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World War I As It Happened (1914)

@warhappened.bsky.social
812 followers 4 following 722 posts

I post stories, big and small, from the Great War, currently covering 1914. The project originally started at Twitter, x.com/WarHappened

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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13h
"Then came a new sound. First I saw a sudden, almost grotesque melting of the advancing line. It was different from anything that had taken place before. The men literally went down like dominoes in a row." German machine guns and artillery quickly shatter the Russian attack.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13h
"On came the Slave swarm – into the range of the German trenches, with wild yells and never a waver. Russian battle flags, the first I had seen, appeared in the front of the charging ranks."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13h
Karl H. von Wiegand, German correspondent to the American United Press, has caught up to the German army in the east outside the town of Wirballen; here he bears witness to a spirited Russian attack against prepared German defences.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 19h
Father Camille Delaere sees a message scrawled on the blackboard in his church in Ypres: “The Germans fear God, but apart from Him they fear nothing in this world. Germany forever!” The church has been occupied by a number of cavalrymen and their horses.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
As the "race to the sea" continues, German forces have reached the city of Ypres, not far from the coast; many of the locals immediately take flight: "Fathers and mothers all weighed down with children and bundles, with pale faces and frightened eyes, running like madmen..."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Most aircraft currently in use are too weak to allow for heavy weaponry, leading aggressive pilots to try and bring down enemy aircraft with handguns; throwing bricks has also been attempted, without success.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Air-to-air combat has thus far been sporadic and led by individual innovations of dubious usefulness: Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov, determined to bring down an enemy, died a few weeks ago, as he rammed an Austrian aircraft with his own.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
French aviator pair Louis Quenault and Joseph Frantz have made aviation history by being the first to shoot down an enemy aircraft without losing their own, using a machine gun to methodically pepper a German reconnaissance flight until it crashed.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Upon meeting the journalist, Churchill, sporting a big cigar, shakes his hand vigorously: "'You see all is going well.' In this observation lies the whole superiority of the man and his nation."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
An Italian correspondent in war-torn Antwerp is amazed to see none other than the First Lord of the (British) Admiralty, Sir Winston Churchill, in town; ever ready for an adventure, the British politician has followed the Royal Marines into the besieged city.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The besieged Belgian Army has received welcome support from the British Royal Naval Division, which arrived in town in requisitioned London buses.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Some Indian nationalists, not inherently friendly to their British overlords, are still supporting the war effort: "It has taken us 100 years to teach the English how to govern us and we can’t afford the time to begin again on the Germans."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Indians have mixed feelings about the war; many hope their (forced) participation might speed up the calls for reforms, and maybe even independence. Others resent yet another British overreach in Indian interests.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
After a long journey, Indian soldiers have finally reached France, where they are now preparing to join the rest of the British Army as it rushes towards the English Channel.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Amongst its many other worries, the French Army is struggling to keep back curious war tourists, who scrounge through recently abandoned battlefields, looking for souvenirs; sometimes even disturbing the remains of fallen soldiers.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
As both sides keep on trying to outflank the adversary in northern France, bloody, but ultimately inconclusive, battles ensue; the Germans have been halted outside of Arras, but the French are unable to make a decisive counterstroke.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Tsarist Russia has a long history of anti-Jewish violence, and many Jews fled Galicia as the Austrian army retreated. Those who remain are now suffering under sporadic pogroms and forced expulsion.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Terrible violence has erupted in Russian-occupied Lemberg, where Cossacks are terrorising the local Jewish population; at least 40 Jews have been killed, ostensibly in revenge for a purported robbery in the Jewish quarter.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Repeated Russian attempts to break the defenders of Przemyśl have ended in costly failure: Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed, wounded, or captured, but the Austrian garrison remains defiant.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Indian coastal town of Madras has come under attack; hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil are burning up, courtesy of the German East Asia Squadron and its cruiser SMS Emden.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
As Papeete burns to ruin, the cruisers sail away. They are led by Maximilian von Spee, commander of the German East Asia Squadron, who is determined to inflict as much damage as possible on French and British holdings in the Far East.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The war has reached faraway Tahiti, where two German cruisers have shelled Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia. When the local French garrison refused the demand to hand over its coal supply to the Germans, the bombardment of the French colony began.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"Our machine guns did excellent work; the English fell in heaps…During the first two days of the battle I had only one piece of bread and no water... War is terrible. We are all hoping that a decisive battle will end the war." The British attack failed to break through.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A German officer on the Aisne writes to his parents: "Two days ago... we were attacked by an immensely superior English force, one brigade and two battalions, and were turned out of our positions. The fellows took five guns from us. It was a tremendous hand-to-hand fight."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A scene in Ostend: A wounded German cavalry officer, taken prisoner, is hastily brought in for medical care by the Belgian Red Cross. A stretcher is waiting for him, on which he'll be transported to a medical ship.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
