The British Conceptualization of Belgium, 1914

The complicated political agendas surrounding the various nations’ decisions to enter World War I have led to an ongoing debate about the war’s actual cause. This research project will investigate the effect that Germany’s invasion of Belgium had on Great Britain’s decision to enter the war. I will use the Hansard transcripts of debates in the British Parliament to investigate the extent to which the defense of Belgian neutrality was involved in the pre-war deliberations. A comparison between the transcripts from 28 June to 3 August and those from 4 August will illustrate the change, if one exists, or the continuity in the war declaration debate among the members of Parliament in response to the German invasion. These findings will either verify or disprove the claim, made by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in his address to Parliament on 6 August 1914 and perpetuated in wartime propaganda, that the British entered the war on behalf of Belgian defense