Thank you for listening to the rest is history. For weekly bonus episodes, ad free listening, early access to series, and membership of our much loved chat communitywhich is what he wants. He goes to his palace at 05:00 the Warminster, Falkenhayn, the chancellor, Bethmann Holweg come in with the mobilization order and he signs it Tom at a table hewn from the wood of HMS Victory of Nelson's flagship.And how has that come to pass?So this is a gift. It's a gift from his kith and kin in Britain. The irony that was given as a gift to the Kaiser. Yeah, because HMS victory, although it stands to this day and is a brilliant place to go and visit. It's constantly being renovated and repaired, so in the course of that, they've taken some of the timber and used it to help make it table.So is there a kind of resonant symbolism in that?Well, if you're going to smite the French, what better table to use? Right?Yeah, but is he also identifying himself with the Anglo Saxons?No, I don't. I don't think so. We might like to think that some. Because we're a patriotic podcast.Well, I'm just wondering, I mean, is he thinking, well, the British are not going to join with the French.Ah, well, we will come to this.Luca and Wellington, the old alliance.Right.I don't know. I mean, or whether it's just. It's a convenient table that happens to be at hand.Could there be a better table than a table made from the timbers of isthmus victory?Well, obviously, I don't think so, but.I think it's probably a convenient table. I don't think, to be honest, I think they've got other things on their mind than the provenance of tables. Anyway, he signs this thing. Falkenhayn says, may God bless your majesty and your arms. May God protect our beloved fatherland. And they've all got tears in their eyes and they're all shaking hands. The kaiser goes onto the balcony of their palace and there's a huge crowd outside and they sing the lutheran hymn now, thank we all, our God. And that had been a huge patriotic anthem in Prussia because Frederick the Great's soldiers had sung it on the battlefield. So it's a very sort of stirring scene if you're german. And the kaiser then gives this very famous speech where he says, ich kene keine parthei mer. Ich kene neu deutschere. I no longer see political parties, I see only germans. All that matters now is that we stand together like brothers and God will help the german sword to victory.This is the part for which he's been rehearsed all his life.It is. And actually, do you know who he reminds me of at this point? Somebody else who rehearsed for this role all his life? Churchill.Churchill.Because Churchill gave a version of that speech in 1940 when he said, we may have differed and quarreled in the past, but now one bond unites us all to wage war until victory is wonde. And that idea, all those petty divisions, are gone. We are Germans. Stroke Britons.And I suppose that to the degree that there is feeling of excitement and happiness, that's part of what underlies it, isn't it? I mean, that passage with which we began that series in Vienna, that everybody is joined together in a common sense of purpose.Yes. And I think, Tom, it's actually, you know, all those crowds, when people talk about the outbreak of the first World War, people were delighted. They thought they'd be home by Christmas. It would be a great adventure. I think what is animating those crowds, the edwardian era has been one of very, very partisan, conflicted politics. And I think those people. Sigmund Freud, we quoted him a couple of episodes ago. People feel, you know, rather like the only comparison I can think of in Britain in recent years. Perhaps when Covid struck, perhaps when the queen died. A genuine sense for once we're all, you know, we're all together. All the silly divisions and squabbles have forgotten and this is that, but magnified to an extraordinary degree. Now the Kaiser comes in from the balcony and they're all sort of standing around, you know, discussing logistics. And suddenly Bethmann Holweg, the chancellor, bursts into the room police to get in. He goes in to see poor Rene Viviani, who's already a broken man himself. Shon gives Viviani his card on the way out, and on the back he's written, c'est le suicide de l'Europe. It's the suicide of Europe. So he's devastated as well. Viviani is sort of trembling and stuff. The only person who's really delighted is president Poincare, the man of Lorraine. He's got the war he, deep down, probably always wanted. Britain still hasn't entered. It's that night, actually. It's before Britain has entered the war. Gray is standing at his window looking out over birdcage wall.Is dusk falling?Dominic, dusk is falling.Dusk is falling. And are the lamplighters going up and down the streets?Yeah, the lamplighters are out.And is he about to make one of the most famous lines in the whole of 20th century history?Tom, you're so dismissive. I can't believe you're. This is usually my job on the podcast.It's such a famous line because it's so haunting. Yeah, I mean, it kind of sums up the entire mood of this podcast, and I haven't even revealed what it is. So, Dominic, give us Sir Edward Gray's classic line.The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. I mean, that is very powerful.That's brilliant, isn't it? So here's the question. Did he really say that?I think he did. He said it to a guy called J. Spender, who recorded it, who was the editor of the Westminster Gazette, who was with him at the time. Spender wrote nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life. And Margo Asquith, she went to see the german ambassador again, Lichnowsky. And Lichnowsky said to her, you knew we must go through Belgium. There is no other way. We never counted on that old, old treaty. Oh, dear, oh,, it's very sad. In Berlin, the kaiser has now got used to his new part, and he's loving it, actually. He receives every deputy at the Reichstag at his palace. He's in his helmet, he's in his uniform. He has his new title. He is now the supreme warlord, which.I assume he loves.Yeah, of course he loves that. The little boy in him absolutely loves being the supreme warlord. And he says to them, we draw the sword with a clear conscience and with clean hands.And every great power is saying that.Isn't that amazing?And believing it.Yeah.They're all saying this, of course, everybody.At the beginning of