1914
June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia
Austria could still hear the cries and shouts of protesters outside his window. It was June 28 in the year of 1914. He was in Bosnia with Hungary and they were waiting for the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, so all four of them could go back to their country from Sarajevo, Bosnia. But then he heard a gunshot sound from the street and the outcries of the Bosnian citizens.
That was when Hungary ran inside and told him the news: the Archduke and his wife were shot by a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip. Damn that Serbia, Austria thought. I never trusted him.
"They're called the Black Hand," Hungary said in a panicked voice. "They want to get rid of Austrian rule from Bosnia."
"I thought so," Austria muttered as he glanced outside the window blinds to see a man being dragged by Bosnian policemen. In the streets, people were swarming around a car with two dead bodies in it. It pained Austria to see the sight so he closed the windows and turned around to see Germany bursting into the room.
"Why not go to war with them already?" Germany demanded angrily. "I'm offering you my support, Austria, so take it. Go to war with Serbia now."
Austria sighed and looked over to Hungary, who was staring at him with her green eyes. "Fine then," Austria said, "But first, an ultimatum."
July 23, 1914
"As of now on July 23, I will offer you, Serbia, an ultimatum," Austria told the other nation. Austria, followed by Hungary and Germany, was in the conference room with Serbia and Russia, who was the nation's ally at the time. Austria, Hungary, and Germany sat on one side of the table and the other two sat on the other side as they waited for the ultimatum to be delivered. "This proposition demands that all anti-Austrian activities will end, such as the group called the Black Hand," he continued. "In addition, your leaders will allow my officials into your country to conduct a thorough investigation of the assassination of the Archduke and his wife. If you do not agree to my ultimatum, we will be at war with you."
Serbia looked at Austria in the eye. "I agree," he said, "But to only some of your demands. Others will have to be settled at an international conference with the other nations of the world."
"There is no time for that!" Austria shouted, slamming his hands on the table." He turned to Germany and Hungary. "We're leaving now!"
Hungary nodded and Germany opened the door for them. When they left, Serbia looked at Russia. The white-haired nation smiled at the closed door and said at last, "Don't worry. I'll be behind you."
August 1, 1914 in Russia
Russia smiled in that creepy way of his and the purple aura illuminated him again. "It's been five days since Austria left the conference," Russia mused. "He declared war on us just this morning, you know." Russia turned to his military commander. "Tell the troops to move out to the Austrian border. Also, send some to the German border in case Germany decides to join in the fight."
The commander nodded and shouted, "Move out, troops!"
Then, the Russian soldiers started marching in that rhythmic pattern of footsteps in sync, heading towards the border between Russia and Austria and the border that separated Germany and Russia.
August 1, 1914 in Germany
"Sir, there are Russian troops at our border," a soldier reported to Germany. "What actions should we take?"
August 1st. Four days since Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia had to butt his stupid face into the picture because of the alliance system. Of course Germany, who was allied to Austria and Hungary at that time ever since the Triple Alliance, would have to go into war with Austria-Hungary and Italy. Nevertheless the others like France and Britain would fight, too, with Russia and Serbia.
"The troops are prepared, ja?" Germany asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Then send them out. It's about time to go to war with that damn Russia."
"What do you want us to do, sir?"
Germany looked at the soldier and then turned to face the large map spread in front of him. "The Schlieffen Plan is an easy one. Take a large part of the army and race to the west. There, we'll defeat France and afterwards, we'll head back to fight Russia in the east. Speed is a vital part in this plan. France will have troops along our border so breaking through will be slow. However, their northern border, the one between Belgium and France, is unprotected. We'll go through there and invade France."
The soldier nodded and ran to get the Germans ready to march.
Germany was still looking at the map. After today, he knew, hell would break loose.
August 3, 1914 along the borders of Germany and Belgium
"I won't let you through, Germany," the blonde girl repeated once again in a firm voice. Belgium stood in front of Germany with her arms across her chest as she glared at him. Her brother, the Netherlands, was nowhere in sight. Germany thought he'd be there for her but he wasn't; he also thought that if her brother wasn't around, that it'd be easy getting through Belgium. It wasn't.
"Let me through now, Belgium," Germany said again, almost growling.
She shook her head. "My country is neutral so no. I'm not letting you pass."
Germany glared at the girl. "If you're not going to let me pass…" He turned around and yelled at the troops, "Move forward!"
Belgium's eyes widened. "No!" she shouted, stepping in front of Germany with her arms spread out as if she were going to stop him. "I told you that I'm not—"
But Germany picked her up and easily tossed the girl to the side. "I said, move forward!" Germany shouted again and the German troops started rushing into Belgium.
Mid-August 1914 in Britain
"Germany invaded Belgium after she refused," Britain said as he read it off his papers. He sat at his desk, holding his papers and reading them one by one carefully while a few soldiers stood in front of him, waiting for his instructions. "Just to get to France, too."
"What do you plan to do?" asked one of the soldiers.
Britain looked up from his papers at the soldiers. "Easy," he said. "We're going to war with Germany. As France's ally and even though I despise the frog, I'm committed to the Triple Entente. Russia has already taken action and so will I."
"Britain, we need to discuss something," said a familiar French voice as he burst inside his office. "The bad news is that Central Powers have allied with Bulgaria and Turkey."
"And the good news?" Britain asked.
"Japan and Italy wants to join us, the Allies."
"Italy?" Britain asked. "Why does Italy want to join our side?"
"Because Germany made an unprovoked attack on Belgium," the Italian's voice answered from the doorway.
When Britain and France looked back at the door, they saw both of the Italian brothers standing with Japan.
"We only joined the Triple Alliance for defense and since Germany made that attack on Belgium, we're not obligated to stand by our old ally again," Italy explained. "So please, take us in."
