In summer 1914, the world went to war.

Now 110 years later, we go back to those figures, to those debates, to those questions,

in the greatest failure in the history of diplomacy.

I am Dr. Zach Twomley. You're listening to When Diplomacy Fails.

And this is the July Crisis. Nobody seems to remember that a few days ago Serbia was playing a role in this affair.

She seems to have faded away behind the scenes.

An American diplomat writes in his diary 2nd of August, 1914.

As the German army marched into Luxembourg, as the British cabinet rallied against the fear

of a liberal collapse, as Ambassador Liknovsky cried bitter, angry tears, the implications

were clear. The Great War, which had been speculated upon for decades,

which some scholars had insisted was impossible and others declared was inevitable,

appeared only hours away from erupting. Already in Berlin, the Schleifen plan was being

clumsily put into practice. The Russian army finalized its mobilization procedures,

and the Tsar rallied the people in the face of a German declaration of war. In France,

the men marched to the barracks and their mobilization hubs, preparing to redeem their fathers

for the ignominy of 1870. Incredibly in Vienna, the government delayed its

offence of us against Serbia, the inciting incident of this whole mess, and prepared to dutifully

fulfill their requests of its ally by holding the east against the Slavic Colossus.

The German plan necessitated a swift march west, a decisive defeat of France, and a reorientation of seven-eighths of the German army, back to Russia.

Naturally, the quickest route was through Luxembourg and Belgium, and the time had now come to repair the ground for the final step of this plan.

The 2nd of August had begun with the news of a German occupation of Luxembourg.

It would end with the delivery of their ultimatum to Belgium. In this sense, the 2nd of August truly was

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