Today, 11 November, especially in the Western Europe and the USA, it is celebrated the Armistice Day and the Day of the Veterans of the WW I and WWII. See, into Romanian, here and into English here.

Yesterday, at my work place, meanwhile the breaks, I read some interesting facts about the Great War:

“A few pessimists thought that a major European war was increasingly possible, especially since the Great Powers were divided into two rival camps: The Triple Alliance linked Germany, Austria and Italy, while Entente included France, Russia and, tacitly, Britain. Both camps were heavily armed, and each had a plan for a possible war against the other. But this was the 20th century, a time of progress, not conflict. Almost no one foresaw how quickly a European war could erupt, or how catastrophic it would be.”

Germany… “ignored the moral outrage among other European powers tha would follow violations of neutrality and the inevitable military consequences of that outrage.”

“On July 28, 1914, the Austrians declared war on Serbia… But the Russian response to Austria’s mobilization set in motion a war machine that was beyond its creators’ power to halt.”

“On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia.”

“Finally, on August 4, Germany invaded Belgium… The invasion of neutral Belgium, in defiance of solemn treaties, decided the matter. The British saw it as an outrage, and at midnight on August 4, united in idealistic indignation, they declared war.”

“Thus were the great nations of Europe committer to a conflict whose objectives were unclear to all, whose dimensions had been desired by none and whose outcome was almost completely unpredictable.”

And yet… we know what happened!

Source: The World in Arms, AD 1900-1925, Time Life Books, Amsterdam, 1990