Fourplay
The British Empire and the Kingdom of France started to colonize North America in 1580. Fought each other in several “Indian” wars. The last Indian war between French vs British was made by colonist George Washington sent in 1753 by British governor Virginia, Dinwiddie to negotiate with French and Iroquois Indians.
Little Corporal Washington won on both accounts and was promoted in 1754 to the rank of British lieutenant-colonel. This incident ignited the French and Indian War, which later became part of the larger ‘Seven Years’ War.
After a number of skirmishes, Washington was promoted in 1769 to the rank of British General. Following the Tea Party in 1773 the first American Congress created in 1775 the Continental Army and named George Washington Commander in chief as some who knew very well British ways and means.
Fact 1
British Empire lost 1775-1783 the American Revolutionary War or First Civil war against 13 colonies in North America that adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Fact 2
King George III strongly objected and sent a fleet and armies of 22 000 British and 20 000 German soldiers to support 25 000 loyalists. Most of the British troops died, half of the Germans died and a half became Americans.
Fact 3
As 50 00 of the freedom fighters of the United States of America stood no chance alone, they called and received help from France, Spain, and most countries of Europe who objected to the dominance of the British Empire and won.
Fact 4
In 1783, the United Kingdom recognized American independence, but the spirit of the British Empire didn’t. The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War.
Fact 5
In violation of The Treaty of Paris, British Empire continued to hassle the American shores. The USA paid back, and declared the war on Great Britain in 1812 and won it by 1815.
Fact 6
The British Empire paid back by instigating the French revolution of 1789. Louis XVI lost firstly crown, then his head.
Fact 7 One humble Little Caporal Napoleone di Buonaparte or Napoleon in English, rose step by step to become 1799 the First Consul of the First French Republic.
Fact 8 British Empire disliked that, moreover hated it when it got wind of a project by Napoleon and Russian Emperor Pavel of a joint expedition to India, to deprive England of her biggest and richest colony.
Fact 9 British Empire strongly disapproved, and consequently Pavel I, emperor of Russia from 1796 to 1801, had suffered an ‘apoplectic fit’ and suddenly passed away with the help of 150 high ranking officers who hated reforms of the military.
Fact 10 Napoleon sold to the US Louisiana for $15 000 000 because he needed funds for his Grand Armée. The purchase added 828,394 square miles and doubled the size of the U.S. British Empire strongly disapproved.
Fact 11 First Consul of the First Republic Napoleon went with beating into pulp all armies in Europe he met on his way to raise to become the Emperor of the French by 1804. To do that Napoleon dragged Pope Pious VII over to Paris for consecration.
Fact 12 By 1807 Emperor Napoleon and Emperor Alexander went as far as signing the Tilsit peace treaty and meeting on rafts on the river Neman. Anyway, Napoleon believed that he is the Emperor of Europe, therefore, needed an heir.
Fact 13 Napoleon divorced his first wife Josephine because she could not provide him with an heir to his Empire. Napoleon settled on Archduchess Marie Louise, the 18-year-old daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria, head of the House of Habsburg.
Fact 14 After 5 years of talking to Emperor Alexander I, Napoleon politely invaded Russia on 24.06.1812 with 400 000 troops. Politesse consisted of marching to the obsolete Moscow, and not modern St. Petersburg. Napoleon failed to seduce Emperor Alexander I and went back to save his Empire.
Fact 15 Coalition of Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and the small German States was formed in 1813 to crush the French Empire, and succeeded. Emperor Napoleon abdicated, nevertheless he and his wife Marie Louise kept the honorary titles of Emperor and Empress and was exiled to Elba as their principality (micro empire).
Fact 16 Both Russian Emperor Alexander I and Austrian Emperor Francis II suggested that the son of Napoleon and Marie Louise should become hereditary Emperor of France. UK and Prussia objected.
Fact 17 On 26 February 1815, after less than a year on Elba, Napoleon made on 20 th March 1815 his triumphant return to power, and his 100 days countdown has started. The chance of his slipping past the British agents on Elba and British ships around it was nil without secret cooperation with the British.
