Chapter Summaries

The chapter described Germany’s Schlieffen Plan, the assault on Belgium’s Fortified City of Liege, and France’s response with Plan XVII. Liege fell on August 19 after delaying the German advance for more than ten days, while French forces prepared to attack Alsace and Lorraine.

• General Schlieffen’s plan concentrated German forces on a sweeping advance through Belgium to encircle France, while leaving only nine divisions to hold the Eastern Front.
• Moltke the Younger inherited Schlieffen’s strategy, and Germany mobilized its armies by rail before declaring war on France and Belgium.
• German forces used four Big Bertha Howitzers to bombard Fortified City of Liege, but its commander rejected their demand to surrender.
• The German Army captured Fortified City of Liege on August 19, after Belgian resistance had delayed its advance for more than ten days.
• Joffre activated Plan XVII, ordering French forces to recover Alsace and Lorraine and advance against German positions.

Joffre urged the French First and Second Armies to attack through Alsace, and the French briefly captured Mulhouse before German reinforcements retook it. Despite severe losses and recognizing that Germany’s main offensive was coming through Belgium, Joffre continued to believe a French advance into Germany could defeat the enemy.

• Joffre persuaded Dubail to support an offensive, and Dubail sent Bonneau’s 45,000-man Alsace Detachment to attack Altkirch and Mulhouse.
• Bonneau’s troops captured Altkirch after a six-hour battle, then seized Mulhouse and celebrated the victory as French civilians welcomed them.
• German reinforcements recaptured Mulhouse, bringing French losses there to nearly 30,000; Joffre ordered the offensive to continue and formed a replacement Alsace Detachment under Bo.
• Nearly 600,000 French troops attacked German positions in Alsace, but Rupprecht and Heringen’s forces inflicted more than 20,000 French casualties on the first day, prompting Dubail to suspend the assault.
• Rupprecht retreated gradually to draw French troops into Alsace, and the French occupied Sarrebourg and retook Mulhouse as Joffre praised their advances.
• Joffre recognized that Germany’s main attack was coming through Belgium but still believed French forces could advance through Alsace and Lorraine and encircle the German main force.

The French Army suffered heavy losses against the advancing Germans, while General Lanrezac moved the Fifth Army north to meet the threat in Belgium. As the British Expeditionary Force arrived near Mons, Arthur prepared to send Australasian troops to support France and gain wartime experience.

• German troops ambushed a French patrol in a forest, then advanced across the border and attacked towns including Neufchâteau, Virton, Montmédy, and Longwy.
• General Lanrezac moved his elite forces north, and Joffre later ordered the Fifth Army to march to the Belgian border.
• Lanrezac's Fifth Army fought General Below's Second Army near Charleroi, initially pushing the Germans back before their reinforcements strengthened the assault.
• The British Expeditionary Force arrived near Mons to join the French defense against the German advance.
• Arthur chose Australasia's Fourth Division as the main force for an early expedition to France, while keeping other troops in reserve to defend Australasia and its colonies.

After France’s defeat at the Battle of the Frontiers, Captain Miller advised Joffre to halt the retreat and establish a defensive line, setting the Western Front on the path to trench warfare. Meanwhile, Australasia expanded munitions production, shipped a huge arms order to the Allies, and dispatched its expeditionary force, as the major powers competed to win Italy and Bulgaria.

• Captain Miller predicted that Germany would advance toward Paris and proposed holding the Marne while positioning an elite force north of the capital; Joffre praised his advice.
• On August 25, Joffre ordered French units to retreat in an orderly fashion to a fortified line from Verdun to the Somme, setting the stage for prolonged trench warfare.
• Australasia negotiated a major arms order with Britain, France, and Russia as its munitions industry rapidly expanded to meet wartime demand.
• On August 27, Australasia loaded weapons shipments for Europe and the Russian Far East, while its expeditionary force sailed toward France.
• Britain, France, and the Central Powers courted Italy and Bulgaria, with Italy likely to favor the Allies and Bulgaria’s hostility toward Serbia making it difficult to win over.

