My Italy

After Germany, Italy, Austria, France and Russia declared war on each other, Britain, another giant of the Allied Powers, became somewhat unusual at this time.

Within a week, Britain had dismissed six ministerial-level officials. The reason why Britain went to war and dismissed officials was because there was a pro-German faction in Britain. This faction believed that Britain should be friendly with Germany to avoid drawing Britain into the war.

However, when most ministers agreed to participate in the war, this faction was abandoned, and ministers with pro-German attitudes were purged from the government.

At this time, Britain had just completed its domestic integration and was preparing to join this war.

At this time, Germany sent an excellent reason, which made the British government feel like a treasure.

That is to implement the Schlieffen Plan, the day after Germany declared war on France, it submitted a request to Belgium to allow German troops to transit.

Since France and Belgium have a good relationship, there are no fortifications deployed on the border between the two countries, and the two sides have very few troops on the border.

As for the German-French border, France began to build fortifications after its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. They built a series of fortresses centered on four cities along the 150-mile French-German border. The southeast begins with Switzerland's impenetrable barrier, the Alps, with solid concrete fortresses stretching from Belfort, Erbinal, Tours and Verdun.

A wide gap was designed between Urbinal and Tours as a huge trap to welcome the enemy in and then annihilate it with crossfire from well-covered concrete box bunkers. About 20 miles north of Verdun lies Luxembourg, Belgium and the rugged Ardennes Forest.

Compare the undefended border with France and the densely fortified border with Germany and France. There is no need to consider which side to break through.

For Schlieffen, who was formulating the plan for Germany's war with France and Russia, this was the perfect breakthrough. As long as the German army passes through Belgium, it will suddenly appear in northern France in such a long time, and it is absolutely impossible for the French army, which is contained on the German-French border, to react. Next, as long as the German army follows his plan and implements a revolving door-like combat plan, France will be wiped out near the German-French border.

So for Germany, passing through Belgium is an inevitable choice.

In this case, time must be quick. In order not to give France time to react, it submitted a request to Belgium to allow German troops to transit the border the next day.

Faced with Germany's request, the relatively young Kingdom of Belgium, led by King Albert I, rejected the German request, saying that the German request undermined Belgium's neutral status.

In addition, he also informed Britain and France of the news. After receiving the news, Britain immediately issued a warning to Germany, saying that if Germany violated Belgium's neutral status, Britain would declare war on Germany.

At this time, for the German troops who were implementing the Schlieffen Plan, it was impossible for them to stop. If it is because of fear of British warning, it will bring chaos to the German army.

Therefore, even if Britain threatens to declare war, the Germans cannot stop. Besides, the Three Kingdoms Alliance is not much worse than the Three Kingdoms Entente, so there is no need to fear the threat from the British. Moreover, as early as when Marshal Schlieffen formulated the plan, he had already prepared in advance for the British who had variables.

According to his estimate, Britain might send 100,000 troops to help France in executing this plan.

It can be seen that Schlieffen is worthy of being a great military strategist, and the plan he formulated has taken all factors into consideration.

As for the Kingdom of Belgium's rejection of Germany's request for military access, it also had its confidence, and that was the Liege Fortress. The city of Liege is located at the narrow gap between the Dutch territory and the Aden Forest, guarding the railway transportation hub in Belgium. Unless the German army borrowed a passage from the Netherlands, they would have to pass through the Liege Fortress before heading south to France.

The Liege Fortress was built on a steep slope on the west bank of the Meuse River, 100 meters higher than the river bank. The Meuse River just became a natural moat. There are 12 forts in total within 30 kilometers along the river bank. Each fort is 6 kilometers away from Liege, and the distance between the forts is also 6 kilometers. 6 of these 12 forts face the direction of Germany on the east bank, and 6 It is located on the west bank to protect the rear of Liege, radially surrounding the city of Liege, and forming a circular fire network across the Meuse River.

Each fort is made of reinforced concrete and is mostly built underground, with only the triangular top exposed.

All the weapons and personnel of the fort are hidden underground, and it is equipped with a total of 400 cannons and a large number of light and heavy machine guns.

On average, each fort has 8 120mm fortress guns and 8 210mm howitzers. All turrets are protected by steel armor, can rotate 360 ​​degrees, and can also automatically lift. The fort is also equipped with a searchlight for night instruction shooting, which can be raised and lowered like the turret. There are also rapid-fire cannons and machine guns to block the wilderness around the fort and nearby blind spots. Under the fort, there are passages extending in all directions and various basements, which store a large amount of food, drinking water, ammunition, medical supplies and power supply facilities.

Deep protective trenches were dug around each fort, and a large number of barbed wire fences and obstacles were placed outside the trenches. The Belgian army guarding each fort is generally composed of 2 artillery companies and 1 infantry company, with a total of 400 people. There are also mobile infantry companies defending in the wilderness between the forts, with a total force of 25,000. The entire Liege defense The system was considered the strongest fortress in Europe.

One more thing, many of the cannons used in the Liege Fortress came from Krupp.

Although the Belgians used the Liege Fortress in their hands as a barrier to block the German army's attack.

But again, the arrow is on the string and must be fired.

So after Belgium rejected Germany's request, Germany submitted a declaration of war to Belgium that night.

In the face of Germany's declaration of war on Belgium, the British did exactly what they wanted. Early the next morning, London declared war on Germany on the grounds that Germany had violated the Treaty of London signed by various countries in 1839.

Faced with the British declaration of war, the Germans also responded with color and declared war on them. Although William II still has a certain fondness for Britain, the German people are generally dissatisfied with Britain, especially the German business community. Because the other party refused to allow their own goods to enter their colonial market, these people supported the declaration of war against Britain with both hands.

Now that Germany has declared war, Italy and Austria, as allies, are no exception. They also declared war on Britain two days later.

The British Empire also declared war on Italy and Austria. At this point, the two camps of the Alliance and the Entente officially kicked off the European War.