Today 100 years ago: Archduke Ferdinand assassination

Never mind - I appreciate the attention for World War I anyway. The whole period was a bit confusing when it came to dates: for example, the Russian 1917 “October Revolution” actually happened in November, according to our modern calendar.

And July 28, 1914, was an important date anyway: this was when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which started the whole cascade that culminated in a global war.

Nice. Thanks Herr KaLeun.
WW1 is not my thing, but the 100th year anniversary is inspiring me to learn.
Always liked aerial combat. Watched Aces High this morning, as I picked it up for £4.

Great movie. I’m brilliant in it.

I knew I recognised you old chap.
Secretly, I prefer Uncle.

Here in England we have one hour (10pm-11pm) with lights out, to commemorate the 11pm entry into a state of war. Candles are lit in the house.

@ABWorsham:

The spark that ignited the First World War was fired today a hundred years ago today.

Who was your favorite WWI commander? Favorite WWI ship? Battle? WWI infantry weapon? Favorite plane?

Commander: D’Espery, the dashing chap that he was. Aggressive, had a damn good head on his shoulders. His successful showing during the crucial month of August, and his war winning offensive in Macedonia are often over looked.

Follow ups: Joffre, Foch, Mangin (only army level commander that went over the top with his men, even if he was a hard SOB). Oh, and Yudenich, the brilliant Russian general whose success against the Ottomans is overlooked by just about everyone.

Ship: Gonna have to agree with the Goeben for the reasons mentioned earlier.

Battle: The Russian offensive into Galicia at the start of the war. Absolutely destroyed the Hapsburg armies to the point of no return a few months into the war. Made Tannenberg look like childs play in terms of men captured. The Hapsburg army would fight on for four more years, but would never recover from the blows.

Also, Verdun, because it’s Verdun.

Also, honorable mention to Jutland. If I could pick one moment to go back in history, it would be to watch the Battle of Jutland.

Favorite weapon: The tank good chap, in all it’s wonderful landship forms. Though I have a particular soft spot for French Saint-Chamond  tanks.

Favorite plane: The SPAD S.XII flown by (probably) the best ace of the war, Rene Fonck. Why this plane in particular you might ask? Because it had a hand loaded 37mm canon mounted in the propeller, that he used to shot down 11 German planes with. That’s why.

Did not know that about Fonck. I am surprised he thought he needed a 37mm cannon though; the planes were flimsy enough as it was. I have only ever read a biography of The Red Baron. I do love planes and have seen many WW1 ones here in England.

@wittmann:

Did not know that about Fonck. I am surprised he thought he needed a 37mm cannon though; the planes were flimsy enough as it was.

I didn’t know about Fonck either.  I imagine that his motive for using a 37mm cannon was that, unlike a machine gun, it fired explosive shells, which would have a greater chance per hit of damaging something vital (like the pilot or the gas tank) than simple bullets.  From the fact that it was hand-loaded I assume that it was a single-shot weapon rather than an autocannon, so it’s astonishing that it was able to score any hits at all against an airplane in flight – but Fonck was apparently an exceptional marksman who could typically bring down an enemy plane with a single short machine-gun burst.

It was a single shot, hand loaded weapon. They hollowed out the propeller shaft and put the gun there, with the loading mechanism extending back through the engine to appear in the cockpit.

As for why he did it? Propbably just because he could. Fonck is noted for his using a single burst from his machine gun of around 5 rounds to kill his opponent. He almost never got in dogfights, he would fly off alone and high above the battlefield, spot his target from “impossible distances” as his comrades put it, and then kill them. So honestly, he probably only used the 37mm because he could. Frances other leading ace, Georges Guynemer, whom everyone liked more than Fonck, was the first to use the 37mm in his place (The French army as a whole made massive use of portable, one shot 37mms, that famous picture of American troops prone in a burning forest during the offensive has them loading a French 37mm) and was able to down two German plans with it.

Hi Worsham. Caporetto is where Rommel earned his Pour le Merite. He is always pictured with it as his throat (very pretty medal). Of course, it must have been a bit insulting to the Italians with whom he later spent his better known years.

Thanks again DarthShizNit for the explanation.

@wittmann:

Caporetto is where Rommel earned his Pour le Merite. He is always pictured with it as his throat (very pretty medal).

It’s quite a coincidence you mentioned this because just last evening I was watching a documentary from which I learned that Rommel had served at Caporetto in WWI.  It was an episode from the five-part series “Apocalypse: World War One”, which I picked up on DVD last weekend.  It was co-produced in France (script, footage editing and digital colorization) and Quebec (music, sound effects and narration), and it was shown on TV earlier this year (http://natgeotv.com.au/tv/apocalypse-world-war-i/episodes.aspx?series=1).  The DVD has both French and English versions of the narration.  I also have the other two sets in the collection: “Apocalypse: Hitler” (mainly covering the inter-war years and “Apocalypse: World War Two”.  The WWII series was actually produced first and the WWI set came out last, so one of these days I’ll sit down and watch the three series back-to-back in the proper order.

I can’t decide if the adopted German in me can override the native Italian. Have never looked much into Caporetto, as it was such a bad defeat and reverse for Italy.
WW2 is safer for me: both were on the sane side!

Not edited for the mistyped “sane”……Quite like it!

@wittmann:

I can’t decide if the adopted German in me can override the native Italian. Have never looked much into Caporetto, as it was such a bad defeat and reverse for Italy. WW2 is safer for me: both were on the sa[m]e side!

Only up until 1943, as illustrated by what happened to the battleship Roma.  Anyway, if it makes you feel better, just think back to the early 19th century when France and Britain were mortal enemies and when, at one point, Britain teamed up with Prussia to fight Napoleon!

Infamy!
We only pretended to be allies in those two wars. Just wait until the next one!
I miss the Middle Ages and our glorious victories against the ignoble and cowardly French.
As for Prussia, no nobler nation ever existed.

Have just been to a castle over the border in Wales, so am definitely feeling medieval. And English. We gave Maddy a  bow for her birthday last week. I only hope she will be a long-bowman(woman) one day. She pretended to fire an arrow at her mother through the guardroom slit at Goodrich on Sunday too.

Would have been hard for France, but how long before AH broke the Alliance and walked in the back door? Surely Italy would have kept a large proportion of troops in the Veneto, thus prejudicing its chances in the West
Did someone say they both distrusted and hated each other? Not the best way to fight a war!

Lucky for the Entente,  Italy joined them  then.
I really did not know it was the Russians who attacked first, so thank you Worsham.