What was the scrap of paper in ww1?

Answer 1

The scrap of paper was a treaty signer between Britain, Prussia (Which became part of Germany) and Belgium. It granted Belgium independence and neutrality. It stated that both Britain and Prussia would abstain from trying to rule and/or take over Belgium and that if any other country tried to do so, they would provide help and defence to Belgium. When Prussia merged with its neighbouring countries to form Germany, the treaty was then transferred to be between Britain, Germany and Belgium.

When both France and Germany became involved in world war one, the Germans invented a tactical plan, called the Schlieffen plan (after its creator- part of the German military) which would attack France before Russia got involved in the war (which was, due to alliances, definite) and to do so through Belgium and the Netherlands. This broke the Scrap of paper treaty and triggered Britain's involvement in the war as they still valued the treaty and came to the defence of Belgium which felt was being invaded and threatened.