NEWSLETTER No 426 - NOVEMBER 2014

Our scheduled speaker for the evening, fellow-member Dr. Rodney Warwick, was unfortunate
enough to be hospitalized for emergency treatment on the very morning of the day he was scheduled
to speak. His lecture has therefore been postponed until January, 2015. This necessitated an
unscheduled change in our lecture programme and we wish to offer our apologies to the members and
visitors who came to hear Dr. Warwick speak. As it proved to be an impossible task to find a
replacement speaker for the evening at such short notice, we had to resort to continue to show a
further two episodes from the series World War One in Colour. Fortunately most members of the
audience were quite amenable to the unforeseen schedule change, and again, to those, who were a
captive audience so to speak, our sincere apologies.
We are nearing the end of the year, with Remembrance Day on the 11th of November to
commemorate the end of that terrible conflict, The Great War as it was called back then. Its
participants and the fallen will be remembered and honored at commemorative services and wreathlying ceremonies countrywide on Sunday the 9th November. This coming Saturday, the 8th of
November, the SA Legions annual Poppy Day street collection will take on the streets of the cities and
towns countrywide. It is a worthy cause so please support it. Similarly, here in South Africa, the
German and Italian participants and war dead are also being commemorated in an appropriate
manner in their own communities, but on differing dates.
In view of the absence of the customary lecture summary, the Cape Town Branch of the Society
saw it fitting to give an overview of the events of the last six months of the very first year, 1914, of
World War One, or the First World War, as it was also called:

World War I 1914: The First Year

World War One (WWI) started out as a European conflict which quickly became a worldwide
conflict due to the colonial interests of some of the main belligerents (Great Britain, France and
Germany) and the involvement of their respective dependencies, which turned, what should have
been a regional war, into a global war. The conflict stretched over more than four years, spanned four
continents and on the high seas covered all the oceans. Compared to the widespread destruction
wrought during World War Two, especially of densely populated urban centres, WWI was mainly a
localised conflict limited to primarily rural areas, and the fields were quickly returned to agriculture and
pasturage. The towns that were destroyed were quickly rebuilt, except around Verdun.
It can be argued that there are a wide range of differing causes that led to the conflict, whether
socio-economic, political, geostrategic or even ideological. Some advocates see it as a logical
progression from the 1871 Franco-Prussian War; other as a second Thirty Years War starting in 1914
and ending in 1945; or as the first of the Oil Wars over the past century, from 1914 to 2014 (i.e. the
wars of geostrategic domination for natural resources which have become a common thread of history
since the end of the 19th century), and finally, as the first worldwide trigger for revolutionary social
reform on a global scale that was initiated in 1848 and perfected in the 20th century. Conflict is the
fastest and surest facilitator to ensure social reform by changing of values and norms through the
propagation of ideas and to mould public opinion. This is achieved by means of fear-mongering
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using the mainstream media to generate broad-based support for a common cause. It is still
continuing to this day: In WWI three empires were destroyed and balkanised the German-, AustrianHungarian and the Ottoman empires; one empire destroyed and socio-politically reconstructed
according to revolutionary ideological principles Russia; two empires were impoverished and
enfeebled, to only be deconstructed fully in the following world war (or, as some pundits see it - the
continuation war of the Thirty Years War) Great Britain and France, and finally, one emerging
empire to ultimately constitute the only surviving super-power at the end of the 20th century the
United States of America.
Although Germany is held forth as the guilty party for starting the war, however, it is far from the
truth, if one looks objectively and critically at the events. Analysing the causes, it is clear that not one
of the belligerent parties at the onset of war would have been willing to back off: Russia would not
have been prepared to give up its claim as Slavic protector in the Balkans not for domestic or
foreign policy reasons, amongst which, her dream of controlling the Bosporus/Dardanelles for access
to the Mediterranean; Austria-Hungary, beset by multiple nationalist unrest especially in the Balkans,
could not afford a further strengthening of the Serbian position; Germany could not afford to be moved
into a position of utter isolation and locked in between two unfriendly powers, France and Russia the
consequence if she had forsaken her fading ally, nor could she view with complacency the
strengthening of Russia to a point where Russia could overrun Germany (a view also held by
ambassador Buchanan1 in St Petersburg and F-M Sir Henry Wilson, CIGS). Likewise France was
unable to accept the risk of isolation in Europe if she left her Russian ally, Russia, unsupported.
Finally, Great Britain, her resources already strained and with a lagging economy, could not risk her
Imperial position obtained through the Anglo-French entente (1904) and the Anglo-Russian entente
(1907). Nor could Great Britain ignore the real threat of an economically superior Germany on the
European continent with its concomitant challenge to Britains Balance of Power foreign policy vis-vis the continent, and flowing from that, the perceived threat to Britains sea power by a growing
German battle fleet protecting its own merchant marine on the open seas, in much the same way as
Britain did hers. Britains strength lay in her naval dominance of the High Seas which guaranteed her
global trade hegemony. With the modernisation of the British Navy, by changing over from coal-fired to
oil-fired propulsion, Britain not only revolutionised naval warfare, but concomitantly had wider
geostrategic interests, namely to safeguard and guarantee her oil resources situated thousands of
kilometres away whilst her coal resources were localised. To this end it explains Britains covert
involvement in the Balkans conflict of 1912-1913, partly to sabotage Germanys growing influence in
the Ottoman Empire, by trying to block the completion of the joint German-Turkish Berlin-Baghdad
railway line, and more importantly, working towards securing control over the Mesopotamian and
Persian oilfields.

