The Great War
July Crisis
[Rhineland and Belgium, July 1914] A few days lay behind the deadly shots of Sarajevo. Countess Sophie and Count Andras Csabany were deeply affected and very worried.
The Great War
The Great War
Europe at war
Diplomacy fails, within a week, Europe is at war. Matthias is drawn.
The Great War
The Rhine steamer Aimée’s last tour
[Germany, August 1914] Mobilization was underway. Enthusiasm for the war swept away all other emotions, suspicion was growing, thus even friends and acquaintances became enemies. In patriotic exuberance, countless people paraded through the streets, waving […]
The Great War
War Year 1914
German troops invade Belgium. At home, people organize aid programs.
The Great War
Soup kitchen
[Rhineland, 1914/15] Nobody was prepared for a long war. Jakob still heard the victorious shouts “at Christmas we will be back here”. But since the turn of the Marne in early September 1914, one had […]
The Great War
War year 1915
[1915] In 1914, the center of gravity of the war had been on the Western Front, now it shifted to the Eastern. A gigantic Russian army was besieging the mighty fortress Przemysl in Galicia. By […]
The Great War
Trenches
[Rhineland and France, 1916] Bad news came from everywhere. The war propaganda confidently predicted victory, but Lottie had stopped believing that a long time ago.
The Great War
Austria-Hungary 1916
The Habsburg monarchy is decaying. Shortly after the emperor Count Csabany dies.
The Great War
“Turnip Winter” in Germany
The British Naval blockade cuts Germany off supplies. Jacob is desperate.
The Great War
“Halt the Hun” War Propaganda
[USA, 1917/18] Horrified, Lorenz Bergmann’s granddaughter Chiara looked at the Liberty Bonds she was about to buy. It showed a creature with a Pickelhaube, thus obviously a German.
The Great War
No chance for peace
[Germany, summer 1917] The war was already in the third year, and there was no prospect of peace. In vain Pope Benedict XV had repeatedly urged peace negotiations.
The Great War
War Year 1918
The Great War had been raging for three years now. Trenches, machine guns, air reconnaissance, barbed wire and modern artillery had helped bring the battle lines of World War I to a stalemate.
The Great War
Spanish Flu
A devastating pandemic hits enemies and friends alike. Emil and Lena Bergmann.
The Great War
German Revolution 1918/19
The Hohenzollern monarchy is overthrown. What will become of Germany?
The Great War
Austria-Hungary 1918
[Austria-Hungary, November 1918] Already in the last days of the war, the Czechs, Galicians, Poles, Slovenes and Croats had broken away from Austria-Hungary. In Transylvania, Romania had taken power.
The Great War
Will France annex the Rhineland?
Many Rhinelanders fear that France will annex the Rhineland.