A world undone: the story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (111 page)

“bring Jaurès’s pacifist dream”:Ibid, 71.

“comic interlude”:Ibid, 22.

“Do not touch me”:Ibid, 2.

Joffre was demanding:Joffre’s demands, and Poincaré’s restraining inflence, are in Herwig, 58.

“The danger is great”:Jackson,
Jean Jaurès
, 181.

“We have no wish to incite” and “if on the eve of war”:Ibid, 176.

“everything is finished”:Goldberg, 471.

His little army:The size of King Albert’s force is in Ferguson, 92.

Each of these forts contained: Information about the defensive forces at Liège is in Mosier, 58.

The Germans, as part:The Liège assault force is described in Herwig, 96.

His First Army:The size of Kluck’s army is in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 43.

The first three of these armies:Ibid.

This was war on a truly new scale:The size of Wellington’s Waterloo force is in Herwig, 48.

An advancing army’s worst:Strachan, 237.

“In such a case”:The Joffre-Lanrezac exchange is in Blond, 57.

The day after that:Herwig, 88.

On August 13, after taking:Belgian casualties at Fort Chaudfontaine are in Mosier, 60.

“I ask you to bear witness”:Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 78.

More than five hundred trains:rail transport data are in Asprey,
German High Command
, 52.

Kluck’s First Army alone:The German First Army’s requirements are in Herwig, 100.

August 17:A collision: Russian prisoner totals are in Gilbert,
First World War
, 28.

“We cannot ask our Bavarian”:Isselin, 33.

On this same day:Austrian casualties are in Gilbert,
First World War
, 50.

“Our advance in Belgium”: Moltke’s words are in Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 71.

“Do you already hold me”:Ritter, 314.

His intelligence bureau:French estimates of German strength are in Blond, 22.

The fourteen French divisions: Numbers of divisions are in Bruce I. Gudmundsen, “unexpected Encounter at Bertrix,” in Cowley, 25.

The fight at the town of Rossignol:Casualty totals are in Mosier, 71.

French casualties for the war’s first month:The numbers are in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 45.

Among the dead:The ten percent figure is in Asprey,
Marne
, 59.

“In a moment it is clear”:in Lacouture, 30.

The Germans, except on their right:Germany’s combat death figure is in Mosier, 72.

“Squiff” and “filthy cabinet”:Jannen, 325.

Grey told his fellow ministers:In later years, criticized for not acting more forcefully during the July crisis, Grey would state that “the idea that one individual sitting in a room in the Foreign Office could pledge a great democracy definitely by his word, in advance, either to take part in a great war or to abstain from taking part in it, is absurd.” See Hazelhurst, 51.

“the precipitate and peremptory”:Ibid, 67.

“My own opinion …is that L.G.’s m ind”:Ibid, 68.

“I suppose… that a good three-fourths”:Ibid, 32.

“The Liberals, very few of them”:Ibid, 44.

“This is not my crowd”:Ibid, 117.

“It is curious…ho w”:Jenkins, 328.

“It will be obvious that the greatest care”:Terraine,
Western Front
, 38.

“Bülow was a solid professional”: Bülow’s background is Mombauer, 68.

Every private in the BEF: The capabilities of British riflemen are in Pound, 46.

When the day ended: Mons casualties are in Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 86.

It was all nonsense: The origins of the Mons legends are in Hayward, 46.

Le Cateau turned into a bigger: Casualty figures are in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 47.

They had taken some eight thousand: Casualty figures are in Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 90.

A French counterattack that marked: Ibid., 86.

“the most terrible August”: Marshall, 58.

“forced to take defensive action”: Blond, 19.

The BEF marched: Strachan,
First World War
, 225.

“capable of taking up the offensive”: Isselin, 37.

“complete victories”: Asprey,
Marne
, 64.

He also decided to send: Marshall, 63.

Combined with Moltke’s earlier adjustments: Details about Moltke’s troop dispositions are in Asprey,
German High Command
, 100; and
Marne
, 65, 103; Herwig, 99; and Strachan,
First World War
, 241.

That commander, the fat and elderly: Prittwitz’s manpower is in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 52.

Moving against this Eighth Army: The Russian manpower advantage is in Strachan,
First World War
, 316.

“I know of no other man”: Asprey,
German High Command
, 69.

Nine divisions were formed into an arc: The troop dispositions are in Marshall, 61.

Rennenkampf’s troops had been on the march: Strachan,
First World War
, 320.

“I will not allow General Samsonov”: Marshall, 61.

He had lost seventeen thousand: Asprey,
German High Command
, 58.

In the course of the next three days: Prisoner and casualty figures are in ibid., 80.

“the fate of Russia will be decided”: “Moltke and Conrad,” in Kennedy, 224.

On Lanrezac’s left: The hours spent retreating daily are in Strachan,
First World War
, 259.

“If you refuse”: Blond, 62.

“my confidence in the ability”: The French-Kitchener exchange is in Magnus, 293.

“I think you had better trust me”: Asprey,
Marne
, 81.

French’s account states: French’s memoir of the conversation is in Magnus, 68.