French Commander-in-Chief Joffre warned President Poincaré that France could not withstand Germany without more support, as British and Australasian reinforcements were mostly colonial troops and Russia was not ready for a major offensive. Poincaré promised to press Britain and Russia for aid and pursue neutral countries, while Britain remained reluctant to commit its main forces.

• Joffre asked Poincaré when British and Australasian reinforcements would arrive as French casualties mounted and the front remained under heavy German pressure.
• Poincaré said Britain would send more than twenty divisions, mostly colonial troops, while Australasia had committed the Fourth Division and fifteen Colonial Divisions.
• Poincaré told Joffre that Russia had only about 700,000 troops at the front and would need at least another month before it could launch a large offensive.
• Joffre urged Poincaré to demand more British and Russian aid, especially British regular forces, and to recruit neutral countries such as Italy and Bulgaria into the Allied Powers.
• Poincaré promised to relay Joffre's appeal and support the army, while Britain continued to avoid committing itself fully to the war.

Gallieni forced Joffre to launch a broad Allied counteroffensive after Kruger exposed the German First Army Group’s flank near Paris, and Joffre secured Sir John French’s support. The Battle of the Marne began on September 6, with the French Sixth Army Group attacking German forces west of the Ourcq River and suffering heavy casualties in two days of fighting.

• Joffre replaced Lanrezac with D'Esperey as commander of the Fifth Army Group, and D'Esperey ordered his troops to advance despite their exhaustion.
• Kruger drove the German First Army Group toward the Seine River, leaving its right flank exposed and its troops separated from supplies and artillery.
• Gallieni ordered Monoury’s Sixth Army Group to counterattack, then pressured Joffre to commit the other Allied army groups.
• Joffre secured Sir John French’s promise of British support and ordered a full-scale counteroffensive across the Allied left wing.
• Moltke the Younger ordered the German First and Second Army Groups to hold their positions, but Kruger continued his advance toward the Seine.
• The French launched their counteroffensive on September 6, and the Sixth Army Group attacked the German Fourth Reserve Army west of the Ourcq River; Kruger sent the Second and Fourth Armies to reinforce it as casualties mounted.

The French Sixth Army received urgent reinforcements transported from Paris by taxi and launched costly attacks against the German First Army Group along the Ourcq River. German command failures left Kruger’s forces dangerously isolated, while French artillery suppressed German machine-gun positions and enabled the assault to continue.

• French General Headquarters requisitioned Paris taxis, which carried nearly six thousand soldiers to reinforce Monoury’s Sixth Army.
• Hans urged Kruger to follow Moltke the Younger’s orders, but Kruger misjudged the French threat and failed to act in time.
• Kruger sent the Third Army and Ninth Army south to join the battle, exposing the Second Army’s right wing and widening the gap between German forces.
• The exhausted German First Army Group repelled repeated French attacks with Maxim machine guns, inflicting heavy casualties as the Sixth Army advanced nearly two hundred meters.
• Gallieni ordered French artillery to target German machine-gun positions, and French commanders called for another charge as German fire weakened.

After Germany’s defeat at the Marne, Falkenhayn took command, attacked Antwerp, and faced a widening war of attrition on both fronts. The Australasian Expeditionary Force joined the fighting under Scott Malone, while Arthur oversaw Australasia’s wartime economy and munitions production.

• William II dismissed Moltke the Younger after the defeat at the Marne and appointed Falkenhayn as Chief of Staff.
• Falkenhayn sent German forces, including 36,000 student reservists, to capture Antwerp, which fell on October 10.
• The Australasian Expeditionary Force arrived in France, and Arthur made Scott Malone its temporary commander-in-chief over more than 300,000 troops.
• Russia launched an offensive against Germany’s eastern border while France entrenched along the Western Front, turning the war into attrition.
• Kevin told Arthur that Australasia’s tax revenues were rising as exports expanded and Britain covered nearly half its military costs.
• Arthur inspected the Royal Shipyard and Munitions Factories and reviewed their construction, recruitment, and production.

