Original subtitles

'I once calculated that the Foreign Office

'receives 250 telegrams every hour.

'That is 6,000 telegrams per day.

'Or 42,000 each week...'

You thought I was Persia, didn't you? I've been promoted!

...which comes to 2,190,000 telegrams every year.

'Britannia rules the waves, I suppose.

'And for that reason, we must welcome these tides of information.

'Political crisis in Argentina.

'The abolition of slavery in Siam, I love it.

'It means that I am working at the centre of the world

'and get to find out what is happening, as soon as it happens.

'Well, within a few hours, anyway.

'But, my word, it is an awful lot of telegrams!'

Could you do these promptly, Muriel? Please! Please!

'This particular one though,

received in London from His Britannic Majesty's Consul

'in Sarajevo, on June 28,1914. Well, I should be honest with you,

'the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, murdered in Sarajevo.

'Interesting, for sure, over breakfast,

'but forgotten by tea-time.'

Thank you.

'Or so I thought. As did everyone else I spoke to.

'But it was not forgotten. And I think it never will be.'

Shoulders back. Doubtless that is for me, Alec.

It is, sir. Well, let's take it into my office.

'That's my boss, Sir Eyre Crowe.'

So, what do we have?

'The Assistant Undersecretary at the Foreign Office.

'German born, educated in Berlin, but now,

'he is more British than any one of us.'

We||,we||.

'I have learned to watch Sir Eyre closely

'because everyone knows he is a brilliant man. Including himself.'

Do you know, I was about to predict something like this?

'This man had come to Britain at 17, a German speaker still,

'and sailed through his civil service examinations.'

I thought so. Rash, rash, rash.

'I think he likes me too.

'I am a scholarship boy, you see.

'A bit of an outsider myself.'

Look at this. The 28th was the Serb holy day.

What a time for an Austrian archduke to go to Sarajevo - It is rash, sir.

Yes. Rash.

So... Is this important or not? It is.

But important enough to disturb the Foreign Secretary. Right now?

Right now.

No.

CLOCK CHIMES

I believe you may want to think about that one again.

KNOCK ON DOOR Come.

I am leaving, Crowe, Is it urgent? It's Bosnia, Foreign Secretary.

I think that might wait.

Really? Come and walk me out then.

'That is Sir Edward Grey, the Liberal Foreign Secretary.

'As a statesman he was, we believed, trusted and admired.'

The Mesopotamia minute.

And I shall need the Persian text first thing tomorrow.

So who would want him dead? Many people.

Franz Ferdinand was an unpopular man and made enemies easily.

What does your stomach say? Croat? Muslim? I doubt it.Hungarian?

Hmm...possibly. More likely to be a Serb, then?

That is where I would place my money. Me too.

The question is, how will the Austrians take it?

You are going to give me a very brief

but wonderfully incisive answer.

The same way they take all their disappointments.

Hysterical condemnation, a baroque display of official grief

and a demand for financial compensation from?

Oh, from whomever they can find to blame.

We don't want it to be Serbia, do we?

No. It would be messy. It would...Yes?

Austria does have rather too many unruly Serbs within its own borders

to go picking a fight with a whole lot more outside.

So do we need to worry? We always need to do that.

But I should enjoy my supper? m-hmm.

BELL CHIMES

'You know, Sir Edward might also have been

'the unluckiest man in Britain.

'His wife had recently died after being thrown by a horse.'

How is your boy doing? Very well, sir.

I hope to see him back here before long.

'His elder brother had been eaten by a lion

'and his younger brother would be mauled to death by a buffalo.

'That is enough personal tragedy to finish a man,

'but Grey bore it, somehow.'

That dreadful man, Eyre Crowe, I'll wager he sees this

as an opportunity to have a go at the Germans.

Now, now, dear, Sir Edward has come here to relax, not to talk shop.

Oh, nonsense, he loves talking shop, you all do. Look at David over there.

Do you want him to recite Welsh poetry? No, you don't.

You want him to relate some tittle-tattle from the Treasury!

You can never distinguish between a dinner party and a cabinet meeting

and much as we would all welcome

your feminine wisdom in Cabinet, Margot, there is a difference!

More's the pity!

But at least tell me this, Sir Edward, is it Serbia or Servia? Oh!

B for "Barbarian", or V for "Villain"? I am at a loss.

Some of our clerks type it up as B, others V.The Times favours V.

Never. In the Manchester Guardian, it is B.

And the News of the World says, "Who the hell cares?"

About the spelling? About anything!

I have no firm allegiance to either, Margot.

Well, you should get these things straight.

A misspelt name is like a forgotten face. A grave insult.

Just the sort of thing men will go to war over. Quite so!

Those Serbs do appear to enjoy killing royalty, though.

We don't know it is the Serbs yet. Yes, but Margot is quite correct.

They are thrilled by violence, by the reality, not just the idea.

Winston's kind of people! LAUGHTER

Their own King Alexander

stripped and butchered in the Royal bedchamber. His wife, too.

Both of them thrown from open windows.

It is the land of the blood feud. A contested will, pistols are drawn.

An argument over a worthless plot of land, out come the knives.

And the embittered past, always there -

threatening to engorge the present.

Dear God, it sounds just like Ireland.

Please, can we NOT talk about that Here.

Of course, my dear, except to say,

that if I were Prime Minister instead of you,

I'd have had the leaders of the Ulster Volunteer Force shot by how.

I do believe she would!

And anyone else bent on using guns to overturn the decisions

of the British House of Commons. Ah! bloodshed...

The perfect solution to the Irish problem(!!??) But there will be blood.

You've all let it slide too far. The only question is, whose?

Thank you, Margot.

You have been keeping your cards close to your chest tonight,

Sir Edward.

So, please, give me something to take away.

Ireland is not my department, Margot.

Oh, I am not talking about that.

Home rule will be resisted by Ulster, and the Tory leadership,

and there will be a horrible civil war, that is obvious.

Now, I want to know about the Sarajevo assassination.

Should I be worried? Well, I don't see why.

You see, now I am worried. I can read you like a book.

Well, I do hope I am not so transparent to foreign diplomats.

So what is the Foreign Office plotting?

Plotting?

We all know you sit on a mountain of secrets.

Nobody is plotting anything, Margot, but you have my assurance,

if this country has anything to worry about

you will be the first to be told.

Edward.Thank you. Good night, Winston.

Yes, Edward.

Good night, David.

You are still up, William. That wasn't necessary.

It's me.Crowe?

I was let in by your men. What is it?

I was right, it was a Serb.

A young student, a fanatic, clearly, possibly an anarchist, I forget.

Principo, I think. The details all are here, such as they are.

I thought you would want to know before the morning papers.

Thank you, Crowe.

'The Archduke's assassin was Gavrilo Princip,

'a Bosnian Serb, and a nonentity,

'but a nonentity with a very powerful idea.

'Princip believed that Bosnia should be part of the Kingdom of Serbia

'and that it would take violence

'to get rid of the province's Austrian overlords,

'violence that he and his friends were willing to inflict.

'And the victim they chose was this man.

'The Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

'The heir to the Habsburg throne and the symbol of everything Princip

'hated about Austrian rule -

'its arrogance, its bullying, and...

