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The WAR to DECEMBER 1916 (2 of 12)

Paul von Hindenburg, the hero of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes. Future president of Germany. Credit really belonged to a little-known staff officer, Max Hoffmann

France's hope in the "Russian Steamroller" proved misplaced. The slow moving Russians launched their offensive into eastern Germany on August 13, crossing the border northward, halfway between Warsaw and Danzig. Only a third of Russia's military was mobilized. Their two attacking armies were ill-trained and lacked weaponry, communications equipment and good leadership. In late August, at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, just a few miles inside the border, the Germans easily defeated them, securing their eastern border for the remainder of the war. The Russians lost much of the weaponry that their army had, and around 250,000 men. It was obvious now that Germany could easily have defended herself without having launched any offensive -- through Belgium or any where else -- leaving the Germans to appear as virtuous as they thought themselves to be.

The Russians did better against Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary's forces -- Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs and others -- moved into Galicia, and the Russians inflicted heavy losses on them. Austria-Hungary's armies fell back, demoralized and in a rout. German troops went to the assistance of Austria-Hungary to prevent a complete collapse of their front against the Russians, and the German armies drove the Russians back into Poland. There, in or near the war zones, Christians attacked Jews, accusing them of sympathy with the Germans. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were driven from their homes, and the Jews retreated eastwards away from the hysteria of the war zones.

The Habsburg offensive into Serbia failed, the armies of little Serbia humiliating Austria-Hungary. At the town of Sabac, frustrated Habsburg forces rounded up and shot male civilians, massacred children and raped women. Habsburg forces rounded up 150 peasants from the town of Lesnica and shot them. The Serbs drove the Habsburg forces back across their border. Then in September, Austria-Hungary's armies came again, establishing a bridgehead just inside Serbia, where their offensive bogged down. Outnumbering the Serb forces three to two and superior in the quality of their equipment, by December Austria-Hungary's forces were able to push into Belgrade. Then the Serbs counterattacked and again drove the invaders back across their border. This left Austria-Hungary with at least 6,000 dead, about 30,000 wounded and 3,000 captured. And the Serb armies at this point in the war had lost about 3,000 killed and 15,000 wounded.