One Hundred Years Ago Today - 11 February 1911 - Britain and Germany

In February 1911 few people could have foreseen the events that lay just three short years away, and much of the political focus of the time was on the rights of women and the impact of the automobile on society. Technology was also playing an important role in transmission of news around the world.

The Sydney Morning Herald from Australia on the 11^th February 1911 included an article covering discussions in the House Of Commons the previous day, relating to interchanges between Britain and Germany, and political attempts to improve friendly relations between the two nations.

For those of you who are unaware, at the time when it was the evening of 10^th February in London, it was already morning on the 11^th February in Sydney, Australia. The fact that the newspaper of the day in Australia could print a story from what was only a few hours previous in England, is due to the laying of the early undersea telegraph cables from London to Australia, the link-up being completed in the 1870's.

Considering that the first working telegraph was introduced in 1839, the first undersea cable across the English Channel was only laid in 1850, it is amazing how quickly technology was racing ahead, even in the 19^th century. There is an interesting chart of the undersea cables as of 1901 in Wikipedia (see HERE ).

It is interesting to note that in early 1911, Germany was eager to be on good relations with Great Britain, however as can be seen from this article of the time, the British Government was already becoming wary of the arms build up in Germany, and was suggesting that "limitation of armaments is the best means of removing distrust".

Europe was suddenly plunged into war as well all know, following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in July 1914. Suddenly, rivalries that had existed between a number of European nations, jealousies between Germany and Britain over the colonization of Africa for example, turned into war. With the empires in Eastern Europe that had been held together by treaties for years dissolving, following the death of the heir, Germany no longer felt secure, and went on the offensive to secure it's long term future.

Or so they thought, and the rest as they say, is history.

I hope you enjoyed this short journey back in time, and if so, you might enjoy the other articles in this series, that are listed below.

Sources:

Sydney Morning Herald

For More Stories From Yesteryear See:

One Hundred Years Ago