'Well, the sheer fact that it regarded the Serbs in the province

'as an inferior race.

'And it was madness for a Habsburg to visit Sarajevo

'on this day of all days,

'for the 28th was the most important date in the Serb calendar.

'A day of holy mourning.

'It would be like an English king going, in battle dress,

'to Dublin on St Patrick's Day.

'An act of self destruction.

'Yet this fool might still have escaped.

'The young assassins had lost their nerve and all Princip had seen

'of the Archduke's car was a blur as it raced by.

'He had retreated to a little cafe

'and was no doubt contemplating what might have been.

'But then...

'by some perverse roll of the dice, the boy got a second chance.'

Back, back! back! is fine!

'The Archduke's driver had got lost in the city's old town

'and the car... Well, this makes me laugh and cry even now,

'the car was stuck right outside Princip's coffee house.'

DOGS BARK

ENGINE REVS

SHE GASPS

'These shots, from this boy, they were loud in Sarajevo.

I promise you, they were even louder in Berlin.

'For Austria was our ally and Franz Ferdinand was our friend.'

Good morning.

'For most of my colleagues in the Chancellery of the German Reich,

'it was as if we ourselves had been shot.

'There were very few like me in the Imperial Government.

'I count myself a liberal

'and liberalism is understood to be a kind of poison here.

'I favour making the Fatherland a true democracy, too.

'And that, should it ever become known,

'would be enough to see me cashiered.

'For this is a Prussian institution, still, not a German one.

'And here is the man at the head of it -

'the Imperial Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg.'

The Kaiser needs to know the title of the book,

not the chapter and verse. This one.

'Bethmann-Hollweg had spent a lifetime

'in the Prussian civil service.

'He was extremely competent

'But Bethrnann-Hollwegs special gift was for obedience.

'Obedience to the right man.

'Obedience to this man...

'..Kaiser Wilhelm II.

'You all know him.

'The eldest grandson of Queen Victoria.

'The withered left arm with which

'he was yanked into life by a panic-stricken midwife.

'The moustache pointing to heaven.

'He was often a puzzle to us, though.'

No crime greater.

There is no crime greater.

Regicide attacks the apex of civilised life.

When you kill a king

you kill the order in which people find all meaning.

Your Majesty... And these Serbs! I hate them!

We all do.

I know it's a sin to hate anybody and we ought not to do it.

But we cannot help hating THEM!

Tell them about the Browning.

The gun that was shot in Sarajevo. Yes.

Well.

We don't know for certain, but it might appear...

Ah! We know!

The bullet displays markings of the Royal Serbian arsenal.

That's what Vienna is telling us.

It wasn't a deluded boy who fired the gun,

it was the Serbian Government.

It is possible the gun was stolen.

It is fairly well known, I think,

that practically every farm in Serbia has become

a dump for pilfered weapons since the last Balkan war.

Good, Prince Lichnowsky.

That is what they will want us to think.

What does my Chancellor say?

In terms of Imperial policy, sir,

we first ought to see what line of thinking emerges from Vienna.

In the meantime, we might sound out the Russians,

for the obvious reason that they continue to see themselves

as the "protectors of the Serbian nation".

We know from experience that Russia gets nervous

whenever there is a disturbance in the Balkans...

Do you think that is an appropriate German response,

to wait and see how Russia reacts?

I didn't quite say that, Your Majesty. It's what you meant!

The Austrians! They're our problem. Isn't that so?

As soon as the corpse is buried, their courage will fail.

And if it fails this time, she is finished.

Every Serb, Croat, Polack, Transylvanian-Romanian-Negro-Gypsy

in the Habsburg Empire, any race with a grievance,

will pick up the gun and point it to the Austrian heart!

We all know this, don't we?

Well, don't we?

That is why, this time, we must give Vienna some backbone.

Serbia must learn to fear the Habsburgs again.Hear, hear.

We should let Austria know that

whatever she intends to do to the Serbs, we shall support her.

Won't they still procrastinate?

Not if Bethmann here tells them that our support is conditional

on their taking immediate and decisive action against the Serbs.

Military action?

Of course, military action! But it must be swift!

None of their usual coming and going.

Look at you!

You're all worried about Russia.

Where the hell is Moltke when you need him?

That was not a rhetorical question.

Well, General Moltke is still on vacation in Carlsbad, Your Majesty.

Oh. My Chief of Staff didn't think it worthwhile

to break his holiday over this, like the rest of us?

I have an appointment with him in two days' time, Your Majesty.

And for the rest of you.

Stop worrying about Russia.

If there's one man in the world

who detests regicide more than I do, it's the Tsar.

God knows, his family has seen enough king-killers in its time.

Prince Lichnowsky, if you will.

You will be returning to London soon?

Tomorrow night, Your Majesty.

Yes, yes, tomorrow, that's right.

You know, Max,

what really matters is what our English cousins will say.

They don't understand that, but we do.

Look at this.

Do you know where this oak comes from?

I suppose it... You're going to tell me it's from England.

Oh, better than that Max. Much better than that.

It's from the quarterdeck of Nelson's Victory.

It's a gift from my grandmother.

HE INHALES

You can still smell the salt.

Do you know that Lord Nelson used to get sea-sick?

I can get sea-sick, too. It's a damn shame for us sailors.

Do you think Sir Edward Grey will be in a flap over what has happened?

Oh, I have always found him to be very calm.

Easy to be, of course,

when you have the deck of cards arranged just as you want it.

That is true, sir.

It is.

And I'm pleased you think Edward Grey will be calm.

Austria needs to be loved by the other great powers.

She's gravely ill. We all know that.

BELL CHIMES

The best medicine is to get their soldiers

in some foreign capital, just for a short while.

The Serbs are wild animals.

But you can tame them, and then you can order them around.

They have a special talent for servility.

You're my friend, Max.

I picked you for London myself

because I wanted somebody there who would tell me the truth.

Not just what I want to hear.

Well, I believe Grey will look sympathetically

on any Austrian effort to punish the assassins.

But we should be aware that there is still something

in the British mind that revolts against overweening force.

Against the bully, if you will.

Especially in the Balkans.

It is still the land of Lord Byron, in that respect.

Yes, yes, of course.

They see a large nation oppress a small one and it raises a...

protective instinct, I suppose.

Unless Britain herself is the oppressor.

And then they call it paternalism!

There is some truth in that, sir.

The hypocrisy of the English, Max!

I don't know how you endure it.

'Two days later, the Kaiser's belligerent thoughts about Serbia,

'now written up into smooth prose,

'were handed to the Austrian ambassador in Berlin.

' "We will back you", it said, "in whatever you choose to do".

'We would all come to know the Kaiser's memorandum to Austria

'as "the blank cheque".

'But that phrase doesn't really do it justice. It implies a choice.

'Whereas we were expecting, even requiring the Austrians

'to open hostilities with Serbia.

'Of course, the old Emperor in Vienna, Franz Joseph,

'worked to his own stroke.

'Our blank cheque was meant to be cashed straight-away.

'There was little chance of that.

'Nothing happened.

Yeah, here's our problem.

About 30,000 German rifles have been landed at Larne,

County Antrim, in the past few months.

Now, we can get no help from the local authorities there,

once those weapons are in the hands of the Ulster Volunteers.

