History of The Great War: The Three Beginning Events: The Battle of Liege, Frontiers and Guise (Box-Set)

The Three Beginning Events of the Great War

Book 1: The Battle of Liege

The First World War Battle

Liege was one of the most important battles fought in the war, as it was the first land battle fought only days after the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance declared war. The battle shook the Allies when they realised that the powerful weapons used by the Germans were able to reduce some of Europe’s strongest fortifications to rubble, which reduced their faith in fixed fortifications as an effective defense.

The battle of Liege involved weaponry and technology that was unprecendented, advanced military strategy, and relentless and blatant disregard for the rules of warfare by Germany, which was subsequently repeated in other battles across the continent. Although the battle did not impact heavily upon Germany’s planned invasion of France, the battle resulted in many deaths on both sides in only 12 days.

Book 2: The Battle of the Frontiers

The Recapture of Lost Territory

The Battle of the Frontiers had four principal battles in 1914: The Battle of Lorraine – also called Morhange - from August 14 to 25. The Battle of the Ardennes, which took place from the 21 to 23 August. The Battle of Charleroi on 21 to 23 August, and lastly the Battle of the Mons which lasted only for one day, August 23. Germany’s military prepared to engage in a somewhat altered rendition of the Schlieffen Plan, which was developed in 1905 by Count Alfred von Schlieffen.

Book 3: The Battle of Guise

The French Counter-Attack

A month into the war, Guise was a blueprint for the new identity of combat. The egos of military commanders would overrule strategy; their inability to adapt to the modern personality of battle would destroy lives and in several cases, their careers as well. Guise was nominally a victory for the Allies, who desperately needed one, but as was the case with so many of the victories in World War I, the price was high and the resolution undefined. What Guise did achieve was delay, something that the Allies needed, to relieve the pressure on the British Expeditionary Force and borrow time for the French Sixth Army, which had just been created. As a prelude to the famous Battle of the Marne, Guise was one of the many links in a long and bloody chain that would be forged over four bitter years.

As the days of August passed, the lights of Europe would indeed go out. Night was falling.