To the Last Man - Jeff Shaara [3]
A regional dispute between a large power and one who is very much weaker suddenly takes on a life that has consequences few can predict. The Serbians have a treaty of alliance with the French and also with the Russians, who face the Austrians along an enormous common border. The Austrians, in order to counter the Russian threat, gain assurances from Kaiser Wilhelm that Germany will come to Austria’s aid, should Russia attack. Any open conflict with Russia will trigger a response from the French, who have their own alliance with Russia. The Germans have their spark.
There is still one piece of the puzzle left to chance. In order to invade France, German troops will march through neutral Belgium. Belgium has a formal alliance with England, who has pledged to secure Belgian sovereignty. The kaiser does not believe the British will enter a war against Germany, just for what he sees as the relatively minor concerns of the Belgians. Germany does not intend to occupy Belgium, merely pass through the country. The German navy, however, sees a war with England as an opportunity. For more than a century, the British have dominated the seas, something the ambitious German admirals would like to change. Germany’s coastline is limited, and the navy’s proponents are eager to find some way to expand Germany’s influence on the oceans, thus opening new doors economically, as well as militarily. If England enters a war on behalf of the Belgians, so be it.
The dominoes are set to fall. In the capitals of Europe, furious diplomatic efforts are made to prevent all-out war between every major power on the continent. But the weak-minded emperors, from Czar Nicholas to Kaiser Wilhelm, are no match for the ambitious and ruthless militarists who prod them from below.
On August 4, 1914, German troops march into Belgium. With the Austrians already marching into Serbia, the dominoes begin to fall. Within days, the world is at war.
Instead of the rapid and overwhelming conquest of France, von Moltke’s hesitation to commit full support to the Schlieffen Plan causes the German attack to bog down even before the troops reach the French border. The Belgian army, led by their charismatic King Albert, resists the German invasion with a spirited, though doomed, defense of their territory. But the delay gives the French time to examine their options.
Since their defeat in 1871, the French have sought the appropriate strategy that would allow them to gain revenge against the Germans. The army is commanded by Marshal Joseph Joffre, who has nurtured his own plan for the ultimate invasion of Germany. Joffre is given free reign, and he exercises an iron hand in all areas of France’s military. He knows only one philosophy: attack. Though the Belgian defense is rapidly crumbling to the north, Joffre ignores the German threat and launches a full-scale assault into Alsace and Lorraine. The attack succeeds, and then grinds to a halt against well-prepared German defenses. To the north, with the Belgians finally swept aside, the Germans make their push into France. Joffre begins to move his troops northward, to confront a threat whose magnitude he never truly understands.
The British cannot save the Belgians, but they send nearly half a million troops across the English Channel in an effort to put some barrier in front of the German offensive. The German juggernaut is too powerful, and immediately the British