Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 4, 1937. TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 209, 4 August 1937, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 4, 1937. TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO.

Twenty-three years ago to-day there occurred one of the greatest crises in the history of the British nation,-and by an act of high courage and righteous decision war was declared on Germany. It was not a war of Britain’s seeking; on the contrary all that statesmanship could do to avert it had been employed, but in vain when matched against the determination of Germany under her Kaiser to set the world .aflame. The assassination at Serajevo of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife had been followed by Austrian determination to embark on a war against Serbia. All but two of the demands in the famous ultimatum were conceded by Serbia under the advice of Russia, but the desire to have these referred to The Hague Tribunal was scornfully swept aside. Meanwhile Germany was mobilising her troops; Russia too declared that she could not be indifferent to the fate of Serbia, but on July 30 in a last effort to avoid a catastrophic war a proposal was made to Germany that mobilisation should cease provided Austria eliminated the clauses in her tiltimatum damaging to Serbian sovereignty. But Austria and Germany were bent on war. On August 1 a declaration was made by Germany against Russia; the next day France was invaded and Belgium was informed that her territory would be violated, a gross breach

of faith on the part of the Kaiser that determined Britain’s choice and altered the trend of world events in a moment. There was in fact none other that could have been honourably made in Whitehall, and Britain was not only to give the world vital evidence of what her written word means but to implement her decision with all the national resources. A request to Germany to consider the gravity of her offence against Belgium was ruthlessly swept aside. In the Foreign' Office at 3 o’clock on August 4, 1914, a notable gathering was awaiting Germany’s reply. The hour passed and none came. Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Minister, had declared that “England would be. for ever contemptible if it should sit by and see this treaty violated.” Then he expressed the view all shared, “The German war party had the upper hand.” “Thus the efforts of a lifetime go for nothing,” said this great statesman, “I feel like a man who has wasted his life.”

Germany knew —her Chancellor admitted it in the Reichstag —that she was doing wrong against Belgium, but she did not count the cost intelligently. It was a war that was fervently hoped by British people would end war, but that ideal has been shattered. To-day Europe is torn by dissension in an alarming manner; great armies are organised in every country, and fear of another conflict is uppermost among many people of sober thought. The ideal of the League of Nations has been sorely buffeted in late years as leading countries have left the forum at Geneva. Germany has repudiated the Versailles Treaty and is again an armed- nation whose ecouomic nationalism, the creation of Herr Hitler, is a menace that keeps the world on edge. Russia, too, is an armed race, while France, fearful of what takes place beyond her borders, spends millions upon powerful defences. The Italy of Mussolini’s creation seeks an Empire in Africa and to become the dominant Mediterranean Power. A defenceless people in Abyssinia have been partly destroyed in the former process. In Spain two sections of the people are engaged in bitter internecine strife, one section aided by Germans and Italians and the other by forces opposed to Fascism. In the Far East Japan is ravaging North China. The twenty-three years since 1914 do not give evidence that the lessons taught have been valued. Britain herself, who showed most loyalty to the cause of disarmament, has been compelled to rearm in the interests of national security, and that fact happily has had a sobering influence upon other countries whose peaceful intentions have been doubted. She is still the world’s greatest force for peace. Most of the leading figures in the great drama of 1914-18 have departed and the field is held by other generations, but the difficulties created by the events of twenty-three years ago have still to be overcome anti until that happens and the nations choose to live in harmony the world will know little of the peace men died to preserve when theirs should have been a full and useful life.