TURKEY ENTERS THE WAR
Turkey (then known as the Ottoman Empire) entered the war in October 1914 in alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Revitalised under the secular, modernising influence of the 'Young Turks', Turkey hoped to free itself from foreign domination and, simultaneously, build a new Turkic empire in the Near East.
This vaulting ambition led to the military disaster of Sarikamish in the Caucasus in December 1914/January 1915 (when hypothermia proved more deadly to the Turkish troops than Russian bullets).
Shortly afterwards the Turks, in search of scapegoats, ruthlessly deported the Armenians from Turkey's eastern provinces, many to northern Syria. Perhaps 800,000 Armenians died of brutality, exposure, hunger and neglect. For the Armenians, this was a deliberate attempt at genocide.
THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
In the spring of 1915, the Germans found that the U-boat weapon was proving to be a double-edged sword. On 7 May, the fast and extremely luxurious Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed off the Irish coast by the U-20. A total of 1,200 lives were lost, including 128 Americans.
This horrific tragedy sparked off a wave of anti-German rioting in Britain and the US, and reinforced the image of Germans as 'barbaric Huns'. The fact that, at the time of its sinking, the Lusitania had been carrying rifle cartridges and shrapnel shells for the Allies was generally overlooked during the furore.
GALLIPOLI
Turkey's embarrassment at Sarikamish was partly expunged by its resilient defence of Gallipoli between April and December 1915. The Allies were keen to knock Turkey out of the war and so relieve the pressure on their tsarist ally Russia. Hoping to achieve this, British, French and Anzac troops landed at Gallipoli on Turkey's western coast in April.
However, the operation was ill-conceived from the outset. The 'sick man of Europe' proved to be in robust health, and the Allies were finally forced to withdraw in December with the loss of 60,000 men and no strategic gains made. The Gallipoli disaster also left a deep stain on the wartime record of Winston Churchill , first lord of the Admiralty.
SACRED SELF-INTEREST
Italy and Bulgaria joined the war in 1915 (for the Allies and Central Powers, respectively), motivated by the hope of gaining new territory rather than any high moral principles.
Italy, which had been aligned with Germany and Austria-Hungary prior to 1914, coined the term 'sacro egoismo' (sacred self-interest) to justify its change of heart. It wanted to acquire territory from Austria-Hungary, but any chance of a quick gain foundered in the peaks and ravines of the north-eastern Alps.
The Italian theatre proved to be one of the most brutal and unforgiving of the entire war. If you combine the biting cold of the Eastern Front during World War II with the rugged inclines and contours of the Alps, you get an idea of how brutal fighting in this 'vertical war' must have been.
THE SERBIAN DISASTER
In the autumn and winter of 1915, Serbia experienced a human and military disaster on a scale comparable with that of the Armenians (see Overview: 1914 ). Attacked simultaneously by Germany and Austria-Hungary from the north and Bulgaria from the south-east, the Serbian army, its monarchy and many of its people elected to flee from their enemies over the mountains into Albania.
However, 200,000 Serbian soldiers (about half of the army) died on this journey, plus an unknown number of civilians.
As a result, Serbia suffered one of the highest casualty rates of any nation during the First World War, a consideration that still colours modern Serbian thinking.
THE GALICIAN OFFENSIVE
In May 1915, Germany (in partnership with Austria-Hungary) launched its major offensive of the year against Russian troops stationed in Galicia, a region of central Europe extending from the northern slopes of the Carpathian mountains to the present-day Romanian border.
The offensive proved so successful that, by the end of the summer, Germany controlled an area that, today, is covered by Poland, Lithuania and parts of Belarus and the Ukraine. This vast area was stripped of resources useful to Germany's war effort.
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