Because the Ulster Volunteers ARE the local authorities?

Our fairest chance is for me to put more ships into the Irish Sea

to try and intercept the gun running.

But, of course, it's the Nationalists, too, who...

What is it, Edward?

Ah, well, perhaps it's nothing.

Ah,we||, it transpires that the assassins -

the Sarajevo assassins - were trained in Belgrade.

The Black Hand?

Well, that's what they call themselves.

It's a pantomime name.

Not pantomime blood, unfortunately. Quite.

Evidently the Black Hand has warned the Serbian secret service,

whose leading officers seem to be terrorists in all but name.

I don't think the Serbian Prime Minister or his Cabinet

knew anything of Princip

or indeed how far this Black Hand stretches.Mm-hm.

The Austrians know all this, presumably?

According to our intercepts, they do.

Oh, well. That's good. Means they've absorbed the shock.

But still no official reaction from Vienna? Nothing.

So what do you think is happening?

Well, I imagine that the Austrian and Serb governments

have opened a private channel of communication

and are sorting the problem out between themselves.

But?

But?

I'm expecting you to say what you always say at this moment.

Yes?, yes?

What do I always say?

You wear what you imagine is your guileless face

and you tell me that where central Europe is concerned,

it is better to listen to what Berlin is saying than Vienna.

I do that? Mm. And then you say...

In fact, why don't you say it now while I get my things together?

No, I know the face. You don't have to do that.

Just give me the words.

I probably say something like, "Austria's reached the point

"where she can do nothing in her foreign policy

"without consulting Germany first." Mrn-hm.

But sometimes I go further than that

and say, "Austrian policy is made in Berlin."

As you know Good.

I'm glad you've got that off your chest.

And you know I have an appointment

on this beautiful summer's afternoon

with the Invincibles,

which not even the appearance of the German Navy in the Channel

would stop me from attending.

Very Francis Drake, Foreign Secretary.

You know, Crowe, you should really take up cricket.

It teaches one an awful lot about life.

Prince Lichnowsky loves it.

The cover drive! Ha-ha!

You know, that's the finest sight in cricket.

Oh, and in the whole field of sport, Edward?

Quite so. Good to see you back, Max.

I was sorry to miss your innings.

You mean you blinked? Oh, it was over that quickly?

Clean bowled, I'm afraid.

Hardly saw it.

Your eyes?

No! It was just a very fast ball.

Let's take a walk around the rope.

I've been reassured by the Austrian silence.

I think that's a good sign, don't you? | do.

It suggests a very responsible approach,

the Balkans being such a tinderbox.

I agree.

Ah! There's two there!

Let's just speculate for a moment, if you don't mind.

What do you think would happen if Austria decided to punish Serbia?

To punish her? Teach her a lesson.

Do you believe that Russia would come to the aid of the Serbs?

Well, she might.

And if that happened, would France have to follow Russia and...

Would Britain be bound to follow France? Yes.

Would Britain be bound to follow France? Yes, ah...

You're trying to get me to say that if Russia cries help,

a French gendarme and a British bobby will turn up on the doorstep.

You're teasing me, Edward.

I fear you are almost trying to tell me something, Max.

But you do have an understanding with France.

You know we do, just as we have one with Russia.

But nothing that binds you in a crisis? We are still speculating.

Yes, well, I have nothing to hide.

His Majesty's Government has an obligation to Parliament

not to incur secret liabilities abroad, you know that.

I often think we are a little more open on that score than you are.

I sometimes wonder what your Reichstag doesn't know.

I'll tell you this, no speculation now.

What happened last week much depends on Austria maintaining

its sense of proportion.

It's important that Serb sentiment isn't raised to a point where

Russia finds it impossible to stand aside.

APPLAUSE

Good shot.

Edwards, what about your eyes?

I told you, it was a very quick ball.

Yes, of course.

But the physician I mentioned in Nuremberg, the oculist,

he can see you in August when you take your vacation.

The whole thing would be very discreet.

Thank you, Max.There are some secrets we have to keep.

KNOCK AT DOOR

Oh!

Do you have any chalk with you?

This stuff doesn't seem to work properly.

I... I...Of course you don't.

It would be too strange if you did. Thank you for coming, Crowe.

I've taken the liberty of ordering up a rather superb Elbling (wine bottle).

He's odd, isn't he? Your boss.

He's never been to Germany in all his time as Foreign Secretary.

Not really. He hasn't been to Austria or Russia either.

He says it allows him to keep an open mind

and to play the ball, not the man, whatever that means.

Sporting metaphors will be the death of us one day.

I must confess I have never understood the British

obsession with sport.

Pursuing a rolling ball teaches you nothing apart from

how to pursue a rolling ball.

KNOCK AT DOOR

You should be in no doubt, Crowe, there are some very important

people who admire what you have done at the Foreign Office.

It can't have been easy to educate the old guard about Germany.

There was a terrible blind spot there.| am not popular.

I'll bet you're not.

No mandarin likes to be told they've been hoodwinked by a rogue.

Sir Edward though, is a fair man. There is no grudge there.

He is supremely fair.

He truly believes in the role of honour in diplomacy.

That's one thing a rogue can never forgive, outwit them by stealth

or by deceit and they will grin and bear it, they might even admire you.

But defeat them by acting honourably and they will burn for revenge.

That's something cricket doesn't teach you.

I think I'm correct in saying that I'm the only

member of the entire Government who has spent some time with the Kaiser.

|\/lost probably.He looks on war as a child looks on war.

He never got past the tin soldier stage, uniforms, naval signals,

regimental colours, of actual warfare he knows nothing and fears the worst.

So we should treat him like a child? In a manner of speaking, yes.

The only gesture he will understand from Britain is the raised hand.

That's what I think.

You must have told Sir Edward this yourself?

Hm...

Politics is a curious business, isn't it?

Who's strong? Who's weak and whatnot?

I think it's better it comes from someone

who doesn't constitute a threat...

CHURCH BELLS RING

'Where the hell is General Moltke when you need him?

'That's what the Kaiser had asked his men in Berlin.

'Well, here he was.'

General? 'In Carlsbad.'

Ah, a storm from Berlin!

'Taking the cure.'

You want a towel?

No... Thank you.

Someone get him one.

'Every bit the Chief of the General Staff...

.even out of uniform.

'And I will tell you something about this uniform.

'The Chief of Staff is not a hereditary position in Germany,

'but Moltke's uncle had worn it before him.

'And in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the uncle had led

'the German army that crushed France and occupied Paris...

'What did the nephew think of that?

'An example to follow? A burden to carry - both?'

The Kaiser thinks the Russians will stand back and let the Austrian army

enjoy the whore houses in Belgrade for a couple of weeks, doesn't he?

He wants a victory without paying a price.

Just a small victory — in a local war.

But it can't happen. The Russians aren't that stupid.

And let's stop pretending the Austrians are going to

solve our problems for us.

I agree.

If we really wish to change the balance of power in the Balkans

we ought to think about what kind of price we are prepared to pay.

The German army isn't just there for decoration.

So will you come back to Berlin?

If I do that, everything will speed up.

Precisely.

But I don't want things to speed up, I want them to slow down.

The longer things drag on with Serbia,

the more agitated the Russians will get.

