How Events Unfolded 3rd August 1914

8/12/2019 How Events Unfolded 3rd August 1914

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First World War centenary: how the events

of August 3 1914 unfolded

Britain went to war on August 4 1914. In the third part ofa four-day series, we document the dramatic eventsleading up to the declaration of war as they happened,hour-by-hour

Crowds in the streets of Berlin following the declaration of war against Russia

By Richard Preston

7:30AM BST 03 Aug 2014

The story so far: the events of August 1 1914, hour by hour

7am:The Belgian Council of State had broken from its deliberations at 4am. Viscomte Julien

Davignon, the Foreign Minister, gave his political secretary, Baron de Gaiffier, Belgium's

reply to Germany's ultimatum of the evening before, which he handed to Walter von Below-

Saleske at the German Legation. Germany's proposed attack on Belgium's independence, it

said, 'constitutes a flagrant violation of international law'.
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The Belgian government, if it were to accept the proposals submitted, would sacrifice

the honour of the nation and betray at the same time their duties towards Europe.

Belgian reply to the German ultimatum

In the streets of Brussels, Belgians celebrated their defiance in the face of German threats.

Oh, the poor fools. Why dont they get out of

the way of the steamroller? We don't want to

hurt them, but if they stand in our way, they will be

ground into the dirt. A counsellor at the German

legation in Brussels, watching the scene in the streets

11am:In London, Asquith's Cabinet met. Despitethe progress of the day before, there were now four

ministers on the verge of resigning over Britain's possible

intervention - John Burns, John Simon, Lord

Beauchamp and John Morley. Discussion continued for

three hours over the statement that Sir Edward Grey

(pictured above, right), Foreign Secretary, would make

when he addressed the House of Commons that

afternoon.

The Cabinet was very moving. Most of us could

hardly speak at all for emotion.

Herbert Samuel, President of the Local Government Board

2pm:Grey found Prince Lichnowsky, the German ambassador, waiting for him at theForeign Office, anxious to know if the Cabinet had decided on a declaration of war. Grey told

him they had a 'statement of conditions'.
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In the House, the Speaker took his chair at 2.45pm. Sir

Edward Grey slipped in almost unnoticed a few moments

afterwards, according to The Daily Telegraph's report the

next day. 'Although there were 76 questions on the Order

paper only two, and these of minor importance, were

answered. As each member whose name stood against aquestion was called upon, he simply rose and said

"Postponed".'

The bank rate had soared in previous days and there had

been queues of people wanting to exchange paper notes for

gold. Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, began

the business of the day by introducing a Bill to suspend

temporarily 'the payment of bills of exchange and

payments in pursuance of other obligations. He then said

the City had asked for the bank holiday to be extended by

three days. He agreed and said an Order in Council to thateffect would be issued that afternoon.

Shortly after, Asquith entered the chamber to cheers and

explained that the bank holiday applied only to banks and

not to other industries.

Then it was then Greys moment. He began by explaining

the background to the crisis, a dispute between Austria and Serbia in which France had

become involved because of its alliance with Russia. Britain had a friendship with France -

the Entente Cordiale conceived in 1904.


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A crowd gathers in Westminster during the escalating international crisis

Grey had told the French ambassador, he explained to the House, that if there were an attack

on France's coast, she would have the support of the Royal Navy. He explained, too, that

Britain had asked both France and Germany whether they would respect Belgian neutrality,

in accordance with the Treaty of London of 1839; France had said yes, Germany had declined

to answer. And now Belgium was threatened with an ultimatum by Germany, and Britain had

'great and vital interests in the independence... of Belgium'.

4.30pm:Grey had spoken for almost an hour, and was nearing his conclusion:

We are going to suffer, I am afraid, terribly in this war, whether we are in it or

whether we stand aside.... It may be said, I suppose, that we might stand aside, husband our

strength, and, 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 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 [cheers] and I do not believe, whether a Great

Power stands outside this war or not, it is going to be in a position at the end of this war to

exert its material strength [Hear, hear].

Sir Edward Grey, addressing the House of Commons


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This was, by all accounts, the most successful

speech of Grey's political career - no one who reads it

today can fail to be impressed by the way in which he, in

the beguilingly hesitant, gentlemanly style that was his

trademark, established the moral credentials of the

imperialist position.

Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe

Went to War in 1914

4.40pm:Other members rose to speak after Grey. Predictably, some Liberal and Labour MPs

spoke against intervention, Conservatives were mostly in favour. But the previously anti-

interventionist Liberal Christopher Addison noted that Grey's speech 'satisfied, I think, all the

House, with perhaps three or four exceptions, that we were compelled to participate'.


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5pm:Grey returned to the Foreign Office and was cheered by his staff. But in his office, SirArthur Nicolson, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, found Grey morose. 'I hate war, I hate

war,' he said, banging his fists on his desk.

Prince Lichnowsky, German ambassador in London,

took Grey's speech to be an indication that Britain stillhoped to remain neutral.

6pm:After alleging that the French had crossed intoGerman territory and had also violated Belgian

neutrality, Germany sent its ambassador in Paris, Baron

Schoen, to deliver a declaration of war to the French

premier Rene Viviani

It is a hundred times better that we were not ledto declare war ourselves... It was imperative that

Germany, fully responsible for the aggression,

should be forced to admit her interests publicly. If

France had declared war, the alliance with Russia

would have become controversial and French unity

and spirit [would have been] broken, and Italy might

have been obliged by the Triple Alliance to come in against

France. President Raymond Poincar,

in his diary

A declaration and a mobilisation: how The Daily Telegraphreported the latest developments

7.30pm:The Cabinet met again in London and agreed that Germany must withdraw its

ultimatum to Belgium. Afterwards, Grey told Paul Cambon, the French ambassador, that if

the Germans did not back down, 'it will be war'.


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Later that evening, Grey looked out of his window on to St

James's Park, where the gas lamps were being lit. Though

he could not recall saying the words later, he made his

famous remark:

The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall

not see them lit again in our lifetime.

Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary

Join us again tomorrow, August 4, for hour by hour

coverage of the day when Britain went to war

How Events Unfolded 3rd August 1914

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