The Origins of World War One by Jonathan Pagel
I added the annotations. Most of it rhymes.
There is a MP3
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World War One began to breathe
June 28th, nineteen fourteen
Gavrilo Princip and the Black Hand
Assasinated the Archduke Ferdinand
Some Serbs resented Austria
For occupying Bosnia
To understand the enmity
Between Serbia and Austria-Hungary
We must regress to an earlier date
The summer of eighteen seventy-eight
The Ottoman Empire of the Turks
Was weakening in fits and jerks
Russia exerted MACHISMO
In the Treaty of San Stefano
But at the Congress of Berlin
Bismarck reined the Russians in
And Austria got influence over
Bosnia-Herzegovina
But Serbia had her own ideas
Which seethed for over thirty years.
The Turks continued to disintegrate
And in July nineteen-oh-eight
The Young Turks rose to de-sedate
The corrupt and decadent sultanate
The Habsburgs saw the weakening rule
Of Abdul Hamid in Istanbul
And took advantage of the crisis there
To formally annex Bosnia
Chief of Staff Von Hertzendorf
Was confident of Berlin's support
In October a letter from Germany
Backed up the Habsburg Monarchy.
Russia and Serbia were undermined
By their Habsburg enemy
But in March 1909
They accepted Teutonic Hegemony
In Serbia and Bosnia
Nationalist terror groups organized
And across the Danube, Russia
Started to re-militarize.
In 1911, Italy
Launched an attack on Tripoli
Turkey struggled to defend her possession
And left the Balkans open to rebellion
The Balkan states wished to break free
Of the remaining influence of Turkey
With Russian backing, Greece, Bulgaria
Serbia and Montenegro
Formed the Balkan League and declared
War on the Ottoman Empire.
In 1912, 1913
the Greeks and Serbs gained teroritory
First against the Ottoman Empire
And then against Bulgaria
The Habsburg monarchy was depressed
By the Treaty of Bucharest
Serbia emerged much tougher
And Russia acquired a Slavic buffer.
So when the Serbian Black Hand
Assassinated Austrian Ferdinand
They inflamed a rivalry
That had a bit o' history.
World War One began to cry
1914, 23rd July
Austrian minister Count Berchtold
Felt Serbia had become too bold
So Austria served an Ultimatum
To teach Serbia a lesson
Serbia tried to pacify
But war was declared, 28th July.
Two days later the stakes would rise
As Russia began to mobilize.
Russia's backward economy
Depended on trade through the Black Sea
She needed access to the Bosporus
And the Dardanelles to be prosperous (HEY)
Her overwhelming interest
Lay in keeping the Habsburgs in the West
Russia meant to warn the Austrians
Not to interfere in the Balkans.
And but for the German Emperor
Mobilization might not have meant wor.
World War One was fit to burst
1914 August the First
Germany honored the Dual Alliance
By declaring war on Russia and France.
Bismarck had been Germany's
Most skillful politician
He had kept the opposition
In continual remission
In 1866 he'd caused North German integration
And relegated Austria into second-division.
In 1870 Germany
was fully integrated
Austria was a poodle
and France was isolated
Bismarck forged alliances
with Austria and Russia
Maintained the status quo
under the dominance of Prussia
But in 1890 Bismarck was dismissed by Kaiser Bill
And European stability began to roll downhill.
Von Caprivi allowed the Russian treaty out the door
Russia signed a pact with France in 1894
Ten years later England signed the Entente Cordiale
And Germany and Austria faced a hostile cabal.
If war broke out with Russia now
It meant that Germany
Would have to fight the French
The same as 1870.
Chief of staff was Schlieffen and
Von Schlieffen was no dunce.
He knew Germans couldn't win a war
Fought on two fronts.
He said Russia would take six weeks
To mobilize her forces
And in that time the Germans
Could knock out the French defenses.
They'd have to march through Belgium
And since 1839
Belgian neutrality was guaranteed
By Palmerston
So in July Nineteen-Fourteen
When Russia moved her War Machine
The Germans moved in anticipation
Of Franco-Russian cooperation.
World War One began to scream
August the fourth, 1914
The Germans marched on the Ardennes
And triggered the Treaty of Palmerston.
Britain engaged to help the French
And then both sides became entrenched
The Russians moved at double time
And Schlieffen's plan was undermined.
Four years later peace was made
Nineteen Eighteen at Compiegne
Eight million men were in their graves
The Germans lost
But no one gained.