any war thinks that they. I mean, they're right. But that sense of being embattled in circles.Well, the contrast is surely with the second world War. I mean, in the second world war, the Germans launch invasions that are absolutely acts of aggression. And they're proud about it.Yeah, you're absolutely right.But in this, that's not happening.Well, first of all, the second world War, you don't have people bursting into tears all the time and guards of honor for them or people lending them money to get home and all of that kind of stuff.Yeah. Get their wife back from holiday.Exactly. We did a series, I think we mentioned this earlier. It's worth reiterating. We did a series about the rise of the Nazis. And you don't understand where the Nazis come from if you don't understand that basically everybody in Germany, with the exception of Prince Lichnowski, thinks they are blameless, they did the right thing and they've been betrayed and stabbed in the back and that they're fighting a defensive war. Bethmann Holweg addresses the Reichstag deputies, the chancellor, and he says, we are fighting for our lives. Yes, we are breaking the law by going through Belgium and Luxembourg. And we know it is wrong, but we will make it good as soon as we are safe. When you are as imperiled as we are fighting for everything we hold dear, you can only think of how you will cut your way out. I mean, thats how they justify it to themselves, because some of this may be thinking, how do the Germans justify it? And they effectively say, we have been forced, we have no option, because the other option is death.And this is the tone that he adopts when he meets with the british ambassador after this.Yes.And of course, the british ambassador is bringing the declaration of war.Yeah, we're fighting for our life against two assailants. You joining the war, Britain. It's like striking a man from behind. It's very much. It's so interesting how they all use analogies and sort of idioms drawn from sport or school stories. You never hit a man when he's down. That's what they're saying.But also that, I mean, it's kind of only a piece of paper. So the british ambassador says, we're on a bound to defend Belgium. And Bethune says, but what a, what price you were fighting just for a word? Neutrality, just for a scrap of paper. Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred nation who wants nothing better than to be friends with her.Yeah. And that phrase, the scrap of paper. If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London, they have loads of propaganda posters that phrase, the scrap of paper was a gift to Britain because our propagandists used it understandably. They would do a poster of the treaty and they would say, the Germans think this is just a scrap of paper, but this is the guarantee of Belgium's freedom. This is what we're fighting for.This is what it's all about.This is what it's all about. Exactly. And at the end of that interview. So it's Beth van Holweg and the british ambassador, who's called Sredwood Goshen.Do they cry?They're both in tears. Goshen actually says to Bethman Holweg, please, can I go into your antechamber? I need to compose myself before I walk out. I don't want all your staff to see me crying. I mean. And Bethman Holweg says, of course you can, as a gentleman and all that kind of stuff. And that's what happens.Quite disappointed, the british ambassador burst into tears.No, I think it reflects.Poor fool.I think it reflects well on him.Tom, no excitable continentals bursting into tears is one thing, but a british ambassador bursting into tears, very poor.Well, you'll approve of what happens next, then, because that night, it's actually, the funny thing about the story is it was very unclear. The British worded their ultimatum poorly, so it wasn't clear whether it would expire at 11:00 or 12:00 british time, because the time difference. So anyway, that evening, as darkness draws in, Siddwell Gray goes to Downing street and he sits in the cabinet room with Asquith, with Winston Churchill, with their friend Richard Haldane, with David Lloyd George. And they're just waiting for news from Berlin to see if the reply comes to the ultimatum, where theyre going to get out of Belgium and no news comes. And the reason is the telegraph lines have already been cut because, of course, theres no way the Germans are going to change their mind now. And at 11:00 Big Ben strikes and they hear through the windows the sound of a great crowd thats assembled outside the palace of Westminster, singinggod save the king. Greetings. The arrival of the declaration of war. And it's just a few minutes after that that a signal flashes from the Admiralty to Britain's fleet across the world. And the signal reads, simply, commence hostilities at once against Germany.So there we are, the world is at war, and we will continue the story, won't we, in due course? Probably next year. Yeah, when we look at the guns of August and maybe right the way up to the battle of the Marne and maybe even the Christmas truce. The Christmas truce. But for now, we're not going to completely finish discussing this because next week's bonus episode for subscribers to the rest is History club. We'll be looking at some of the broader issues that surround this, some of the various perspectives that different historians have taken, some of the kind of the big talking points the big debates, and we will be responding to comments, criticisms, points of view that perhaps you might want to put to us either on the discord if you're a club member, or on Twitter or X or whatever.It is, or you can email us at the rest is history website.So that will be for subscribers. And if you're not a subscriber already, you just need to go to the rest is history.com to sign up. You know the form, you've heard this a multitude of times, and that is the end of one of the great Titanic episodes of european history. And on Monday, we will be starting a new series on another of the great Titanic episodes, perhaps one of the most titanic episode of all, and that's the French Revolution. And we will be beginning that by looking at yet more habsburg shenanigans, because we will be looking at Marie Antoinette. So thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Dominic, for absolutely brilliant narrative, tour de force, and thank you, everyone who has listened to it. Bye.

