All language subtitles for 37 Days s01e03.eg

37 Days
Part 3 of 3

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"One Long Weekend"

-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.

SUNDAY, 2ND AUGUST

72 HOURS TO WAR

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.

For four weeks now,

ever since the assassination
of Franz Ferdinand...

we, in Europe, have been living
with the Balkan crisis.

Serbia and its Russian ally

raged against Austria
and its German one.

Now, "When isn't the Balkans
in crisis?" you might think.

-It's Bosnia, Foreign Secretary.
-I think that might wait.

Rain is wet,

the sun dries you out,

and the Balkans is a trouble spot.

These are facts of nature.

In Berlin at first,

our Kaiser had been keen to stoke
the fires in the Balkans.

He thought this might give

our Russian neighbour
a nasty burn.

A quick, clean war,

over before the Russians
know it's even begun!

So, it took the special genius
of General Moltke

to turn a local conflict
into an international crisis.

Moltke wasn't interested
in a small war in the Balkans.

Can't be a powerful Russia

and a powerful Germany
on the same continent.

One has to submit!

He wanted something much bigger.

He wants to declare war on France.

And that was when things
began to change in London.

No longer were we bystanders.

We had an alliance with France.

Are you going to wait until France
is violated before you act?

The Cabinet had no appetite
for war, though,

and told the Foreign Secretary
to make sure

the Balkan crisis
didn't spread to the West.

And, so,
Sir Edward used the telephone

to broker some kind of agreement
with the German ambassador.

Sir Edward?

But...
telephones, you know?

Things get scrambled, don't they?
And, therefore, last night...

To England.

..the Kaiser gratefully accepted
a peace plan from London

that didn't actually exist.

Hence the misunderstanding.

I won't deny it, there was a little
bit of panic here

in the Foreign Office,

not least because the
morning papers were reporting

that a torrent of capital and gold
had flowed out of the country

over the last few days.

Chin up, Muriel.

Come on, everyone.
Busy day.

And that's why the Governor
of the Bank of England,

Sir Walter Cunliffe...

-Crowe.
-Good to see you again.

..along with Lloyd George,
the Chancellor,

had come to the Foreign Office
to persuade Sir Edward

that it would be fatal
to join the fray.

It's important the Foreign Secretary
knows that if he gets us involved

in a continental war,
it will wreck the British economy.

There will be a degree of
commercial disruption, of course.

-The economy will be wrecked.
-That's your opinion.

It's the opinion of the Bank of
England. And the whole of the City.

There, David.
The whole of the City!

Over £1 million worth of gold
left London on Thursday!

To be fair, Walter,

that's the German financial
houses repatriating their capital.

But we are vulnerable to that.

This is the whole point,
we are a trading nation.

-We are?
-Our best policy

would be to let the French and
Germans go to war, if they need to.

We could stay out

and be the honest broker,
literally.

You want us to be the honest broker?

You're making it sound like a crime,
Sir Edward.

Do you know Eyre Crowe here?
Yes, of course you do.

So you know he's an exceptionally
knowledgeable fellow,

and he tells me that in the entire
history of mankind,

there is not a single instance

where financiers have not panicked

at the prospect of a war.
Isn't that so, Crowe?

The Peloponnesian War...

Yes, apart from
the Peloponnesian War.

So, you see, Sir Walter,
I have this odd situation.

Up in Trafalgar Square right now,

I'm being told by Keir
Hardie and the Socialists

that a European war
would mark the end of civilisation.

And here...

I have a great banker
of Threadneedle Street

-telling me the same thing.
-I didn't mention civilisation.

True enough, you didn't.

I suppose that's where the Socialists
have the moral edge.

But I am not a hopeless
dreamer like they are,

so, excuse me
if I take offence at that.

I am giving you some
practical common sense.

So,
you'd like me to announce

to the world that Great Britain
can't afford to fight?

That's your common sense?

-Now you're twisting...
-Nothing would more readily put an end

to our great power status
than me saying that.

Have you ever seen Keir Hardie?

Are you asking me
because I'm Scottish?

No, I saw him once
when I was a wee boy.

My father took me to see him
speak in Kirkcudbright.

Is your father a socialist?

You'll have to ask him yourself,
Muriel.

Of course, in Britain,

the socialist movement
was very small, still.

But that wasn't true
here in Germany.

Here they counted.

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,
well, 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.

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.

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.

What are you going to David?

You're the most
important man amongst us.

No, you are.

The millions of our fellow countrymen
who wait to hear

what David Lloyd George says before
they make up their own minds.

-I don't yet know.
-You will have to decide,

and quickly.

I'm not sure I have the stomach
for another peace campaign.

No-one will ask you to mount
those platforms again.

You did your bit over South Africa,

let the younger men take up
the burden this time.

But I tell you this, it will be a
glorious thing for them

to know that Lloyd
George is on their side.

We have been mislead, David.
The whole country has.

It certainly looks that way.

Grey has run this
nation's foreign policy

without a single
reference to parliament,

and now he expects us to
pull his chestnuts out of the fire.

I will likely resign
from the government...

if we enter this war.

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.

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.

Yes, the German ambassador
arrived some time ago.

And the French ambassador
is also here.

-Any more?
-And 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.

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?
-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.

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.

2nd AUGUST

2nd AUGUST 8pm

BELGIAN GOVERNMENT, BRUSSELS

We have received reports
in the last 24 hours

of French troops
along the Givet-Namur 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.
-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.

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY

48 HOURS TO WAR

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.

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?

-Before you address the House.
-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.

TUESDAY 4th AUGUST

17 HOURS TO WAR

By mid-morning,
our 34th Brigade

had crossed the border
into Belgium.

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 Nationalists,

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.

5 HOURS TO WAR

4 HOURS TO WAR

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?

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 Omdurman?

I think he did tell me
about it once.

What?

I think perhaps this war
will be a little different.

Ours became the war of the spade.

The first trenches were dug
in the Marne Valley

at the end of August 1914.

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.

General Helmut von Moltke
resigned

after failing to take Paris
in the Autumn of 1914.

Winston Churchill was removec
as First Lord of the Admiralty

in 1915, following the
disastrous Battle of Gallipoli.

Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg
was also forced to resign

following a Reichstag revolt.

Sir Eyre Crowe remained
at the Foreign Office

and represented Great Britain
at Paris Peace Conference

of 1919.

Prince Max Lichnowsky
blamed his oun Government

for leading Europe to war.

He was expelled from the
Prussian House of Lords.

David Lloyd George
replaced Asquith

as Prime Minister in 1916.

Kaiser Wilhelm II
was deposed in 1918.

Sir Edward Grey left
the House of Commons

and became Ambassador
to the United States.

He died in 1933.

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