On July 29,1914, Russia announced that to keep its ally, Serbia, they would order a full mobilization of its militants. From August first to August third Germany declared war on Russia due to a treaty with Austria-Hungary; and Germany declared war on France, which was Russia’s ally. From there on, more countries joined to keep alliances. By the end of the war, more than 30 nations had joined World War 1. A key player was Germany.
5....30th July | When Kaiser heard that Russia was getting ready for war (Mobilising) he asked Tsar Nicholas to stop. | 4....1st August | Nicholas refused – Germany declared war on Russia and got her army ready. France was an ally of Russia so they mobilised their army on the same day. | 3....2nd August | Germans had the Schlieffen Plan ready and sent their armies to Belgium. | 2...3rd August | 75 years earlier, Britain promised to back Belgium up from any attack by any other country.
Wilson also applied the principle of moral diplomacy; Wilson wanted the war to be fought for a worthy cause, Democracy. It bothered him that one of the allies was Russia, a nation governed by an autocratic czar. However, on March 15th Russian revolutionaries overthrew Czars government and proclaimed a Republic. In the first weeks of March German submarines sank 5 US merchant ships. On April 2, 1917 Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany.
Firstly, they were, under a ‘War Guilt’ clause, expected to accept all of the blame for the war. The Allies maintained that this was because they had, rather than fight Russia, on whom they had declared war, followed the Schlieffen Plan and opted to invade France first. To do this they marched through Belgium, which was a neutral country and not a part of any major alliances, leading to the British, Belgian and French declarations of war on Germany. The Germans felt that this was unfair because Britain could have kept out of the war as it was not being threatened – they felt that they were expected to accept the blame because they had lost, rather than because it was their fault. Secondly, all of Germany’s colonies were taken away, and Germany itself had its borders redefined.
German Appeal to Americans The question of who was the primary culprit of the First World War is still in debate today. At the end of the war, treaty of Versailles was signed and concluded that Germany has sole responsibility for causing the war along with many harsh punishments for Germany. The cause of this harsh treaty can be traced back to the very beginning of the war. The early invasion of Belgium has not only cost German its humane and peaceful reputation but also caused a defeat of the propaganda war. In order to minimize the damage of Germany’s reputation after the invasion, Germany wrote an appeal to the neutral United States explaining the reason of its entrance to the war.
The Congress that was elected in 1810 and met in November 1811 included a group known as the War Hawks who demanded war against Great Britain. These men were all Democratic-Republicans and mostly from the West and South. They argued that American honor could be saved and British policies changed by an invasion of Canada. The Federalist Party, representing New England shippers who foresaw the ruination of their trade, opposed war. When Congress adopted Macon’s Bill #2, America was torn between England and France in order to restore non-importation laws against the non-repealing
Also Austria-Hungary’s king and family visited Sarajevo- Bosnia was assassinated by conspirator Gavrilo Princip Austria striked back in revenge. But the most important came from countries distrust for one another because it led the Great powers of Europe-Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Britain, France, and Russia signed treaties pledging to defend one another. These alliances were intended to promote peace by promoting powerful combinations that no one would dare to attack. But 2 huge alliances emerged in the end. France longed to avenge its defeat in Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck signed treaties with other powered thinking they wouldn’t attack Germany alone.
After years of planning German military Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen created a war plan that would make Germany victorious in the coming war. The Schlieffen Plan as it was commonly called, was a plan designed to knock France out of the war before Russia could mobilize her troops allowing Germany to then focus its troops on the defeated the massive Russian army. To take France out of the war Schlieffen devised a plan that instead of attacking France from the west they would attack her from where she was most vulnerable, the north, by crossing through neutral Belgium. The plan seemed concrete which gave many German military officials hopes that they would have a decisive victory over France. However the plan was an absolute failure.
Woodrow Wilson was following the advice of former President George Washington; “beware of entangling alliances”. On February 4, 1915, the Germans declared the waters around the British Isles a war zone. The Germans advertised in American newspapers trying to influence Americans not to travel on British ships. One man who wanted to keep Americans
Later in WWII, Russia and Germany agreed on a non aggression act. While Britain and France were fighting for their existence, Russia was trying to have peace with Germany and eventually form part of the Axis powers. The only reason Russia stopped insertion into the Axis powers was because Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. The Allies and the Soviet Union now shared an enemy and were interesting in becoming