The First World War began 107 years ago today, with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia on July 28th, 1914. By that time, Serbia, Russia and Austria-Hungary had all already begun mobilizing their military forces, in response to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip. It was a turbulent affair, and only a series of wild chances led to the death of the Archduke. Gavrilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb, and Austria-Hungary quickly capitalized on the assassination as an excusefor war, presenting Serbia with a series of intentionally unreasonable demands. Things spiralled from there.
The Russian Tsar Nicholas II holds an icon and blesses troops about to depart for the frontlines in 1914. Following the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war, Germany mobilized and declared war on Russia. On the Western Front, Luxembourg was occupied by German troops on August 2nd, and they declared war on France the day after. The invasion of Belgium began on August 4th, and Britain sent a demand to Germany to cease their attack under threat of war - predictably there was no response, and so Britain was at war with Germany by midnight of the 4th. The First World War had begun in earnest.

Campaign Event - The War Begins 1914

This months campaign is inspired by the fighting seen at the start of the war. The Russians led an advance into Galicia far more quickly than expected - the Germans had been assuming that Russian mobilization would be slow. However, famed general Hindenburg was recalled and shortly afterwards the Battle of Tannenberg was fought, with disastrous consequences for the Russians. On the Western Front things were roughly mirrored: the Germans made rapid gains and approached Paris, before ultimately being halted during the First Battle of the Marne in September. All casualties in Frontlines and Maneuver game modes in Verdun and Tannenberg will be added to the total. Too many First World War battles essentially became meatgrinders (or were even conceived as such from the start) and so it is for our campaigns. The Central Powers have lost all recent campaigns, often by large margins. Will it be different this time? Read the Campaign FAQ here!

WW1 Commemoration Event

Furthermore, to commemorate the start of World War One, were holding a Commemoration Event on our social media and Discord channel. From today, July 28, until August 8 well be posting in black and white! Every day we will focus on something else, so be sure to check in every day to see what were up to. Want to go more in-depth with fellow players, mods and possibly the devs? We have a special channel in our Discord in relation to our Commemoration Event as well. If you havent already, be sure to join our Discord server by clicking here.

Film Memoir Mode

Alongside these events, the Film Memoir mode will be available for free for everyone on PC! Be sure to join us in the black and white posting by sharing your screenshots and clips while using this mode. Dont forget to use the special hashtag #RememberWW1 on Twitter so we can easily find the content you create while using this feature!

Welcome new players!

Last but not least, Verdun and Tannenberg were released on the Epic Games Store last Thursday, along with Verdun being free to claim there for a week. Youve likely seen many new players in-game, lets all welcome them to the WW1 battlefields!! Thats all the news from the trenches for now! Wishing you all the best from the WW1 Game Series team!

[ 2021-07-28 11:02:28 CET ] [ Original post ]