[CENTER][b]The Great War: July 28th-December 31st[/b][/CENTER]

In AD 1914, war was beginning. The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to Austria declaring war on Serbia after countless attempts at negotiation and breaking the tensions failed, followed by a Russian declaration of war against Austria, and a German declaration of war against Russia. In private, France gave its assurances to Russia that it would help. The wheels were set in motion, and Europe was lit on fire. Across the continent, millions of men were called up to serve their country. 

The first battles of the war were in Serbia, where something happened that nobody had imagined. The Serbian army took the fight to Austria by launching a quick offensive into Novi Pazar, where the local population was dumbfounded by what happened as much as military planners in Vienna. And another good surprise came Serbia's way immediately. Montenegro had declared war on Austria a day before they declared war on Serbia and mobilised the army within twenty-four hours, but had left the country and retreated to Novi Pazar in order to join the Serbian army, where it was outfitted with modern equipment the Serbian army could spare from their arsenal and took an oath of allegiance to King Peter I in light of King Nicholas fleeing to Italy. It was a curse in disguise for Austria, which upon the Serbian taking of Novi Pazar decided to move through Montenegro.

[Montenegro is occupied by Austria, however Montenegro's totally mobilised army, numbering 64,507 soldiers, is at the command of Serbia. It is upgraded to army level 18]

Serbia's army now numbered 600,075 men. Poorly trained and equipped as they may be, they were ready to defend their fatherland from the Habsburg monster that was enroaching them from two sides. From the south, it was decided that Albania should exert pressure on Serbia and assault the south. The plan seemed obvious, if it weren't for the trivial detail that Albania didn't have a standing army. In all haste, one was created and mobilised, with around 91,000 soldiers mobilised. However with little training and rivalries all throughout, it was not much in terms of a fighting force, but this should be negated by the fact they were to assault at the same times as the Austrians would. In this horrible state they assaulted Novi Pazar and met the former Montenegrin army, bolstered by 75,000 Serbian conscripts. Montenegro's royal guard especially distinguished themselves in the ensuing slaughterhouse, and it was perceived that Albania was knocked out of the war.
[-3 regulars and 37,052 conscripts to Serbia, 69,796 Kebab removed]

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[i]Montenegrin troops during the battle of Plav[/i][/center]

This was yet the first wave the Serbs had to face, as the Austrian army that was to assault Serbia had just arrived. Crossing the Drina, it was the second invading army to have entered Serbian soil in the war, and was proving to be better at its job than the Albanians, which really didn't say anything. The Austrian advance was unopposed at both crossing points, Šabac and Ljubovija, as the Serbian commander, Radomir Putnik, deemed it impossible to defend the entire border. Falling back to a more defensible position, deeper in land, the Austrians took the opportunity to rest and set up their outposts. The Serbians, not knowing where the enemy exactly were, regrouped 25,000 regulars and 150,000 conscripts to confront the enemy. On August 15th, Marshal Putnik ordered a counterattack and at eleven o'clock in the evening they met. The Austrian position were poorly defended and in the chaos that ensued, quickly retreated. The Serbian quickly followed and soon the Austrian forces were prevented from linking up. But despite the Austrian army's best efforts the Serbian army was able to push them out of their country over the course of the next nine days, when they reached the banks of the river Drina in spite of the heavy losses they took. The force that came to take Belgrade and the Danube in general met a similar fate. It was co-ordinated well, had every advantage it could wish with the exception of morale, and started out incredibly succesful. Success was not limited, especially as Belgrade was shelled and captured within the first days of the conflict. The Serbian retreat, however, gave a good chance for them to regroup and strike back at the Austrian invaders, who retreated after taking heavy casualties and hearing of the other force's defeat. Serbia's casualties were even heavier, but it stood victorious and had repelled the Austrians. For now.
[-4808 regulars and 186,826 conscripts to Serbia, -1,474 regulars and 146,808 conscripts to Austria]

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[i]A British cartoonist's view of the Austro-Serbian war.[/i][/center]

However, the clash of the Titans was yet to begin. Supporting with Austria's army in the East, the Kaiserliche Heer was the most powerful army in the world. It possessed the most modern training, weapons, discipline, drill and war plans. It was to help the Habsburg empire to take on a most dangerous adversary, the mighty Rus'. The largest country in the world had taken steps to modernise its army and economy in the last years, and until the London Stock Market crash it had paid off. Russia possessed the largest army in the world, the largest number of artillery, machine guns, the largest ammunition stockpile in the world, but it also had certain flaws its German counterpart did not possess. The bear was sick. It was corrupt to the bone, undisciplined, the army lacked training in the modern equipment, the officers did not care for their men, and many other structural differences. More different these two forces could not have been when their monarchs called them to war.

