#61: 4 August 1914 I - Into Belgium

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

At 8AM on 4 August, Germany's invasion of Belgium finally began. After several anxious days of negotiations, warnings, and second guessing, Berlin was firmly set on its path. But what path was that? War had been declared on Russia and France, and now Belgium was in their warpath, but was their any wider strategy than that devised by Moltke? Indeed, diplomacy continued despite the shattered peace, and Berlin chased after two allies in particular - the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

In each case they would be successful, but what did it say about German policy that its own ally, Italy, had abandoned her? Condemnations could be lobbed at her from Berlin, but if its own ally wasn't believing the propaganda, that certainly suggested problems were on the horizon for Germany's PR machine. Perhaps that did not matter. If Belgium folded, France was next. But Belgium did not fold. She held out far longer and with far more tenacity than Moltke had expected. It was just one sign among many that the vaunted Schlieffen Plan was unlikely to go off without a hitch, and many more such signs were to come...

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