In Britain, there was apparently the belief that 'It would all be over
in six months'.

What was the source? And what other optimistic slogans did the rounds?

If anyone can do a run down on France, Russia, Germany or Austria,
please comment and I will serve supplementaries ... provided you
answer in English.

Many thanks!

Dear Bryan, 
 
Your wish is my command ... herby, I post my text as an answer.
 
In the book "The Great War", a photograph from August 1914 (p. 54/55)
shows cheering German soldiers in the open door of a railway
freightcar. There are three slogans written in chalk on the waggon:
"Ausflug nach Paris" = "Trip to Paris" 
"Auf Wiedersehen auf dem Boulevard" = "See you on the boulevard [of
Paris]"
"Auf in den Kampf, mir juckt die Säbelspitze" = "Into the fight, my
sabre's trip is itchy"
The first two slogans show clearly what the soldiers expected: To be
in Paris real soon, victorious. One should note that these slogans do
not even indicate that serious fighting might be necessary. It was a
common belief that the French were un-soldierly cowards who would be
no match for the German troops.
The third slogan, however, is connected with fighting - but in a
overly self-confident way that leaves no room for the possibility of
defeat. In fact, the "sabre's tip" does not even really belong in the
20th century anymore. Cavalry attacks with sabres were an anachronism
in the age of the machine gun, and the strategists knew it. Despite of
that, the "romantic" or "heroic" image of yesterday's wars remained in
all the heads.
In the same book, we read on p. 60: "What all [German] strategists
anticipated was a more furious replay of the Franco-Prussian War of
1870-1."
Picture and quotation source: Winter / Baggett: The Great War. Penguin
Studio, 1996. ISBN 0-670-87119-2
 
A similar photograph in "History - Geheimnisse des 20. Jahrhunderts"
(p.39) also shows cheering German soldiers in the windows of a
passenger railway car. On the waggon, big chalk characters read:
"Von München über Metz nach Paris" - "From Munich via Metz to Paris" 
Written in the style of a train route sign, this slogan makes clear
that the soldiers were absolutely sure that the victory over France
would be no more dangerous and exhausting than a trip by train.
Mentioning the French town of Metz as stopover, where German forces
defeated the French in 1870, adds a special flavor of "We'll just
repeat our grand victory".
Picture source: Guido Knopp: Geheimnisse des 20. Jahrhunderts. C.
Bertelsmann, 2002. ISBN 3-570-00665-4
 
The most optimistic and also definitive slogan of August 1914 came
from H.M. The Kaiser himself:
"'Ihr werdet zu Hause sein, ehe noch das Laub von den Bäumen fällt',
versprach der Kaiser seinen Soldaten." = "'You will be home again yet
before the leaves fall from the trees', the Kaiser promised his
soldiers."
Quotation source: Christian Zentner: Illustrierte Geschichte des
Ersten Weltkriegs. Südwest 1980 (p. 32)
 
Now, why did everybody in Germany obviously believe that the war would
be over before the year 1914 ended? Mainly because the majority of
Germans had no reason to believe anything else: The three wars that
led to the German position in Europe (Prussia/Austria vs. Denmark,
1864; Prussia vs. Austria and her German allies, 1866; Prussia as
leader of the German states vs. France, 1870/71) had been "fast" wars.
No one could imagine anything else, and the fact that not a single
European country had prepared for a long war led to the common belief
that such a war was simply impossible - the weaker side would simply
collapse quickly.
"Only unprogressive minds dared to imagine that the war could last
longer that one season; after all, general mobilisation (...) meant a
radical disturbance of life that could not continue for long. So the
thought was predominant that a modern war necessarily had to be a
short war, too."
(Marc Ferro: Der Große Krieg 1914-1918. Suhrkamp, 1988, p. 58) 
 

Thank you and best regards,
Scriptor

Great Stuff, Scriptor

Many thanks!

There were, as far as I remember, certain slogans in Germany. Most
common were those saying "We all will be home again for Christmas"
(victorious, that is). But I would have do to some library research
for that.

Scriptor

Hi, Scriptor

That would be great.

But can I afford 'library research'?

Give me a price and, if it's OK, I'll post another question.

Many thanks!

Bryan

I have a better idea, Bryan: I will be in the library tomorrow for
other research. While I'm there, I will simply see if I can find
optimistic German war slogans from 1914 - and if I locate something
that seems worth your money, I will let you know in a comment here.
Otherwise, I will post what I got for free.

We aim to please our regular customers ;-)
Greetings,
Scriptor

Bryan --

Newspapers and their editorials are often the best way to gauge the
temperment of the times.  Perhaps one of the other researchers has
excellent access to U.K. newspapers of the time; I could check the NY
Times if you'd like.

But we have a 1944 Encyclopedia Britannica in this house and the
article in it titled "World War I" was written by Capt. S.T.H. Wilton,
R.N. (retired), former Assisant Director of Naval Ordnance, Admiralty,
London.

