Countdown to World War I: August 3, 1914

by Stephen Yellin

This is part of a series of daily articles that covers the run-up to the catastrophe of World War I in July 1914. The diplomatic crisis exactly 100 years ago was sparked by the murder of the main force for peace in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – Archduke Franz Ferdinand, together with his wife Sophie– by a Serbian terrorist. Backed by Germany’s offering of unconditional support in using force to retaliate against Serbia – the infamous “blank check”– the Viennese authorities began preparing a list of demands for the Serbian government to accept or face war. The demands were deliberately made to ensure war would occur.

The ultimatum was finally issued on July 23, 1914, over 3 weeks after the Archduke’s murder. The 12 days that followed are the focus of this series.

Feel free to refer to my list of important figures in keeping track of who's who.

Previous days: Thursday, July 23rd - the fuse is litFriday, July 24th - "c'est la guerre europeene"Saturday, July 25th - "we stand upon the edge of war"Sunday, July 26th - “War is thought imminent. Wildest enthusiasm prevails.”Monday, July 27th – “You've cooked this broth and now you’re going to eat it.”Tuesday, July 28 – “To try and avoid such a calamity as a European war”Wednesday, July 29th – “I will not be responsible for a monstrous slaughter!”

Thursday, July 30 - "The responsibility of Peace or War"Friday, July 31 - "Everything is finished. There is nothing left to do."Saturday, August 1 - "There must have been some misunderstanding"Sunday, August 2 - "A great country does not wage war by halves"

------------------------------------------------ Monday, August 3 - "It has not been possible to secure the peace of Europe."

The weekend of August 1-2 had seen the "Great Powers" on the European continent commit themselves irrevocably to a European-wide war. Germany, following its war plan had now seized control of a neutral country, Luxembourg over the objections of its government. That evening its ambassador to Belgium had issued Berlin's ultimatum: abandon neutrality to allow Germany's armies free passage to France or be attacked as well. Faced with the virtually certain loss of independence in either case, King Albert I and his government unanimously chose to fight. Their decision, and the King's appeal to Great Britain to defend Belgium as pledged by the Treaty of London, would prove decisive in pulling the latter nation into the war to come:

Remembering the numerous proofs of your Majesty's friendship and that of your predecessors...I make a supreme appeal to the Diplomatic intervention of your Majesty's Government to safeguard the integrity of Belgium.

- King Albert to King George V, August 3rd 1914

Berlin/Paris - Germany declares war on France

Having received the Belgian government's rejection of the ultimatum, German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg knows that the German army will cross the Belgian border the next morning. It is for this reason - keeping to the timetable of the Schlieffen Plan - that Bethmann instructs his ambassador to Paris, Baron Schoen to present Germany's declaration of war to France at 6:00 PM. It is almost 44 years to the day since the Franco-Prussian war had commenced: a swift, decisive conflict that Field Marshall von Moltke and his generals hope to achieve this time as well. Schoen does not arrive on time in delivering his message. He has difficulty deciphering the encoded instructions from Berlin; then, on his way to the meeting, he is attacked by 2 French patriots and has to be escorted by police officers for the rest of the trip. Upon finally arriving he informs Prime Minister Viviani that due to various violations of German territory by France, such as airplanes bombarding Nuremberg and cavalry patrols crossing the border, "the German Empire considers herself in a state of war with France." These reports are untrue but irrelevant to Germany's purpose by this point. Schoen receives his passports and departs by train; so too does the French ambassador to Germany, although he is forced to pay the fare for his specially organized train to neutral Denmark. (Germany later refunds him for the cost.)

Kaiser Wilhelm II will address the Reichstag the next day; so too will Viviani address the Chambre des Deputes. Each of their speeches are mere formalities at this point, however. One speech that is not is one being delivered earlier that day in London.

