August 2

Corporal Jules-Andre Peugeot

German military patrols cross the French frontier for the first time since 1871. At Joncherey, Corporal Jules-Andre Peugeot becomes the first French victim of the war, a war which was to claim more than a million more French lives.

In Britain, full naval mobilisation was put into effect. Assurances were given to France that if German warships attacked French shipping in the North Sea or the English Channel, the Royal Navy would assist.

At 7pm, Germany delivered a 12 hour ultimatum to Belgium insisting that German troops must be given free passage through Belgium. This was contrary to the Treaty of London (1839) where the Great Powers (Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia) agreed that Belgium should be an independent and perpetually neutral country.