BELGIUM FEARS WAR

August 30, 1911: From the Montreal Gazette:

BELGIUM FEARS WAR

Prepares For Hostilities Between France and Germany

  Liege, Belgium, August 30. - An intense sensation has been created among the Belgian people, especially near the boundaries of France and Germany, by the military precautions which are being put into effect by the Belgian Government.
  A military council was held yesterday at the villa of Lieutenant-General Hellebaut, the minister of war, at which the commandants of all the frontier defences, and other military authorities, were present.

  The conference was called to preserve the neutrality of the country in the event of war between France and Germany so as to prevent the violation of Belgian territory by either combatants, or by Great Britain, should that country become involved in the conflict. Nothing so far has been disclosed regarding the decision of the council.
   Great military activity has been noticeable during the last few days. Large supplies of shells for the frontier forts and rifle ammunition have been sent forward, and additional batteries of artillery and rapid-fire guns have been shipped to reinforce the posts on all roads leading to the German frontier. Specific instructions, it is understood, have been sent to the commanders of troops concerning the blowing up of bridges and the destruction of railways should war break out.

  From Brussels, Belgium, August 30. - Two special trains, carrying sixty field guns, twelve Hotchkiss guns, and five caricads of ammunition, arrived at Namur, a strongly fortified city thiry-six miles southeast of Brussels, today from Antwerp.
  The Government appears to be making numerous rearrangements in the army, especially strengthening the eastern garrisons.Disquieting rumors are afloat as to the prospects of war between France and Germany. Several Belgian journals affirm that Adolphe Messimy, the French minister of war, has caused the attention of the Belgium Government to be directed to the weakness and neglected condition of this country's defences on the German frontier.
 
 
  

Kaiser Wilhelm II delivers Place in the Sun speech

The phrase "our place in the sun", describing one's belief in an entitlement, was used by Kaiser Wilhelm II in a speech delivered at Hamburg "No one can dispute with us the place in the sun that is our due". The statement was of the Weltpolitik (World Policy)  that would make Germany a large, strong, and unbeatable empire in every possible way, through military and naval buildup.

From the New York Times:

KAISER FOR MORE NAVY

To Keep for Germany Her Due Place, He Tells Hamburgers

Hamburg, Aug. 27 - The Senate gave a banquet to-night to the Kaiser, who, in the course of a speech on the effect of competition on international commerce, said:
  "If we understood the enthusiasm of the people of Hamburg alright, I think I can assume that it is their opinion that our navy should be further strengthened, so that we may be sure that no one can dispute with us the place in the sun that is our due."

Organized Worker Strikes against Chinese Government

 SZECHUAN PROVINCE STRIKES AGAINST CHINESE GOVERNMENT

Led by the anti-foreign-loan organization Tong Chi Huei (Patriot's Society), Chinese citizens living in Chengdu (成都市) walked off of their jobs in protest over the Imperial Government's agreement with foreign nations to build a railroad through the Sichuan (Szechuan) Province, after businesses there had raised $20,000,000 to build it themselves. "Few people in this country realized when the brief telegrams reported the occurrence of a strike," wrote an American author, Andrew Melville Pooley later,"that the beginning of the end of the Manchu Dynasty had arrived."^[1] The Xinhai Revolution would begin six weeks later.

The causes of the strike, was felt to be the result of granting perceived unlimited access to foreign business concerns to Chinese resources, in contradiction to a plan to return Chinese resources back to the Chinese

Chinese Cartoon

people (rights recovery movement), as well as an increased centralization of power and revenue in Peking, at the expense of the provinces. The Szechuan province was especially effected, because the people had organized to build their own railway, and had raised their own capital at the expense of great hardship, which ultimately resulted in embezzlement ^[2]of the raised funds. With neither the money raised, nor a railway, the exasperated citizens of the Province preceded to fight back, at first, with passive resistance in the form of a general strike.






1. A. M. Pooley, Japan's Foreign Policies (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1920) p60
2. Frederick McCormick, The Flowery Republic (D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1913)

British Military Leaders Strategize for Possible War with Germany

Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson

The ongoing Agadir (Moroccan Crisis), prompted a secret meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence. It was convened by Prime Minister Asquith to discuss overall military strategy for war against Germany. Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson and the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson, the leaders of the British Army and the Royal Army, respectively, presented their opposing views on how a war in continental Europe should be conducted.

