When Belgian civilians shot at German soldiers, the latter took civilian hostages and practiced reprisals on civilians.

These German actions were publicized throughout the world by the British propaganda machine as atrocities and violations of international law, which they were,

while the Belgian civilian snipers

were excused as loyal patriots, although their actions were even more clearly violative

of international law and, as such, justified severe German reactions.

These quote-unquote atrocities were used by the British to justify their own

violations of international law. As early as August 20, 1914, they were treating food as contraband,

and interfering with neutral shipments of food to Europe. On November 5, 1914, they declared the whole sea from Scotland to

Iceland, a quote-unquote war zone, covered it with fields of explosive floating mines, and

ordered all ships going to the Baltic, Scandinavia, or the low countries to go by way of the English

Channel, where they were stopped, searched,

and much of their cargoes seized, even when these cargoes could not be declared contraband

under existing international law.

In reprisal, the Germans on February 18, 1915, declared the English Channel, a quote-unquote

war zone, announced that their submarines would sink shipping in that area and ordered shipping for the Baltic area to use the route north of Scotland.

The United States, which rejected a Scandinavian invitation to protest against the British Warzone, closed with mines north of Scotland, protested violently

against the German war zone, closed with submarines on the narrow seas, although, as one

American senator put it, the, quote, humanity of the submarine was certainly on a higher level

than that of the floating mine, which could exercise neither

discretion nor judgment."

End quote.

The United States accepted the British, quote-unquote, war zone, and prevented its ships

...