The guns of August: the reason for WWI
Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:32 pm
The assasination of the archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914 is the official "reason" for the starting of World War I. After that the story is known: "evil" Austro Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia, which reject it; Russia supported Serbia; "evil" Germany supported Austro Hungary; France supported Russia and England supported Belgium. Basically it was all Kaiser Willy's fault and Germany to blame.
Of course we, in this forum, know that is not so. But how much was Germany doing here?
After reading John Mosier's book we learned that it was the Germans that won the battles and the US those that won the war in 1918. It's all down to the fighting. But what about this most important issue of the starting of the war itself? Since I was a kid and having learned all this issue of Franz Ferdinand always escaped to me how it was that the Germans were the bad guys here, how it was that they were the agressors? In a simplistic way it was all down to Princip and his fellow conspirators: they were murderers, terrorists that were aided by a Serbian secret agency in charge of desestabilization of the Austrian monarchy. It was Serbia's fault!
But, obviously it's more complex.
A book from Dutch historian J.H.J Andriessen these issues are brought again in a simple but contundent writing. The guilt was, basically, French and then aided by Russian and English geo political needs.
The main reason, the incredible kicking the french received in 1870-71 from the Prussians, kept the french politicians and military looking for a sick revenge since 1880: the aim was to recover Alsace-Loraine.
Second reason, the Russians needed the Dardanelles free pass for their Black Sea Fleet and the French would provide the help to achieve that. It is obvious that the influence at the Balkans was also a Russian aim that needed some help from the treachorous french.
Third reason, the British didn't like a bit the German industrial might, their growing comercial expansion and the naval race.
Since 1881 the French were building up their position to face Germany, which they knew they cannot face alone, by themselves. They needed numerical superiority to fight and defeat the Germans. However they never lost the oportunity to gauge the international scene in order to be provocative and start an incident as that of the 30,000 troops sent on April 28th, 1881 to Tangier on the pretext of supporting the Turkish governor to put down a rebellion on it's borders... ot the Moroccan crisis of 1905.
However more important issues were arising, and in this case it was England the one that's being affected. From 1887 and 1912 the German imports grew 244% and their exports grew 215%. The German exports grow at a higher pace than those of the US (173%), Britain (113%) and obvioulsy France (just 98%). Germany became the greatest producer of coal, iron, steel and chemicals. British commerce was flooded by German goods of much better quality than those localy produced, specially electrical engineering, textiles and shipbuilding. But it was the German direction of building their own fleet that put the British on alert.
From the 17th century the British were building and nursing their own expansion, becoming the world superpower. The British policy, in the late XIX Century and early XXth, was to maintain a balance of power in the world. As soon as any nation threatened to become too strong, the British allied themselves with that nation's enemies so that a double strangehold was applied.
In this troublesome scenario there is no common mention of the following:
1. Serbia helped terrorist Princip to assasinate archduke Franz Ferdinand
2. Austro Hungary were the victims, the Serbians were the agressors.
3. France, in his revenge looking policy, signed secret military conventions with the russians since 1894! This, at the least, reveals that the agressive intentions were those of France since late XIX Century, not Germany! In this military treaty the French seeked to have Russian on their side when they started a conflict to regain Alsace-Loraine whilst giving the help the Russians need to breakthrough the Dardaneles.
4. After the death of Queen Victoria and the 1905 comming of the Liberals to power, the new Foreign Secretary Edward Grey the British scenario turned completely anti German. Grey pushed for an "entente cordiale" of England and France together facing Germany. It is very curious and interesting that the general public (the people) and the Parliament were not of the view of Grey and, becuase of that, were kept ignorant of the treaties and pacts that Grey was performing with the Russians and the French.
5. The British, in the person of General Grierson, attempted "non legal" discussions with the Belgians to accept another military pact against an eventual conflict with Germany.
All that was prior or in 1905, some 9 years prior to the war. It were the "allies" those seeking war and revenge, not the Germans. The Germans had a completely public and lawful mutual defense pact with the Austro Hungarians and one with a weak (and wicked) Italy that would collpase on the eve of WWI. It were the allies that, since 1881, were trying to eliminate the German influence in Europe.
Those plans included, incredibly, a French plan to invade Belgium in order to threat Germany from their flank. The plan was drafted by 1906, 8 years prior to the war, demostrates that the allies were looking for a an advantageous fight against the Germans since long before 1914. In 1911, three years prior to the war, the British already had a plan to land four divisions in Belgium. The important issue here is that the Belgians did not know about this and that England and France were looking to this deployment without any Belgium permision: in other words they plan from 9 years prior to 1914 to commit the "heinous crime" they accused the Germans to do on 1914.
If France and Russia signed a pact against Germany since 1905 then England did with Russia the same on August 31, 1907. The alliance net was set to trap Germany from two fronts and a naval blockade.