The July Crisis

The July Crisis was the spark in the powder keg that triggered the conflagration we today call the
First World War. By 1914, a decade of reckless diplomacy and recurrent crises had taken its toll on
European international relations, and it was widely feared that a general war was becoming
unavoidable. Political unrest, assassinations, strikes and revolutionary fervour were commonplace. On
June 28, the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a young
Bosnian Serb - whose weapons had been supplied by ultra-nationalists belonging to the secret society
known as the Black Hand, with contacts in the Serbian government and supported by the war faction
in the Russian Government, led by Izvolsky2 and Sazonov3. Serbia and Austria-Hungarys bitter
antagonism stems back to the Balkan War of 1912-13 and Austria soon secretly decided to make use
1

Sir George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, 1910-1918.

Count Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky was the Russian Ambassador to France, 1910-1917. When WWI broke
out, he was reputed to have remarked, "C'est ma guerre." ("This is my war.").

Sergei Sazonov was the Russian Foreign Minister, 1910-1916.

of the murder to force a crisis that would lead to an invasion to punish Serbia in a localised war for its
agitation of the local populations and its destabilisation of the region. On July 5 the German Kaiser
conditionally pledged to support Austria in this dangerous scheme that could easily have wider
ramifications. Despite some disquieting hints, it was only on July 23 that the crisis broke into the open,
when Serbia was suddenly presented with an impossible ultimatum by Austria-Hungary.
From then on, events moved quickly. Russia immediately gave strong support to its ally Serbia,
France backed her ally Russia, and though Germany began to grow alarmed, it reiterated its support
to Austria. Serbia rejected the ultimatum and started mobilisation4 on the 25th of July. After Austria
declared war on Serbia on July 28, hoping for a limited, localised war, the crisis rapidly spun out of
control. The problem lay with the interlocking treaties promising automatic and reciprocal support in
case of war. As the situation grew more ominous, the exhausted diplomats and political leaders were
unable to resist their military chiefs' demands for preparatory measures, which neighbouring nations
felt compelled to respond to, leading to full-scale mobilisations and then to war. Russia had already
decided on war by the 25th; a partial mobilisation was ordered on the 29th, followed by a general
mobilisation on the 30th. Austria-Hungary, Belgium & Turkey ordered general mobilisation on the 31st
of July. France and Germany ordered general mobilisation on 1st August. Germany declared war on
Russia on August 1st and on France two days later. On August 4th, Germany invaded Belgium, which
drew Britain into the conflict on the same day. Austria came in between August 6th and August 12th. By
then, all of the major European powers - except Italy - were at war with each other.
For the sake of brevity, the main events up to the end of 1914, are listed chronologically:
June 28, 1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, visited
Sarajevo in Bosnia, coincidentally also their tenth wedding anniversary. A bomb was thrown at their
auto but missed. Undaunted, they continued their visit only to be shot and killed a short time later by a
lone assassin. Believing the assassin to be a Serbian nationalist, the Austrians targeted their anger
toward Serbia.
July 23, 1914 - Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to Serbia. By the 24th the terms were
common knowledge to all European powers some proposed delay and others proposed arbitration
as a way to resolve the dispute. The Serbs, while vacillating in considering the conditions, also began
mobilising their troops.
July 25, 1914 - Austria-Hungary severed diplomatic ties with Serbia and began to mobilise its
troops. Russia began war preparations.
July 26, 1914 - Britain and France took precautionary military measures, but did nothing to restrain
Russia.
July 27, 1914 - The German diplomats, having sensed the possibility of war from the conduct of
the Russians, tried on two occasions to sway the Austrians to show restraint, but were unsuccessful.
July 28, 1914 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. The Germans tried to
involve Britain to start mediation with the Russians and the French to avert a possible war. The British
agreed, but did nothing to try and convince Russia and France to desist. The Kaiser personally cabled
Czar Nicholas to intercede to avert war, to which he agreed. However, the Russian war faction
convinced the weak-willed Czar to prepare for war. This was the point of no return.