At the 1915 cabinet meeting, Arthur reviewed the heavy losses suffered by Australasia’s expeditionary force and refused to send France reinforcements for at least three months. The meeting then reported Australasia’s population and economic growth, while Arthur’s preparations for Russian immigration and the coming crisis in Russia remained in place.

• Defense Minister Raul reported that only 217,000 of Australasia’s 316,000 expeditionary combat soldiers remained fit for duty, including about 13,000 Fourth Division troops.
• Raul said France had asked when Australasia could send a second expeditionary force, and Arthur replied that no reinforcements would arrive for at least three months, though Australasia would provide material support.
• The Ministry of Civil Affairs reported that Australasia’s population had reached 15.37 million, with Russian immigrants accounting for over 800,000 of the year’s 1.062 million immigrants.
• Arthur’s government screened Russian immigrants, trained over a thousand loyal recruits for secret missions in Russia, and dispersed incoming Russian immigrants across Australasia’s regions and colonies.
• The annual report recorded 6% economic growth, higher fiscal revenue, and an 8.5-million-dollar government surplus, as Australasia profited from exports to the Allies.

Arthur prepared Australasia for wartime threats and continued efforts to integrate immigrants before receiving British and French ambassadors seeking more troops for the European front. France offered to share the cost of raising two hundred thousand soldiers and grant Australasia the Kerguelen Islands and a large interest-free loan, leaving Arthur to consider the proposal.

• Australasia profited from exporting supplies and resources to Europe, while Arthur ordered preparations for gas attacks and a future influenza pandemic.
• Arthur supported English-language training for immigrants but left religious unity largely to Archbishop Stead.
• Arthur met British Ambassador Henry Winston and French Ambassador Topping Crete, who asked Australasia to send another two hundred thousand troops to Europe.
• Arthur said Australasia had fulfilled its alliance obligations and could not quickly raise that many troops.
• Crete offered half the army’s formation and operating costs, the Kerguelen Islands, and a five-hundred-million-franc interest-free loan in exchange for the troops.

Arthur considered France’s offer of the Kerguelen Islands and accepted it after Crete promised Australasia a greater share of German industrial equipment, technology, and talent after the war. He left the meeting seeking even larger concessions from Britain and France in exchange for Australasia’s continued troop commitments.

• Arthur recognized that France hoped to use the Kerguelen Islands deal to drive a wedge between Australasia and Britain and to gain a postwar ally.
• Crete offered Australasia more German industrial equipment and technology, along with freedom to recruit German talent, if it continued sending troops.
• Arthur accepted Crete’s proposal, seeing German factories, technology, and skilled workers as key to Australasia’s postwar growth.
• Arthur promised 200,000 reinforcements before April and offered at least 500,000 native troops each year if Australasia received priority in selecting German industrial spoils.
• Winston and Crete did not accept Arthur’s demand, while Arthur judged that Britain and France’s rivalry might let Australasia gain more from the postwar settlement.

Arthur sent Australasia’s indigenous troops to support France while learning that Alexander Fleming had discovered penicillin. The chapter left Fleming beginning further research into purifying and testing the drug as Arthur considered rewarding him.

• Arthur promised France 200,000 reinforcements within three months and ordered Raul to recruit and train indigenous soldiers for the European battlefield.
• Arthur arranged for Australasia to receive priority access to German industrial equipment, technology, and science in return for its wartime contribution.
• Arthur learned that Alexander Fleming had discovered penicillin after years of research funded by the Pharmaceutical Group.
• Arthur visited Fleming’s laboratory, praised his work, and urged him to continue researching how to separate, purify, and safely apply penicillin.
• Arthur planned to award Fleming the Victoria Memorial Medal, a cash reward, a Sydney villa, and an honorary knighthood.

Arthur funded Fleming’s penicillin research and prepared 400,000 indigenous troops for deployment to Europe, while Australasia celebrated National Day with a military parade. On the Eastern Front, Nicholas II ordered Grand Duke Nicholas to lead a major offensive against East Prussia, despite tensions that had constrained the Russian commander’s authority.

