Why did Great Britain declare war on Germany?

1 Answer
May 12, 2018

It depends on which war we are talking about...

Explanation:

In World War One, Britain declared war on Germany after Germany would not respect Belgian neutrality and crossed the border regardless, despite signing an agreement that said they would completely respect Belgium in case of war. As Germany had to go through Belgium to fulfill the Schlieffen plan in 1914, at the beginning of WW1, they had to break this agreement- saying it was just "a scrap of paper".

In World War two, Britain declared war on Germany after they attacked Poland in September 1939. Similarly, polish neutrality was to be respected and the Germans broke this. The declaration of war came as a surprise to Hitler, given Britain's continuous concessions given to him previously in e.g Czechoslovakia in 1938.