Collision of Empires The War on the Eastern Front in 1914

473 Pages·2014·6.31 MB·English

by  Prit Buttar

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C
OLLISION

OF
E
MPIRES
T W
HE AR ON THE
E F 1914
ASTERN RONT IN
P B
RIT UTTAR
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Dedication
To Lottie
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations 7
List of Maps 9
Author’s Note 10
Dramatis Personae 11
Introduction 16
Chapter 1: The German War Machine 27
Chapter 2: The Russian Steamroller 44
Chapter 3: Austria-Hungary: the Other Sick Man of Europe 67      
Chapter 4: Over the Brink 87
Chapter 5: The First Battles: Stallupönen and Gumbinnen 110
Chapter 6: Crisis of Command 135
Chapter 7: Tannenberg 148
Chapter 8: The Illusion of Victory: Galicia, August 1914 203
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Chapter 9: The Battle for the Masurian Lakes     227
Chapter 10: The Reality of Defeat: Galicia, September 1914  246
Chapter 11: A Bloody Sideshow: The Serbian Front 281
Chapter 12: Mud and Blood: Autumn in Poland 314
Chapter 13: Łódź 356
Chapter 14: The First Christmas 388
Chapter 15: Disappointments and Illusions 406
Appendix: Place Names 425
Notes 427
Bibliography  449
Index 458
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Between pages 160 and 161
Conrad von Hötzendorf.
Oskar Potiorek.
Viktor Dankl.
Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli.
Svetozar Boroević.
Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and the Kaiser.
Erich von Falkenhayn.
Maximilian von Prittwitz.
August von Mackensen.
Max von Gallwitz.
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.
Alexei Brusilov.
Vladimir Sukhomlinov.
Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Tannenberg.
Grand Duke Nikolai and Tsar Nicholas.
Pavel Rennenkampf.
Between pages 304 and 305
Alexander Samsonov.
Nikolai Ruzsky.
Yakov Zhilinkski.
Radomir Putnik.
Gavrilo Princip photographed with Serbian activists.
A Serbia gun crew in winter conditions.
Young Serbian recruits.
Russian troops in Galicia, 1914.
German defences at the Masaurian Lakes.
German soldiers take cover at Tannenberg.
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Collision of Empires
Russian soldiers in a defence, Galicia.
Fallen Russians at Tannenberg.
Austro-Hungarian wounded, Galicia.
German infantry at Tannenberg.
Mobile communications, Tannenberg.
German defence lines, Johannisburg.
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LIST OF MAPS
Northeast Europe, 1914 19
The Battle of Stallupönen, 17 August 1914 121
The Battle of Gumbinnen, 20 August 1914 129
The Tannenberg Battlefield 149
Combat north of Neidenburg, 23 August 1914 157
Combat on the southwest flank 163
Combat near Bischofsburg 169
Galicia – southern Poland, August 1914 207
The Battle of Kraśnik, 22–24 August 1914 215
The Battle of Komarów, 26–30 August 1914 221
The Masurian Lakes, September 1914 231
The Battles of Złota Lipa and Gnila Lipa, August 1914 253
Przemyśl, 1914–1915 273
The Serbian Theatre: Potiorek’s First Offensive, August 1914 287
The October Campaign 317
The German advance on Łódź, November 1914 363
Limanowa-Łapanów, December 1914 397
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
As ever, more people than I can mention have played a part in the creation of this
book. In particular, I am grateful to David ‘Klaus’ Shore for his encouragement
in the early stages, and Amit Sumal, whose willingness to track down rare
documents for me was of incalculable value. 
As always, the lovely people at Osprey, particularly Kate Moore and Emily
Holmes, were hugely supportive, as was my agent Robert Dudley. And none of
this would have been possible without the patience and forbearance of my family.
10
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Austria-Hungary
Ährenthal, Alois Lexa von – Foreign Minister 1906–08
Auffenberg, Moritz von – commander of Fourth Army
Berchtold, Leopold von – Foreign Minister in 1914
Bilinsky, Leon – Austro-Hungarian Finance Minister 1912–15 and
simultaneously head of civil administration in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Böhm-Ermolli, Eduard von – commander of Second Army
Boroević, Svetozar – commander of VI Corps, then commander of Third
Army (replaced Brudermann)
Brudermann, Rudolf Ritter von – commander of Third Army
Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz Xaver Josef – Chief of the General Staff in
1914
Czernin, Ottokar Graf – ambassador to Romania
Dankl, Viktor – commander of First Army
Falkenfeld, Heinrich Rittmeister Kummer von – commander of eponymous
force in 1914
Frank, Liborius Ritter von – commander of Fifth Army
Hoyos, Alexander von – chef de cabinet in the Foreign Office, 1914
Joseph Ferdinand (Archduke) – commander of XIV Corps, then commander
of Fourth Army (replaced Auffenberg)
Kirchbach, Karl Freiherr von – commander of I Corps
Kolossváry, Dezső – commander of XI Corps
Kövesz, Hermann von – commander of XII Corps
Křitek, Karl – commander of XVII Corps
Kusmanek, Hermann von – commander of the garrison of Przemyśl
Potiorek, Oskar – military governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina 1911–14,
commander of Sixth Army, then of all k.u.k. forces on the Serbian front
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