In WWI mobilisation was tantamount to starting hostilities as it was dependent on railways for deployment the
railways operated to strict timetables and once set in motion was virtually impossible to stop and could lead to
chaos while laying a country economically prostrate and making itself virtually defenceless to reaction by the
now forewarned and threatened neighbour. (The importance of mobilisations are generally misunderstood and
in diplomatic terms it is a virtual declaration of war. For a country to mobilise was to virtually force its neighbour
to also mobilise. In terms of the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 it was understood that to mobilise entails the
carrying out of strategic transportation and concentration of military force and means on a countrys border with
obviously hostile intent to the threatened neighbouring country. Otherwise, for a threatened country to leave a
million armed men on its frontier, without taking defensive measures at the same time, was to deprive itself of
all possibility of mobilising later-on and taking effective defensive countermeasures; it could be compared to
allowing oneself to be assaulted without lifting a hand to defend oneself.)

July 29, 1914 - The Russians began partial troop mobilisation. The Germans then warned Russia
against mobilisation and began to mobilise themselves.
July 30, 1914 - Reacting to the Austrian attack on Serbia, Russia began full mobilisation of its
troops. Germany then demanded that it stop.
July 31, 1914 By the morning the Russian mobilisation was known in Berlin. By noon the German
government proclaimed a Threatening Danger of War a step preliminary to mobilisation. In the
afternoon it sent ultimatums to Russia and France, the former to suspend mobilisation, and the latter
to remain neutral in a possible Russo-German war.
August 1, 1914 Russia having refused to reply to the ultimatum, or stop the mobilisation,
Germany forthwith declared war on Russia. France and Belgium began full mobilisation.
August 2, 1914 Germany requested the benevolent neutrality of Belgium and in the evening
occupied Luxembourg to secure the railroads, essential for the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan.
Turkey arranged a secret military alliance to protect itself from possible Russian attack.
August 3, 1914 - Germany declared war on France. Italy and Romania declared their neutrality.
August 4, 1914 - Germany declared war on Belgium, and invaded the, up till then, neutral Belgium.
Britain then sent an ultimatum, rejected by the Germans, to withdraw from Belgium. Great Britain
declared war on Germany. The declaration was binding on all Dominions within the British Empire
including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.