Even the naval disarmament conference in La Hague, sponsored by the British, was just an inmoral mascarade: the British offered to scrap an important quantity of ships in order to achieve a "balance" to the German construction program. Of course the British had a great number of ships that were obsolete with the outcome of the Dreadnought and were losing nothing with this "self sacrifice" measure. When this British iniciative failed the Admiralty cried "wolf" stating to the British people and Parliament that the German Navy requested and were given funds for twenty one dreadnought battleships and would have them operational by 1912. Of course, by 1912 the Germans had what they wanted from day one: twelve dreadnoughts. When this was evident the British public opinion and the Parliament questioned the anti German policies of Edward Grey. The deceiving Grey sent Minister of War Haldane to Berlin in the hope that the latter will fail in it's diplomatic journey, however Haldane's visit was succesfull: the Germans wanted peace and worked out several practical solutions. Haldane reported to Grey who did everything in it's power to put obstacles, put new demands and delays.
And to all that Russia was helping Serbia and their "Black Hand" (Ujedindenje Ili Smrt) to achive the Greater Serbia (sounds a lot like Milosevic which was opposed by the NATO leaded by the US). This agency was headed by terrorist leader colonel Dimitrijevic. By 1908 this operative was full deployed inside Autro Hungarian territory.
Also there was an international intrigue against the Austro Hungarians of Italians wanting parts of their territory, the russians wanting to influence Constantinople and the Serbian terrorist acts to achieve a greater Serbia.
And in the middle of this came the assasination of archduke Francis Ferdinand, who's father, ironically, wanted peace and refrained to mobilize to attack Serbia once his son was slain. If Austro Hungary had attacked upon the real hedious crime, no body would have contested it's right to do so. However the Austrian Emperor, the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister decided to do the "civilized" thing and work out diplomatic solutions until all those were expent. What an irony.
Now. The funny thing. According to common wisdmon and official history Germany was the aggresor. This falls apart when we see who mobilized first: Russia, on July 25th 1914 took the decision in order to support terrorist state Serbia. They started mobilization the same day Austro Hungary started their own against Serbia! The same day, for God's sake! The General moobilization order came on July 30th.
French mobilization came on July 31st, however when Poincare and his acolites came to France from a visit to Russia (curious, isn't it?) on July 29th all furlongs to officers had a week of being canceled.
So, in summary, the despictable assasination of Franz Ferdinand was only the spark of an international intrigue leaded by France and so helped by Russia and Edward Grey to take out a prosperous industrial nation, Germany, from the spectre of Europe. Germany was a danger to their wealth and dominion. The perfect target has been the image of a not very bright Kaiser and the militaristic appereance of the German state, a state that gave rights to their workers in the form of a Social Security policy long before that was even a notion in the "democratic" allies.
It was, then, France, Russian and England those that started WWI. When Germany was defeated the blame was put on her shoulders, simply as that.
Regards.
Of course we, in this forum, know that is not so. But how much was Germany doing here?
After reading John Mosier's book we learned that it was the Germans that won the battles and the US those that won the war in 1918. It's all down to the fighting. But what about this most important issue of the starting of the war itself? Since I was a kid and having learned all this issue of Franz Ferdinand always escaped to me how it was that the Germans were the bad guys here, how it was that they were the agressors? In a simplistic way it was all down to Princip and his fellow conspirators: they were murderers, terrorists that were aided by a Serbian secret agency in charge of desestabilization of the Austrian monarchy. It was Serbia's fault!
But, obviously it's more complex.
A book from Dutch historian J.H.J Andriessen these issues are brought again in a simple but contundent writing. The guilt was, basically, French and then aided by Russian and English geo political needs.
The main reason, the incredible kicking the french received in 1870-71 from the Prussians, kept the french politicians and military looking for a sick revenge since 1880: the aim was to recover Alsace-Loraine.
Second reason, the Russians needed the Dardanelles free pass for their Black Sea Fleet and the French would provide the help to achieve that. It is obvious that the influence at the Balkans was also a Russian aim that needed some help from the treachorous french.
Third reason, the British didn't like a bit the German industrial might, their growing comercial expansion and the naval race.
Since 1881 the French were building up their position to face Germany, which they knew they cannot face alone, by themselves. They needed numerical superiority to fight and defeat the Germans. However they never lost the oportunity to gauge the international scene in order to be provocative and start an incident as that of the 30,000 troops sent on April 28th, 1881 to Tangier on the pretext of supporting the Turkish governor to put down a rebellion on it's borders... ot the Moroccan crisis of 1905.
However more important issues were arising, and in this case it was England the one that's being affected. From 1887 and 1912 the German imports grew 244% and their exports grew 215%. The German exports grow at a higher pace than those of the US (173%), Britain (113%) and obvioulsy France (just 98%). Germany became the greatest producer of coal, iron, steel and chemicals. British commerce was flooded by German goods of much better quality than those localy produced, specially electrical engineering, textiles and shipbuilding. But it was the German direction of building their own fleet that put the British on alert.
From the 17th century the British were building and nursing their own expansion, becoming the world superpower. The British policy, in the late XIX Century and early XXth, was to maintain a balance of power in the world. As soon as any nation threatened to become too strong, the British allied themselves with that nation's enemies so that a double strangehold was applied.
