| There
had long been a pact among the great powers that in the
event of war Belgium neutrality would be honored.
Germany's
plan for fighting a two-front war against France and Russia
included an invasion of France through Belgium. Disregarding
the treaty, Germany gave Belgium an ultimatum - allow German
soldiers to pass through Belgium and escape unharmed, or
resist and face the devastation of the huge German army. |
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Germany
dismissed the treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality as
"a scrap of paper."
Sir
E. Goschen, the British Ambassador in Berlin, called on
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg for a final interview. Goschen's
report to Sir Edward Grey indicates the origin of the phrase,
"a scrap of paper," which had an important effect
on world public opinion. "His Excellency at once began
a harangue which lasted for about 20 minutes. He said the
step taken by His Majesty's Government was terrible to a
degree, just for a word "neutrality", a word which
in wartime had so often been disregarded - just for a scrap
of paper, Great Britain was going to make war on a kindred
nation who desired nothing better than to be friends with
her. All his efforts in that direction had been rendered
useless by this last terrible step, and the policy to which,
as I knew, he had devoted himself since his accession to
office, had tumbled down like a house of cards................"
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