Start of Hostilities
August 4-16, 1914 - The Siege of Liege occurred as Germans attacked the Belgian fortress city
but met resistance from Belgian troops inside the Liege Forts. The twelve forts surrounding the city
were then bombarded into submission by German and Austrian large-calibre howitzers using armourpiercing and high explosive shells. Remaining Belgian troops then retreated northward toward
Antwerp as the German westward advance continued.
August 6, 1914 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Russia.
August 7, 1914 - The first British troops landed in France. The 120,000 highly-trained members of
the regular British Army formed the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), commanded by Field Marshal
John French. (Effective strength of the British Army at the time being 248,000 troops.)
August 7-24, 1914 - The French desire to score a quick victory ignites the first major FrenchGerman action of the war. The French Army invades Alsace and Lorraine according to their master
strategy known as Plan XVII. However, the French offensive is met by effective German counterattacks using heavy artillery and machine-guns. The French suffer heavy casualties including 27,000
soldiers killed in a single day, the worst one-day death toll in the history of the French Army. The
French then fall back toward Paris amid 300,000 total casualties.
August 8, 1914 - Britain enacted the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), granting unprecedented
powers to the government to control/restructure the economy and daily life. (Parallel examples are:
Policies and legislation in Britain flowing from PEP [Political & Economic Planning] before, during and
after WWII and in the USA the Homelands Security Acts and similar legislation after 9/11.)
August 12, 1914 - Great Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary. Serbia is invaded by
Austria-Hungary.
August 17, 1914 - Russia invades Germany, attacking into East Prussia, forcing the outnumbered
Germans there to fall back. This marks the advent of the Eastern Front in Europe in which Russia will
oppose Germany and Austria-Hungary.
August 20, 1914 - German troops occupy undefended Brussels, capital of Belgium. Following this,
the main German armies continue westward and invade France according to their master strategy
known as the Schlieffen Plan. It calls for a giant counter-clockwise movement of German armies
wheeling into France, swallowing up Paris, and then attacking the rear of the French armies
concentrated in the Alsace-Lorraine area. Under the overall command of Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of
the German General Staff, the Germans seek to achieve victory over France within six weeks and
then focus on defeating Russia in the East before Russia's six-million-man army, the world's largest,
can fully mobilize.
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August 26, 1914: The Battle of Tannenberg - On the Eastern Front, German troops in East
Prussia under the new command of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff opposed the Russian
2nd Army. Aided by aerial reconnaissance and the interception of uncoded Russian radio messages,
the Germans effectively repositioned their troops to counter the initial Russian advance. Five days
later, after surrounding the Russians, the battle ended with a German victory and the capture of
125,000 Russians. Following this success, the Germans drive the Russians out of East Prussia with
heavy casualties. The impressive victory elevates Hindenburg and Ludendorff to the status of heroes
in Germany.
September 5-12, 1914: Battle of the Marne - On the Western Front, Paris was saved as French and
British troops disrupted the Schlieffen Plan by launching a major counter-offensive against the
invading German armies to the east of Paris. Six hundred taxi cabs from the city helped to move
French troops to the Front. Aided by French aerial reconnaissance which revealed that a gap had
developed in the centre of the whole German advance, the French and British exploited this weakness
and pressed their advantage. The Germans then began a strategic withdrawal northward as the Allies
pursued. Each side repeatedly tried to outmanoeuvre the other and gain a tactical advantage as they
moved northward in what became known as the Race to the Sea, another one of the myths of WWI.
September 8, 1914 - The French government enacted nationwide State of War regulations which
included total control over the economy and national security, strict censorship, and suspension of civil
liberties.
September 17, 1914 - On the Eastern Front, Austrian forces steadily retreated from the advancing
Russian 3rd and 8th armies fighting in southern Poland and along the Russian-Austrian border. The
Germans then sent the newly formed 9th Army to halt the Russians. This marked the beginning of a
pattern in which the Germans aided the weaker Austro-Hungarian Army militarily and organisationally.
September 22, 1914 - The first-ever British air raid against Germany occurred as Zeppelin bases
at Cologne and Dsseldorf are bombed.
October 19, 1914: First Battle of Ypres (Oct 19 - Nov 22) - Still hoping to score a quick victory in
the West, the Germans launched a major attack on Ypres in Belgium. Despite heavy losses, British,
French and Belgian troops fended off the attack and the Germans did not break through. During the
battle, the Germans sent waves of inexperienced 17 to 20-year-old volunteer soldiers, some fresh out
of school. They advanced shoulder-to-shoulder while singing patriotic songs only to be systematically
gunned down in what the Germans themselves later call the "massacre of the innocents." By
November, overall casualties totalled 250,000 men, including nearly half of the British Regular Army.
October 29, 1914 - The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) entered the war on the side of the Germans
when she attacked the Russian port of Odessa without prior warning. Three days later, Russia
declared war on Turkey. Russian and Turkish troops first clashed along the common border of the
Russian Caucasus and the Ottoman Empire Armenia. Here the Turks suffered heavy losses as a
result of the inhospitable terrain and extremely cold weather conditions, rather than through combat.
October-November, 1914 The German and Austrian armies launched a combined offensive
against the Russians on the Eastern Front. The German 9th Army targeted Warsaw, Poland, but was
opposed by six Russian armies and withdrew. The Austrians attacked the Russians in Galicia (a
province in northeast Austria) with indecisive results. However, the Russians failed to press their
advantage at Warsaw and instead began a split counter-offensive moving both southward against the
Austrians in Galicia and northward toward Germany. The German 9th Army regrouped and cut the
Russians off at Lodz, Poland, and having halted their advance, forced the Russians to withdrew
eastward.
November 1, 1914 - Austria invaded Serbia. This was the third attempt to conquer the Serbs in
retaliation for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This attempt failed like the two before it,
at the hands of highly motivated Serbs fighting on their home ground. The Austrians withdrew in midDecember, after having suffered over 220,000 casualties from the three failed invasions.
November 3, 1914 - Kaiser Wilhelm appointed Erich von Falkenhayn as the new Chief of the
German General Staff, who replaced Helmuth von Moltke who was sacked due to the failure of the
Schlieffen Plan.
November 5, 1914 - France and Britain declared war on the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.
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November 6, 1914 - In the Persian Gulf, a major British offensive began as the 6th Indian Division
invaded Mesopotamia. The objective was to protect the oil pipeline from Persia and capture the rich
Mosul and Basra oil fields vital to the Anglo-French war effort. Two weeks later they captured the city
of Basra, which was but the beginning of a long and wasteful campaign of attrition.