In it he notes that the British notion of the "short war" relied on an
overwhelming surface Navy; ignored the advent of submarines; and
relied on a highly trained but SMALL professional fighting force --
once that was very mobile thanks to naval support.  Wilton writes, "In
this idea of a short war lay also the regason for the comparative
disregard of economic forces.  Of the belligerants, all could feed
themselves save Britain and Germany, and Germany's deficit of
home-grown supplies could only be serious in the event of a struggle
of years.  But Britain would starve in 3 months if her outside
supplies were cut off."

It ignored several other factors but I think the above provides the
kernel of belief that the war would be short.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Many thanks, Scriptor & Omnivorous

Your advice and helpfulness are greatly appreciated.

Regards

Bryan

Dear Bryan,

Here are the results of my visit to the library today:

In the book "The Great War", a photograph from August 1914 (p. 54/55)
shows cheering German soldiers in the open door of a railway
freightcar. There are three slogans written in chalk on the waggon:
"Ausflug nach Paris" = "Trip to Paris"
"Auf Wiedersehen auf dem Boulevard" = "See you on the boulevard [of
Paris]"
"Auf in den Kampf, mir juckt die Säbelspitze" = "Into the fight, my
sabre's trip is itchy"
The first two slogans show clearly what the soldiers expected: To be
in Paris real soon, victorious. One should note that these slogans do
not even indicate that serious fighting might be necessary. It was a
common belief that the French were un-soldierly cowards who would be
no match for the German troops.
The third slogan, however, is connected with fighting - but in a
overly self-confident way that leaves no room for the possibility of
defeat. In fact, the "sabre's tip" does not even really belong in the
20th century anymore. Cavalry attacks with sabres were an anachronism
in the age of the machine gun, and the strategists knew it. Despite of
that, the "romantic" or "heroic" image of yesterday's wars remained in
all the heads.
In the same book, we read on p. 60: "What all [German] strategists
anticipated was a more furious replay of the Franco-Prussian War of
1870-1."
Picture and quotation source: Winter / Baggett: The Great War. Penguin
Studio, 1996. ISBN 0-670-87119-2

A similar photograph in "History - Geheimnisse des 20. Jahrhunderts"
(p.39) also shows cheering German soldiers in the windows of a
passenger railway car. On the waggon, big chalk characters read:
"Von München über Metz nach Paris" - "From Munich via Metz to Paris"
Written in the style of a train route sign, this slogan makes clear
that the soldiers were absolutely sure that the victory over France
would be no more dangerous and exhausting than a trip by train.
Mentioning the French town of Metz as stopover, where German forces
defeated the French in 1870, adds a special flavor of "We'll just
repeat our grand victory".
Picture source: Guido Knopp: Geheimnisse des 20. Jahrhunderts. C.
Bertelsmann, 2002. ISBN 3-570-00665-4

The most optimistic and also definitive slogan of August 1914 came
from H.M. The Kaiser himself:
"'Ihr werdet zu Hause sein, ehe noch das Laub von den Bäumen fällt',
versprach der Kaiser seinen Soldaten." = "'You will be home again yet
before the leaves fall from the trees', the Kaiser promised his
soldiers."
Quotation source: Christian Zentner: Illustrierte Geschichte des
Ersten Weltkriegs. Südwest 1980 (p. 32)

Now, why did everybody in Germany obviously believe that the war would
be over before the year 1914 ended? Mainly because the majority of
Germans had no reason to believe anything else: The three wars that
led to the German position in Europe (Prussia/Austria vs. Denmark,
1864; Prussia vs. Austria and her German allies, 1866; Prussia as
leader of the German states vs. France, 1870/71) had been "fast" wars.
No one could imagine anything else, and the fact that not a single
European country had prepared for a long war led to the common belief
that such a war was simply impossible - the weaker side would simply
collapse quickly.
"Only unprogressive minds dared to imagine that the war could last
longer that one season; after all, general mobilisation (...) meant a
radical disturbance of life that could not continue for long. So the
thought was predominant that a modern war necessarily had to be a
short war, too."
(Marc Ferro: Der Große Krieg 1914-1918. Suhrkamp, 1988, p. 58)

Hope this proves interesting, Bryan!
Greetings,
Scriptor

Brilliant, Scriptor.

Many thanks.

No one else has emerged to keep you company, so please post your
comment as an answer.

If anyone else should emerge with info on a different country, then
I'll post a further question.

Kindest regards

Bryan

The photograph from August 1914 mentioned by Sciptor is presumably the
one shown here (with the slogans "Ausflug nach Paris" = "Trip to
Paris" and "Auf Wiedersehen auf dem Boulevard" = "See you on the
boulevard [of Paris]"):

http://home.arcor.de/maria.rentsch/History/1Krieg.htm
http://home.arcor.de/maria.rentsch/History/Bilder/1WKBegei.gif