While the Germans began the advance in Poland and was the first to meet the enemy, hostilities between the two commenced upon the Russian invasion of East Prussia. Warfare in the East had already been much more fluid than in the South. Tsar Nicholas II and his generals planned to send the Russian 1st army, 300,000 strong, into East Prussia. Following the railway lines, it was to draw the German defenders towards it. Bogging the defenders down, the 1st Polish army, 220,000 strong, attacked through the heavily wooded area at Tannenberg. Nearly encircled, the local German commander begged for permission to retreat, but the Kaiser refused and instead called Field Marshal von Hindenburg out of retirement. The old Field Marshal used the superior German rail system to encircle the First Polish Army, bogging it down in the Tannenberg woods resulting in the Germans mauling the enemy at a heavy cost on their own side. However they were saved by the First Army attacking and breaking the eastern flank, allowing the Polish to escape encirclement. Whilst the planned destruction of the 1st Polish Army was not achieved, it was nevertheless a stunning victory as the road to Warsaw from the North was now open.
[-6,023 regulars and 15,759 conscripts to Poland, -56,697 conscripts to Russia. -48,001 regulars to Germany]

The second part of a pincer in Poland was now made, with the help of the Austrian Army. Or so they thought. The Austrians were pre-occupied defending their own territory that the German attacks from the West were beaten off because they had no support. Neither did the Russians, so after a number of skirmishes they retreated to Warsaw. Limited Russian success, however, was seen in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. 500,000 soldiers of the 2nd Polish Army launched a full-scale assault on Krakau, aiming to take it from the Austrians. When the Austrians were confident of their ability to hold, the Russians threw in no less than two million men in an attempt to evict Austria from Galicia. With a little help from the Austrian general staff performing miserably, it worked and resulted in a slaughterhouse for the Austrians, with over a million dead, wounded and captured.
[-3,136 regulars and 177,799 conscripts to Poland, -2,711 regulars and 527,102 conscripts to Russia, -218 regulars and 1,147,051 conscripts to Austria]

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[i]Russian morale ran high in Galicia, where the Austrian army scattered.[/i][/center]

Shocked by the loss, Germany decided to act on its own and press the gains it had made in the last month by advancing on Warsaw, defending Silesia and supporting the shattered Austrian armies while doing so. The Russian commander, Nikolay Ivanov, had received information of the impending assault and ordered his troops to dig in and defend Warsaw to the last man, as it was too important to give away. A staggering number of men gathered in and around Warsaw, no less than 200,000 full-time soldiers from the finest regiments and 900,000 conscripted men were rushed in to defend Poland's capital from the 800,000 Germans that were closing in. In the ensuing meat-grinder 600,000 soldiers died, but for the Russians the chief objective had been achieved - Warsaw was defended and the German advance stunted.

[-26,669 regulars and 263,358 conscripts to Russia, -7,103 regulars and 294,787 conscripts to Germany]

On sea, the Russians and French try to blockade Germany off, which through a series of failures and miscommunications does not work. Meanwhile Germany unleashes the hundred submarines it has to attack Russian and French shipments. While it is a threat to shipping, the rules of engagement and primitive ways of submarine warfare mean that not much damage is done. The French Mediterranean fleet, however, managed to completely blockade Austria-Hungary's coast.

[Russia and Austria are partially blockaded, France gets away with it.]

The Western Front was a very different war. The border between France and Germany was heavily fortified on both sides, but more so on the French side. The German war plan called for 20% of the army to be stationed on the French border and prevent a French incursion into Alsace-Lorraine, as it was thought the French would be all too happy to get it back. France, mobilised and ready for war, started a series of probing attacks at the border to find a weak spot - And they found it. The corridor south of Colmar was the weakest, and the French army assaulted it with full force. Over the course of two weeks, the Germans sent half of the army on the French border there to stop them. The French miraculously succeeded in a limited breakthrough at a surprisingly low cost, but the Germans managed to contain them with little effort after the breakthrough.
[-16,750 regulars and 46,900 conscripts to Germany. -20,100 regulars and 56,280 conscripts to France]

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[i]The first to fight: The French Foreign Legion[/i][/center]

French success continued in Africa, where three armoured cruisers landed a force of 1500 Senegalese riflemen in Lomé, the capital of Togoland. These Senegalese proved superb fighters as they chased the German colonial militia through the colony, occupying it with ease. Another assault into Kamerun was prepared, but due to logistical troubles it was decided to put it off.
[-837 regulars to France, -4000 reservists to Germany]

[b]Body count[/b]

Albania: 69,796 
Austria: 1,295,551
France: 77,217
Germany: 417,541
Montenegro: 17,047
Poland: 202,717
Russia: 876,537
Serbia: 211,642
Total: 3,168,048