The Royal Army presented  the probable moves of the German Army and the British counter moves, while the Royal Navy presented the proposed naval operations. The Admiralty was convinced that a naval blockade of Germany, would force Germany to capitulate, and a British Expeditionary force would not be required in France, but rather to be used to land on the German coast.^[1] The Army dismissed this plan, as did then Home Secretary and future First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

1. Anthony John Watts, The Royal Navy: An Illustrated History (Arms and Armour Press, London, 1994)

France Refuses Germany's Demands

Semi-Official Note Calls (Germany's) Territorial Desires in Congo 'Manifestly Excessive.'

 Ambassador (Jules) Cambon will return to Berlin toward the end of August, probably about the 28th. In the meantime he will have in Paris several conferences with the Premier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of the Colonies, concerning the subjects of his conversations with Herr von Kiderlen-Weachter, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Jules Cambon

  Without endevouring to prejudge the precise results, it is believed that the difficulties will find a solution. It is, however, true that such solution will depend upon two conditions: first, that the rights of France in Morocco be recognized without dimunition by Germany, and regulated definitely in a manner to avoid all future complications; and, second, that Germany reduce her territorial  desires in the French Congo, which appear to be manifestly Excessive.

From The Temps of France:
"France, which sometimes has fallen in with the illusion of universal peace, has ceased to regard as impossible a European conflict. We are convinced that nobody in Europe wishes such a conflict which would exceed in extent and horror those of past generations, but we believe also that certain diplomatic methods founded on mistaken psychology may render inevitable a war which no one wants."
The Temps notes with satisfaction that Premier Caillaux can depend upon the national support of national sentiment.

POTSDAM AGREEMENT SIGNED BY GERMANY AND RUSSIA

POTSDAM AGREEMENT SIGNED IN ST. PETERSBURG

ENDS RUSSIAN OPPOSITION TO THE BAGDAD RAILWAY

Mere hours after the Russian backed deposed Persian Shah's forces are routed, Germany and Russia signed the Potsdam Agreement (of 1911) in St. Petersburg, Russia, completing negotiations started the previous year between Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany in Potsdam in early November 1910.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey,  was seriously alarmed by the Russo-German agreement, with the fear that the British trade dominance over Germany could be affected, as well as making available oil reserves to Germany. The building of the Bagdad Railway is also cited as one of the contributing causes of World War One.

The Kaiser and The Tsar

The two monarchs discussed the ambitious German project of the Baghdad Railway, widely expected to give Berlin considerable geopolitical clout in the Fertile Crescent. Against the background of the Persian Constitutional Revolution, Russia was anxious to control the prospective Khanaqin-Tehran branch of the railway. The two powers settled their differences which would give Russia a free hand in Northern Iran. As Russian Foreign Secretary, Sergei Sazonov hoped, the first railway connecting Persia to Europe would provide Russia with leverage over its southern neighbor.


From the Russian Newspaper Novoye Vremya (Но́вое вре́мя), there were concerns at that time that published documents had indicated that Russia's obligations in the agreement were greater than the gains. The time frame set for the construction of the Russian portion of the Persian Railway from Tehran to the border city of Khanaqin,  placed a significant burden on Russian, because Russian trade with Persia would be significantly limited if a railroad between Tehran and Russian was not built simultaneously. 

The Baghdad Railway, from Constantinople to Baghdad, as well as the spur from Baghdad to Khanaqin would not be completed until well after the conclusion of  the War. Russian only partially built sections between Tehran and Khanaqin, ending its obligations at the start of the war. Had the railroad been completed, Ottoman troops would have gained greater access through the region. The Railroad may have changed the eventual course of the war.

Proposed Route through the Middle East

 

Germany Breaks Off Moroccan Crisis Negotiations

When looking back at the events as they took place 100 years ago, it is often that very similar events, in the exact same locations, are taking place 100 years later. One interesting example is of civil unrest in England. Riots against shop owners and labor strikes, provoked police to use force to overcome the violence. One hundred years later, the same headlines are seen in newspapers around the world, and the English Prime Minister is again anguished, whether it be Asquith or Cameron.

One hundred years ago, Germany actually cited the unrest in Great Britain as a reason for breaking off negotiations in the Moroccan Crisis. This would also begin a period of a more belligerent stance and warlike posturing by Germany.