August 4: The lamps are going out all over Europe...

King George V

Germany declares war on Belgium and German troops being their attack on the Liege forts.

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe is appointed in command of the Home Fleets.

Britain's ultimatum to Germany expires resulting in Britain's declaration of war.

In his memoirs, Sir Edward Grey recalls, "That evening some of us sat with the Prime Minister in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street. I was there in touch with the Foreign Office to certify that no satisfactory reply had come from Berlin, though this was, after all that had happened, a forgeone conclusion and matter of form. Churchill also was among those present, ready at the appointed hour to send out the war order, that the fleet were expecting. Midnight came. We were at war."

At the Admiralty, Winston Churchill waited as the minutes passed slowly. He later wrote, "It was 11 o'clock at night - 12 by German time - when the ultimatum expired. The windows of the Admiralty were thrown wide open in the warm night air. Under the roof from which Nelson had received his orders were gathered a small group of Admirals and Captains and a cluster of clerks, pencil in hand, waiting. Along the Mall from the direction of the Palace the sound of an immense concourse singing 'God save the King' floated in. On this deep wave there broke the chimes of Big Ben; and, as the first stroke of the hour boomed out, a rustle of movement swept across the room. The war telegram, which meant 'Commence hostilities against Germany', was flashed to the ships and establishments under the White Ensign all over the world."

Mobilisation of the army begins. Reserves and Territorials are called up.

The Government takes control of the railways. Henceforth the railways are operated by the Railway Executive Committee - a committee of railway managers - with the Government guaranteeing the railway companies' 1913 dividends. During the war, the Government paid £95 million to the railways, although this traffic would have cost £100 million at pre-war rates.

Sir Edward Grey

Regarding Sir Edward Grey's famous comment about the lamps going out, he recalled, "A friend came to see me on one of the evenings of the last week - he thinks it was on Monday, August 3. We were standing at a window of my room in the Foreign Office. It was getting dusk, and the lamps were being lit in the space below on which we were looking. My friend recalls that I remarked on this with the words: "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time."