Trench Warfare Begins

December 1914 - The Western Front in Europe stabilized in the aftermath of the First Battle of
Ypres as the Germans went on the defensive and transferred troops to the East to fight the Russians.
The 720km/450-mile-long Western Front stretched from the Channel Coast southward through
Belgium and Eastern France up to Switzerlands border. Troops from both sides constructed opposing
trench fortifications and dugouts protected by barbed wire, machine-gun nests, snipers, and mortars,
with an in-between area called No Man's Land. The Eastern Front also saw its share of trenches as
troops dug in after the Russians held off the Germans in Poland and the Austrians held off the
Russians at Limanowa. The 960km/600-mile Eastern Front stretched from the Baltic Sea southward
through East Prussia and Austria to the Carpathian Mountains.
December 10, 1914 - The French began a series of attacks along the Western Front against the
Germans in the Artois region of northern France and Champagne in the south. Hampered by a lack of
heavy artillery and muddy winter conditions, the French failed to make any significant gains and both
offensives were soon suspended.
December 25, 1914 - A Christmas truce occurred between German and British soldiers in the
trenches of northern France. All shooting stopped as the soldiers exited their trenches, exchanged
gifts, sang carols and engaged in an impromptu soccer game. This is the only Christmas truce of the
war, as Allied commanders subsequently forbade fraternisation with orders to shoot any violators.

Colonial Warfare
August 6, 1914 - French and British troops invaded the German colony of Togo in West Africa.
Twenty days later, the German governor there surrendered.
August 23, 1914 - Japan declared war on Germany. The Japanese then prepared to assist the
British in expelling the Germans from the Far East. German possessions in the South Pacific included
a naval base on the coast of China, part of New Guinea, Samoa, and the Caroline, Marshall and
Mariana Islands.
August 27, 1914 - A detachment from the Japanese Second Fleet blockaded Kiaochow Bay in
China, the sea access to the German possession at Tsingtao (the present-day Qingdao).
August 30, 1914 - Three days later, the first of 23,000 troops of the Japanese assault force landed
on the coast of China, to lay siege to the German naval base at Tsingtao. German possessions in the
Far East were attacked as New Zealand troops occupied German Samoa. A month later, the
Japanese began their occupation of the Caroline, Marshall and Mariana Islands.
October 1914 The Afrikaner Rebellion in the Union of South Africa started. It stemmed from
dissatisfaction with the plan to use Union troops to invade German South West Africa.
November 7, 1914 - In the Far East, the German naval base at Tsingtao was captured by the
Japanese, aided by a British and Indian battalion.

