Tuesday, June 12, 2007

World War 1 History

The year 1914 found England involved in serious difficulties. Her
parliament had voted to give home rule to Ireland. There was to be an
Irish parliament, which would govern Ireland as the Irish wanted it
governed. Ulster, a province in the northeast of Ireland, however, was
very unhappy over this arrangement. Its people were largely of English
and Scotch descent, and they were Protestants, while the other
inhabitants of Ireland were Celts and Catholics. The people of this
province were so bitter against home rule that they actually imported
rifles and drilled regiments, saying that they would start a civil war
if England compelled them to be governed by an Irish parliament.
There were labor troubles and strikes, also, in England, and
threatened revolutions in India, where the English government was none
too popular. Altogether, the German war lords felt sure that England
had so many troubles of her own that she would never dare to enter a
general European war.

Meanwhile, the Serbians, unhappy over the loss of Bosnia and
Herzegovina to Austria, were busily stirring up the people of these
provinces to revolt. The military leaders who really ruled Austria,
were in favor of crushing these attempted uprisings with an iron hand.

One of the leaders of this party, a man who was greatly hated by the
Bosnians, was the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of the emperor and
heir to the throne. He finally announced that he was going in person
to Sarajevo in Bosnia to look into the situation
himself. The people of the city warned him not to come, saying
that his life would be in danger, as he was so hated. Being a
headstrong man of violent temper, he refused to listen to this advice,
but insisted on going. His devoted wife, after doing her best to
dissuade him, finally refused to let him go without her.

When it was known that he was really coming, the Bosnian
revolutionists laid their plans. They found out just where his
carriage was to pass, and at almost every street corner, they had some
assassin with bomb or pistol. One bomb was thrown at him, but it
exploded too soon, and he escaped. Bursting with indignation, he was
threatening the mayor for his lax policing, when a second assassin, a
nineteen year old boy, stepped up with a pistol and shot to death the
archduke and his wife.

Many people have referred to this incident as the cause of the great
European war, however, this was simply the
spark that exploded the magazine. With the whole situation as highly
charged as it was, any other little spark would probably have been enough to
start the war .

The Austrian government sent word to Serbia that the crime had been
traced to Serbian plotters, some of them in the employ of the government.
It demanded that Serbia apologize and also that she hunt out
and punish the plotters at once. And because Austria did not trust the
Serbians to hold an honest investigation, she demanded that her
officers should sit in the Serbian courts as judges.
The Serbians, of course, were in no
position to fight a great power like Austria-Hungary, and yet,
weakened as they were, they could not submit to such a demand as this.
They agreed to all the Austrian demands except the one concerning the
Austrian judges in Serbian courts. They appealed to the other powers
to see that justice was done them.

Russia growled ominously at Austria, whereupon Germany sent a sharp
warning to Russia that this was none of her affair, and that Austria
and Serbia must be left to fight it out. In the meantime, Serbia
offered to lay the matter before the court of arbitration at the
Hague. (In 1899, at the invitation of the czar of Russia,
representatives of all the great powers of Europe met at the Hague to
found a lasting court which should decide disputes between nations
fairly, and try to do away with wars, to as great an extent as
possible. The court has several times been successful in averting
trouble.)

Great Britain proposed that the dispute between Austria and Serbia
should be judged by a court composed of representatives of France,
England, Italy, and Germany. Austria's reply to the proposals of
England and Serbia was a notice to the latter country that she had
just forty-eight hours in which to give in completely to the Austrian
demands. In the mean-time, Mr. Sazanoff, the Russian minister of
foreign affairs, was vainly pleading with England to declare what she
would do in case the Triple Alliance started a war with France and
Russia.

Kings and ministers telegraphed frantically, trying to prevent the
threatened conflict. The story was sent out by Germany that Russia was
gathering her troops, mobilizing them, as it is called. As Russia has
so much more territory to draw from than any other country, and as her
railroads are not many and are poorly served, it was figured that it
would be six weeks before the Russian army would be ready to fight
anybody. Germany, on the other hand, with her wonderful system of
government-owned railroads, and the machine-like organization of her
army, could launch her forces across the frontier at two days' notice.
As soon as the Germans began to hear that the Russians were mobilizing
their troops against Austria, Germany set in motion the rapid
machinery for gathering her own army. She sent a sharp message to
Russia, warning the latter that she must instantly stop mobilizing or
Germany would declare war. Next the Germans asked France what she
intended to do in case Germany and Austria declared war on Russia.
France replied that she would act in accordance with what seemed to be
her best interests. This answer did not seem very reassuring, and
without any declaration of war, the German army rushed for the French frontier.


From Aix-La-Chapelle near the Rhine in Germany, through the northern
and western part of Belgium, there stretches a flat plain, with level
roads, easy to cross. Now, years before, Belgium had
been promised by France, Prussia, and England that no one of them
would disturb its neutrality. In other words it was pledged that in
case of a war, no armed force of any of these three nations should
enter Belgian territory, nor should Belgium be involved in any trouble
arising among them. In case any one of the nations named or in fact
any other hostile force, invaded Belgium, the signers of the treaty
were bound to rush to Belgium's aid. Belgium, in return, had agreed to
resist with her small army any troops which might invade her country.

In spite of the fact that their nation had signed this treaty, the
Germans started their rush toward France, not through the line of
forts in the mountains, but across the gently rolling plain to the
north. They first asked permission of the Belgians to pass through
their country. On being refused, they entered Belgian territory just
east of Lige. The Belgians telegraphed their protest
to Berlin. The Germans replied that they were sorry but it was
necessary for them to invade Belgium in order to attack France. They
agreed to do no damage and to pay the Belgians for any supplies or
food which their army might seize. The Belgians replied that by their
treaty with France, England, and Germany they were bound on their
honor to resist just such an invasion as this. They asked the Germans
how Germany would regard them if they were to permit a French army to
cross Belgian territory to take Germany by surprise. The Germans again
said that they were sorry, but that if Belgium refused permission to
their army to cross, the army would go through without permission. It
was a dreadful decision that Belgium had to make, but she did not
hesitate. She sent orders to her armies to resist by all means the
passage of the German troops. The great war had begun.