London - "British interests, British honour, and British obligations"

The vast majority of the day's important events took place in Great Britain, which as of Monday morning is the sole Great Power not to commit to the conflict. Sunday evening saw the British Cabinet on the verge of breaking up with several members preparing to resign rather than support intervention. Such a breakup would cause the Liberal government to collapse and significantly delay British intervention if not prevent it entirely; to that end the pro-interventionists in the Cabinet - Prime Minister Asquith, Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill - agree to only intervene if Belgian neutrality is "significantly" violated by Germany.

Prime Minister Asquith The news of Germany's ultimatum reaches London that morning and sends shock waves through the houses of government and ordinary homes alike. Belgium's proximity to the English coast, together with Britain's traditional support for that country, fosters outrage at Germany's demands. It is a decisive turning point for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the popular Liberal leader David Lloyd George: whether genuinely convinced of the threat posed by German aggression, or simply following the public mood, he swings over to the pro-intervention faction on the Cabinet.

The news arrives the same day that Parliament is reconvening after taking the weekend off. Grey is scheduled to speak before the Commons (the lower, popularly elected House) at 3:00 PM, London time. He spends the night jotting down notes for his speech; never a good public speaker, he needs to make the case for war when Britain itself is not directly threatened. The news from Belgium, while not unexpected - Bethmann had already telegraphed this in his meeting with Ambassador Goschen in Berlin a few days before - gives him his best talking point.

On his way to the Cabinet meeting Grey is met by the German ambassador, his friend Prince Lichnowsky. The ardent Anglophile begs Grey to tell him what Britain is going to do; the latter says he "would like, if at all possible, to remain neutral". This is not at all what Grey has stated to his Cabinet and the French ambassador; at any event he politely listens but does not reply to Lichnowsky's pledge that Germany would "maintain the integrity of Belgian territory" and avoid bombarding the northern French coast if Britain stays neutral. In light of Lichnowsky's pledges for peace being countermanded by his superiors in Berlin over the previous week it is not surprising the latest one fails to move Grey.

Prince Lichnowsky The Cabinet meeting sees 2 members who have already submitted their resignations - Lord Morley and Attorney General Simon - nonetheless attend it at Asquith's request. The seriousness of the situation, and the fact that Grey will present a case for war to the Commons at 3:00 PM, is enough for Morley, Simon, John Burns of the Board of Trade, and public works minister Lord Beauchamp to walk out. Lloyd George, critically, makes a "strong appeal" to the other anti-interventionists "not to go, or at least to delay [quitting the government]". While having 4 of 20 Cabinet members resign at once would normally be enough to collapse the government, the urgency of the situation compels the rest to carry on; to resign now would throw the government into chaos at the worst possible moment. Asquith describes this as a "a rather moving scene in which everyone all round said something." David Lloyd George Having now received confirmation of Germany's ultimatum, the Cabinet finally approves mobilization of both the navy and the army. Unlike the other Great Powers the British have an all-volunteer army, (ie no conscription) so this step does not affect the population as a whole. They also authorize Grey to deliver his speech to the Commons. Knowing that the opposition Conservative Party and their coalition partner, the Irish Parliamentary Party will support the government's stance, this means they will have the votes to commit Britain to war. Under the circumstances Simon and Beauchamp withdraw their resignations, while Morley agrees not to speak against intervention in the Commons. Attorney General, Sir John Simon Lord Morley By 3:00 PM the crowd outside the Parliament building in Westminster is so packed that "no car could drive through it", as Lloyd George recalls. So many people have crowded into the Commons that extra chairs have to be laid on in the visitor's gallery. It is the first time since 1893 that every member of Parliament is in attendance. Every foreign dignitary is there, too - with the sole exception of Prince Lichnowsky. Whether thinking it best to avoid being a center of attention, or afraid to see his beloved Britain commit to war against his homeland, the German ambassador is not present to hear Grey's speech.