With the Russians agitated,

the less belligerent we shall appear in the weeks to come.

I'm staying here for a while.

Harder!

Not so hard.

You can't send your ultimatum

because your soldiers are wanted at the harvest?

What happened to the idea of farmers doing the harvest?

MUFFLED LAUGHTER

So the middle of August -five weeks?

You will be ready in five weeks' time, brilliant!

Do you think there's any chance the Serbs might discover

what we're up to by then?

And the Russians?

Will they still be seething at the regicide in a month's time?

Or will they be Serbia's gallant protector again?

Do not sit down!

This is Austria's last chance.

So please, explain to your Emperor, using your own words, that unless

action is taken against Belgrade in the next week it will be too late.

Too late forever. You won't get another chance.

It's like taking care of a pony.

LAUGHTER

BELLS RING

'Quick to take offence, slow to act.

'Isn't that always the way with people who stand on their dignity?

'The same with nations.

'Since the Archduke's assassination a whole three weeks

'had passed before the Habsburg Emperor finally got round to

'composing his ultimatum to Serbia.

'But don't be fooled by this pathetic quadrille.

'Austria was in no haste, but weak and decadent as she was,

'her vindictiveness was...amazing.

'In Berlin we waited...

'We cursed the Austrians for their stupor.

'And then... This!'

It's inept. They might as well have just invaded.

This makes them look unreasonable.

'Unreasonable?

'What Austria wanted from Serbia was complete humiliation!

'In a police cell in faraway Sarajevo, the Austrians already had

'the Archduke's assassin Gavrilo Princip -

'he and his wretched comrades still dreaming of a greater Serbia.

'And the boys had confessed to receiving shooting lessons

'and a case of revolvers in Belgrade - but now Austria blamed

'the entire Serb nation for their operation and its list of demands

'on the Serbian Government was so extreme that, in meeting them,

'the Serbs would have completely surrendered their sovereignty.'

This is an astonishing ultimatum.

It is. So much for Fermanagh and Tyrone.

I wouldn't take your eyes off Ireland, gentlemen.

I'm happy to. Such a dreary bog.

I'd bet on an Irish war before I would a Balkan one... Sadly.

But the Austrian ultimatum has been purposely designed to be

rejected surely?

It probably has. But that doesn't mean it will be.

So, you have cause for hope?

I know Serbia is in no shape to fight a war.

Nor I understand is Russia.

Then they have no alternative but to negotiate.Mm.

Just keep them supplied with tea until Sir Edward's ready.

Oh, and don't...don't let them speak to each other.

How...how do I do that?

'We'd gathered the principal ambassadors at the Foreign Office.

'Prince Lichnowsky you know.

'Count Benckendorff - German name, but the ambassador for Russia.'

'And the Times reader is Count Mensdorff of Austria.

'They're all cousins. That's worth saying again...'

The three cousins are here.

Who would you like to see first?

Austria - I suppose.

Count Mensdorff, if you'd like to come this way.

What is this country - Servia?

My government, after a thorough police

investigation into the murder of our Archduke Franz Ferdinand

and his consort, have sifted through the accumulated evidence...

Yes, yes, what I want to know is what you think of this ultimatum.

"The Serb government should suppress any newspaper which creates

"anti-Austrian feeling.

"It must outlaw all pan-Serbian cultural societies.

"it must rewrite its school textbooks to eliminate any negative

"references to the Habsburg monarchy."

What an extraordinary thing to demand of an independent country.

Don't you agree?

It's as though you imagine Serbia to be a little

province in your own empire.

|don't think that there is that assumption.

Do you know what I said to Crowe here

when I read this thing two hours ago?

Oh, you said it was the most formidable document ever

addressed by one state to another.

Was that before or after I fell off my chair?

It's designed to be rejected, isn't it?

No, it is.

Let's not act like children today.

No government wishing to maintain its sovereignty

could agree to these terms.

There would be a revolution.

They'd be overthrown by their own people. Is that what you want?

We have no opinion on these...

Because if it is, you'll be dealing with someone far worse in Belgrade.

You'll get someone in charge who actually does hate you.

(Point five.)

Ah. Ah, yes. Point five.

How will that be achieved?

You demand the right for your own state officials to take

an active role in policing anti-Austrian feeling in Serbia.

There are many police forces

co-operating over national boundaries these days.

Give me strength.

You've also given us 48 hours -

well, that's 18 hours now - to use our influence

and help Serbia move towards some of these demands.

I have been instructed to ask you what position Britain would take

if a conflict would break out between Austria and Serbia.

There is a strong feeling in this country that

Serbia shouldn't be humiliated.

There's considerable admiration for her.

There is.

Is there?

But, you know, I would very happily let you

and the Serbs sort this mess out between the two of you.

But I can't do that because we both know there is a danger that Russia

will be drawn in and the British interest would become involved.

To join forces with Russia?

To mediate, you fool!

Diplomacy is a branch of manners. That man has none.

BENCKENDORFF:Russia is outraged by this, Sir Edward.

We have our dignity too.

And Serbia is a friend of ours.

We can't let her be put on the end of an Austrian chain.

I think that's a slightly fanciful image, Count Benckendorff.

My government hopes you will support us as our trusted ally.

It's quite true.

We have co-operated well in recent years, especially in Asia,

and that has been gratifying.

But Afghanistan is not the Balkans.

What are you saying?

I'm saying I'm just warning you that nobody in England

much cares about Serbia.

It would infuriate the British people to know that even

a single mule of ours

had been sacrificed for a country

most of them cannot place on a map.

That is outrageous.

I'm not saying it's commendable, I'm just outlining our difficulty.

Do you think this? He agrees with me.

Ah, the other thing, my dear Count.

Please.

I would urge Russia to steady its own horses.

I mean, Austria has put Serbia in an impossible position,

I appreciate that.

But it will be easier for me to play the mediator

if you are not already locked into their quarrel.

You do understand that?

I'll get Prince Lichnowsky.

I can't stay in here any longer. I need air.

Good idea. We can use the garden.

Actually, I'd like to see the prince alone.

You really didn't know?

I discovered its contents at exactly the same time as you did.

Because I thought you were testing me at the cricket.

No-one in Germany knew what was in the ultimatum,

but a few people did know there'd be one.| see.

And did Germany encourage Austria to be militant

in drawing up that ultimatum?

I can't answer that, Edward.

Because you don't know?

I can't answer that either.

Ah, what do you think the Kaiser will think when he reads it?

He's currently on holiday, isn't he?

Yes, he is. He's definitely on holiday. I believe he gets back...

Yeah, no matter.

But you say you were as ignorant of the actual contents

of the ultimatum as we were?

So, tell me, man to man, now you've seen it, what do you think?

What I think of it is probably what you think of it.

DOOR OPENS

I think the Germans are playing with us.

I realise that.

So why don't we send out a signal that we are not to be played with?

I meant I realise that's what you think.

What, I'm wrong?

There's this curious defect somewhere, Crowe.

In me?

In the way you operate.

You're always so eager to hold Germany

to an inappropriate moral standard.

Perhaps it comes from being an intellectual.

Or perhaps because I was born in Germany? I didn't say that.

You're thinking it.No, I'm not.

