rance, andGermany were involved, to observe their guarantee. Great Britain, one of the witnesses,on August 4, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that Belgian justice be respected.When Germany refused, Britain declared war on it the same day. Italy remaineduninvolved until May 23, 1915, when, to satisfy its claims against Austria, it broke withthe Triple Alliance and declared war on Austria - Hungary. In September 1914, Alliedunity was made stronger by the Pact of London, signed by France, Great Britain, andRussia. As the war progressed, other countries, including Turkey, Japan, the U.S., andother nations of the western hemisphere, were drawn into the conflict. Japan, which hadmade an alliance with the Great Britain in 1902, declared war on Germany on August 23,1914. The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. (Microsoft Encarta,1996)The outbreak of war in 1914 set in motion forces more gigantic than any previouswar had seen. Two million Germans were on the march, the greater part of them againstFrance, and there were another 3,000,000 trained men to back them up. France hadnearly 4,000,000 trained men at call, although they relied on only 1,000,000 active troopsin the first clash. Russia had more millions to draw upon than any, but their mobilizationprocess was slow, a large part of their forces were in Asia and even their great potentialstrength was to a large extent canceled out by lack of munitions. (Captain Sir Basil LiddellHart, 1984)The growth of these tremendous forces had been due primarily to a military gospelof mass. Known by Clausewitz, the Prussian military philosopher, who drew hisinspiration from Napoleon’s example, the spread of this gospel had been stimulated by thevictories of the Prussian conscript armies in 1866 against Austria and in 1870 againstFrance. It had been assisted also by the development of railways, which enabled far largernumbers of men to be assembled, moved and supplied than ha...
