"Aide Mémoire" from August 4, 1914, with the protest of the English government against a possible violation of Belgian neutrality by the German Army Delivered to the German government by the British Ambassador to Berlin, Sir Edward Goschen (1847 - 1924), with a handwritten note by Gottlieb von Jagow regarding the German reply. Double sheet with blind-stamped Royal British coat of arms and the handwritten pagination "62" and "63", resp. The first and third page with typewritten protest in English, "... His Majesty's Government are also informed that a Note has been delivered to the Belgian Government by the German Government proposing friendly neutrality entailing free passage through Belgian territory ... threatening to treat Belgium as an enemy in case of refusal... Sir Edward Grey states that His Majesty's Government are bound to protest against this violation of a Treaty (editor's note: the Law of Nations) to which Germany is a party in common with themselves ... Sir Edward Goschen is instructed to ask for an immediate reply.". The first page with a handwritten acknowledgement of receipt from the State Secretary in the Foreign Office, Gottlieb von Jagow, (tr.) "A15930 pr. 4. August pm - by Sir E. Goschen - reviewed this afternoon 4/8 J.", also "... of H. M. through Gen. Staff 5/8" and a number of other handwritten abbreviations confirming the information, signed by generals and politicians and dated "5/8". On the second page a stamp reading "Notice taken. Berlin, 5.8.1914. Chief of the General Staff of H.M.'s Army" with ink signature "von Fabeck Lieutenant Colonel", below the handwritten ink note from Gottlieb von Jagow (tr.) "I replied to Sir E. Goschen that we were forced to violate Belgian neutrality out of self-defence and once more repeated all assurances given in London. Jagow.". Gottlieb von Jagow (1863 - 1935), diplomat, envoy and Ambassador to Luxemburg and Italy, became State Secretary in the Foreign Office in 1913 and advisor of Emperor Wilhelm II. He strove to maintain good Anglo-German relations and therefore regarded the Schlieffen Plan very sceptically, as he considered it to inevitably lead to a British involvement in the war on the side of France and Belgium. Sir Edward Grey (1862 - 1933), British Foreign Secretary from 1905 - 1916, is responsible for the end of Britain's "splendid isolation" and was the initiator of the "entente cordiale" and the Anglo-Russian agreement from 1908. In the conference of foreign secretaries in London 1913, he succeeded to establish a temporal peace agreement for the Balkan region. When tensions between the European powers rose in the wake of the July Crisis 1914, he however failed to settle the conflicts by means of diplomacy. Sir Edward Goschen (1847 - 1824), British diplomat, Ambassador to Belgrade, Copenhagen, Vienna and Berlin (as of 1908). On the evening of August 4, 1914, Reich Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg confided to Goschen that he couldn't comprehend why the United Kingdom would want to go to war over "a scrap of paper" (the warrant of Belgian sovereignty from 1831). It is said that at the end of the conversation they fell in each others arms, weeping over the imminent war. One day after the declaration of war against Russia and the order for the general mobilisation, the German Empire made a final request on August 2, 1914, demanding that Belgium grant the German army free passage. The Belgian refusal on August 3, 1914 was followed by a British intervention, which remained unheard, however, as Germany declared war on France on the afternoon of the same day. On August 4, German troops entered Belgium. This act was followed by the end of diplomatic relations to the United Kingdom, a development synonymous with a declaration of war. Historically unique and significant document, which conveys a profound impression of the events occurring on the eve of World War I, especially by means of the meticulously (typical for German bureaucracy) written marginal notes that imply the frantic moments and the rushing incidents then. Condition: II