which is what he wants. He goes to his palace at 05:00 the Warminster, Falkenhayn, the chancellor, Bethmann Holweg come in with the mobilization order and he signs it Tom at a table hewn from the wood of HMS Victory of Nelson's flagship.

And how has that come to pass?

So this is a gift. It's a gift from his kith and kin in Britain. The irony that was given as a gift to the Kaiser. Yeah, because HMS victory, although it stands to this day and is a brilliant place to go and visit. It's constantly being renovated and repaired, so in the course of that, they've taken some of the timber and used it to help make it table.

So is there a kind of resonant symbolism in that?

Well, if you're going to smite the French, what better table to use? Right?

Yeah, but is he also identifying himself with the Anglo Saxons?

No, I don't. I don't think so. We might like to think that some. Because we're a patriotic podcast.

Well, I'm just wondering, I mean, is he thinking, well, the British are not going to join with the French.

Ah, well, we will come to this.

Luca and Wellington, the old alliance.

Right.

I don't know. I mean, or whether it's just. It's a convenient table that happens to be at hand.

Could there be a better table than a table made from the timbers of isthmus victory?

Well, obviously, I don't think so, but.

I think it's probably a convenient table. I don't think, to be honest, I think they've got other things on their mind than the provenance of tables. Anyway, he signs this thing. Falkenhayn says, may God bless your majesty and your arms. May God protect our beloved fatherland. And they've all got tears in their eyes and they're all shaking hands. The kaiser goes onto the balcony of their palace and there's a huge crowd outside and they sing the lutheran hymn now, thank we all, our God. And that had been a huge patriotic anthem in Prussia because Frederick the Great's soldiers had sung it on the battlefield. So it's a very sort of stirring scene if you're german. And the kaiser then gives this very famous speech where he says, ich kene keine parthei mer. Ich kene neu deutschere. I no longer see political parties, I see only germans. All that matters now is that we stand together like brothers and God will help the german sword to victory.

This is the part for which he's been rehearsed all his life.

It is. And actually, do you know who he reminds me of at this point? Somebody else who rehearsed for this role all his life? Churchill.

Churchill.

Because Churchill gave a version of that speech in 1940 when he said, we may have differed and quarreled in the past, but now one bond unites us all to wage war until victory is wonde. And that idea, all those petty divisions, are gone. We are Germans. Stroke Britons.

And I suppose that to the degree that there is feeling of excitement and happiness, that's part of what underlies it, isn't it? I mean, that passage with which we began that series in Vienna, that everybody is joined together in a common sense of purpose.

