[CatoRenasci]

ouncil and the Blockade) and maximize German violations).

So, at any rate, a good chunk of the blame for the fact that no one stopped and counted to ten in 1914 was the fault of the FRENCH.

[CatoRenasci]

To: Rodney King Rodney, I blame WWI on our good friends, the French. Specifically, on Maurice Peleologue, the French Ambassador to Russia. The argument runs something like this:

When Austria-Hungary delivered its ultimatum to the Serbs and moblized, the Russians faced a strategic decision: let the Austrians punish the (quite deserving of punishment) Serbs or moblize to protect Serbia. Nicholas' inclination was to mobilize only against Serbia, because he did not want a war with Germany. However, when Nicholas consulted with his General Staff, he found that Russia did not have plans for a mobilization only against Austria (they had had such plans up until 1910, but they were so outdated as to be useless in 1914), so he faced a stark choice of no mobilization, abandoning Serbia, or a mobilization against Germany as well as Austria, which he, and everyone else in Europe, knew would trigger German mobilzation. The effect of German mobilization, of course, was the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan to knock the French out of the war (with the famous sweep around the French Army on the right through the low countries) during the month or more it would take the Russians to complete mobilization.

But I digress. The Tsar was at that point wavering because he did not want to go to war with Germany. The French president, Poincare, and much of the cabinet were at sea during the critical period, on their way home from a visit to St.Petersburg. The French Ambassador, Peleologue, was the most vociferous hawk in town, strong lobbying the Russian government, the Tsar and the high command (I forget which Grand Dukes) to mobilize. Although the view is not universal, it is considered reasonable among historians to conclude that more than any single person in Russia, Peleologue was responsible for Russian mobilization.

I have long taken that view, but then I am also of the view that Wilson was never neutral in WWI (you have to read House's papers and Walter Hines Paige's memoirs to really understand how much Wilson, through House, worked with Sir Edward Grey to minimize British violations of neutrality (the Orders in Council and the Blockade) and maximize German violations).

So, at any rate, a good chunk of the blame for the fact that no one stopped and counted to ten in 1914 was the fault of the FRENCH.