German invasion of Brussels after the German Empire declared war on Belgium in World War 1. Belgian Army cavalry respond to German attack in Louvain (Leuven). Fallen tree in the middle of a road. German artillery bombing of Louvain (Leuven). Military officials at the observation point as German First Army attacks Louvain. Railway gun aiming. Railway guns firing at Louvain. Explosions in the battlefield. Belgians evacuate from attack by the German First Army. Louvain in ruins. German soldiers marching into Brussels. German soldiers marching at the Grand Place or Grote Markt (Grand Place, Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region 1000), the central square of Brussels.
Parisians react to the assassination of French Socialist leader and outspoken war critic Jean Jaurès by Raoul Villain in France at the onset of World War 1. Throngs of people grab newspapers from vendors in Paris. The Le Petit Parisien front page announcing the declaration of war by Germany against France and the French decree to mobilize troops, with the headline, "La France décrète la mobilisation...." Crowds in Paris reacting to news. Reservists in civilian clothing, one with a child on his back, and uniformed soldiers, holding Lebel Model 1886 rifles with small French flags sticking out of their muzzles, marching in Paris. Aerial view of crowds of military-age men march to the Bureau Militaire to report for mobilization. French Bureau Militaire signs directing inductees. French reservists depart Paris by train, possibly from Gare du Nord train station. Enlisted Frenchmen waving good-bye from a moving train.
Under a camouflage canopy, soldiers load and fire artillery as German forces draw closer to Paris during World War 1. German officers observe firing. German infantry, wearing the Pickelhaube helmet, marching towards Paris. French and Belgian refugees with horse drawn carriages flee from German forces. French soldiers on horseback. German cavalry gallop over a road and berm into a field. German infantry, holding their rifles, as seen from low ground level, charging towards the French.
The Imperial German Army (“Deutsches Heer” in German) leaves for Belgium and France after the German Empire declares war on Russia and France in World War 1. A steam locomotive train moves past a forest, moving slowly beside a crowd of Imperial German troops. German troops march out after the train has come to a full stop. German Army officials greet each other. German Kaiser Wilhelm II shakes hands with a high-ranking military official. German military officials inspect infantry. Kaiser Wilhelm II shakes hands firmly with a German military officer after raising his clenched fist in the air.
Funeral of the heir presumptive of the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination was the immediate cause of World War 1. Arriving in Trieste (now in present-day Italy), Roman Catholic priests bless coffins of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin, the Duchess of Hohenburg. Austrian officers observe as priests fling holy water onto couple’s coffins. Austrian guards unload a coffin from a funeral horse-drawn carriage. Austrian guards of the 7th Uhlans and 4th Dragoons march alongside funeral carriages of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie in Vienna, to be buried in their family crypt at Artstetten Castle in Artstetten-Pöbring, Lower Austria. Brief shot of Franz Joseph I of Austria.
A meeting between German general Erich Ludendorff and Marshal Paul von Hindenburg at Ludendorff’s office in Germany during World War 1. General Erich Ludendorff working from his desk. Marshal Paul von Hindenburg arrives and shakes hands with General Erich Ludendorff. Marshal Paul von Hindenburg takes his seat and begins to listen to General Ludendorff’s report. The two military officials discuss matters, transferring to a desk with a map. General Ludendorff and Marshal von Hindenburg both looking at the map.