In this troublesome scenario there is no common mention of the following:
1. Serbia helped terrorist Princip to assasinate archduke Franz Ferdinand
2. Austro Hungary were the victims, the Serbians were the agressors.
3. France, in his revenge looking policy, signed secret military conventions with the russians since 1894! This, at the least, reveals that the agressive intentions were those of France since late XIX Century, not Germany! In this military treaty the French seeked to have Russian on their side when they started a conflict to regain Alsace-Loraine whilst giving the help the Russians need to breakthrough the Dardaneles.
4. After the death of Queen Victoria and the 1905 comming of the Liberals to power, the new Foreign Secretary Edward Grey the British scenario turned completely anti German. Grey pushed for an "entente cordiale" of England and France together facing Germany. It is very curious and interesting that the general public (the people) and the Parliament were not of the view of Grey and, becuase of that, were kept ignorant of the treaties and pacts that Grey was performing with the Russians and the French.
5. The British, in the person of General Grierson, attempted "non legal" discussions with the Belgians to accept another military pact against an eventual conflict with Germany.
All that was prior or in 1905, some 9 years prior to the war. It were the "allies" those seeking war and revenge, not the Germans. The Germans had a completely public and lawful mutual defense pact with the Austro Hungarians and one with a weak (and wicked) Italy that would collpase on the eve of WWI. It were the allies that, since 1881, were trying to eliminate the German influence in Europe.
Those plans included, incredibly, a French plan to invade Belgium in order to threat Germany from their flank. The plan was drafted by 1906, 8 years prior to the war, demostrates that the allies were looking for a an advantageous fight against the Germans since long before 1914. In 1911, three years prior to the war, the British already had a plan to land four divisions in Belgium. The important issue here is that the Belgians did not know about this and that England and France were looking to this deployment without any Belgium permision: in other words they plan from 9 years prior to 1914 to commit the "heinous crime" they accused the Germans to do on 1914.
If France and Russia signed a pact against Germany since 1905 then England did with Russia the same on August 31, 1907. The alliance net was set to trap Germany from two fronts and a naval blockade.
Even the naval disarmament conference in La Hague, sponsored by the British, was just an inmoral mascarade: the British offered to scrap an important quantity of ships in order to achieve a "balance" to the German construction program. Of course the British had a great number of ships that were obsolete with the outcome of the Dreadnought and were losing nothing with this "self sacrifice" measure. When this British iniciative failed the Admiralty cried "wolf" stating to the British people and Parliament that the German Navy requested and were given funds for twenty one dreadnought battleships and would have them operational by 1912. Of course, by 1912 the Germans had what they wanted from day one: twelve dreadnoughts. When this was evident the British public opinion and the Parliament questioned the anti German policies of Edward Grey. The deceiving Grey sent Minister of War Haldane to Berlin in the hope that the latter will fail in it's diplomatic journey, however Haldane's visit was succesfull: the Germans wanted peace and worked out several practical solutions. Haldane reported to Grey who did everything in it's power to put obstacles, put new demands and delays.
And to all that Russia was helping Serbia and their "Black Hand" (Ujedindenje Ili Smrt) to achive the Greater Serbia (sounds a lot like Milosevic which was opposed by the NATO leaded by the US). This agency was headed by terrorist leader colonel Dimitrijevic. By 1908 this operative was full deployed inside Autro Hungarian territory.
Also there was an international intrigue against the Austro Hungarians of Italians wanting parts of their territory, the russians wanting to influence Constantinople and the Serbian terrorist acts to achieve a greater Serbia.
And in the middle of this came the assasination of archduke Francis Ferdinand, who's father, ironically, wanted peace and refrained to mobilize to attack Serbia once his son was slain. If Austro Hungary had attacked upon the real hedious crime, no body would have contested it's right to do so. However the Austrian Emperor, the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister decided to do the "civilized" thing and work out diplomatic solutions until all those were expent. What an irony.
Now. The funny thing. According to common wisdmon and official history Germany was the aggresor. This falls apart when we see who mobilized first: Russia, on July 25th 1914 took the decision in order to support terrorist state Serbia. They started mobilization the same day Austro Hungary started their own against Serbia! The same day, for God's sake! The General moobilization order came on July 30th.
French mobilization came on July 31st, however when Poincare and his acolites came to France from a visit to Russia (curious, isn't it?) on July 29th all furlongs to officers had a week of being canceled.
So, in summary, the despictable assasination of Franz Ferdinand was only the spark of an international intrigue leaded by France and so helped by Russia and Edward Grey to take out a prosperous industrial nation, Germany, from the spectre of Europe. Germany was a danger to their wealth and dominion. The perfect target has been the image of a not very bright Kaiser and the militaristic appereance of the German state, a state that gave rights to their workers in the form of a Social Security policy long before that was even a notion in the "democratic" allies.
It was, then, France, Russian and England those that started WWI. When Germany was defeated the blame was put on her shoulders, simply as that.
Regards.