The Paris Peace consisted of a group of distinct treaties, but the main concern of the delegates was the settlement with Germany, embodied in the Treaty of Versailles signed in June 1919. Germany’s eastern frontiers presented far greater problems.  www.patreon.com/historyeurope www.historyeurope.net Music composed by Edward Elgar, Enigma variations, Variation IX (Adagio) Nimrod Picture - Treaty of Versailles, Big Four Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.wetalkofdreams.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

In Spring 1918 a massive German offensive made significant territorial gains, but ultimately not the intended breakthrough, and the Allied forces stood firm. Exhausted and demoralised at the scale of casualties, the Germans were pushed back in a major counter-attack in the late Summer and Autumn. And on 26 September, the Allies launched a general offensive along the entire Western Front. Meanwhile, the Habsburg empire was fast falling apart as various nationalities declared independence.  www.patreon.com/historyeurope www.historyeurope.net Music composed by Alexander Scriabin, Etude in ..read more

While the nations of Europe fought each other to a bitter stalemate, the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, urged both sides to make peace. However, no agreement is made and the United States joined the war on the side of the Entente allies. In the meantime, the Germans ordered a general withdrawal at the western front, abandoning the battlefields of the Somme in order to establish a shorter, straighter and more well-fortified line, the so-called ‘Hindenburg Line’. The eastern front is more volatile, seeing the collapse of the Russian army, a major defeat for the Italians at Capor ..read more

As the year 1917 dawned, Europe had been at war for two and a half years, and pressures on the home fronts were becoming intolerable. Every participant nation came under huge strain. In Russia the Tsarist regime falls in March, but the interim government is unstable and itself falls in the famous October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin, who promises to withdraw Russia from the war. www.patreon.com/historyeurope www.historyeurope.net Music composed by Frederich Chopin (The Polish Dancer) Picture - Vladimir Lenin, 1 May 1920 by Isaak_Brodsky Theme tune for the podcast by Nico Vettese, www.w ..read more

Europe entered the year 1916 exhausted by one and a half years of conflict of a scale hitherto unimaginable, with profound effects on citizens at home, as well as those on the front line. The most intensive battles on the western front in 1916 are at Verdun and the Somme, with extraordinary numbers of casualties. Meanwhile, on the eastern front the Russians launch a major attack, the Brusilov offensive. Romania declared war on Austro-Hungary on 27 August 1916 and promptly invaded Transylvannia.  www.patreon.com/historyeurope www.historyeurope.net Music composed by Erik Satie (Gymnopédi ..read more

For the Germans, 1915 was a year that should not have been. Their whole strategy had been based on a quick war, but they now found themselves embroiled in a two-front war – on the eastern front against Russia, and on the western front against France fully mobilised and also Britain. Throughout 1915, in a succession of attacks of increasing intensity, the various armies learned the techniques of the new kind of war at very heavy cost. In February 1915, Germany launched the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes with an attack on the Russians in East Prussia. Meanwhile, the Austrians attempted to p ..read more

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 ..read more

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. www.patreon.com/historyeurope www.historyeurope.net Music composed by Alexander Scriabin - Etude in C Sharp Minor Picture - Tannenberg Bundesarchiv, East Prussia ..read more

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 r ..read more

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”. www.patreon.com/historyeurope www.historyeurope.net 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p ..read more