Yes. And I think, Tom, it's actually, you know, all those crowds, when people talk about the outbreak of the first World War, people were delighted. They thought they'd be home by Christmas. It would be a great adventure. I think what is animating those crowds, the edwardian era has been one of very, very partisan, conflicted politics. And I think those people. Sigmund Freud, we quoted him a couple of episodes ago. People feel, you know, rather like the only comparison I can think of in Britain in recent years. Perhaps when Covid struck, perhaps when the queen died. A genuine sense for once we're all, you know, we're all together. All the silly divisions and squabbles have forgotten and this is that, but magnified to an extraordinary degree. Now the Kaiser comes in from the balcony and they're all sort of standing around, you know, discussing logistics. And suddenly Bethmann Holweg, the chancellor, bursts into the room police to get in. He goes in to see poor Rene Viviani, who's already a broken man himself. Shon gives Viviani his card on the way out, and on the back he's written, c'est le suicide de l'Europe. It's the suicide of Europe. So he's devastated as well. Viviani is sort of trembling and stuff. The only person who's really delighted is president Poincare, the man of Lorraine. He's got the war he, deep down, probably always wanted. Britain still hasn't entered. It's that night, actually. It's before Britain has entered the war. Gray is standing at his window looking out over birdcage wall.Is dusk falling?Dominic, dusk is falling.Dusk is falling. And are the lamplighters going up and down the streets?Yeah, the lamplighters are out.And is he about to make one of the most famous lines in the whole of 20th century history?Tom, you're so dismissive. I can't believe you're. This is usually my job on the podcast.It's such a famous line because it's so haunting. Yeah, I mean, it kind of sums up the entire mood of this podcast, and I haven't even revealed what it is. So, Dominic, give us Sir Edward Gray's classic line.The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. I mean, that is very powerful.That's brilliant, isn't it? So here's the question. Did he really say that?I think he did. He said it to a guy called J. Spender, who recorded it, who was the editor of the Westminster Gazette, who was with him at the time. Spender wrote nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life. And Margo Asquith, she went to see the german ambassador again, Lichnowsky. And Lichnowsky said to her, you knew we must go through Belgium. There is no other way. We never counted on that old, old treaty. Oh, dear, oh,, it's very sad. In Berlin, the kaiser has now got used to his new part, and he's loving it, actually. He receives every deputy at the Reichstag at his palace. He's in his helmet, he's in his uniform. He has his new title. He is now the supreme warlord, which.I assume he loves.Yeah, of course he loves that. The little boy in him absolutely loves being the supreme warlord. And he says to them, we draw the sword with a clear conscience and with clean hands.And every great power is saying that.Isn't that amazing?And believing it.Yeah.They're all saying this, of course, everybody.At the beginning of any war thinks that they. I mean, they're right. But that sense of being embattled in circles.Well, the contrast is surely with the second world War. I mean, in the second world war, the Germans launch invasions that are absolutely acts of aggression. And they're proud about it.Yeah, you're absolutely right.But in this, that's not happening.Well, first of all, the second world War, you don't have people bursting into tears all the time and guards of honor for them or people lending them money to get home and all of that kind of stuff.Yeah. Get their wife back from holiday.Exactly. We did a series, I think we mentioned this earlier. It's worth reiterating. We did a series about the rise of the Nazis. And you don't understand where the Nazis come from if you don't understand that basically everybody in Germany, with the exception of Prince Lichnowski, thinks they are blameless, they did the right thing and they've been betrayed and stabbed in the back and that they're fighting a defensive war. Bethmann Holweg addresses the Reichstag deputies, the chancellor, and he says, we are fighting for our lives. Yes, we are breaking the law by going through Belgium and Luxembourg. And we know it is wrong, but we will make it good as soon as we are safe. When you are as imperiled as we are fighting for everything we hold dear, you can only think of how you will cut your way out. I mean, thats how they justify it to themselves, because some of this may be thinking, how do the Germans justify it? And they effectively say, we have been forced, we have no option, because