"I would like to help, also," Japan added. "I'd be pleased to help."
France glanced at Britain, who just nodded in acceptance. "Welcome to the Allies, then," France said.
Italy smiled. "Thank you so much," he said happily "We'll send our troops to battle as soon as possible. This war will be short, I'm convinced of that."
But Britain shook his head sadly. "The lamps are going out all over Europe," he muttered. "We shall not see them lit again in a while."
September 3-5 1914, Western Front
Germany's breath was gone from all the attacks he made on France, who was a worthy opponent for him. He never thought that the Frenchman was strong but since he was in a stalemate, he guessed incorrectly. Along with that, Belgium started rebounding against Germany because she was angry at what he had done. And together, the two attacked Germany fiercely but luckily for days, Germany had pushed them back into Paris.
"Oh, come out, come out wherever you are," France called to Germany.
That damn bastard! Germany thought. I'll kill him with my bare hands.
Germany gripped his pistol in one hand. He had lost his rifle earlier in the rush so now all he had was a sword and a pistol. But unfortunately, the pistol had run out of bullets so now he had to use the sword. Damn.
He threw down the pistol and unsheathed his sword as he peered around the corner. There was France and Belgium standing beside him. France was holding a sword, too, whereas Belgium was completely unarmed. The corner of Germany's mouth twitched when he realized what his plan was.
"Swift strikes only," he muttered. And then, Germany launched himself at his enemies with the sword raised.
France grinned as he saw Germany running towards him and he raised his weapon in his hand, ready to attack. But it didn't seem like Germany was aiming for France. Instead, he followed Germany's gaze to Belgium.
Germany instantly struck Belgium to the ground, knocking her unconscious. Then, he turned on France and the two fought like devils. Their swords collided together and the opposing countries were bracing themselves from falling. Eventually, Germany kicked France to the ground where he lay grinning up at him in the dirt.
"I know what you're plan is, Germany," France said mischievously. "In fact, you might want to go check the valley of the Marne River."
Germany suddenly froze as he heard a British voice yelling, "Attack!"
"I'll get you for this," Germany growled at France as he turned around and ran from the incoming Allies.
As Germany came upon the Marne River Valley near Paris, the Allies—Britain and France who had somehow recovered quickly—cornered him.
"Give up, Germany," Britain said. "You won't win."
"Never," Germany snarled. He saw Britain and France exchange a quick look and together, the both of them attacked Germany at the same time. Somehow, Germany evaded them and ran again from the sight. His brother, Prussia, would need his help more than he needed Prussia, so he fled the Marne as fast as could even though he was leaving the battle in a stalemate.
September 13 1914, Eastern Front
"Good to see you, brother," Prussia greeted Germany once he caught sight of him.
Germany nodded at Prussia, who was leaning against a broken wall. When Germany reached his brother, he saw that the area was ruined by the Russian bastards. "This isn't working as I planned," Germany muttered to Prussia.
"Think positive, brother," Prussia said, grinning at Germany.
"How can I think positive when that damn Russia already invaded my country?"
Prussia's face fell. "Right," he muttered.
The two brothers then turned to see Russia standing in front of him with that creepy smile of his on his face. Russia spoke, "Time to fight, da?"
A Note from your Author:
Hi, there, and welcome to World War I. I decided to write this story because I'm a big fan of history and adding Hetalia to it makes it much better and, well, less gloomy. We just started learning about WWI, or as it was called back then 'the Great War', in class so I decided to borrow a history textbook from my teacher and thus, I am writing it. The chapters will be broken up into years and because there are so many events leading up to the Great War, I decided to begin the story in 1914 which is when many historians claim that WWI started.
The first thing you need to know about WWI is the many contributing factors that led up to the event. The main four factors and terms that led up to WWI is imperialism (where the European nations started colonizing in other places such as Africa), nationalism (which is patriotism on steroids and that led to people like the French saying that they're better than the British and such), the alliance system (where nations would make a pact with another nation or two and if one of those nations went to war, the others would have to follow in), and militarism (where each nation's military would be built up and prepared for war like an arm's race).
A main event that actually forced the countries into war is when the heir to the position of Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, was killed by a Serbian group called the Black Hand. Even though the Archduke was visiting Bosnia, several Serbians decided to kill the Archduke because Serbia wanted to get rid of Austria-Hungary's rule. So when the Archduke was killed, Serbia and Russia went into war with Austria-Hungary and Germany.
Then, as soon as Germany started rallying his troops, Germany marched to Belgium who didn't want to let him through so he invaded the country to get to France. Britain got angry at Germany for penetrating Belgium's neutral borders and he went into war, plus there was the fact that Russia, France, and Britain were part of the Triple Entente.
A part about WWI that intrigues me the most is the alliance system. You see, Austria-Hungary and Germany were on a team with Italy called the Triple Alliance but when Germany attacked Belgium, Italy switched teams to the Triple Entente for his reasons that he told Britain. And also when WWI broke out, both sides changed their names so the Triple Entente was called the Allies and the Triple Alliance was called the Central Powers.
Also, a little fact about what Britain says at the end of the part where Italy switches teams, it's a quote from this British foreign minister named Sir Edward Grey, who said: "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
On the other hand, I decided to use swords because…heck. They're awesome so why not? And the scene where Germany is fighting France and Belgium is the 1st Battle of Marne, which is probably the single most important event of WWI. To all you Germany fan-girls, Germany did run away from the battle because Russia invaded Germany in the east and Prussia was the only nation trying to push back the Russians so the Germans decided to send thousands of troops back east to help with the invading Russians. Meanwhile, the Western Front was left in a stalemate.
Anyways, thanks for reading. I hope this will help you in history and stuff.