But like all abstract thinkers, you have your idee fixe,

your obsession. We can't afford obsessions.

We've developed a sophisticated diplomatic machine over the years.

It's not perfect but it keeps the peace.

Villains get caught in its moving parts,

those who don't abide by the rules get spat out.

Well, you know this.

At least you used to.

Since this morning, we have but one task -

to get the interested nations talking to each other.

Those with poisonous motives will be exposed, the machine will be

greased - by me, by others - and it will operate as it did before.

DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES

BELLS RING

You look well, Moltke.£20.

Carlsbad has worked its magic.

The Kaiser will be excited about the Austrian ultimatum.

Mmm, yes, I think he will be.

Because he won't know what it means.

Well, he's finally getting his little Balkan war.

Yes, he'll get that. He'll sit there contemplating that harmless

little acorn of his, but acorns have a habit of growing.

The little Balkan war will not remain a little Balkan war forever.

The problem with our Kaiser is

that he only ever plans one move ahead.

Well, he's absolutely certain that the Russians will not

come to the aid of Serbia.

And he's right, but they will mobilise their army

and that will be enough.

But why on earth would they do that?

I will leave them with no other choice.

BICYCLE BELL RINGS

It's not like you to sulk, Crowe.

I am not sulking.

And now you're offended.

No, I'm not.

You'll feel better tomorrow

when the hysteria subsides and the Balkans becomes boring again.

For that matter, oh, so will I.

And Germany?

Look, 20 minutes of sunshine left.

My favourite part of the day.

Good night.

Good night, Foreign Secretary.

Hm, early night for once, unlike you, I'm afraid.

Nice to see you're fitting in.

BELL CHIMES

Lovely evening.Sir.

Your Majesty.Your Majesty.

French neutrality.

Guaranteed.

How did you manage that?

I didn't, Your Majesty.

Well, the Kaiser thinks you did.

Did my cousin just dream it?

It is likely a mistake was made during my telephone conversation

with Prince Lichnowsky yesterday.

The German ambassador misheard you?

Possibly.

Or you misled him?

It hardly matters which, Your Majesty.

The point the Kaiser is now holding the wrong end of a very big stick.

One you handed to him.

Certainly, it has landed us all in a most awkward spot.

So, you would now like me to disabuse the Kaiser?

We can arrange for a telegram to be sent

to your cousin in the next 20 minutes.

Before that happens, let me just ask the obvious question.

We haven't, by some enormous stroke of luck, stumbled upon

a formula that would actually keep the peace in western Europe?

Not with the French being in complete ignorance of what is being offered.

And they..?

And they will never agree to neutrality

while their Russian ally is being threatened by Germany.

I see.

I will tell the Kaiser there's been a...misunderstanding.

"Misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?!"

What does that mean?

It's such a British explanation. You tell me what it means.

I...It's Edward Grey isn't it? He's a deceitful cur!

I forget sometimes that the English language doesn't distinguish

between 'duplicity' and 'diplomacy.'

"Misunderstanding?" What, "We've changed our minds?!"

I'm not sure that...Get me Moltke!

Sir, please...Get me Moltke!

I've been made a fool of.

And I am disgusted by that.

Shake my hand.

My good hand.

The English are liars.

Now you can do as you will.

'It was as if a barrier had silently fallen and suddenly

all Germany seemed braced for war.'

'What might stop it?'

'Well, the social democratic party might stop It.'

The Chancellor is running a little late this morning.

I could organise some refreshments. No, thank you.

'They had power in the Reichstag.

'If the socialist deputies decide to vote against

'the Imperial War Budget,

'there'll be no war because there'll be no money to fight one.'

Why don't you just arrest all these Socialists?

The Kaiser wouldn't mind.

The Kaiser has personally never met a socialist,

which is a miraculous thing in itself,

given that there are six million of them in this country.Even so.

Even so? Remove their leaders and the rest will do as you want them to do.

The days of running Germany

like a house of correction are over, Moltke.

These men outside are not our slaves.

They're the cream of their class, and, as inconceivable

as you may find it, they will vote for your war credits

if you reason with them.

I doubt it.

They fear and detest the Tsar, as all their kind do.

But they are not German patriots.

They will be when you tell them about the Cossacks.

Half of them are Jewish, after all.

Tell me, because I really don't understand.

Tell you what?

I know you don't want a war with France.

You could use these socialists to stop one. Why don't you?

Because the cure would be worse than the disease.

Can you imagine what would happen to Imperial Germany-

to me, not just you -

if word got out that the Socialist Democratic Party

had a veto on our ability to make war?

I hate them, every bit as much as you hate them.

More, probably, because I know them.

They are disloyal, they are selfish, and they are dangerous.

But a war will tame them.

Eventually, with some luck,

it will exterminate socialism in Germany forever.

Thank you so much for coming, gentlemen.

'Sunday. You know? The day of prayer.'

'I didn't have time to get to church that morning,

and to be honest, I don't think anyone else at the foreign office did either.'

Have you had breakfast, sir?

I don't think so.

Might I arrange some for you?

How long do you imagine the railway platforms are at Duern?

An awful lot of German troop trains appear to be leaving Cologne...

...and heading towards Duern.

It makes no sense.

Ambassador.

How many of your countrymen know that you secretly committed them

to defending the French channel ports from naval attack by Germany?

What you have there is, of course,

rather awkward for me at the present moment.

Yes, it is.

But it is in no sense a binding contract.

Just an informal arrangement we once had.

An informal arrangement we once had?

I cannot go one inch beyond what the Cabinet authorises.

If I do, I am gone,

and that document means nothing.

If you do not act on our confidential agreement,

you will have the German Navy

in the English Channel by the end of the week.

And you will have to explain to your people

why there is no French Navy there to oppose them.

In 20 minutes, there is a meeting of the Cabinet.

I will endeavour to describe.

Your obligation to France. ..the French predicament.

PHONE RINGS

They've just voted.

We have a majority...

...in favour of the war credits.

Madness.

They could have saved us.

John.Winston.Lord Morley.

What bombs are you young gentlemen going to throw at us today?

'When you think of the great Cabinet meetings of the 20th century,

'those that have been, those which are yet to come,

'can there ever have been one so fraught with meaning as this one?'

'Viscount Morley had first seen office in 1886

'under his hero William Gladstone.

'And because he opposed anything which strengthened the state

'against the individual, he opposed war.

'So did John Burns, on pacifist grounds.

'Burns, hero of the London Dock strike of '89,

'was the first working man ever to take a seat at the Cabinet table.

'Was he conscious of the fact?'

So, I told him, "I'm not the decorator, I am a Legislator."

'Was he conscious of anything else?

'And then there was David Lloyd George.

'Lloyd George was the prize.'

Did you get any sense this morning of which way David is moving?

None at all.

'A man who made his name opposing our last war

'against the Boers in South Africa.'

We want to play this carefully. We don't want to antagonise him.

'He was a politician who was loved by millions of people.'

We have, as you know, because I have never concealed this

from the Cabinet, certain obligations towards our French ally.

Now, these obligations do not commit us to war simply because

one of the parties to the agreement has taken up arms.

Should France, say, find itself in a war with Spain,

we would not be obliged to follow.

Do not treat us like fools, Sir Edward. You can say Germany.

