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Consequently, on July 31, Germany demanded that Russia demobilize. When Russia did not comply, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. According to its war plan, Germany prioritized its offensive against France, declaring war on August 3. Germany deployed its main armies through Belgium with the aim of encircling Paris.
Russia's rivalries with Germany and Austria-Hungary led to an alliance with France and involvement in Balkan affairs. The July Crisis opened a general conflict in which Russia was allied with France and the United Kingdom. Emperor Nicholas II believed he could re-establish his autocratic power and reunite his people through a victorious war ...
In explaining why neutral Britain went to war with Germany, Paul Kennedy (1980) recognized it was critical for war that Germany become economically more powerful than Britain, but he downplays the disputes over economic trade imperialism, the Baghdad Railway, confrontations in Central and Eastern Europe, highly-charged political rhetoric and ...
Russia inflicted over one million casualties on Austria-Hungary and forced Germany to redeploy divisions from the Western Front, at the cost of its own heavy losses. In August 1916 Romania entered the war but was quickly overrun by Germany, though Russia helped prevent a total Romanian collapse.
Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the First Battle of Tannenberg (17 August – 2 September), but this diversion exacerbated problems of insufficient speed of advance from rail-heads not foreseen by the German General Staff. The Central Powers were thereby denied a quick victory and forced to fight a war on ...
[88] In German ruling circles, war was viewed as the only way to rejuvenate Germany. Russia was viewed as growing stronger every day, and it was believed that Germany had to strike while it still could before it was crushed by Russia. [89] Nationalism made war a competition between peoples, nations or races, rather than kings and elites. [90]
Germany believed that, in the event of war with France and Russia, the German path to victory would be to quickly defeat France before turning to fight Russia. The need for a quick resolution in the Western Front prompted German plans to avoid French defensive fortifications (depicted here as blue areas) by maneuvering north and violating ...
Given that Germany wanted, desired and covered up the Austrian-Serbian war and, trusting in German military superiority, deliberately chose to enter into conflict with Russia and France in 1914, the German Imperial leadership bears a considerable part of the historical responsibility for the outbreak of a general war.