Europe’s last summer
In July and August 1914 the world went to war and the summer months saw a dark shadow cast over Europe’s beaches
The First World War started as a result of several key events. These led to the first shots being fired in anger in July 1914, but many believe the conflict was on the horizon for months and even years earlier.
Summer 1914 saw the people of Europe enjoying good weather, but they did so knowing that they were teetering on the edge of catastrophe. For this reason, the middle months of 1914 became known as Europe’s last summer, and in several ways, this has become a fitting title.
The turn of the 20th century had Europe slipping into a war that some nations wanted but many did not. The powers of the continent were building armed forces the likes of which the world had ever seen and with the arrival of 1914, it reached a stage where leaders were looking for an excuse to use their newly collected weapons and firepower.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in July 1914 is seen as the spark that sent the world into war. Yet months and even years before the incident in Sarajevo, the seeds were being sewn.
European nations had been building relationships through treaties for decades. The Triple Entente was a union forged between Great Britain, France, and Russia in the late 19th and early 20th century whilst a military, economic, and political agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy known as The Triple Alliance was signed in 1882.
These treaties and partnerships were signed decades before the starter pistol for the First World War was fired, and in many ways, it was done so during a different time. Over this period, how wars would be fought changed drastically. In the 19th century, many battles were fought on horseback- this would be shown as archaic by 1918.
The alliances brought nations into the war, and the Treaty of London signed in 1839 would lead the Entente to join the war. This treaty, first signed over 75 years before the First World, is what helped to bring several nations into the conflict. It was agreed that if Belgium was invaded, the nations signing the treaty would support it.
It was this treaty and consequence that saw Great Britain pulled into the war, and its small but well-trained army would see action at The Battle of Mons as they tried to hold off the German advance through Belgium and into France.
The open warfare of these early months soon faded, and with no clear victory in sight, both sides started digging trenches. This would set the scene for four years of war, where millions of men died for often just miles of land gained.
The summer of 1914 started with people enjoying sunny weather on Europe's beaches, and it ended with artillery and machine gun fire tearing the continent in two. The world changed after the First World War, with a different attitude to globalisation and societal norms adopted as the 1920s approached. That summer is one where in many ways, the innocence of 20th-century Europe was lost, and replaced with a need for aggression and conflict.