Yes, yes, well, in this specific instance, of course

we're talking about Germany.

But my general point is that Parliament need not be fettered

by a clause in a treaty she had no hand in making.

And nor will it. Hear, hear.

But I will tell this Cabinet now, because now for the first time

it has become relevant, that our 1912 agreement with France...

1904.No, Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary

is referring to its renewal in 1912.

It was minuted at the time and mentioned in this room.

The 1912 renewal is a document I drew up with Monsieur Cambon,

which allowed us to divide certain operational responsibilities

between the French and Royal Navies.

In this agreement, the French were assigned the Mediterranean,

and we agreed to secure the Channel.

The advantage of this agreement is obvious, but the disadvantage,

as Monsieur Cambon is now very anxious to point out,

is that it leaves the Atlantic and Channel coasts of France

completely unprotected by battleships.

Or would do so if we failed to join in a war

that Germany was waging on France.

You mean the French are relying on us to protect their ports?

In a sense, yes.

There's no escaping it. It is an unfortunate situation.

Our agreement with France

has all the obligations of a formal alliance.

No, it doesn't! But it does, gentlemen.

Think of it from the point of honour.

Edward Grey's honour! Not ours!

I hope they are the same.

The French agreement has all the obligations of a formal alliance,

but none of its advantages. That is to say it contains no deterrent

to any power thinking of attacking France.

How could it? The agreement was secret.

If only the Germans had known about this promise of yours

to Ambassador Cambon! They probably do.

It's just us poor devils that have been kept in the dark.

Well, in fairness we've done well out of the agreement, too.

It certainly doesn't feel that way.

Oh, it has released us from having to patrol the Mediterranean, David.

No, the PM is right.

I could have asked for money for more dreadnoughts to patrol

the Mediterranean ourselves... Hear, hear.

...and not leave it to the French, but I know what John Burns here

would have said to that. I know your game.

You can't play it, though.

Since Sir Edward has been Foreign Secretary

he has assured Parliament on several occasions that this government

has incurred no firm commitments to France.

Indeed he has been proud, as we all have,

that Great Britain has avoided those entanglements with foreign powers

which could lead us, almost blind-folded, into war.

Now he appears to be telling us that we do not possess

the full liberty of our own decision-making after all,

and that is a very serious thing.

One could almost say he has misled us.

You have misled yourselves.

You all knew where the Anglo-French agreement was heading

but none of you opened a conversation around this table.

You did not want to know because you did not want the responsibility.

You left Sir Edward with all of that,

which might be called good judgment,

but to bemoan it now is a kind of cowardice.

How dare you!

Some of what Winston says may be true.

Even a blunderbuss does occasionally hit its target.

But that does not answer the wider question of why we should follow

France into a war brought about because her Russian allies

decided to mobilise its entire army against such feeble Austrian

opposition of all things. There's no sense of proportion there.

The boy bloody scouts could defeat the Austrian army.

That's a ridiculous comment.

No, well, John comes from Battersea

and they have some pretty ferocious boy scouts down there.

But Russia? Gentlemen, please, are we to be led into a war by the Tsar?

Let us not forget we are talking about the land of the pogrom

of the Siberian exile. It's rhetoric.

Rhetoric! 10 days ago, over 100 working men were cut down

on the streets of St Petersburg for the crime of joining a trade union.

Wouldn't you be better off in Trafalgar Square

with the Labour lot, howling this rot from an upturned soap box?

You should get back to the Tory party.

That is quite enough!

We are here to talk about the French predicament.

And what this government intends to do about it.

I will say this, Prime Minister- I will accept some of the Cabinet's

misgivings about the way the French negotiations have been handled...

...by me. They were done in good faith,

I assure you, but I will resign from the Cabinet this afternoon

if it prevents me from signalling Britain's intentions to protect

French ports in the event of a German naval attack on the Channel.

If that happens, this government will be at an end.

Why?

Because I, and I suspect some others, will resign with him.

And then you'll have the Tories in.

Rubbish. They'll too busy gunrunning to Ulster.

No, John, I assure you they will be able to form a government

and they will have no qualms about taking this country

into a European war. With conscription.

Those are the stakes, gentlemen.

Please think upon them when you answer this question.

Does Sir Edward have your authorisation to inform

Monsieur Cambon that we will honour our naval agreement with the French?

Those who say yes?

Those who say no?

And one abstention

Sir Edward, you may proceed.

In that case, Prime Minister,

I tender my resignation.

I implore you to reconsider, John.

I'm from the people, Edward, and I must speak for them

because their voices are never heard in the counsels of government.

That is why you should stay with us.

But the people don't want war.

That's why I'm having no part in taking us into one.

But most people aren't like you. They're more like Winston.

I don't think that's true.

But it's a pity if it is.

Well, it's held for now, Edward,

but if we push them any further the Cabinet will divide.I know.

And if that happens the nation will divide, too.

Is the Fatherland in danger?

It is.

Can we fight on two fronts? Easier than on one.

Say that again.

It is easier for us to fight on two fronts than on one.

This is what I hate in you, Moltke, your sophistry.

Keep it simple, Moltke, hm?

If we fight on one front against Russia, we must improvise

and that is always bad.

And all the time we will be watching over our shoulder for France.

If we fight on two fronts,

we enact a plan we have been working on for nine years.

The Schlieffen Plan.

Yes.

I thought the dust had settled on that.

We just keep blowing it away.

The Schlieffen Plan is always being updated, Your Majesty.

90% of our army will be thrown at France,

according to a strict timetable,

while the rest hold the Russians off, a relatively easy task

in the first six weeks of war.

Six weeks? Yes, six weeks.

The time it will take to knock out France.

Then everything will be turned towards Russia.

The trains have already been ordered.

Six weeks to defeat France?

Our scouting parties will first see Paris 40 days into the war.

Imagine those fortunate few.

I know what you're going to say next

You're planning to go through Belgium. Isn't that so?

A lovely idea, Your Majesty. Lovely?

Your Majesty, the great powers guarantee Belgium independence

not because we love each other, but because we fear each other.

That's natural, of course. Natural? It's also efficient.

Respecting Belgian neutrality is what keeps us and the French

from garrotting each other.

And I am custodian of a treaty with the King of Belgium.

Which, tragically, you shall have to break.

Either Belgium steps aside or she is annihilated.

Or, we keep our treaty with Belgium and expose Germany to annihilation.

Success alone will justify what we do.

How would we begin to explain our violation of Belgian independence?

Something has already been arranged on that.

Five days before, our ambassador in Brussels had received

a mysterious package from Berlin.

"Do not open this telegram", an accompanying note said,

"and only open it if, and when, you receive a further instruction

"from Berlin."

Can you get me a whiskey, please?

They have all been considerably lengthened in the last five years.

I'm sorry. Are you finishing a conversation with someone else

or starting one with me?

Those north-western German railway platforms

that you mentioned this morning. I mentioned those to you?

Well, you were thinking out loud, I was there.

So, I asked a friend at the Board of Trade to check his files.

The station platforms at Dueren are now half a mile long.

That's an awful lot of German holidaymakers suddenly very keen

to see the delights of Belgium.

Well Done.

Belgium.

Prepare for the deluge.

