Men Who March Away

Exactly a century ago, August 1914, it was a beautiful Bank Holiday weekend. However rumours of impending war were the only topic of conversation and it seemed the whole country was holding its breath. On August 4^th the British government sent the German government a note demanding that they respect Belgium’s neutrality. The note contained an ultimatum stating that the British would have to receive such an undertaking from the Germans by 11:00pm that evening.

Some seven hours before the deadline expired, the German Army crossed the Belgian border.

At 11:00pm, Britain declared war on Germany.

Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Minister, was quoted as saying at the time: “the lights are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

On the Downs above Newhaven, Sergeant Alfred Edward Cook (Uncle Ted) and the 4^th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment were enjoying their annual summer camp when news reached them that war had been declared. The very next day, August 5^th, Ted’s Army Service Record shows that he was now on full embodied service as a sergeant with the 1/4^th Royal Sussex Regiment.

In Crawley the news of the outbreak of war was quickly followed with the news that 60 reservists Territorials and Yeomanry from Crawley and the surrounding district had been called up for duty.

The following weekend the Crawley Town Band would play in the Middle and Lower Squares. Among the many patriotic songs that were played were renditions of the Russian, French and English National Anthems.

The August issue of the West Crawley (St Peters) Parish Magazine carried the following message: “The tragedy of war lies heavy upon all our hearts: Not the penalty of blood and treasure only or chiefly, but the failure of Christian civilisation to avert war. It is a call to prayer; A signal opportunity for the forces of Christ’s Church to prevail at the Throne of Grace. Human Statesmanship has erred or failed, whether in provoking or averting war and the issues are in the hands of God. Whatever part our own country has to take the first real work of assistance which lies waiting to be done is the work of intercession. The true patriot now is the man of prayer.”

The abyss was yawning wide…

Tour de France - Symbol of Freedom

Will there be a more enduring symbol of freedom than the Tour de France this summer? One hundred years ago between June 28^th and July 26^th 1914 the twelfth Tour was taking place. A week after it had finished Germany had invaded Belgium and declared war on France, making the 1914 Tour the last for five years.

 

Former Tour de France champions Francois Faber, Lucien Petit-Breton and Octave Lapize would all die in the conflict.

Happily the winner of the 1914 Tour Philippe Thys would survive and win again in 1920.

How marvellous it was this last week to see the Tour enjoying the freedom to wend its way through the battlefields.

The Spark

One hundred years ago the world was teetering on the brink of war.

Crawley and the rest of England were basking in an extraordinarily hot summer. The Cook family building business was thriving and uncle Ted was busy making plans for the 4^th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiments annual summer camp. On June 27^th down in Brighton the school First Eleven slipped to a defeat V All Saints Peckham at Withdean. Eddie Cook, despite his promise, failed with both the bat and the ball.

The very next day the event that would change his and millions of other peoples lives forever took place hundreds of miles away in distant Sarajevo. At approximately 11:15am, June 28^th 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip.

Princip was a member of “Young Bosnia” and part of a group of assassins organised by the “Black Hand,” a Serbian military secret society intent on creating greater Serbia through the annexation of the South Slav populated territory held by Austria-Hungary.

The group had already tried once that morning to attack the Archduke and his wife by throwing a grenade at their passing car, which had hit the bonnet and detonated far behind them. Whilst the Royal Couple were travelling to the hospital to see those who had been injured by the blast, Princip, who had given up the task, was eating a sandwich when he spotted the Archduke’s car backing up after taking a wrong turning. He simply walked up to the car and shot them both. Sophie died almost instantly and the Archduke was dead by the time the car arrived at the hospital.

For many years the boiling pot of European politics had simmered away in the background of people’s everyday lives. Now it was to explode in the most cataclysmic fashion possible. A Europe wide culture of militarism and nationalism, a complicated system of alliances and an arms race that was common knowledge would almost certainly have tipped the world into war eventually.

But this was the spark.