Dimming of the Day

74 Chapter 7 August 1914 Saturday 1 August was the first day of the bank holiday weekend. Most of the traditional ‘holiday’ matches then started on the Monday. Cole & Postgate 27 suggest the air of unreality about the outbreak of war was added to by the fact that the vital events took place over a bank holiday weekend: the Daily Mail might be shouting for war, but then it did, and the man in the street did not know the ramifications of the Entente Cordiale and the rather vague promises that had been made about Belgian neutrality. Russia was now mobilising completely and Germany was under martial law (except for Bavaria, still regarded as a quasi-independent kingdom). Holland and Belgium were mobilising, and France heading that way. The Times thought there was still some faint hope that disaster would be averted. At this point, with France in something of a dither, Jean Jaurés, probably France’s or even Europe’s best-known and most respected politician of the left, was murdered as he sat at a café in Montmartre. It all added to the feeling that things were out of control. There seemed to be movement on all the potential war fronts: every border reported troop movements. In America, the sailing of German transatlantic liners was suspended, effectively impounding the Vaterland and the Amerika , both of which would end up with new names in American hands. The Foreign Office suggested that continental travel for Britons might be inconvenienced, though they anticipated no danger. The King had sent messages to the Tsar and the Kaiser (all being family business). In the city all was chaos – the bank rate doubled from 4 to 8% and stock exchange business was paralysed. The Times was preparing a special Sunday edition in case of significant news. The Daily Express came over all high-minded, In view of the gravity of the situation the Express has decided not to publish any news affecting British naval and military movements and preparations which might in the slightest degree cause inconvenience to the authorities. Only purely official information issued by the Admiralty and the War Office will find room in these columns while the 27 The Common People 1746-1938 , Methuen, 1938, (p 491)