We have guaranteed Belgium's neutrality.

HE LAUGHS Well done.

In perpetuity with Britain and France.

Haven't you seen how things are working here?

That treaty is just a scrap of paper.

'The last ever battle in history to be fought in Belgium

'would be Waterloo.

'That was the epic idea contained in the treaty

'signed by the Great Powers in 1839.'

'But, evidently, it was not an idea that meant much to General Moltke.'

Now is the time!

Sir Edward. I know. Ah!

Yes, the German ambassador arrived some time ago.

And the French ambassador is also here.

Any more? I must have a moment with you also.

Later.

Sir Edward, forgive me for barging in like this, but...

Yes, indeed. Unexpected.

I do apologise, Prince Lichnowsky, but I feel I should

fulfil my appointment with the French ambassador.

You've done the right thing.

And what of a British expeditionary force?

Just two divisions on their way to France would have

a tremendous moral effect on our people.

Paul... And a deterrent effect on Germany too.

Yeah, I know that's not a serious suggestion.

But it is. Germany will declare war on France in the next 24 hours.

All France knows it.

The one thing that might stop them is you.

You credit Britain with too much power, Paul,

and it has made you irresponsible.

It is you who can stop it.

You alone.

The power is yours.

CLOCK TICKS

Whom did I say was next?

Sir, before you see Prince Lichnowsky,

you must see this. Please.

Are you sure?

I'm 100% sure about the recent lengthening

of the railway platforms, and I'm 95% sure that German troops

are heading towards the Belgian border.

But can we be certain they intend to cross into Belgium?

Might there not be an innocent explanation for all this activity?

Certainly there might. I can't think what it would be. But...

Well, why don't I just ask him?

Of course, after last night, we can't afford a second misunderstanding.

I take full responsibility for that.

Please don't. I rather think we egged each other on.

The damn telephone, too. The thing was invented to make fools of us.

It's not created difficulties for you? Hmm, none.

Yourself? I don't know.

No, I don't think so.

May I ask you an awkward question?

If I may reserve the option of pretending I didn't hear it.

What would you say

if I told you I have certain reasons to believe

that someone in Germany...

...someone in a high command, is contemplating an invasion of Belgium?

I would say that is impossible. We have a treaty with Belgium,

as you do.But Belgium is a back door to Paris.

Belgium is a sovereign country.

Mm-hmm. It is the back door to Paris. It is also a back door to Berlin.

Belgium makes us all honest.

It makes the French honest, it makes Germany honest.

To violate Belgian sovereignty would be madness.

We have received reports in the last 24 hours

of French troops along the Givet-Narnur road...

...and therefore,

in the light of this violation of your territory,

and of the 1839 treaty, we are obliged to request

of the Belgian government free access for our own troops

to engage the French.

You have 12 hours to respond.

This will be our "casus belli" (cause of war). It might be.

It's an immaculate one, too.

No oil reserves, no coaling stations, no gold fields.

Just poor little Belgium at the mercy of the German juggernaut.

Even the radicals will be filled with indignation.

If Germany invades.

The legal situation is not altogether clear.

We would probably still need an official request for assistance

from the Belgian government to avoid breaching the same treaty.

We cannot be more Belgian than the Belgians.

Surely they will ask for our help. I have no idea.

It's possible the Belgian army will simply fire a token shot

and then line the roads while the German army passes through.

"If we are to be crushed" said the Belgian King,

"let us be crushed gloriously."

That night his Government had resolved

"to repel every attack on its right."

And King Albert himself composed a personal appeal to the Kaiser,

translated by his German wife.

But there was no cry for help directed to London.

Not yet.

And I'll be honest with you.

Not one man here wanted it to come.

What would they say if they truly knew

what was happening to their world?

Tell me, Winston,

what does it take to lead a democracy into war?

I do not know. It's never been done before.

We would be the first, in Europe at any rate.

It means seeking the approval of those who are going to die in it,

I suppose. Our forebears never had that problem.

And we record their names now. Of those who fall, I mean.

It makes it so personal.

Have you told your parents?

I haven't had the time.

You ought to.

I'm their only son, Muriel.

They'd be horrified if they knew that I was thinking of volunteering.

But they'll have to know eventually. No, not necessarily.

It may still blow over.

It might not come to war.

So, Germany has requested free movement of her troops

across Belgium and so far, Belgium has refused to give it,

and has not asked for our assistance and may never do so.

So, we are where we were.

Except one power has signalled its intention

to break a venerable treaty.

What was that shrug for? Do these things not matter?

Words on paper, composed long ago.

Words have to mean something.

Otherwise, all that remains is the cannon.

And let us think of France.

I know you don't want to, but consider her position.

Cowardice won't save her now.

She is about to be overwhelmed by the might of the German Army,

whether she fights or not.

Words do have to mean something, of course they do.

But let us not pretend

that our own ill-chosen words would not have awesome consequences

for millions of our countrymen.

We can fill this room with noble thoughts about treaties honoured

and solemn promises kept.

We can flatter ourselves that we are the custodians of international law

and that Germany is a nation of brigands.

But think, think, gentlemen,

think of the consequences that would flow from such high-mindedness.

We have not fought a European war for several generations

and, necessarily, we've forgotten what it is like to do so,

and this makes us brave and frivolous.

How does an army of several million men

defeat another army of several million men

with all the metal they have these days at their disposal?

None of us knows, not even the generals, although they pretend to.

If the European nations come to blows tonight,

or in the next few days,

I foresee a calamity lasting years.

It will be a war without victors,

which is the worst war imaginable,

because the immense expense of blood will, in the end, be for nothing.

HE SIGHS

Edward?

That's why I understand the temptation of neutrality.

We're human beings and therefore, the temptation's almost irresistible.

But our friend here talks as though there will be no calamity

if we stood aside and let Belgian pleas for help,

should they come, fall on deaf ears.

Well...

what about the political calamity?

And what about the moral calamity? What would happen to our good name?

Who would ever trust us again?

We would have sacrificed every friend and every interest

simply to preserve ourselves.

And what would lay before us when that European war had ended?

A scarred continent, to be sure,

with all the human destruction our friend has foretold -

not Englishmen, it is true, but our neighbours.

And this too -

we would face a continent under the dominion of a solitary power.

And that a military one, dedicated to blood and iron.

We have an obligation to France,

unwritten perhaps,

also to Belgium - very much written.

Does that not mean something?

Let every man here search his own heart and decide for himself

whether he feels the pull of those obligations.

I do.

I will presently go to the House of Commons

and make the case for supporting our allies if it should come to war.

Then I should resign.

What can I expect if I stay on?

Everlasting quarrels with Winston, certainly,

but also, with respect...

...I would be putting my name to a policy that is fundamentally wrong.

It's sad, but...

...this government is folding.

Now I have four resignations.

Beauchamp and Simon joined John Burns earlier this morning.

David Lloyd George.

What is your policy?

I would impress on Germany the importance of Belgian neutrality.

And if Germany is not impressed?

And Belgium fails to ask for our help,

would you commit to war for the sake of France?

No.

You'll need half an hour to yourself, Edward?Uh?

Before you address the House. Ah, yes, I would appreciate that.

Sir Edward! Sir Edward!