Joffre by this point: The number of general officers removed by Joffre is in Asprey,
German High Command
, 103.

The number of divisions facing: The increase in the strength of Joffre’s left is in Strachan,
First World War
, 243.

The French, in contrast to the Germans, were reaping:Information about Joffre’s rail system is in ibid, 243.

Apparently he was discouraged:the effect of railroad damage on Moltke’s thinking is in Mombauer, 243.

“A natural reluctance to abandon”:Blond, 90.

“We must not deceive ourselves”:Asprey,
Marne
, 94.

“the will to conquer is the first”:Tuchman,
Guns of August
, 32.

“for the attack only two”:Ibid, 34.

“Battles are beyond everything”:Ibid, 32.

But his army was in danger:Austin, 2232.

“a comedian” … “no British”:Liddell Hart,
Reputations
, 85.

“One of our battalions”:Austin, 2272.

In pulling back to the Ourcq:The size of the gap is in Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 31.

“Attack, whatever happens!”:Tuchman,
Guns of August
, 435.

“For my part I preserve”:Asprey,
Marne
, 120.

“What a mess!” Isselin, 156.

“voluntary concentric retreat”:Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 107.

“the decision will be”:Ibid., 101.

He had sent thirty-one:Numbers of Austrian and Russian divisions are in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 58.

Conrad had lost more:Austrian losses are in ibid, 58.

“shackled to a corpse”:Falls, 54.

“I have one of my sons”:Herwig, 96.

“I cannot fid words”:Blond, 215.

“There was not a moment’s hesitation”:Clark,
Donkeys
, 21.

Late in the nineteenth century:Robertson’s fist opportunity to become an officer is in Bonham-Carter, 29.

“I have often made up my mind”:Winter,
Haig’s Command
, 33.

“the role of cavalry on the battlefield”:Clark,
Donkeys
, 22.

“such a terrible intriguer”:Ibid, 32.

“as much an enemy”:Tuchman,
Guns of August
, 201.

“He means well and will succeed”:Winter,
Haig’s Command
, 25.

“After five days and nights”:Isselin, 228.

It is one measure:French munitions production figures are in Marshall, 73.

“Three days ago our division”:Austin, 2:293.

British and French headquarters:French’s prediction is in ibid.

To strengthen his right:Falkenhayn’s troop movements are in Herwig, 114.

That left Antwerp, which was already: The Antwerp defenses are in Mosier, 116.

Members of the cabinet were said:The varying responses of Kitchener and other cabinet members are in Marshall, 74.

These movements set the stage: the forces engaged in the Battle of Warsaw are in ibid., 80.

“From Czestochowa we advanced”:
[Story]
, 193.

The Ninth Army retreated sixty miles: Ibid., 82.

Overall the campaign had cost: German losses are in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 64.

When Scotland’s Second Highland Light Infantry: The unit’s losses are in Farrar-Hockley, 180.

The enemy turned every house: Schwink, 65.

Lombartzyde was captured: A chronology of the times Lombartzyde changed hands is in Gleichen, 30-38.

“This…is not war!”: Marshall, 77.

By the time the Flanders front: Casualty totals are in Asprey,
German High Command
, 124.

Burke’s Peerage
, the registry: The losses to England’s titled families are in Pound, 77.

They had lost another ninety thousand: The numbers in this paragraph are from Herwig, 109-10.

“Only about half had overcoats”: Austin, 2:421.

A counterattack organized by Serbian: The Austrian and Serbian troop numbers are in Herwig, 112.

Again their losses were outlandish: Casualty totals are in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 65.

With almost four years of war remaining: Vienna’s losses are in Herwig, 120.

By March it would add another hundred thousand: This number is in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 75.

PART THREE

1915:
A Zero-Sum Game

T
he first full calendar year of the Great War was dominated by two epic struggles: the fight for mastery on the Eastern Front, and the Dardanelles-Gallipoli campaign. In connection with the former, particularly helpful works include
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917
by Norman Stone and (a little-known gem that proved to be indispensable)
The Russian Army in World War I
by Ward Rutherford. Trumbell Higgins’s
Winston Churchill and the Dardanelles
, Robert Rhodes James’s
Gallipoli
of 1965, and Alan Moorehead’s more recent
Gallipoli
all provide useful guidance to their subject.

On New Year’s Day: Gilbert,
First World War
, 124.

In the last five months of 1914: The casualty figures in this paragraph are from Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 75.

In Paris the dominating fact: Data on French resources lost to Germany are from Ferguson, 250, and Marshall, 73.

“great incalculable”: Stone, 122.

“a broken instrument”: Asprey,
German High Command
, 152.

“If we succeed in bringing Russia to terms”: Zeman, 83.

“a few months hence” and “keep hammering away”: Ferguson, 292.

“The German armies in France”: Magnus, 311.

“by extended operations”: James, 28.

The Champagne operation alone: Keegan,
Illustrated History
, 159.

“I have grown into close union”: Churchill,
The Unknown War
, 279.

“a dubious character”: Asprey,
German High Command
, 153.