The+Start+of+the+War


 * __The Outbreak of War__**

Detailed Timeline: []

British Daily Mirror Announces Britain's declaration of war, 4 Aug 1914. []

An account of the outbreak of war, from a Austrian civilian living in Germany

//If the Vienna government had given the ultimatum another milder form, this would have changed nothing in the situation except at most one thing, that this government would itself have been swept away by the indignation of the people. For in the eyes of the broad masses the tone of the ultimatum was far too gentle and by no means too brutal, let alone too far-reaching Anyone who today attempts to argue this away is either a forgetful blockhead or a perfectly conscious swindler and liar// //The struggle of the year 1914 was not forced on the masses- no, by the living God-it was desired by the whole people.// //People wanted at length to put an end to the general uncertainty. Only thus can it be understood that more than two million German men and boys thronged to the colors for this hardest of all struggles, prepared to defend the flag with the last drop of their blood.//