• Arthur assigned Fleming to purify and mass-produce penicillin, and Butler Kent paid his laboratory three million Australian dollars for research and rewards.
• Arthur ordered the recruitment and training of 400,000 indigenous troops, equipping them with older rifles so reinforcements could reach France by the end of March.
• Australasia celebrated National Day with a military parade featuring its army, navy, and airships, then distributed free supplies to the public.
• After Russia’s limited East Prussian offensive failed, Nicholas II ordered Grand Duke Nicholas to organize 800,000 combat troops for a larger attack.
• Nicholas II restricted Grand Duke Nicholas’s authority by preventing him from changing Staff Department appointments or structure, weakening Russia’s strategic-level mobilization.

The Russian offensive in East Prussia collapsed after Prittwitz ordered a retreat and Hindenburg and Ludendorff took command of the German Eighth Army. Samsonov’s Second Army was surrounded and destroyed, Rennenkampf abandoned the front, and Russia’s 500,000 troops were driven back to the border.

• Prittwitz ordered the German Eighth Army to retreat, so Falkenhayn replaced him with Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
• Hindenburg and Ludendorff reached East Prussia as Samsonov’s exhausted troops advanced, while German reinforcements assembled on the Russian flanks.
• Samsonov asked Ruzsky and Rennenkampf for help, but Ruzsky urged him to continue and Rennenkampf ignored the appeal.
• German forces surrounded Samsonov’s army, and Rennenkampf delayed his relief march for two days.
• After suffering catastrophic losses, Samsonov ordered his troops to surrender and killed himself; 108,000 Russian soldiers became prisoners.
• Rennenkampf fled to Russia, Grand Duke Nicholas dismissed him and Ruzsky, and the Germans drove the Russian army back across the border.

Russia’s victory in Galicia forced Germany to send troops east, prompting Arthur to consider shipping more Australasia-made weapons to Russia. In St. Petersburg, Nicholas II’s officials pushed for further offensives while Grand Duke Nicholas urged a defensive pause, warning that continued losses could leave Russia vulnerable to internal upheaval.

• The Austro-Hungarian Army retreated after Russia’s February offensive, and Russian forces captured Galich, Lviv, and all of Galicia at heavy cost to both sides.
• Germany transferred troops from the Western Front to reinforce the Eastern Front after Russia’s victory, and Arthur considered sending more weapons to Russia.
• Nicholas II celebrated the conquest of Galicia and discussed expanding Russia’s territory further.
• Grand Duke Nicholas urged Russia to hold Galicia and switch to defense, citing the German threat and the cost of continued fighting.
• Ivan Goremykin argued that Russia needed another major victory to protect its prestige and claim a larger share of the postwar settlement.
• Grand Duke Nicholas countered that further sacrifices could weaken Russia and leave it unable to contain the unrest and rebellions spreading at home.

Nicholas II decided Russia had to launch a major offensive to avert economic and political collapse, despite Grand Duke Nicholas’s concerns about casualties and supplies. Grand Duke Nicholas agreed to organize the campaign, but demanded that the promised supplies actually reach the army.

• Grand Duke Nicholas argued that Russia lacked the reserves to begin another offensive, while Alexei assured him that Britain, France, and Australasia would provide weapons and supplies.
• Alexei told Nicholas II that Britain and France would cover the campaign’s costs and forgive some Russian loans, concealing that their promises were less generous than he claimed.
• Nicholas II asked Grand Duke Nicholas whether Russia could launch the offensive with allied support, but Grand Duke Nicholas warned that German reinforcements made an attack dangerous.
• Nicholas II insisted that Russia needed a quick victory to prevent economic collapse and unrest from threatening the country and the Romanov Dynasty.
• Grand Duke Nicholas agreed to organize a large-scale campaign and demanded that the army receive all the supplies Alexei had promised.

Monte Konosov’s Royal Security Intelligence Bureau infiltrated Russia’s opposition movement and used advance intelligence to help the Tsarist Government suppress a mass strike. After the strike failed and Russia’s immediate crisis eased, Arthur was relieved that Russia would remain in the war for now.