There is a MP3
-----
World War One began to breathe
June 28th, nineteen fourteen
Gavrilo Princip and the Black Hand
Assasinated the Archduke Ferdinand
Some Serbs resented Austria
For occupying Bosnia
To understand the enmity
Between Serbia and Austria-Hungary
We must regress to an earlier date
The summer of eighteen seventy-eight
The Ottoman Empire of the Turks
Was weakening in fits and jerks
Russia exerted MACHISMO
In the Treaty of San Stefano
But at the Congress of Berlin
Bismarck reined the Russians in
And Austria got influence over
Bosnia-Herzegovina
But Serbia had her own ideas
Which seethed for over thirty years.
The Turks continued to disintegrate
And in July nineteen-oh-eight
The Young Turks rose to de-sedate
The corrupt and decadent sultanate
The Habsburgs saw the weakening rule
Of Abdul Hamid in Istanbul
And took advantage of the crisis there
To formally annex Bosnia
Chief of Staff Von Hertzendorf
Was confident of Berlin's support
In October a letter from Germany
Backed up the Habsburg Monarchy.
Russia and Serbia were undermined
By their Habsburg enemy
But in March 1909
They accepted Teutonic Hegemony
In Serbia and Bosnia
Nationalist terror groups organized
And across the Danube, Russia
Started to re-militarize.
In 1911, Italy
Launched an attack on Tripoli
Turkey struggled to defend her possession
And left the Balkans open to rebellion
The Balkan states wished to break free
Of the remaining influence of Turkey
With Russian backing, Greece, Bulgaria
Serbia and Montenegro
Formed the Balkan League and declared
War on the Ottoman Empire.
In 1912, 1913
the Greeks and Serbs gained teroritory
First against the Ottoman Empire
And then against Bulgaria
The Habsburg monarchy was depressed
By the Treaty of Bucharest
Serbia emerged much tougher
And Russia acquired a Slavic buffer.
So when the Serbian Black Hand
Assassinated Austrian Ferdinand
They inflamed a rivalry
That had a bit o' history.
World War One began to cry
1914, 23rd July
Austrian minister Count Berchtold
Felt Serbia had become too bold
So Austria served an Ultimatum
To teach Serbia a lesson
Serbia tried to pacify
But war was declared, 28th July.
Two days later the stakes would rise
As Russia began to mobilize.
Russia's backward economy
Depended on trade through the Black Sea
She needed access to the Bosporus
And the Dardanelles to be prosperous (HEY)
Her overwhelming interest
Lay in keeping the Habsburgs in the West
Russia meant to warn the Austrians
Not to interfere in the Balkans.
And but for the German Emperor
Mobilization might not have meant wor.
World War One was fit to burst
1914 August the First
Germany honored the Dual Alliance
By declaring war on Russia and France.
Bismarck had been Germany's
Most skillful politician
He had kept the opposition
In continual remission
In 1866 he'd caused North German integration
And relegated Austria into second-division.
In 1870 Germany
was fully integrated
Austria was a poodle
and France was isolated
Bismarck forged alliances
with Austria and Russia
Maintained the status quo
under the dominance of Prussia
But in 1890 Bismarck was dismissed by Kaiser Bill
And European stability began to roll downhill.
Von Caprivi allowed the Russian treaty out the door
Russia signed a pact with France in 1894
Ten years later England signed the Entente Cordiale
And Germany and Austria faced a hostile cabal.
If war broke out with Russia now
It meant that Germany
Would have to fight the French
The same as 1870.
Chief of staff was Schlieffen and
Von Schlieffen was no dunce.
He knew Germans couldn't win a war
Fought on two fronts.
He said Russia would take six weeks
To mobilize her forces
And in that time the Germans
Could knock out the French defenses.
They'd have to march through Belgium
And since 1839
Belgian neutrality was guaranteed
By Palmerston
So in July Nineteen-Fourteen
When Russia moved her War Machine
The Germans moved in anticipation
Of Franco-Russian cooperation.
World War One began to scream
August the fourth, 1914
The Germans marched on the Ardennes
And triggered the Treaty of Palmerston.
Britain engaged to help the French
And then both sides became entrenched
The Russians moved at double time
And Schlieffen's plan was undermined.
Four years later peace was made
Nineteen Eighteen at Compiegne
Eight million men were in their graves
The Germans lost
But no one gained.