Fact 18 When Napoleon took back the power in March 1815 and mobilized a new army Coalition, on one hand, became alive, one other crack appeared. Austria, Britain, and Bourbon-restored France form on 03/01/1815 a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
Fact 19 British Empire was the prime force of the Coalition but on one hand, hated the very idea of losing to Napoleon and on the other disliked both the Austrian Empire and Russian Empire competing with the British Empire.
Fact 20 On 18th June 1815, near Waterloo in Belgium 100 days of Napoleon have ended. A French of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by a British-led coalition consisting of Wellington’s army, and a Prussian army under the command of Field Marshal von Blücher. The battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars. British Empire will rule more waves for more time.
Fact 21 After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon returned to Paris in the hope of retaining political support for his position as Emperor of the French. He hoped, with his political base secured, to then be able to continue the war. It was not to be as he was forced to abdicate.
Fact 22 On 25 June Napoleon left Paris for the Atlantic coast hoping to reach the United States of America. Napoleon realized he could not hope to evade the Royal Navy, surrendered to Captain Maitland upon placing himself under his protection on board HMS Bellerophon.
Fact 23 The British Government refused Napoleon to set foot in England and arranged for ticket-free travel to his exile. Napoleon arrived in St Helena on 15th October 1815, after ten weeks at sea onboard the HMS Northumberland, where he died in 1821 at the age of 52.
Fact 24 A number of Treaties were signed between Coalition and France. The Treaty of Paris said, “in the desire to consolidate, by maintaining inviolate the Royal authority, and by restoring the operation of the Constitutional Charter of 1791, the order of things which had been happily re-established in France”.
Fact 25 This Constitutional Charter was in fact the Constitution of 1791, promulgated under the Ancien Régime at the outset of the Revolution had not stopped Louis XVI from surprise meeting with the guillotine he sponsored.
Fact 26 The Treaties upon Treaties confirmed by more Treaties were meant to ensure peace in Europe forever. alas and alack the flowers of the 1789 Revolution were in budding. The transformations launched by it were on the way.
Fact 27 Napoleon introduced lots of reforms that morphed nation by nation and took root worldwide. Napoleon had an extensive impact on the modern world, bringing liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled.
Fact 27 Reforms in Law: In 1804, Napoleon took on the legal system of France. For the first time in history, the law was based on reason and founded on the notion that all men were equal before the law. The Napoleonic Code Civil became profoundly influential to other European countries in the 19th century.
Fact 28 Reforms in Government: Napoleon centralized the government, putting control firmly in the hands of the national government. It became more efficient. Advancement in the civil service and the military was based on merit rather than rank. The tax system was applied equally to all.
Fact 29 Reforms in Education: Napoleon built many new lycées, schools for boys aged 10 to 16. He recognized the importance of education in producing citizens capable of filling positions in his bureaucracy and military. Education was more available to the middle class than it ever had been before.
Fact 30 British Empire watched closely what was happening worldwide and in Europe, used every crack to raise its influence, power in territories, and colonies. British Empire was firmly on its way to greatness.
Fact 31 British Empire troubled by the rise of revolutionary ideas in France and adoration of Napoleon and Napoleonic ideas took measures to reduce his lifespan in spite of the excellence of climate, St Helena is perhaps without an equal.
Fact 32 British Empire was well informed about “revolutionary” ideas of Russian high ranking officers picked up in Paris tried to meddle with.
Fact 33 Upon after ‘unexpected’ death of typhus on 26/12/18during his trip to Taganrog of Emperor of Russia Alexander I, rumor had it that he was poisoned by a British agent.
Fact 34
The heir apparent Constantine refused to inherit the throne. His younger brother Nicholas decided to take power as Emperor Nicholas I, pending formal confirmation. The army had sworn loyalty to Nicholas, but 3,000 troops tried to mount 26/12/1825 a military coup in favor of Constantine. The rebels were confronted by the loyalists outside the Senate building who scattered the rebels with heavy artillery fire.
Fact 35 The very fact that the military coup of Decemberists happened the next day after the death of Emperor Alexander I and Morse haven’t invented the telegraph and Bell wasn’t born as yet, points out that this coup was a carefully planned operation including the sudden death of Emperor Alexander I.