• Monte Konosov ordered Tiger and Eagle to target Russian opposition leaders, and Tiger captured Gvengr Gelovsky and pressured him into reporting planned strikes.
• Gvengr Gelovsky revealed that Klin Francisco Kamensky had planned the strike and named the participating parties, then agreed to inform the bureau about future demonstrations in exchange for his family’s safety.
• The Royal Security Intelligence Bureau detained opposition figures across Russia and arranged for its French branch to investigate Klin Francisco Kamensky in Switzerland.
• The St. Petersburg police chief received details of a planned strike and passed them to Nicholas II, who ordered police preparations and free supplies for workers.
• On March 3, 35,000 workers struck, but police arrests, shootings, and relief supplies curbed the action; Gvengr Gelovsky and other opposition members urged their groups to lie low.
• Arthur received news that the strike had been suppressed and was relieved that Russia would continue fighting in the First World War.

Arthur rotated the Australasian Expeditionary Force in France and prepared its new commanders for a major Allied offensive. As more European nations joined the war, the conflict grew into a continent-wide struggle between the Allied and Central Powers.

• Arthur sent the Second Guard Division and Third Regular Division to Europe, while 200,000 indigenous troops were scheduled to follow and reinforce the expeditionary force.
• On April 11, 1915, the Second Guard Division and Third Regular Division arrived in France, and Thomas Johnson replaced Scott as Commander-in-Chief of the Australasian Expeditionary Force.
• Joffre, Sir John French, and Martin planned a three-pronged Western Front offensive involving more than two million troops, while Russia prepared a major campaign in the east.
• Romania declared war on Germany on April 17, Greece and Montenegro joined the Allies on April 18, and Italy declared war on Germany on April 21 after securing promised benefits.
• By May 1915, the Allied Powers included Britain, France, Russia, Australasia, Italy, Serbia, Greece, Romania, Montenegro, and Belgium, while the Central Powers included Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

Russia won the Warsaw–Ivangorod Battle, while the Allied Powers launched a massive offensive across the Western Front with Australasia, Italy, Britain, and France joining the fighting. The chapter left the Western Front campaign underway and Arthur considering when to reveal Australasia’s aircraft and profit from their sale.

• Italy joined the Allied Powers and planned to use its 500,000 troops in the Western Front offensive to gain greater postwar benefits.
• Grand Duke Nicholas concentrated Russian forces near Warsaw, and Russia began the Warsaw–Ivangorod campaign against German and Austro-Hungarian armies on May 2, 1915.
• German forces attacked Warsaw, but the Russian Army defended the city, established a bridgehead at Ivangorod, and routed the Austro-Hungarian First Army after the Germans withdrew.
• Russia’s victory left the German Army weakened on both fronts and raised Russian hopes of advancing toward Berlin.
• On May 7, the Allied Western Front offensive began, with Australasia, Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium committing millions of troops and hundreds of airships.
• Arthur considered revealing Australasia’s aircraft early, selling outdated models to Britain and France, and using the Allied Powers to strengthen Australasia’s international position.

Arthur slowed Australasia’s supplies to Russia to prolong the war, while the Allied offensives began on the Western Front. Martin’s mixed corps crushed a German flanking force, but Russia’s shortages soon forced Britain and France to promise emergency supplies.

• Arthur decided to restrict supplies to Russia, hoping to slow its Eastern Front campaign without alerting Britain and France.
• The Allied armies began their Western Front offensives, and Martin moved his mixed corps to guard the French Third Army Group’s flank.
• Martin’s forces surrounded and defeated a German force of about 30,000 troops, capturing 18,000 and reporting heavy casualties on both sides.
• The Central Front Army Group advanced rapidly, while the Northern Front stalled and Italy’s forces failed to break through the Austro-Hungarian line.
• Australasia told Russia that it could not send supplies for three months, prompting Nicholas II to confront Alexei over Russia’s shortages.
• Britain and France agreed to send Russia enough supplies to sustain a defensive position for three months, temporarily saving Alexei from dismissal.