6. Popular enthusiasm and support for Austria (Berlin, 4 August 1914) August 1, 1914, in Berlin (1914) by Arthur Kampf
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. German troops charging into battle (above) and digging in to defensive positions (below) in the west, 1914 Failure of the Schlieffen Plan The invasion of Belgium made Germany seem like the aggressor and brought Britain into the War. The plan had not been updated to take recent Russian and French military reforms into account. Moltke weakened the thrust through Belgium by diverting troops to Alsace and Lorraine and East Prussia. The Germans faced stiffer resistance than anticipated – in particular they had not expected to have to fight the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The German advance halted at the First Battle of the Marne (4-10 Sept. 1914) and the Battle of the Aisne (15-18 Sept. 1914). September-December: The ‘race for sea’. By December 1914 the front had stagnated into a 400 mile system of trenches running from the Swiss border to the North Sea.
17. Trench Warfare Postcard: Resting in the Trenches, c. 1914 The Battlefield in the Argonne Forest (1916)
18.
19. Trench Warfare German troops attacking, July 1916 (Top Left), posed photograph of a ‘Storm Trooper’ (Bottom Left), German soldier wearing First World War trench armour (Above)
25. Food Shortages By the autumn of 1916 food shortages, Inflation and mounting casualties beginning to effect the public mood. 1916-17: The ‘Turnip Winter’ – exceptionally cold weather and a poor potato harvest lead to a severe food and fuel crisis. Between 1916 and 1917 deaths from hypothermia and starvation rose from 121,000 to 293,000. Infant Mortality at 50% by 1918. Above Left: The first mobile kitchen ( Gulaschkanone) in Berlin, c. 1916. Below Left: Queuing for food, 1917.
28. Propaganda “ Help us to Triumph: Buy War Bonds!” Poster by Fritz Erler (1916) Poster showing Wilhelm II and his assertion that he had never sought war (1915)
32. Verdun (1916) Offensive against the fortress of Verdun intended to ‘bleed the French white.’ Feb.-June 1916: 315,000 French and 281,000 Germans killed, but the French held on.