Italy Declares War on Turkey

An ultimatum was presented to the Ottoman government led by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) party on the night of 26–27 September. Through Austrian intermediation, the Ottomans replied with the proposal of transferring control of Libya without war, maintaining a formal Ottoman suzerainty. This suggestion was comparable to the situation in Egypt, which was under formal Ottoman suzerainty, but was actually controlled by the United Kingdom. Giolitti refused, and war was declared on September 29, 1911.

Pyotr Stolypin Assasinated

In September 1911, Stolypin travelled to Kiev, despite police warnings that an assassination plot was afoot. He travelled without bodyguards and even refused to wear his bullet-proof vest.
On September 14 [O.S. September 1] 1911, while he was attending a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan at the Kiev Opera House in the presence of the Tsar and his two eldest daughters, the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana, Stolypin was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the chest, by Dmitri Bogrov (born Mordekhai Gershkovich), who was both a leftist radical and an agent of the Okhrana. Stolypin was reported to have coolly risen from his chair, removed his gloves and unbuttoned his jacket, exposing a blood-soaked waistcoat. He sank into his chair and shouted 'I am happy to die for the Tsar' before motioning to the Tsar in his imperial box to withdraw to safety. Tsar Nicholas remained in his position and in one last theatrical gesture Stolypin blessed him with a sign of the cross. The next morning the distressed Tsar knelt at Stolypin's hospital bedside and repeated the words 'Forgive me'. Stolypin died four days after being shot. Bogrov was hanged 10 days after the assassination; the judicial investigation was halted by order of Tsar Nicholas II. This gave rise to suggestions that the assassination was planned not by leftists, but by conservative monarchists who were afraid of Stolypin's reforms and his influence on the Tsar, though this has never been proven. Stolypin was buried in the Pechersk Monastery (Lavra) in Kiev (nowadays capital of Ukraine).

Kaiser leaves for Naval Review amidst Anti-War Protests

a great demonstration was held as a protest against war between France and Germany at Treptow Park near Berlin.

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)