ABSTRACT
German soldiers entered Belgian territory on August 4, 1914, but found no French troops there. It is doubtful they expected to find any. The lead elements of the German force, the cavalry, distributed a proclamation that announced German regret at having to go into Belgium, and demanded that the Belgians did not resist. Two days later, German General Eric Ludendorff, a man who would come to dominate the war for Germany, demanded the surrender of the Belgium town of Liège. The Belgian garrison refused and a German assault on the city and its network of forts began immediately. The town fell on August 16. World War I was not quite two weeks old, and several revelations had occurred, all of them reflecting unfavorably on German war plans. Belgium would resist the German invasion, no matter German protests that their attack targeted only France. The German government insisted that it had had no choice in striking Belgium. It had to defend itself. However, with no French soldiers to be found, the question became, defend itself from whom? And from the opening days of the war, Germany revealed its willingness to assume the role of aggressor to serve its morally just purpose of breaking free of the encirclement imposed on Germany by the great powers in Europe. While it may have committed a wrong in the attack it unleashed in the west, the
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grow out of this preemptive doctrine would quickly dispel any illusions of good or justice for all parties involved.