Fact 36 Emperor Nicholas I turned out to be bad luck for the British Empire, as he displayed determination, dedication to very hard work, singleness of purpose, and an iron will. Moreover, under his reign the Russian Empire reached 1855 its territorial zenith, spanning over 20 million square kilometers.
Fact 37 The prayers of the British Empire for peace in Europe didn’t help. The Second French Revolution of 1830, was followed by a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In France, the Third revolution of 1848 ended the July Monarchy and led to the creation of the French Second Republic with Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte as President with Rothchild banks financing his election.
Fact 38 British Empire had a spoon in all European pies. Better yet, it let to her soil who could pay for their stay, better yet, if the guests were productive for English exports they stayed for free, moreover got their cut if in export profits of British companies, AKA Friedrich Engels from Germany.
Fact 39 British Empire as the leader of social progress open its doors for like philosopher Karl Marx from Germany but didn’t pay for his keep. Engels paid for him, moreover, Engels pronounced to be the father Marx made to his cleaning woman. Marx used this hospitability to write 5 volumes of “Das Kapital” that showed the right way for the British Empire. British Empire buried Marx in the Highgate cemetery in 1883.
Fact 40 Hard to find an opposition figure that was not welcome in Britain. AKA, Russian writer and thinker, “father of Russian socialism” Alexander Herzen found refuge there, his friend Rothchild paid for board & bread. Actually, from 1848 onwards, not one prominent freedom fighter, separatist, anarchist, socialist from Europe was refused entry, Trotzky & Lenin included.
Fact 41 Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte could not be constitutionally be reelected, so he seized power in 1851 and proclaimed himself Napoleon III Emperor of the Second Empire of the French. He launched the modernization of the French economy and had the center of Paris rebuilt completely. Paris turned into Ville des Lumieres. British Empire didn’t object and Rothchild financed most of Napoleon III’s projects.
Fact 42 Charles Louis NIII launched similar public works projects in all other major cities in France. He expanded and consolidated the railway system throughout the nation, as well as acted to modernize the banking system. Charles built Suez Canal and established modern agriculture. So far British Empire didn’t object.
Fact 43 Napoleon III presumed to be free in foreign policy, aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and around the world. He allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War (1853–1856) cost Britain, France, Ottomans, Sardinia, and Russia 10000, 100000, 100000, 50 000, 150000 lives respectively. Napoleon III got Savoy and Nice as a deferred reward. British Empire frowned.
Fact 44 The victory in the Crimean War happened due to the superiority of the allies, AKA the UK, France, and the Ottoman Empire. Westerners had high-precision thread barreled Stutzer rifles, Russians had flat barreled rifles only, moreover, they also had more ships with better guns, they even built 100 miles of railroads in Crimea to facilitate the troop movements. Russia lost the city of Sebastopol, port, and fortress.
Fact 45 Russian Emperor Nicolas I didn’t surrender, and committed suicide in March 1855 of disappointment and severe cold after a parade he watched without “shuba” fur coat. Russian New Emperor Alexander II surrendered implying that he surrendered because Nicolas I. Napoleon III made the execution of the Paris Peace Treaty much softer than it was presumed to be in order to keep Russia as the counterweight to the UK in Europe. Britain remembered the fact.
Fact 46 The American Civil War of 1861-1865, between the Confederacy and the Northern United States, was instigated by the British Empire. Napoleon III was eager to meddle but the tug between needed imports of cotton and exports of French deluxe goods, wines, etc.. was won by exporters.
Fact 47
Britain financed blockade runners that sent munitions and luxuries to Confederate ports in return for cotton and tobacco, built 2 warships for Confederacy. The British elite supported the Confederacy.
Fact 48
The Confederacy hoped for military intervention by Britain and France but failed on both counts. British Empire failed to split the USA.
Fact 49 Napoleon III doubled the area of the French overseas empire with expansions in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa. The intervention in Mexico, which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection, ended in total failure. Britain Empire decided that Napoleon III went too far, therefore it stuck him with the German rapier.
