1. Great Britain By: Sam, Syriese, Tori

2. Long term reasons For centuries, Britain had been the greatest naval power in the world and also had the largest collection of colonies. In the first years of the twentieth century. Germany made a massive and costly effort to build up a comparable naval fleet of its own, with the specific goal of matching Britain on the high seas.

3. Short term reasons In order to honor its treaty obligations to Belgium and its moral obligations to France. Also to prevent Germany from dominating the Continent and thus dwarfing Britain. Germany hoped Britain would stay out of the war altogether. The Germans knew that Britain had promised to defend Belgium under the Treaty of London of 1839. Germans wanted British government to ignore the treaty and let the Germans pass through Belgium. Although British made their duty to protect Belgium. Germany attacked France through Belgium. And within hours, Britain declared war on German.

5. Background Great Britain became a unified sovereign state in 1707 with the union of England and Scotland, creating Great Britain. It is an island, surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands, such as Ireland to the west of Britain. Great Britain is the largest island in the United Kingdom. It refers politically to England, Scotland, and Wales. The leaders of Great Britain are called Prime Ministers, and the ones serving during World War I were Herbert Henry Asquith, who served from 1908 to 1915, and David Lloyd George, who served from 1916 to 1922. They have had 4 alliances, one with France, one with Austria, and two with Prussia. Many inhabitants of Great Britain, in particular the English, commonly refer to their country as England, disregarding Scotland and Wales.