the other option is death.And this is the tone that he adopts when he meets with the british ambassador after this.Yes.And of course, the british ambassador is bringing the declaration of war.Yeah, we're fighting for our life against two assailants. You joining the war, Britain. It's like striking a man from behind. It's very much. It's so interesting how they all use analogies and sort of idioms drawn from sport or school stories. You never hit a man when he's down. That's what they're saying.But also that, I mean, it's kind of only a piece of paper. So the british ambassador says, we're on a bound to defend Belgium. And Bethune says, but what a, what price you were fighting just for a word? Neutrality, just for a scrap of paper. Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred nation who wants nothing better than to be friends with her.Yeah. And that phrase, the scrap of paper. If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London, they have loads of propaganda posters that phrase, the scrap of paper was a gift to Britain because our propagandists used it understandably. They would do a poster of the treaty and they would say, the Germans think this is just a scrap of paper, but this is the guarantee of Belgium's freedom. This is what we're fighting for.This is what it's all about.This is what it's all about. Exactly. And at the end of that interview. So it's Beth van Holweg and the british ambassador, who's called Sredwood Goshen.Do they cry?They're both in tears. Goshen actually says to Bethman Holweg, please, can I go into your antechamber? I need to compose myself before I walk out. I don't want all your staff to see me crying. I mean. And Bethman Holweg says, of course you can, as a gentleman and all that kind of stuff. And that's what happens.Quite disappointed, the british ambassador burst into tears.No, I think it reflects.Poor fool.I think it reflects well on him.Tom, no excitable continentals bursting into tears is one thing, but a british ambassador bursting into tears, very poor.Well, you'll approve of what happens next, then, because that night, it's actually, the funny thing about the story is it was very unclear. The British worded their ultimatum poorly, so it wasn't clear whether it would expire at 11:00 or 12:00 british time, because the time difference. So anyway, that evening, as darkness draws in, Siddwell Gray goes to Downing street and he sits in the cabinet room with Asquith, with Winston Churchill, with their friend Richard Haldane, with David Lloyd George. And they're just waiting for news from Berlin to see if the reply comes to the ultimatum, where theyre going to get out of Belgium and no news comes. And the reason is the telegraph lines have already been cut because, of course, theres no way the Germans are going to change their mind now. And at 11:00 Big Ben strikes and they hear through the windows the sound of a great crowd thats assembled outside the palace of Westminster, singinggod save the king. Greetings. The arrival of the declaration of war. And it's just a few minutes after that that a signal flashes from the Admiralty to Britain's fleet across the world. And the signal reads, simply, commence hostilities at once against Germany.So there we are, the world is at war, and we will continue the story, won't we, in due course? Probably next year. Yeah, when we look at the guns of August and maybe right the way up to the battle of the Marne and maybe even the Christmas truce. The Christmas truce. But for now, we're not going to completely finish discussing this because next week's bonus episode for subscribers to the rest is History club. We'll be looking at some of the broader issues that surround this, some of the various perspectives that different historians have taken, some of the kind of the big talking points the big debates, and we will be responding to comments, criticisms, points of view that perhaps you might want to put to us either on the discord if you're a club member, or on Twitter or X or whatever.It is, or you can email us at the rest is history website.So that will be for subscribers. And if you're not a subscriber already, you just need to go to the rest is history.com to sign up. You know the form, you've heard this a multitude of times, and that is the end of one of the great Titanic episodes of european history. And on Monday, we will be starting a new series on another of the great Titanic episodes, perhaps one of the most titanic episode of all, and that's the French Revolution. And we will be beginning that by looking at yet more habsburg shenanigans, because we will be looking at Marie Antoinette. So thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Dominic, for absolutely brilliant narrative, tour de force, and thank you, everyone who has listened to it. Bye.

