The Guns Of August Summary

The German Command, in planning for a short and swift war, found themselves in a bind when the war started to prolong itself. From the very beginning, their plan started to fall apart, as Belgium, who they assumed would just let them march through to France, took up arms in resisting their approaches (Hull, 2005). The war would get longer and longer and seemed farther away from its conclusion as the months grew colder. As a result of this as well as their Prussian roots, they resorted to dangerously risky and destructive tactics, trying to bring the war to a quicker end while putting more of their resources in jeopardy, a move that eventually did not pay off and ended up leading to the German Empire’s demise (Hull, 2005).

A major build up of armies in main countries resulted in the Naval Arms Race which was another main contribution to the war as it increased tension and more rivalry. The armies of Germany and France had more than doubled but it was Germany and England who were about to compete for the most powerful navy in the world the tension between the two nations had risen. Wilhelm’s dream of being an imperial ruler was about to come true, he had put his plans into practice and had built several powerful ships. The British saw this as a threat. In

In Barbara W. Tuchman’s book, The Guns of August, she argues that each competitor in World War I did some very feebleminded things in the first month of war. Tuchman quibbled that the first month was a disaster of headstrong generals, who were determined to stick with military plans that weren’t succeeding. The author explains that both sides lost in the first month because of foolish mistakes.

According to Document ten, the Germans believed a European war was going to happen since 1911 (likely due to the poor diplomatic relations between countries caused by imperialism, according to document five), and they wanted to be the ones to start it in order to gain an advantage. In addition, according to Fritz Fischer, Germany had long aimed to expand in Europe, consisting of, “An eastern empire [and] predominance over Belgium and France. ”(Document Ten) This excerpt provides support to the claim that Germany was using the war to further their imperial control, with the “eastern empire” referring to expansion into russian territory. It could also entail that Germany wanted the belgians and the french to cede their colonies, which would be of great interest to the expansion of the German Empire.

Britain realized in 1907 that their biggest threat was Germany. As for support Russia and France were with Britain and together they made the tripe entente. In 1914 Britain was determined not to enter the war. Germany hoped England would not enter the war but also realized under the Treaty of London of 1839 England defended Belgium. Although, Britain ignored the treaty and let Germany through Belgium but made their duty to protect Britain. Germany controlled Belgium ports and Britain ignored it until the events where Germany attacked France through Belgium which led Britain to enter the world war on August 4,

Barbara Tuchman's Pulitzer prize-winning book about the start of World War I is a fascinating and detailed work that delivers the thoughts and actions of the belligerents and their previously mysterious leaders to life on every page. This military history of the first month of the war is written in a way as to keep the reader interested because of the great detail. The author also manages to write about the events in such a manor as the reader sees them as they happened. Despite any previous knowledge about the historical events of the war, the book manages to keep you wondering if the Germans will succeed in its aims.

Ferguson goes on to describe how Germany was frequently taking advantage of Britain as early as the 1880s especially when it came to land expansion and colonies in Africa. This relationship took advantage of Britain's weak bargaining position, but when Britain realized that Germany was in fact weak after a lack of support British policy in China, they abandoned Germany as an ally and later signed the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale in April 1904. Tensions were rising between the two competitors and without trust of Germany, or the majority of the population having knowledge of the horrors of

The Guns of August, by Barbara W. Tuchman, is about the start of World War I. It starts out talking about how King Edward VII strengthened the nations during his time alive. Along with King Edward strengthening the nations, Lord Palmerston, a Foreign Minister for England, was able to get a few countries to sign a treaty. “The treaty was signed in 1839 by England, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria” (Tuchman 18). After the treaty was signed, France and Russia formed an alliance so that if one were attacked, the other would help in the battle. Germany knew about this and formed a plan to defeat France before Russia could get there to help. When France

Hitler was openly accepting that his actions could have caused war with Britain and France, but they remained proactive in their dealings with Hitler, instead trying to reason with the German leader and make compromises in return for peace. France and Germany avoided any military action at this point in time as The Great Depression had hindered their military rearming production and war would be costly and in particular France, public opinion opposed any conflict with Hitler’s German forces.[7]

In the game and actual life all are envious of England because of its location and resources as well as its well-developed army. Russia Germany and France are potential threats. Realizing that England has to prevent Germany from joining with France due how is the game diplomacy unrealistic to their potential. I believe that many of the alliances that occurred during World War I did not actually happen in our game of Diplomacy. There several shocking twists and turns. In our game, Italy and Russia stayed rather benign and non-engaging. They moved some pieces out of their countries; however, they primarily just protected their home country. Germany, similar to a real life map, is strategically

After the French had been defeated the only nation that fought with the Germans was Britain. The Germans tried to come to peace with Britain, but only to have domination of Europe. Britain did not consider the offer at all, instead they prepared for a Nazi invasion. The Germans armed forces air-raided London and throughout Britain multiple times. The British kept resisting the raids and the German armed forces had been defeated

Germany, a country rich in culture and heritage, yet plagued by the fallout of World War I and World War II, has progressed to become the centerpiece of the European Union and the world’s third richest economy. The first German Empire dates back to the Roman Empire starting in the 8th century AD. During the Middle Ages the German Empire fended off many attacks against their soil from the Hungarians and the Slavs. Fighting and power struggles continued until the 1400’s, when the modern world gradually came into existence with intellectual, economic and political changes.

German historian Fritz Fischer argues that Germany 's desire for world power was the reason that for the outbreak of WWI. Germany had plans for a war before the crisis that occurred during 1914 and used the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as an excuse to put the plans into effect. Germany also encouraged Austria and its war plans to provoke a crisis in which it can solve the problem that Germany would face if they went to war. This problem is called "encirclement" and Germany would face this problem if it went to war with France and Russia. By having Austria doing so it would allow Germany to dominate and expand its territories. France and Russia signed a full military defensive alliance in 1892-1895 which allowed the possibility of a two-front war. With Germany 's geographical position being between these two great powers, it would cause Germany to lose the war at an instant. In addition to this, France felt bitterness towards the defeat of 1870-1871 and the taking

Many European countries had seen this and instead of siding with Germany (except Italy) had worked together to defend Belgium. Later in the war, the United Stated joined in not only to take down Japan, but to as well defend Belgium. If the US or any other nation stepped in to help Belgium we could have

In 1914 Germany dismissed the treaty inviting Belgium setting of World War I, because the Belgium government refused to grant free passage for the Germans when they declared war against France. The German Army took over all Belgian defenses and forced King Albert to flee to France, and many Belgians fled to England. This forced the British to enter the War in order to protect Belgium neutrality. And then again in the Belgium was invaded by Nazi Germany in the World War II. During that time, many Belgians were part of a resistance against the Germany, but there were also some sympathizers of the German Army. The Nazi prosecution Belgium Jews killed about 25,000 people. Leopold III made the decision to surrender to the Germans with consulting