Wwi German

It is generally accepted that Germany and her ally the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary (together called the Central Powers), played the main role in creating the conditions that led to the Great War.

Germany began to take the initiative after her traditional enemies France and Russia joined in an alliance. She expanded her Army and more conspicuously began a programme of construction of battleships that also brought her into conflict with Great Britain.

As early as 1905, Germany considered how to win a war on two fronts in Europe, given sufficient forces to be able to tackle only one front at a time. The plan took a more detailed form under Chief of Staff Graf von Schlieffen. The conclusion was that Russia would take time to mobilise her army, in which time France must be defeated. The power of the army would be concentrated against France, and it would attack through neutral Belgium to do so.

A crisis in the Balkans, sparked by the public assassination of a member of the Austro-Hungarian royal dynasty in Sarajevo in July 1914, was the moment when the great plan began to be executed. On 2 August 1914, German troops marched into Luxembourg, and soon after crossed into Belgium.

The British Government voted for war, enraged by the violation of traditional Belgian neutrality. An Expeditionary Force (the BEF) was immediately moved to France, in accordance with pre-war plans agreed with the French High Command. The BEF moved up as planned to the left flank of the French Army - the majority of which was already engaged in a disastrous offensive into Alsace-Lorraine - and first encountered the advancing German army near Mons in southern Belgium. The Allies soon became engaged in a great strategic retreat which left a huge German-occupied salient into France, the Western Front which remained the principal theatre of war until late 1918.

The British also took early military steps to protect economic and political interests in Mesopotamia,...