Le Mars Aka Germans on the Rhine in Rhineland in March (0)
E urope in 1914 was divided into two camps, each eyeing the other with Germany and Austria-Hungary mistrust, fear and animosity formed the Central Powers while Britain, France, Russia and Italy formed the Allied powers.
Since 1900, a number of incidents has threatened open conflict, but each time, war was avoided and tempers cooled - until June 28, 1914 that day a Serbian gunman assassinated Franz Joseph, heir the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo Assassination of Archduke see the bullet that killed an Austrian archduke in Sarajevo provided the spark that lit the powder keg policy.
Austria accused Serbia of masterminding the murder Emboldened by military support from Germany, Austria issued an ultimatum to the Serbian government, which, if accepted, would have made a virtual possess this land of Austria-Hungary Russia weighed on the side of the Serbs Surprisingly, Serbia bowed all the requirements of Austria - with the exception of Austria found the Serbian refusal justification enough to declare war, she made July 28, 1914.
Events now have a life of their own as each power has acted according to the dictates of the secret agreements they had signed first, Russia declared war against Austria Germany then declared war against Russia 1 August ally of Russia, France, mobilized against Germany, prompting Germany to declare war against France on August 3 Germany attacked France by the first neutral invasion Belgium Britain, as guarantee the neutrality of Belgium, then declared war against Germany on August 4 the lines were drawn, players on each side chose the first World war had begun.
It was a machine, an endless organization, tireless, with delicate of a watch and the raw power of a steam roller.
The German juggernaut smashed his way in Belgium on August 5, first targeting online defensive fortresses of Belgium The Belgian army was forced to withdraw and August 20th the Germans entered Brussels on its way in France Belgians chose not to defend the city and the Germans marched through unhindered.
Richard Harding Davis was an American journalist was March witnessed the German army through the city We join his account as he sits in a boulevard cafe pending German arrival.
The change came at ten in the morning, it was as if a wand brandished and a feast day on the mainland, we had been wafted a rainy Sunday in London boulevards suddenly fell empty There were not a house that was not tightly closed the shutters along the road we knew that now the Germans were advancing, it was as if the plague stalked nobody should get a window, the conquerors should provide the insult, mayor Max constables sent special men he trusted their badge of authority was a walking stick and a piece of paper fluttering of a buttonhole These, the police, and the servants and guards of the houses that lined the only boulevards were visible.
At eleven o clock, but this unobserved formal hearing on the boulevard Waterloo came the vanguard of the German army, it consisted of three men, a captain and two soldiers on bicycles Their guns were suspended on their shoulders they rode recklessly, with as little interest as members of a club tour for holidays behind them so close to each other for.
Move from one sidewalk to the other was not possible, came Infantry Lancers cavalry and cannons For two hours I watched, then, bored with the monotony of it, returned to hotel After an hour of my window, I could still hear them; one and another passed they were still going.
Boredom gave way to wonder the thing you fascinated, against your will, dragged on the pavement and you held it opened the eyes are no longer was he regiments of men walking, but something strange, inhuman, a force of nature like a landslide, a tidal wave, sweeping or washing a mountain that was not of this earth, but mysterious, ghostlike He wore all the mystery and the threat of fog rolling towards you across the sea.
The German army moved into Brussels as well and as compact as Empire State expressing There was no, no places open stops, no stragglers for cars and motorcycles wearing gray messengers one side of the street always kept clear; and was so dense column, so rigid vigilance of file closers, that at the rate of forty miles an hour a car could run the length of the column and does not need to stop - because never one horse or man once swerved from its course.
Throughout the night, like a tumult of a river when he runs between cliffs of a canyon in my sleep I could hear the steady sound of the army passing and when early in the morning, I went to the steel chain window was still intact it was.
The torrent that swept the valley and destroyed Connemaugh Johnstown It was a machine, an endless organization, tireless, with delicate of a watch and the raw power of a steam roller and for three days and three nights in Brussels he roared and rumbled, the molten lead a cataract infantry marched singing with their hobnailed boots beating the time they sang the Fatherland, My Country Between each line of the song, they took three steps sometimes 2,000 men sang together in absolute rhythm and beat was like blows bells-giants When the melody gave way the silence was broken only by the stamp of shod boots, and again rose song When the song stopped the bands played These steps were followed by the roar of howitzers, the creaking of wheels and chains rattling against the pavement and sharp bell shaped voice of the trumpets.
More Uhlans followed, the hooves of their horses magnificent sounding like thousands of steel hammers breaking rocks in a road; and after them the giant long guns seat rumbling, rumbling, machine guns, machine guns with chains drag ringing the field pieces with squeaky axles, brakes complain, grinding wheels rimmed iron against stone echoing and echoing from the front of the house when the night for a moment the machine stopped, the silence you woke up, and at sea you wake up to the stop screw.
For three days and three nights the gray column, with hundreds of thousands of bayonets and hundreds of thousands of spears, with gray freight cars, trucks gray ammunition, ambulances gray, gray gun, like a steel river , Brussels cut in half.
References account Richard Harding Davis appears in Downey, Fairfax, Richard Harding Davis's day 1933 Keegan, John, The First World War in 1999.
How to cite this article Marches of the German army through Brussels, 1914 EyeWitness to history, in 2004.
Marches of the German army in 1914 through Brussels, German army marches.