Britain's Declaration of War

• In the Treaty of London, 1839, Britain and Germany had agreed to protect the neutrality of Belgium

  • Germany thought that Britain was highly unlikely to honour that agreement
• Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, was careful to emphasise Britain’s ‘free hand’ in the matter of its actions
• However, despite Churchill’s assertions, the secret Anglo-French Naval Agreement did involve a stronger military commitment to France than the public Anglo-French Entente
• Grey called for an international conference which had been an effective technique for containing crises in the past
• The French, however, put pressure on Grey to declare Britain’s full support for its allies if Germany attacked
• Grey stalled for time while making no promises

  • It has since been said that if Britain had stated clearly his support for France then Germany wouldn’t have proceeded so far in its mobilisation