Fact 50 British Empire manipulated war of 1870-1871 between Prussia, Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt vs France of Napoleon III. Napoleon III declared war on Prussia in July 1870 under pressure by the public inspired by the French press controlled by Rothchild.
Fact 51 The massive rise of literacy in Europe from 10-20% in 1800 to 70-80% in 1870 turned the books, newspapers, and magazines into the instruments of keeping and/or winning power, instruments of interior and/or foreign policy. Press was on the way to becoming the Fourth Power.
Fact 52 Without allies and with inferior military forces, the French Army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at Sedan. He was swiftly dethroned and the Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris. British Empire was puzzled. Grateful Germans shipped Napoleon III as a souvenir to England, where he died in 1873.
Fact 53 Germans didn’t bother to shoot at or enter Paris in 1870. Bismarck rented Versailles for free for a month, proclaimed on 18/01/1871 the German Empire in Versailles, nominated the Prussian King William I the German Kaiser(emperor) Wilhelm I and his humble self as Kanzler(prime-minister) thereof. British Empire didn’t ask for such much.
Fact 54 In March 1871, during the establishment of the Third Republic under French chief executive Adolphe Thiers, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city and then refused to accept the authority of the French government, instead of attempting to establish an independent government of Commune de Paris.
Fact 55 The Commune governed Paris for two months, establishing policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system of social democracy, including the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent during the siege, the abolition of child labor, and the right of employees to take over an enterprise deserted by its owner. Feminist, socialist, and anarchist currents played important roles in the Commune.
Fact 56 The Commune was suppressed by the French Army that killed in battle or executed at least 10 000 Communards. The Archbishop of Paris and other hostages were shot by the Commune in retaliation. Debates over the policies and outcome of the Commune had a significant influence on the ideas of Marx and Engels, who described it as the first example of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Fact 57
France and Germany signed a Versailles Peace Treaty in 1871. Germany annexed Alsace-Lorrain, France condemned the contribution of 5 billion gold francs. Britain was amused.
Fact 58
Otto von Bismarck, (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as its first chancellor until 1890, made Germany to the juggernaut of science and technology. Germany has colonized about a third of South Africa in 1875-1879 and declared German South Western Africa was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915. British Empire was not amused.
Prelude
Fact 59
German Empire was a late but efficient newcomer to the colonization game. German colonies comprised territory that makes up 22 countries today, mostly in Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda. Germany lost control of its colonial empire at the beginning of World War I when its colonies were seized by its enemies in the first weeks of the war.
Fact 60 The Boer Republics were independent, self-governing republics formed by Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders – variously named Trekboers, Boers, and Voortrekkers – settled mainly in the middle, northern, north-eastern, and eastern parts of present-day South Africa.
Fact 61 The British army seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as Kruger and others in the Boer government went into hiding or fled the country. In conventional terms, the war was over. The British officially annexed the two countries in 1900. The Boers refused to surrender.
Fact 62 The British response to guerrilla warfare was to set up complex nets of blockhouses, strongpoints, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. In addition, civilian farms and livestock were destroyed as part of a scorched earth policy. Survivors were forced into concentration camps. Very large proportions of these civilians died of hunger and disease, especially the children.
Fact 63
Bismarck created the first welfare state in the world and dominated European affairs for two decades. British Empire, Queen Victoria included, manipulated the new German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II to remove Bismarck in 1890. Too bad, this didn’t help, the German Empire occupied territories that the British considered their own. British Empire felt deeply offended.
Fact 64 When the USS Maine mysteriously sank in Havana’s harbor in February 1898 the United States declared war to Spain and liberated Cuba. The war proved to be brief and one-sided. It was over by August 12, when the United States and Spain signed a preliminary peace treaty. By the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, Spain withdrew from Cuba.
Fact 65 British Empire starts in 1885 with the policy of Splendid isolation, AKA diplomatic practice of avoiding permanent alliances, particularly under the governments of Lord Salisbury between 1885 and 1902.
Fact 66 British Empire started in 1881 to lose First Place labels in Science, Industry, and Agriculture, and Trade, worse yet many of them initially carried the labels First discovered, made, introduced in Britain. Queen Victoria didn’t like it and instructed British Elite to do something about it ASAP.