police to get in. He goes in to see poor Rene Viviani, who's already a broken man himself. Shon gives Viviani his card on the way out, and on the back he's written, c'est le suicide de l'Europe. It's the suicide of Europe. So he's devastated as well. Viviani is sort of trembling and stuff. The only person who's really delighted is president Poincare, the man of Lorraine. He's got the war he, deep down, probably always wanted. Britain still hasn't entered. It's that night, actually. It's before Britain has entered the war. Gray is standing at his window looking out over birdcage wall.

Is dusk falling?

Dominic, dusk is falling.

Dusk is falling. And are the lamplighters going up and down the streets?

Yeah, the lamplighters are out.

And is he about to make one of the most famous lines in the whole of 20th century history?

Tom, you're so dismissive. I can't believe you're. This is usually my job on the podcast.

It's such a famous line because it's so haunting. Yeah, I mean, it kind of sums up the entire mood of this podcast, and I haven't even revealed what it is. So, Dominic, give us Sir Edward Gray's classic line.

The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. I mean, that is very powerful.

That's brilliant, isn't it? So here's the question. Did he really say that?

I think he did. He said it to a guy called J. Spender, who recorded it, who was the editor of the Westminster Gazette, who was with him at the time. Spender wrote nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life. And Margo Asquith, she went to see the german ambassador again, Lichnowsky. And Lichnowsky said to her, you knew we must go through Belgium. There is no other way. We never counted on that old, old treaty. Oh, dear, oh,, it's very sad. In Berlin, the kaiser has now got used to his new part, and he's loving it, actually. He receives every deputy at the Reichstag at his palace. He's in his helmet, he's in his uniform. He has his new title. He is now the supreme warlord, which.I assume he loves.Yeah, of course he loves that. The little boy in him absolutely loves being the supreme warlord. And he says to them, we draw the sword with a clear conscience and with clean hands.And every great power is saying that.Isn't that amazing?And believing it.Yeah.They're all saying this, of course, everybody.At the beginning of any war thinks that they. I mean, they're right. But that sense of being embattled in circles.Well, the contrast is surely with the second world War. I mean, in the second world war, the Germans launch invasions that are absolutely acts of aggression. And they're proud about it.Yeah, you're absolutely right.But in this, that's not happening.Well, first of all, the second world War, you don't have people bursting into tears all the time and guards of honor for them or people lending them money to get home and all of that kind of stuff.Yeah. Get their wife back from holiday.Exactly. We did a series, I think we mentioned this earlier. It's worth reiterating. We did a series about the rise of the Nazis. And you don't understand where the Nazis come from if you don't understand that basically everybody in Germany, with the exception of Prince Lichnowski, thinks they are blameless, they did the right thing and they've been betrayed and stabbed in the back and that they're fighting a defensive war. Bethmann Holweg addresses the Reichstag deputies, the chancellor, and he says, we are fighting for our lives. Yes, we are breaking the law by going through Belgium and Luxembourg. And we know it is wrong, but we will make it good as soon as we are safe. When you are as imperiled as we are fighting for everything we hold dear, you can only think of how you will cut your way out. I mean, thats how they justify it to themselves, because some of this may be thinking, how do the Germans justify it? And they effectively say, we have been forced, we have no option, because the other option is death.And this is the tone that he adopts when he meets with the british ambassador after this.Yes.And of course, the british ambassador is bringing the declaration of war.Yeah, we're fighting for our life against two assailants. You joining the war, Britain. It's like striking a man from behind. It's very much. It's so interesting how they all use analogies and sort of idioms drawn from sport or school stories. You never hit a man when he's down. That's what they're saying.But also that, I mean, it's kind of only a piece of paper. So the british ambassador says, we're on a bound to defend Belgium. And Bethune says, but what a, what price you were fighting just for a word? Neutrality, just for a scrap of paper. Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred nation who wants nothing better than to be friends with her.Yeah. And that phrase, the scrap of paper. If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London, they have loads of propaganda posters that phrase, the scrap of paper was a gift to Britain because our propagandists used it understandably. They would do a poster of the treaty and they would say, the Germans think this is just a scrap of paper, but this is the guarantee of Belgium's freedom. This is what we're fighting for.This is what it's all about.This is what it's all about. Exactly. And at the end of that interview. So it's Beth van Holweg and the british ambassador, who's called Sredwood Goshen.Do they cry?They're both in tears. Goshen actually says to Bethman Holweg, please, can I go into your antechamber? I need to compose myself before I walk out. I don't want all your staff to see me crying. I mean. And Bethman Holweg says, of course you can, as a gentleman and all that kind of stuff. And that's what happens.Quite disappointed, the british ambassador burst into tears.No, I think it reflects.Poor fool.I think it reflects well on him.Tom, no excitable continentals bursting into tears is one thing, but a british ambassador bursting into tears, very poor.Well, you'll approve of what happens next, then, because that night, it's actually, the funny thing about the story is it was very unclear. The British worded their ultimatum poorly, so it wasn't clear whether it would expire at 11:00 or 12:00 british time, because the time difference. So anyway, that evening, as darkness draws in, Siddwell Gray goes to Downing street and he sits in the cabinet room with Asquith, with Winston Churchill, with their friend Richard Haldane, with David Lloyd George. And they're just waiting for news from Berlin to see if the reply comes to the ultimatum, where theyre going to get out of Belgium and no news comes. And the reason is the telegraph lines have already been cut because, of course, theres no way the Germans are going to change their mind now. And at 11:00 Big Ben strikes and they hear through the windows the sound of a great crowd thats assembled outside the palace of Westminster, singinggod save the king. Greetings. The arrival of the declaration of war. And it's just a few minutes after that that a signal flashes from the Admiralty to Britain's fleet across the world. And the signal reads, simply, commence hostilities at once against Germany.So there we are, the world is at war, and we will continue the story, won't we, in due course? Probably next year. Yeah, when we look at the guns of August and maybe right the way up to the battle of the Marne and maybe even the Christmas truce. The Christmas truce. But for now, we're not going to completely finish discussing this because next week's bonus episode for subscribers to the rest is History club. We'll be looking at some of the broader issues that surround this, some of the various perspectives that different historians have taken, some of the kind of the big talking points the big debates, and we will be responding to comments, criticisms, points of view that perhaps you might want to put to us either on the discord if you're a club member, or on Twitter or X or whatever.It is, or you can email us at the rest is history website.So that will be for subscribers. And if you're not a subscriber already, you just need to go to the rest is history.com to sign up. You know the form, you've heard this a multitude of times, and that is the end of one of the great Titanic episodes of european history. And on Monday, we will be starting a new series on another of the great Titanic episodes, perhaps one of the most titanic episode of all, and that's the French Revolution. And we will be beginning that by looking at yet more habsburg shenanigans, because we will be looking at Marie Antoinette. So thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Dominic, for absolutely brilliant narrative, tour de force, and thank you, everyone who has listened to it. Bye.

