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Western Mail, Thursday, 2 January 1930, p. 2
That "Scrap of Paper."
How deliberaie and long standing was the policy that tore up the "scrap of paper" when Germany violated Belgian neutrality may be gleaned from the following account of an incident related by Captain Liddle Hart, the military historian. On July 31, 1914, von Moltke, the German chief of staff, was summoned by the Kaiser and shown a telegram from the German ambassador in London which said that Secretary of State Grey had informed him that Britain would engage to keep France out of the war if Germany would reciprocally engage not to undertake hostilities against France.
The Kaiser then said to Moltke: "Now we need only wage war against Russia; thus we simply march the whole of our army eastward."
Moltke replied: "Your 'Magesty, that īs impossible. The deployment of a host of millions of men cannot be improvised, it means a whole year of laboriuns work, and once settled cannot be altered. If Your Majesty insists on leading the whole army to the east it will not be an army ready for battle but a disorderly crowd of unorganised armed men without supply arrangements."
The Kaiser was much upset and retorted bitterly: "Your uncle would have given me a different answer."
The machine which they had created was beyond the power of men to control, and not only were they swept inevitably in its wake towards war, but tbey proved equally helpless to guide it strategically once its ponderous and remorseless passage over the French frontier had begun.