Fact 67
Therefore from 1890 on, the British Elite of the British Empire masterminded of creation of blocks of states, Entente Cordiale with France signed in 1904. Britain became aligned with France and Russia against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy making WWI inevitable.
Fact 68 As the first step UK signed in 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance ending thus the Splendid isolation policy. British Empire successfully instigated the Russo-Japanese War between 1904 and 1905 over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea.
Fact 69 To start with, the UK made a fortune by modernizing the Japanese fleet from top to bottom. Port Arthur was leased to Russia by the Qing dynasty of China in 1897. Moreover, the UK added to its fortune by building the battleships for Russia after the Russia-Japan war of 1904-1905.
Fact 70 British Empire knew that the chances of another revolution in Russia in case of another war were very high, therefore 2 billion £ of loans it made to the Russian Empire were guaranteed by the deposit of 900 tons of gold in the Bank of England.
Fact 71 That was the first brilliant operation suggested by the future Governor of Bank of England Norman Montagu who managed to stay 24 years, contrary to its Statutes limiting such stay to a period of eight years.
Fact 72 These numbers glorify the foresight of ruling in the British Empire: in 1914, 80% of the Russian government debt was held in France and 14% in Great Britain. Clever Britain vs Stupid France.
Fact 73 Russian Empire government has issued loans for building the Trans-Siberian Railway that Moscow with Vladivostok. Strangely enough, the country that had first-hand knowledge about revolutions didn’t ask for 1200 tons of gold to be deposited in Banque de France. Most of these loans were bought by French private investors. Expansion of the railway system continues as of 2021, with connecting rails going into Mongolia, China, and North Korea.
Fact 74 Seeing Russia as a rival, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded the establishment of a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan in Korea north of the 39th parallel.
Fact 75 The Japanese government perceived a threat to their plans for expansion into mainland Asia and chose to go to war. After negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities in a surprise attack on 9 February 1904 by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China.
Fact 76 Emperor Nicholas II was sure that Russia could win if it fought on, and Nicolas II sent his antiquated fleet from the Baltics to port Arthur. As Britain according to Anglo-Japanese Alliance didn’t let Russians pass through the Suez channel they had to sail additional 8000 miles around Africa.
Fact 77 Baltic Russian fleet of didn’t reach port Arthur being intercepted by the brand new Japanese Navy on 27-28/05/1905. The Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of the Sea of Japan took place and the Japanese Navy literally deleted the antiquated Russian fleet. Consequently, Russia lost port Artur, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. British Empire applauded the quality of its diplomacy through technology.
Fact 78 The war ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth on 5 September 1905, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt. The complete victory of the Japanese military surprised international observers and transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in Japan’s emergence as a great power and Russia’s decline in prestige and influence. The war also marked the first victory of an Asian country against a Western power in modern times.
Fact 79 The loss of life without victory and the humiliating defeat for the Russian Empire contributed to growing domestic unrest which culminated in the 1905 Russian Revolution and accelerated the disintegration of the Russian autocracy.
Fact 80 The socialist, anarchist, progressist, anti-monarchist seeds from the British hotbed sprouted on the Russian soil. Lenin called it “The Great Dress Rehearsal”, without which the “victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible”.
Fact 81 The First Russian Revolution of 1905 was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire, some of which were directed at the government. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies. It led to constitutional reform including the establishment of the State Duma, the multi-party system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906.
Fact 82 While the Tsar managed to keep his rule, the events foreshadowed those of the Russian revolutions in 1917, which resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy, execution of the imperial family, unilateral surrender to Germany, and creation of the Soviet Union by the Bolsheviks.
Fact 83 The list of World events from 1890 to the 6th of August 1914 shows that British Empire meddled all over the world. That is normal because it was in 1580 no more than a nonsignificant island in the backwater of Europe the Biggest World Empire.
Fact 84 The British Elite of the British Empire finds out by 1890 that the number of labels of Britain was “first to discover”, “first to invent”, “first to produce”, “first to develop”, “first to introduce” “first to occupy” started to shrink rapidly. British Elite noticed that social, technological progress started to move to other countries, therefore British Empire began sagging.
