Part Pride Played in Letting Goeben Get Away

Germany invaded Belgium on Aug. 4, 1914, prompting the British government to dispatch an ultimatum to Berlin demanding the immediate withdrawal of German forces, stating that a failure to do so would result in war with the British empire. No such withdrawal was forthcoming, and by day's end the general European conflict that had been brewing since the June 28 assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir apparent Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo was officially on.

 

Though not unexpected, the outbreak of war caught many prospective participants flat-footed. Among them were the captain and crew of the Imperial German Navy battlecruiser Goeben, which was cruising the Mediterranean with the accompanying light cruiser Breslau. Though warships of Britain's Royal Navy dominated that body of water, Goeben—a fast, heavily armed and relatively new vessel—was the most formidable surface combatant between the Strait of Gibraltar and the coast of Ottoman-controlled Palestine. With the declaration of war the Royal Navy's powerful Mediterranean Fleet knew it must sink or neutralize the German ship.

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