Guns of August

The Guns of August “The Guns of August” was written by Barbara W. Tuchman in 1962. The bookdescribes the causes of the first World war and the first month into. It describes how itbegan as only a local war and then broke out into an entire European struggle by a call towar against Russia and then soon after became a world issue. Summary of the Book Plans The Beginning (Chapters 1-5)The book begins at the funeral procession of King Edward VII of England in 1910. This procession contained a glorious array of Kings and Nobles from around the world,this was to be the last. Throughout the procession there are mournful faces, but one“mournful face” hides happiness. The happiness is of Emperor William II of Germany. Throughout his life and reign, Edward candidly exhibited his love for France over hisneighboring country, Germany. Now that Edward was out of the way, William was surethat he had earned the position as the ruler of Europe the entire and would soon takeaction to prove to the rest of the world that Germany was more powerful than all. InGermany, the Chief of the German General Staff, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, created aplan of attack in case of the possibility of a two-front war. But, this plan requiredinvading Belgium, which(at the time) was neutral territory and proteced by England,Despite the promise of England to Belgium, Schlieffen continued with his attack plans. He believed that Germany’s army was far more powerful and advanced than England,and that there was no reason he should feel threatened. After years of perfecting hisplans, they were finally finished in 1906. Nevertheless after all of those years ofplanning, he failed to properly reinforce the eastern front. Even though he was highlycriticized for this, he stood by his decision stating that he knew the Russians would forcethe army into ...