Fact 85 The British Elite started to ask the right questions “Why is that Q1?”, “Who are is the competitors Q2?”, “How to repair the damage Q3?”, look for the right answers, and apply them ruthlessly.
Fact 86 Answer to Q1: age of Empire, size of England, size of Empire, success, and envy of competitors. One can elaborate.
Fact 87 Answer to Q2: the USA, German Empire, French Republic, Russian Empire, Austrian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Japanese Empire. To many Empires to the British taste. One can elaborate on each of them.
Fact 88 Answer to Q3: keep them close to your breast to better hug or squeeze them, control them to the utmost, don’t have eternal friends, enemies, or competitors but interests, take as much and give as little as possible, divide and rule, use the contradictions between competitors, make the competitors compete with each other, if the fight is inevitable hire a rapier, let the others fight in your place, eliminate the danger completely if it is within your reach, use propaganda.
Fact 89 British Empire didn’t lose time and used all available ways and means to survive and prosper. Check the above listed: Fact 6, Fact 9, Fact14, Fact15, Fact 16, Fact17, Fact18, Fact19, Fact26, Fact30, Fact31, Fact32, Fact33, Fact34, Fact35, Fact37, Fact40, Fact46, Fact47, Fact50, Fact61, Fact63, Fact66, Fact67, Fact68, Fact69, Fact70, Fact71, Fact72, Fact77, Fact80.
Fact 90 Manipulations by the British Empire of Cordial Entente, with Triple Axis, will inevitably lead to WWI from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. A pretext was badly needed and rapidly found in the Balkans, AKA the killing of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914. The number of killings by terrorists, anarchists, freedom fighters of all sorts of high-ranking persons in Europe has risen dramatically starting in 1890.
Fact 91 British Empire had at its disposal the anglophile clique around Wilhelm II, cousin of George V, another anglophile clique around Nicolas II, actually it was the only Empire out of 5 in Europe that could have stopped WWI. Alas and alack it chooses to reduce the number of many Empires in Europe to British Empire. The strategic mistake that cost 800 000 lives of British soldiers in France. Underestimation of new armaments. Too bad.
Fact 92 Who won WWI? British Empire – NO, German Empire – NO, Russian Empire – NO, Austrian Empire, – NO, Ottoman Empire – NO. American Empire – YES. Will, there be a surprise from British Empire in the future – Yes, there will be a replay called WWII.
To be followed…
Aftermath
Fact 111
British intelligence services were superior to German and American ones. The USA from neutrality was moved to declare in April 1914 the war to Germany that tried to block shipments to Britain with submarine attacks.
Fact 112
Due to pressure from Russian generals and Duma(Parliament), Emperor Nikolai II abdicated on 3 March 1917.
Fact 113
Russian Provisional Government, headed by Kerensky is formed on 8 March 1917 and lasts till 25 October 1917.
Fact 114
The Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution on 25 October [7 November, N.S.] 1917
Fact 115
President Woodrow Wilson issued on January 8, 1918, “The Fourteen Points statement of principles for peace” to end World War I.
Fact 116
Inspired by Wilson’s “14 points of peace”, German generals forced German emperor Wilhelm II to abdicate on 9 November 1918.
Fact 117
On 11 November Marechal Foch signed an Armistice for 36 days with low-ranking delegates from Germany that had to be extended several times before the Peace Treaty.
Fact 118 As the Treaty was being signed on 28 June 1919, Marechal Foch declared: “This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years”. His words proved prophetic: the Second World War started twenty years and 64 days later.
Fact 119
Leftist revolutions in Europe. Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman Empires crumbled. The Peace Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919. Germany was declared the culprit.
Fact 112
None of the “14 points” were fulfilled. Conditions of “peace” imposed a contribution to France of 600 billion francs, guaranteed to arm the future opponents for WWII, naturally, British Empire hoped to manipulate the conflict.
Fact 122
The British Empire ruled the waves, presumed it ruled the world politics, masterminded the dismemberment of the fallen Empires, and Chancellor Churchill reintroduced the gold in standard in 1929.
Fact 123 New Stock exchange crashed in 1929. Great depression followed suit.
to be continued..