Naval Warfare
July 30, 1914 - Austrian warships bombarded Belgrade, capital of Serbia.
August 1-10, 1914 - SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau grabbed the imagination when they outwitted
the British Mediterranean Fleet (consisting of three modern battle cruisers; the HMS Inflexible, HMS
Indefatigable, and the HMS Indomitable; four armoured cruisers, four light cruisers, and 14 destroyers)
to make a daring escape to the Dardanelles and safety in Turkish waters. Handed over to the Turkish
Navy but manned by German Naval personnel.
September 7, 1914 - In the Far East, a German naval squadron, commanded by Graf von Spee
severed the British Pacific communications cable.
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September 20, 1914 - The light cruiser Knigsberg, on the German East African station when the
war began, sank the British protected cruiser Pegasus off Zanzibar. The Knigsberg afterward sought
refuge in the Rufiji River to make repairs. British warships soon blockaded it there, where it remained
a focal point of local Allied attention until it was finally sunk ten months later.
September 22, 1914 The German U-boat U-9, sank three aged British cruisers, HMS Aboukir,
HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy on patrol off the Hook of Holland. The whole affair lasted less than one
hour from the time of launching the first torpedo until the Cressy went to the bottom. Not one of the
three had been able to make use of their main armament and heralded a new dimension in warfare.
October 29, 1914 - HMS Audacious sunk after it struck a mine. She had only been in service for
about a year when she was sunk and was a serious loss to the Grand Fleet at a time when its
numerical superiority over the German High Seas Fleet was slim. The loss was not officially
acknowledged until after the war despite it being widely reported in American newspapers.
October 29, 1914 - The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) entered the war on the side of the Germans as
three warships shelled the Russian port of Odessa (including the Goeben).
November 1, 1914 - The British Navy suffers its worst defeat since the Napoleonic Wars during a
sea battle in the Pacific. Two British ships, the HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope, were sunk with
no survivors, by a German squadron commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee.
November 3, 1914 British warships bombarded Turkish forts on the Dardanelles in a surprise
attack seen as an unprovoked act of aggression, as no formal state of war existed between Great
Britain and the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.
November 4, 1914 The light cruiser Karlsruhe sank 16 merchantmen in the Caribbean,
successfully evading enemy ships before being lost to an accidental explosion off the Lesser Antilles.
November 9, 1914 The light cruiser Emden, detached by Admiral Spee to function as a raider in
the East Indies and Indian Ocean, likewise sank sixteen Allied ships, but its greatest success was
destroying the oil depot at Madras on September 22nd. Because of the threat it posed to Allied
troop convoys en route to the Suez Canal, the Emden earned the distinction of the most-pursued
German raider. The Russians sent the Zhemchug, one of their two Vladivostok cruisers, to assist in
the hunt, which the Emden sunk on October 28, shortly after it arrived. The Emden was finally
cornered by the Australian cruiser HMSAS Sydney in the Cocos Islands on November 9th.
November 10, 1914 The German commander at Tsingtsao scuttled the remaining German
warships and surrendered the garrison. Japanese naval losses included a cruiser, sunk by a

German torpedo boat, along with a destroyer, a torpedo boat, and three minesweepers.
December 8, 1914 - The Battle of the Falkland Islands occurred as British Navy warships
destroyed the German squadron of Admiral Graf von Spee in the South Atlantic off the coast of
Argentina. Admiral von Spee and two sons (serving in his squadron) were amongst the 1,870 German
sailors killed. Three of Germanys four cruisers were also destroyed.
December 16, 1914 - Britain suffered its first civilian casualties at home in the war as the German
Navy bombarded the coastal towns of Whitby, Hartlepool and Scarborough, killing 40 persons and
wounding hundreds.