nothing. I feel like a man who has wasted his life. And Margo Asquith, she went to see the german ambassador again, Lichnowsky. And Lichnowsky said to her, you knew we must go through Belgium. There is no other way. We never counted on that old, old treaty. Oh, dear, oh,, it's very sad. In Berlin, the kaiser has now got used to his new part, and he's loving it, actually. He receives every deputy at the Reichstag at his palace. He's in his helmet, he's in his uniform. He has his new title. He is now the supreme warlord, which.I assume he loves.Yeah, of course he loves that. The little boy in him absolutely loves being the supreme warlord. And he says to them, we draw the sword with a clear conscience and with clean hands.And every great power is saying that.Isn't that amazing?And believing it.Yeah.They're all saying this, of course, everybody.At the beginning of any war thinks that they. I mean, they're right. But that sense of being embattled in circles.Well, the contrast is surely with the second world War. I mean, in the second world war, the Germans launch invasions that are absolutely acts of aggression. And they're proud about it.Yeah, you're absolutely right.But in this, that's not happening.Well, first of all, the second world War, you don't have people bursting into tears all the time and guards of honor for them or people lending them money to get home and all of that kind of stuff.Yeah. Get their wife back from holiday.Exactly. We did a series, I think we mentioned this earlier. It's worth reiterating. We did a series about the rise of the Nazis. And you don't understand where the Nazis come from if you don't understand that basically everybody in Germany, with the exception of Prince Lichnowski, thinks they are blameless, they did the right thing and they've been betrayed and stabbed in the back and that they're fighting a defensive war. Bethmann Holweg addresses the Reichstag deputies, the chancellor, and he says, we are fighting for our lives. Yes, we are breaking the law by going through Belgium and Luxembourg. And we know it is wrong, but we will make it good as soon as we are safe. When you are as imperiled as we are fighting for everything we hold dear, you can only think of how you will cut your way out. I mean, thats how they justify it to themselves, because some of this may be thinking, how do the Germans justify it? And they effectively say, we have been forced, we have no option, because the other option is death.And this is the tone that he adopts when he meets with the british ambassador after this.Yes.And of course, the british ambassador is bringing the declaration of war.Yeah, we're fighting for our life against two assailants. You joining the war, Britain. It's like striking a man from behind. It's very much. It's so interesting how they all use analogies and sort of idioms drawn from sport or school stories. You never hit a man when he's down. That's what they're saying.But also that, I mean, it's kind of only a piece of paper. So the british ambassador says, we're on a bound to defend Belgium. And Bethune says, but what a, what price you were fighting just for a word? Neutrality, just for a scrap of paper. Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred nation who wants nothing better than to be friends with her.Yeah. And that phrase, the scrap of paper. If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London, they have loads of propaganda posters that phrase, the scrap of paper was a gift to Britain because our propagandists used it understandably. They would do a poster of the treaty and they would say, the Germans think this is just a scrap of paper, but this is the guarantee of Belgium's freedom. This is what we're fighting for.This is what it's all about.This is what it's all about. Exactly. And at the end of that interview. So it's Beth van Holweg and the british ambassador, who's called Sredwood Goshen.Do they cry?They're both in tears. Goshen actually says to Bethman Holweg, please, can I go into your antechamber? I need to compose myself before I walk out. I don't want all your staff to see me crying. I mean. And Bethman Holweg says, of course you can, as a gentleman and all that kind of stuff. And that's what happens.Quite disappointed, the british ambassador burst into tears.No, I think it reflects.Poor fool.I think it reflects well on him.Tom, no excitable continentals bursting into tears is one thing, but a british ambassador bursting into tears, very poor.Well, you'll approve of what happens next, then, because that night, it's actually, the funny thing about the story is it was very unclear. The British worded their ultimatum poorly, so it wasn't clear whether it would expire at 11:00 or 12:00 british time, because the time difference. So anyway, that evening, as darkness draws in, Siddwell Gray goes to Downing street and he sits in the cabinet room with Asquith, with Winston Churchill, with their friend Richard Haldane, with David Lloyd George. And they're just waiting for news from Berlin to see if the reply comes to the ultimatum, where theyre going to get out of Belgium and no news comes. And the reason is the telegraph lines have already been cut because, of course, theres no way the Germans are going to change their mind now. And at 11:00 Big Ben strikes and they hear through the windows the sound of a great crowd thats assembled outside the palace of Westminster, singinggod save the king. Greetings. The arrival of the declaration of war. And it's just a few minutes after that that a signal flashes from the Admiralty to Britain's fleet across the world. And the signal reads, simply, commence hostilities at once against Germany.So there we are, the world is at war, and we will continue the story, won't we, in due course? Probably next year. Yeah, when we look at the guns of August and maybe right the way up to the battle of the Marne and maybe even the Christmas truce. The Christmas truce. But for now, we're not going to completely finish discussing this because next week's bonus episode for subscribers to the rest is History club. We'll be looking at some of the broader issues that surround this, some of the various perspectives that different historians have taken, some of the kind of the big talking points the big debates, and we will be responding to comments, criticisms, points of view that perhaps you might want to put to us either on the discord if you're a club member, or on Twitter or X or whatever.It is, or you can email us at the rest is history website.So that will be for subscribers. And if you're not a subscriber already, you just need to go to the rest is history.com to sign up. You know the form, you've heard this a multitude of times, and that is the end of one of the great Titanic episodes of european history. And on Monday, we will be starting a new series on another of the great Titanic episodes, perhaps one of the most titanic episode of all, and that's the French Revolution. And we will be beginning that by looking at yet more habsburg shenanigans, because we will be looking at Marie Antoinette. So thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Dominic, for absolutely brilliant narrative, tour de force, and thank you, everyone who has listened to it. Bye.

, it's very sad. In Berlin, the kaiser has now got used to his new part, and he's loving it, actually. He receives every deputy at the Reichstag at his palace. He's in his helmet, he's in his uniform. He has his new title. He is now the supreme warlord, which.

I assume he loves.

Yeah, of course he loves that. The little boy in him absolutely loves being the supreme warlord. And he says to them, we draw the sword with a clear conscience and with clean hands.

And every great power is saying that.

Isn't that amazing?

And believing it.

Yeah.

They're all saying this, of course, everybody.

At the beginning of any war thinks that they. I mean, they're right. But that sense of being embattled in circles.

Well, the contrast is surely with the second world War. I mean, in the second world war, the Germans launch invasions that are absolutely acts of aggression. And they're proud about it.

