldiers would tell stories of people caught who were caught with rifles being lined up against a wall to be shot. The Entente press soon picked up on these reports and made it front-page news. This strengthened anti-German sentiment in both the belligerent countries and in neutral countries such as the USA.
German Infantry on the battlefield, August 1914
When they reached the French border, they were met by elements of the British Expeditionary Force and the French army. Still, this wasn’t enough to hold back the ‘Jerries’, as the English called them. As the German army blitzed their way across northern France, the British and the French retreated southwards until they were on the outskirts of Paris. The French contemplated moving its government to Bordeaux as the fear was widespread at the time. But when recon planes reported that the Germans were bypassing the city instead of advancing directly into Paris, the Entente commanders decided to hold the line at the river Marne. Reinforcements were directed north by Rail and even Parisian taxi cabs. Though their contribution was negligible, they were nonetheless hailed as the ‘Heroes of Paris’ which helped in raising morale.
The 3 nations battled across the banks of the Marne river. In the end, the Germans were finally halted and Paris was saved. Hoping to gain an edge on the map, the Germans and the Allies try to outflank each other going north until they reached the coast. In the end, the ‘Race to the Sea’ was indecisive as they merely just extended the frontline which now ran from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border.
With this loss, the German High Command realized that all hopes of a quick victory were gone and this was going to be a long, bloody war. They also now have to fight on two fronts, as they soon received reports from East Prussia.
On December 20, the French launched an offensive aimed at Champagne to push back the German frontlines. But it resulted in only small gains with the French suffering up to 90,000 casualties.
Eastern Front
In late August, the Russians made the first move and invaded Germany. Two armies advanced into East Prussia, causing a wave of refugees to flee the area. To combat this threat two generals were assigned who would become legends later on. Erich Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg were sent to the east to push the Russians out of the fatherland for good. With the two men cooperating, they managed to score a huge victory at Tannenberg. In the battle, a smaller German force managed to wipe out the two Russian armies and drove back across the border, taking 90,000 prisoners. Tannenberg would propel the two men to national stardom and become synonymous with the war. For the Russians, the defeat was unbearable especially for Samsonov, who would later commit suicide while retreating.
Hindenburg and Ludendorff, the Heroes of Tannenberg
When an Austro-Hungarian offensive against the Russians failed, they were driven back across Galicia, leaving the garrison of Przemysl to be besieged. This forced the Germans to launch a diversionary attack from the north towards Warsaw. They would soon battle the Russians in the city of Lodz though there was no clear winner. As the December snow froze the land, both sides dig in for the winter until next year.
Across the World
As the nations of Europe went to war, the world started buzzing with activity. In Asia, Japan honored its alliance with Britain by declaring on Germany. They soon began attacking German colonies in the Pacific and their concession in China, Kiatschou. The garrison held out in a short siege before surrendering on November 7th. The same fate also befell the German pacific islands which were also occupied by Japan as well. In the southern Pacific, both New Guinea and Samoa fell to Australians and New Zealanders respectively. Despite the fall of Germany’s empire in the Orient, the East Asia Squadron headed by Maximilian von Spee managed to sail out, disperse and wreak havoc on Allied shipping in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Nonetheless, their goal was to get back to Germany before they ran out of fuel and ammunition. After separating with SMS Emden, the squadron sailed through the Pacific, avoiding the British and Japanese warships sent out to find them. They refueled on the way from whatever collier they come across until they reached the Panama Canal. After negotiating with US and Panamanian officials, the Germans were given permission to travel through the canal into the Caribbean.
After crossing the canal, Von Spee ordered one last convoy raiding operation before regrouping near the Bahamas. All the ships detached themselves and targeted any British and French merchant ship they came across. The Caribbean Raids, as they would become known, would be the stuff of legend as the East Asia squadron sank tens of thousands in tonnage. As the British Caribbean fleet scrambled on high alert, the squadron slipped out and regrouped in the Atlantic. From there, they made their way through the Straits of Gibraltar at night and reached the Austrian port of Trieste.
Maximilian Von Spee, the Pirate of the Caribbean
In Germany, Von Spee would be celebrated as a man that slipped back into Germany against all odds. Back in Britain, Winston Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty, was reportedly furious after being given the reports of the German squadrons' escape into Austrian hands. He vowed to himself 'never make such a mistake again'.
Africa
The same could be said for its African colonies. While Togoland was easily captured by the French, Southwest Africa, Kamerun and Tanganyika had held on initially. It was only in 1915, did the real fighting begin in the Dark Continent. General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck led an army of Askaris into British Kenya and captured Taveta. To repel the Germans, an expeditionary force was deployed to Kilimanjaro but was defeated Lettow-Vorbeck's Schutztruppe.
The British defeat at Tanga, 1914
Scandinavia
At the outbreak of war, Sweden’s military wasn’t strong enough to take on the Russians. It would need time to mobilize its manpower and strengthen its navy, which wouldn’t be finished until 1915. Plans had already made by some generals for either an overland invasion through Lappland or a naval assault on the Aland islands near Stockholm. Either way, that would have to wait until next year. For now, they could only commit naval bombardments on Russians ports on the Finnish coast.
Nonetheless, Sweden’s entry forced Denmark and Norway to be truly neutral and not fall to the pressure of British blockade. They also refused to give in to Britain’s demands to cease trading with Germany.
King Gustav V gives a speech declaring war on Russia
The USA
In the US, President Hughes declared the country’s neutrality. He wished to stay out of the war ‘over there’ as he viewed as none of the country’s concern. Neutrality was also strengthened with both Germany’s invasion of Belgium and Russia’s attack on Sweden, another neutral country. This was supported by mostly German, Irish, and Swedish Americans who weren’t fond of the Entente. Despite this, he would continue giving loans and trading with both sides throughout the war. Although he would clash with the British as they tightened their blockade over time.
The Ottomans
On November 11, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Entente. They also declared a jihad in which they called on all Muslims in the Entente nations to rise up and aid the empire in the name of Islam. In their first moves, they had previously bombarded the Russian ports in the Black Sea. They also advanced into the Caucasus which ended in utter disaster. The problem was that they marched into the snowy mountains in the middle of winter, without the right clothing. As a result, most of the men froze to death until they withdrew in January, leaving behind a trail of frozen corpses discovered by the Russians. The Young Turks soon tried to find a scapegoat for this defeat. Unfortunately, there was just one group that became the perfect target.