#63: 4 August 1914 III - A Mere Scrap of Paper

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

19th Century, 20th Century, International Relations, Politics, Thirty Years' War, Korean War, 18th Century, First World War, Phd, 17th Century, European History, History, War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 1839 Treaty on Belgian neutrality was a mere scrap of paper - that was the phrase which doomed Bethmann Hollweg, and Germany, to moral condemnation. It was the excuse which conquerors of all shapes and sizes had trotted out, when what they really meant was might makes right. Britain and the allies subsequently made great capital out of this faux pas, but this had led to some important questions - foremost among them being, did the German Chancellor actually say it?

In this episode, we journey to Berlin in the final hours of peace, when Edward Goschen, the British ambassador, delivers his master's seismic telegrams, warning of the imminent rupture between the two countries if Belgium was not left alone. It was an impossible request for Germany, then locked into the Schlieffen Plan, but the language used could at least cushion the blow. Unfortunately, Bethmann reverted to the most offensive posture, discounting Belgian sovereignty and effectively challenging Britain to respond. Goschen was on hand to record these interviews, but can his record be trusted, or was he just one of the latest propagandists to emerge from the British side?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	How did the dog sneak out?
0:02.4	When did that parcel vanish?
0:04.8	Who was outside last night?
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0:25.8	Find out more and get conditions at arlo.com.
0:31.7	In summer, 1914, the world went to war.
0:36.9	Now 110 years later, we go back to those figures, to those debates,
0:43.1	to those questions, in the greatest failure in the history of diplomacy. I am Dr. Zach Twomley.
0:51.0	You're listening to When Diplomacy Fails, and this is the July crisis. One may take a horse to water, but 20 cannot make him drink.
1:32.1	And similarly, you may march men to the battlefield,
1:35.4	but if their hearts be not in the business, their value is considerably depreciated.
1:41.9	The Western Times newspaper comments on Britain's position in the crisis, 1st of August 1914.
1:52.7	By the afternoon of the 4th of August, all of Europe knew that German soldiers had forced their way into Belgium and were marching towards liege,
2:02.2	the first key target of the westward advance.
2:05.8	You know my feelings about Helmut von Moltke the Younger by now.
2:11.2	It is largely pointless to argue that Berlin should have done differently,
2:15.2	but it is fascinating to see how the German political establishment reacted to the situation.
2:22.2	It was not merely the way that beleaguered civilians like Bethemann Havig justified their country's predicament on the world stage,
2:29.4	but how they explain themselves to Britain's ambassador, for instance, Sir Edward Goshen.
	...

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