The Foreign Secretary speaks for nearly 90 minutes. His style is a far cry from the kind of eloquence possessed by Churchill, and parts of the speech are rather tangential to the point of it. Nevertheless, telling the Commons that "In the present crisis, it has not been possible to secure the peace of Europe", Grey goes on to make his case "from the point of view of British interests, British honour, and British' obligations, free from all passion as to why peace has not been preserved."

On the British naval commitment to France:

The French fleet is now in the Mediterranean, and the Northern and Western coasts of France are absolutely undefended. The French fleet being concentrated in the Mediterranean the situation is very different from what it used to be, because the friendship which has grown up between the two countries has given them a sense of security that there was nothing to be feared from us...My own feeling is that if a foreign fleet engaged in a war which France had not sought, and in which she had not been the aggressor, came down the English Channel and bombarded and battered the undefended coasts of France, we could not stand aside and see this going on practically within sight of our eyes, with our arms folded, looking on dispassionately, doing nothing! I believe that would be the feeling of this country.

On the commitment to protecting Belgian neutrality:

Diplomatic intervention took place last week on our part. What can diplomatic intervention do now? We have great and vital interests in the independence—and integrity is the least part—of Belgium...The smaller States in that region of Europe ask but one thing. Their one desire is that they should be left alone and independent...If in this war which is before Europe the neutrality of one of those countries is violated, if the troops of one of the combatants violate its neutrality and no action be taken to [oppose] it, at the end of the war, whatever the integrity [of that country] may be the independence will be gone...

...It may be said, I suppose, that we might stand aside, husband our strength, and that whatever happened in the course of this war at the end of it intervene with effect to put things right, and to adjust them to our own point of view. If, in a crisis like this, we run away from those obligations of honour and interest as regards the Belgian Treaty, I doubt whether, whatever material force we might have at the end, it would be of very much value in face of the respect that we should have lost.[Emphasis mine]

In conclusion:

My object has been to explain the view of the Government, and to place before the House the issue and the choice. I do not for a moment conceal, after what I have said, and after the information, incomplete as it is, that I have given to the House with regard to Belgium, that we must be prepared, and we are prepared, for the consequences of having to use all the strength we have at any moment—we know not how soon—to defend ourselves and to take our part.

Grey's speech is met by a sustained ovation from most of the MPs and spectators at its end. The leaders of the Conservatives and Irish Parliamentarians immediately rise to issue their complete support for the government's stance.IP leader John Redmond even goes so far as to declare that, despite the threat of civil war over Irish Home Rule that had faced the country up until only a few days before:

I say to the Government that they may tomorrow withdraw every one of their troops from Ireland. I say that the coast of Ireland will be defended from foreign invasion by her armed sons, and for this purpose armed Nationalist Catholics in the South will be only too glad to join arms with the armed Protestant Ulstermen in the North.

John Redmond. His spur-of-the-moment pledge to Britain would cause Irish Catholics to abandon the IPP in favor of Sinn Fein as the Irish independence cause grew in the years ahead. The government's decision does not meet with unanimous support, however. The still-burgeoning Labour Party delivers one speech after another in opposition, joined by 28 Liberal MPs (about a tenth of the caucus) who jointly proclaim that Grey has not made a sufficient case for war. Yet their view is now in the minority.

Nor had Grey been as forceful as some interventionists would have liked: when Grey at one point repeated Lichnowsky's pledge that Germany will not to attack the French coast if Britain stayed neutral, the Conservative MP Lord Derby whispers angrily, "By God, they are going to desert Belgium!" While Grey's speech soon disproved that, it still left the question of what Britain's next step would be. Even  Churchill is heard to ask Grey "what happens now?" after the speech. Grey replies that Britain will now send an ultimatum to Germany calling on them to respect Belgian neutrality, or else be at war with Britain. Germany will have until tomorrow at 11:00 PM, London time to comply.

After the Cabinet ended another meeting that evening, Grey and his colleagues saw the lamps being lit in nearby St. James Park. It was then that Grey, suffering from steadily decreasing vision, makes the famous remark "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them again in our lifetime."

Tomorrow: the lamps go out for good.