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Understanding the ‘misunderstanding’ of 1 August 1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

K. M. Wilson
K. M. Wilson
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
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Type
Communication
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 885 - 889
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

1 George V to Wilhelm II, 1 August 1914, Montelgas, M. and Schucking, W. (eds.), Outbreak of the World War, German documents collected by Karl Kautsky (New York, 1924), no. 612Google Scholar; cited below as D.D.

2 Most recently, Young, H. F., ‘The misunderstanding of August 1, 1914’, Journal of Modern History, XLVIII (1976), 644–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Valone, S. J., ‘“There must be some misunderstanding”: Sir Edward Grey's diplomacy of August 1, 1914’, Journal of British Studies, XXVII (1988), 405–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Corp, E. T., ‘Sir William Tyrrell: the Eminence Grise of the British Foreign Office, 1912–1915’, Historical Journal, XXV (1982), 705.Google Scholar

3 Wilhelm II to George V, 1 Aug. 1914, D.D. no. 575.

4 Lichnowsky to German Foreign Office, 1 Aug. 1914, Ibid. no. 562.

5 Haldane to his mother, 1 Aug. 1914, Haldane MSS 5992.

6 Ibid.

7 M., and Brock, E. (eds.), H. H. Asquith – Letters to Venetia Stanley (Oxford, 1985), p. 140.Google Scholar

8 Haldane to his mother, 1 Aug. 1914, Haldane MSS 5992.

9 Haldane to his sister, 2 Aug. 1914, Ibid. 6012.

10 Cambon to Viviani, 31 July 1914, Documents Diplomatiques Francais 1971–1914 [D.D.F.] (Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Commission de publication des documents relatifs aux origines de la guerre de 1914, Paris, 1929–62), 3rd Series, xi, no. 445.

11 Brock, , H. H. Asquith, p. 140.Google Scholar

12 Koss, S. E., Lord Haldane, Scapegoat for Liberalism (New York, 1969), pp. 117–118.Google Scholar

13 Grey to Bertie, 29 July 1914, Gooch, G. P. and Temperley, H. W. V. (eds.) British documents on the origins of the war, 1898–1914 [B.D.] (London, 1926–1938), XI, no. 283.Google Scholar

14 Brock, , H. H. Asquith, p. 140.Google Scholar

15 Ibid.

16 Haldane to his mother, 1 Aug. 1914, 5 p.m., Haldane MSS 5992.

17 Burns Diary, 1 Aug. 1914, Burns MSS Add. MSS 46336.

18 Lichnowsky to German Foreign Office, 1 Aug. 1914, D.D. no. 570.

19 Ibid. nos 236, 258, 265, 357, 368; B.D. XI, no. 176. See also Austrian Ambassador Mensdorff's report of an interview with Tyrrell on 29 July: ‘…should it affect a vital interest of France's or what is more a question of France as a Power, no English government would be capable of preventing a participation of Great Britain on the side of France’, Geiss, I. (ed.), July 1914, The outbreak of the First World War: selected documents (New York, 1974), no. 122.Google Scholar

20 Grey to Bertie, 1 Aug. 1914, B.D. xi, no. 426.

21 Grey to Bertie, 1 Aug. 1914, Ibid. no. 447.

22 Lichnowsky to German Foreign Office, 1 Aug. 1914, D.D. nos 596, 603. As Lichnowsky emerged from his 3.30 p.m. interview with Grey, he encountered the editor of the Daily Express in St James's Park, and said to him: ‘I am afraid we can do no more. I have just seen Sir Edward Grey, and you are likely to take sides with the French’, Blumenfeld, R. D., R.D.B.'s diary 1887–1914 (London, 1930), p. 248.Google Scholar

23 Grey to Bertie, 1 Aug. 1914, B.D. XI, no. 419.

24 Bertie to Grey, 2 Aug. 1914, Ibid. no. 453. There is no mention of this episode in Hamilton, K. A., Bertie of Thame (London, 1990).Google Scholar

25 Cambon to Viviani, 1 Aug. 1914, D.D.F. 3rd Series, XI, no. 532.

26 Haldane to his mother, 31 July 1914, Haldane MSS 5992.

27 See for example Grey to Rumbold, 25 July 1914, B.D. XI, no. 116.