I have just been instructed by my government to inform you

that the German fleet will not operate in the English Channel

if Britain remains neutral.

Isn't that encouraging?

Is there not something there for you?

Not really.

What if Germany were to abide by her treaty obligations to Belgium?

Would Britain then agree to neutrality?

No.No? !

Max, I have no idea if you were authorised to ask that question,

I rather suspect you were not,

but even if you were, I would still be required to say, "No".

But that is irrational.

My dear friend, I rather think it is you

who is no longer seeing things clearly.

I'm offering you a formula...to save us.

You're asking Britain to reward Germany

with a free hand against France

merely for fulfilling its legal and moral obligations to Belgium.

I cannot do that.

Anyway, how do I know you will abide by your agreement?

I...No, no, no, not you - your chiefs.

They could still march through Belgium tomorrow

and wreck Britain's relations with France forever

by publishing the text of some agreement struck between you and me.

Then, for God's sake, state the conditions

under which Britain will remain neutral.

I will not do that either.

Please help me. There must be something you can insist on.

That you do not go to war with France.

Germany will declare war on France this afternoon.

Will you go through Belgium?

I don't know.

Perhaps a corner will be clipped, I don't know.

You'll excuse me.

I have an address to make to the House of Commons.

'Soon after Grey's address, Germany declared war on France.

'Some pretext was invented -

'a French aerial attack on Nuremberg, I think.

'It wasn't true - certainly, nobody in Nuremberg saw it.'

Sir, I've the latest despatches from Berlin and Brussels.

Come here for a moment, and look at this.

I've always loved this sight on a summer's evening.

I find it inexpressibly consoling.

And I want it to last forever.

You'll be told there isn't a better time to be young

and that you are the envy of those too old to fight.

Perhaps that's true.

Perhaps.

You know, the lamps are going out all over Europe.

We may not see them lit again in our lifetime.

'By mid-morning, our 34th Brigade

'had crossed the border into Belgium.'

HE SHOUTS

GUNFIRE

'And King Albert of Belgium asked his parliament,

"'Are we still committed to our independence?"

' "Yes, yes!", came the reply.'

'The King of the Belgians then made his appeal

'to all the guarantors of Belgian neutrality.'

These are the translations, two copies of each, please, Muriel.

Is this it, do you think?

'We heard it at midday.'

David.

Prime Minister.

I do not think that we are prepared for war.

The Governor of the Bank of England assures me that we will be

very quickly bankrupt as a nation if we take up arms against Germany.

And although he exaggerates somewhat, he is undoubtedly correct

in saying that, as a mercantile nation,

we shall suffer more than most

because of the agonies to international trade.

I believe also there are some people in this country,

possibly even around this table,

who will have been delighted by the Kaiser's decision to violate

Belgian sovereignty this morning for the simple reason

that it coats their own selfish enthusiasm

for war with a moral gloss.

However...

...I differ from my now departed colleagues.

I am genuinely frightened by the prospect of a rampant Germany

sitting in Brussels and Paris and on the Channel coast.

Do I care for Belgium?

I fear for her, certainly.

She is a small nation like my own -

and she has rights, which cannot be eradicated

just because the eradicator is strong.

Do I care for the principle

that international law ought to mean something?

Yes, I do.

There ought to be more of it, not less.

The German invasion of Belgium has changed everything for me.

The only sensible thing now is for this government

to send an ultimatum to the aggressors in Berlin.

Is there anyone who disagrees with that last sentence?

Well, there will be no opposition from the Conservatives or the Irish

I very much hope there will no opposition from our own people.

Just one thing, Prime Minister. Yes.

Do you not think we ought to consult the Dominion governments

before we issue an ultimatum? The Australians and the Canadians

will have their own thoughts on this, I'm quite certain.

There is no constitutional need.

They will see it as we see it.

'You did the right thing.'

None of us will survive this war.

Politically, I mean.

'Within the hour, the British government had drafted its ultimatum

'to the Kaiser demanding the complete withdrawal

'of all German troops from Belgium by midnight.'

'That was midnight, Berlin time.

'But the mind of our government was made up.'

What we are doing to Belgium, we have been forced to do.

Necessity knows no law.

Good - necessity knows no law. That is right.

If we think like magistrates, we are dead.

The British think like magistrates.

Legalism, not justice.

They care nothing for Belgium or the treaty.

They only care for power.

And how they hate it when we show our appetite to be equal with theirs.

What do you say, Bethmann?

Our army must hack its way through Belgium.

'I believe it was Rousseau who said,

"'It is a sort of folly to remain wise

in the midst of those who are mad." '

'And on those 37 days, Germany was short of that kind of folly.'

Can you take it next door?

I hear you've decided to join the Royal Field Artillery.

I have, sir.

I think I'll be losing a lot of my young men.

Thank you.

Have you received orders to report to your regiment yet?

Not yet, sir.

But you will.

I expect so, sir, yes.

It's not a bad life, the soldiering life.

Yes, sir.

But I don't think you'll fall in love with it.

I've never seen myself as a soldier, like some boys do.

I always hoped that, under my stewardship,

we would see Germany turn into a state with an army,

rather than the other way around.

The Prime Minister is in there.

And Winston...Of course.

You carry this burden alone.

Yes.

You once criticised me for that.

"Too many secrets," you said.

It's how the game is played, I understand that.

But it is too punishing for one man.

All your successes - we know virtually nothing about,

they must remain private. Otherwise, they are not successes at all.

But your failures...

they become common property, they belong to the world.

There is surely no hiding place from all the scorn

and vilification that follow.

I suppose that there comes a time in a war diplomacy

when nothing is left standing except principle?

CLOCK TICKS

CLOCK CHIMES

Perhaps I should have travelled more.

Officially, you mean?

Officially, personally, both.

I've never once set foot in Germany.

I don't think that matters.

I could have taken my own measure of the place.

That's what the Foreign Office is for.

The world dissected by experts in every field,

its vital organs displayed and explained.

Now, all those organs are failing.

What will it be like, do you think?

I haven't given it much thought.

Not the military side of things.

Well, you've lacked the time.

I've lacked the experience too.

We all lack that.

Except Winston.

Did he ever told you about his charge with the 21st Lancers

at the Battle of Orndurman?

I think he did tell me about it once.

What?

I think perhaps this war will be a little different.

CLOCK CHIMES THE HOUR

'Ours became the war of the spade.

'The first trenches were dug in the Marne Valley

'at the end of August 1914.'

CLOCK KEEPS CHIMING

There was no '40-day war'.

No triumphant gallop to Paris,

just a murderous

and terrifying stalemate.

And, of course, the war spread.

It spread to the Middle East,

to Asia, to Africa - and beyond.

It became the First World War.

By 1918, four Empires were in ruins

and four royal dynasties ended.

The face of our continent was changed by revolution.

And death, it seemed, could never claim too many.

It was always hungry for more.

'10 million died.'

It's too many for the mind to conceive.

Every single one of them mourned by people who loved them

and missed them,

with grief consuming half the world.

Here's a funny thing.

Austria and Russia,

whose quarrel in the Balkans had taken everybody else to the edge,

they were the last to declare war on each other.

And when they did...

...nobody really noticed.

(moviesbyrizzo HD upload and subtitle extraction)