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

But in this, that's not happening.

Well, first of all, the second world War, you don't have people bursting into tears all the time and guards of honor for them or people lending them money to get home and all of that kind of stuff.

Yeah. Get their wife back from holiday.

Exactly. We did a series, I think we mentioned this earlier. It's worth reiterating. We did a series about the rise of the Nazis. And you don't understand where the Nazis come from if you don't understand that basically everybody in Germany, with the exception of Prince Lichnowski, thinks they are blameless, they did the right thing and they've been betrayed and stabbed in the back and that they're fighting a defensive war. Bethmann Holweg addresses the Reichstag deputies, the chancellor, and he says, we are fighting for our lives. Yes, we are breaking the law by going through Belgium and Luxembourg. And we know it is wrong, but we will make it good as soon as we are safe. When you are as imperiled as we are fighting for everything we hold dear, you can only think of how you will cut your way out. I mean, thats how they justify it to themselves, because some of this may be thinking, how do the Germans justify it? And they effectively say, we have been forced, we have no option, because the other option is death.

And this is the tone that he adopts when he meets with the british ambassador after this.

Yes.

And of course, the british ambassador is bringing the declaration of war.

Yeah, we're fighting for our life against two assailants. You joining the war, Britain. It's like striking a man from behind. It's very much. It's so interesting how they all use analogies and sort of idioms drawn from sport or school stories. You never hit a man when he's down. That's what they're saying.

But also that, I mean, it's kind of only a piece of paper. So the british ambassador says, we're on a bound to defend Belgium. And Bethune says, but what a, what price you were fighting just for a word? Neutrality, just for a scrap of paper. Great Britain is going to make war on a kindred nation who wants nothing better than to be friends with her.

Yeah. And that phrase, the scrap of paper. If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London, they have loads of propaganda posters that phrase, the scrap of paper was a gift to Britain because our propagandists used it understandably. They would do a poster of the treaty and they would say, the Germans think this is just a scrap of paper, but this is the guarantee of Belgium's freedom. This is what we're fighting for.

This is what it's all about.

This is what it's all about. Exactly. And at the end of that interview. So it's Beth van Holweg and the british ambassador, who's called Sredwood Goshen.

Do they cry?

They're both in tears. Goshen actually says to Bethman Holweg, please, can I go into your antechamber? I need to compose myself before I walk out. I don't want all your staff to see me crying. I mean. And Bethman Holweg says, of course you can, as a gentleman and all that kind of stuff. And that's what happens.

Quite disappointed, the british ambassador burst into tears.

No, I think it reflects.

Poor fool.

I think it reflects well on him.

Tom, no excitable continentals bursting into tears is one thing, but a british ambassador bursting into tears, very poor.

Well, you'll approve of what happens next, then, because that night, it's actually, the funny thing about the story is it was very unclear. The British worded their ultimatum poorly, so it wasn't clear whether it would expire at 11:00 or 12:00 british time, because the time difference. So anyway, that evening, as darkness draws in, Siddwell Gray goes to Downing street and he sits in the cabinet room with Asquith, with Winston Churchill, with their friend Richard Haldane, with David Lloyd George. And they're just waiting for news from Berlin to see if the reply comes to the ultimatum, where theyre going to get out of Belgium and no news comes. And the reason is the telegraph lines have already been cut because, of course, theres no way the Germans are going to change their mind now. And at 11:00 Big Ben strikes and they hear through the windows the sound of a great crowd thats assembled outside the palace of Westminster, singinggod save the king. Greetings. The arrival of the declaration of war. And it's just a few minutes after that that a signal flashes from the Admiralty to Britain's fleet across the world. And the signal reads, simply, commence hostilities at once against Germany.

So there we are, the world is at war, and we will continue the story, won't we, in due course? Probably next year. Yeah, when we look at the guns of August and maybe right the way up to the battle of the Marne and maybe even the Christmas truce. The Christmas truce. But for now, we're not going to completely finish discussing this because next week's bonus episode for subscribers to the rest is History club. We'll be looking at some of the broader issues that surround this, some of the various perspectives that different historians have taken, some of the kind of the big talking points the big debates, and we will be responding to comments, criticisms, points of view that perhaps you might want to put to us either on the discord if you're a club member, or on Twitter or X or whatever.

It is, or you can email us at the rest is history website.

So that will be for subscribers. And if you're not a subscriber already, you just need to go to the rest is history.com to sign up. You know the form, you've heard this a multitude of times, and that is the end of one of the great Titanic episodes of european history. And on Monday, we will be starting a new series on another of the great Titanic episodes, perhaps one of the most titanic episode of all, and that's the French Revolution. And we will be beginning that by looking at yet more habsburg shenanigans, because we will be looking at Marie Antoinette. So thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Dominic, for absolutely brilliant narrative, tour de force, and thank you, everyone who has listened to it. Bye.