History Cafe
History Cafe
Jon Rosebank, Penelope Middelboe
#21 8pm 1 August 1914 war in Belgium and France is off - Ep 5 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
33 minutes Posted Dec 23, 2021 at 5:21 pm.
0:00
33:44
Download MP3
Show notes
Rereleasing ahead of new series in New Year on The Battle of the Somme. New story to tell.
Synopsis: 8pm German time the Kaiser orders champagne, halts the German advance towards Belgium, and sends a telegram of congratulations to his cousin George V at Buckingham Palace. The Liberal British Cabinet had voted to remain neutral on 31 July. Earlier on 1 August Foreign Secretary Grey met the German ambassador Prince Lichnowsky (one of a string of meetings that week) to tell him that France might also remain neutral. A few hours later they met again and Grey added that even if France went to war Britain would not. So what went so catastrophically wrong in the next 72 hours?