Members:
A small number of members have not yet paid their 2014 subscriptions. We would appreciate
receiving your remittance as soon as possible.

Books:
Cdr Bisset has asked that it be announced that a new batch of bargain-priced books from the Coulter
collection will be on sale at the next meeting. The ideal opportunity to stock up on your holiday reads.

Events:
The Cape Town Military Tattoo at the Castle takes place from 6-8 November. Info@CapeTattoo.co.za
Battle of Blaauwberg Walk: A guided tour conducted by BoB expert, Ian van Oordt, has been
arranged for the 15th of November (under the auspices of Cape SAAACA (SA Arms & Ammunition
Collectors Association)), and will kick-off promptly at 08:00. Cost is R30,00pp (which goes to Cape
7

Nature). A limited number of places are still available. If interested, please email Stephan Fourie at
info@sfa.co.za without delay (or refer to the attached pamphlet for details).

Forthcoming Meetings:
13 NOVEMBER 2014: THE BATTLE OF PLATAEA 479 B.C. AND THE PERSIAN INVASION OF
GREECE by Mr Ian Cameron
The battle of Plataea was the battle which finally put paid to Persian plans with regard to an
invasion of the European mainland. European history would have been very different had the
(sometimes) united Greeks lost this important battle against the Super Power of the day.
It is interesting to reflect that the empires of Alexander the Great, Rome, and those that followed
may never have emerged as the Persian Empire would have gradually enveloped the Western
Mediterranean. In fact, the West as an entity may never have emerged at all.
The presentation will also touch on the other battles which took place during the Persian Invasion,
e.g. Marathon, Salamis, and the Spartan stand at Thermopylae. Aspects concerning the Persian
Empire, and the role of Athens and Sparta, will also be covered, as well as weapons and tactics used
by both sides in the battle.
It will also be shown that this ancient world is still very much alive among us today.
Ian Cameron served in the Royal Marines from 1963 to 1973. He is the founder of the WW2
Aircraft Club in Cape Town and he also has a great interest in the history of the Ancient world.
DECEMBER HOLIDAY RECESS: There will be no lecture in December. The next meeting will be
held on the 15th of January, 2015 (the THIRD Thursday, in order to accommodate the school
holidays).
15 JANUARY 2015: THE AFRIKANER REBELLION OF 1914: 100 YEARS ON A VIRTUALLY
FORGOTTEN SAGA BUT WITH LINGERING ECHOES by Dr Rodney Warwick
The focus on the centenary of the First World War may overshadow another campaign which took
place in South Africa from August to December 1914. It will probably slip unnoticed by most of the
local press and not form part of any national debate. The Afrikaner Rebellion of 1914 had the potential
of creating a serious political crisis, mostly within the northern parts of the infant Union of South
Africa. However, the Rebellions relatively quick suppression was evidence of the superior power of
the state. It also reflected the tendency of the enfranchised white community, and most importantly, its
Afrikaner component, to oppose any movement which threatened to take South Africa back towards
its recent past. A past personified by the divisive 1899-1902 South African War. Fortunately for the
government, the insurrectionists were poorly organized with inconsistent motivations. They were also
splintered across three disparate regions, with little coordination between them. The talk will
specifically focus upon the causes and the course of the Rebellion. It will, however, refer to its effect
on the following decades and question what effect this has had on the South Africa of 2014.
Dr Rodney Warwick is a member of the Cape Town Branch of the SAMHS. He has presented
lectures on a regular basis over the years on aspects of 20th century SA military history, which is his
particular field of expertise. He has a personal link to World War One, which he is particularly proud
of. His uncle, George W. Warwick - author of that brilliant WWI battlefield memoir, We Band of
Brothers - fought with the Transvaal Scottish (SA Brigade) at Delville Wood.
BOB BUSER: Treasurer/Asst. Scribe
Phone: 021-689-1639 (Home)
Email: bobbuser@webafrica.org.za

RAY HATTINGH: Secretary

Phone: 021-592-1279 (Office)
Email: ray@saarp.net