As both sides use the available forces they have to try and outflank the other, most of the forces on the Western Front, British, French and German alike, have been ordered to dig in for the time being.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
French Moroccans on their way to the front; both sides are once again on the move in France, hoping to outflank the other to the north of the Aisne.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The garrison in Przemyśl consists of soldiers from a myriad of the Empire's numerous ethnicities: Army orders are printed out in at least 15 different languages to ensure every soldier understands the new orders.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
As the battered Austrian armies in Galicia retreat towards the Carpathian Mountains, a major garrison is left behind in the fortress city of Przemyśl; Over 120.000 soldiers will soon be surrounded by advancing Russian forces.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
To not signal to the world that the German war effort has not gone as planned, Moltke's retirement is kept secret for now; the official story, once it is to be acknowledged, is that Moltke is stepping down due to health issues.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Chief of the German General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, has been forced to step down; convinced the battle for France has broken the spirit of the beset commander, Kaiser Wilhelm has appointed Erich von Falkenhayn (pictured) as Moltke's successor.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The unprecedented severity of the last month's fighting has nearly depleted French and British artillery munition stocks: Despite receiving 20,000 new shells every day, the French Army is desperately short.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The Germans are digging in on the high ground at Chemin des Dames, where they have good vantage points on their enemies: Initial French and British attacks to dislodge them have been repulsed, with heavy losses for the attackers.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
British and French forces have reached the River Aisne; the Germans are waiting on the high banks across the river, having destroyed many of the bridges after crossing.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The Anglo-French pursuit of the Germans is hampered not only by fatigue, but by the weather: The famously warm summer of 1914 appears to be over, as torrents of rains and heavy gales ground the reconnaissance fliers, and turn roads and fields into quagmires.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
As the exhausted Germans retire north towards the Aisne River, the equally exhausted French and British follow, kept on their toes by German rearguard forces: The Germans are retreating in good order, in spite of their desperate fatigue.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Joffre, feeling confident that the Germans are well and truly spent, happily reports to War Minister Alexandre Millerand: "La bataille de la Marne s’achève en victoire incontestable."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Moltke, having finally made a personal visit to a number of his armies in the west, finally deduces that a broad retreat is in order: All armies on the left and centre are ordered to pull back towards Reims and St. Quentin.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Attacking at night and with fixed bayonets, thousands of soldiers belonging to the German 5th Army storm French positions around Sainte-Menehould, only to be cut down in droves by expertly directed artillery: The famous "soixante-quinzes" of the French Army are wreaking havoc.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Crown Prince Wilhelm, leading the German 5th Army, has made one final attempt at a breakthrough near Verdun, despite already suffering enormous losses to French artillery. Moltke, at first dismissing the idea, gave the go-ahead once Wilhelm threatened to go to his dad.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
War Minister Erich von Falkenhayn is also sensing that Moltke and his entourage are not up to the task: "Our General Staff has totally lost their heads, Schlieffen’s notes have come to an end and therewith also Moltke’s wit."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
More and more German leaders are starting to doubt that Moltke can continue his leadership of the German Army; Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria is shocked to see him in the state of "a sick, broken man. His tall frame was stooped and he looked incredibly debilitated."
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The staff officers of the 1st Army are initially loath to break off the fighting outside of Paris, but Hentsch overrules them; acting as the official representative of Moltke, he orders the 1st Army to retreat.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The German 2nd Army, under intense pressure from French forces led by Franchet d'Espèrey ("Desperate Frankie"), has started a withdrawal from the Marne area; the 1st Army must now follow, lest it be completely isolated.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Richard Hentsch, after a gruelling journey through the countryside (where he was fired upon by German infantry who mistook his staff car for a French patrol), has finally reached the headquarters of the 1st Army.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Assuming the imminent collapse of France, the civilian leadership in Berlin has started to compose a memorandum outlining the post-war gains for the German Empire: Major territorial exchanges are being suggested, at the cost of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Russia.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Richard Hentsch's cautious optimism evaporates once he reaches the 2nd Army's headquarters: von Bülow's forces are exhausted and overstretched; the gap between the 1st and 2nd Armies keeps widening; British and French forces now threaten both armies' flanks.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Many of the French soldiers currently partaking in the desperate fighting against the 3rd Army are colonial subjects, brought in from French North Africa. Britain has sent for reinforcements from the British Raj (India), but these are not expected for another few weeks.
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Opposite the German 3rd Army is the newly formed French 9th, led by Ferdinand Foch, who encapsulates the offensive spirit that is much lauded by Joffre; he shouts at an orderly: "Tell Eydoux that, more than ever, I maintain my order. Offensive! Offensive! Offensive!"
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World War I As It Happened (1914) @warhappened.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Richard Hentsch's visits to the first German armies on his itinerary give him some cautious optimism over the general situation: the 5th, 4th and 3rd Armies are all showing some progress against the French, albeit not without encountering fierce resistance.
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