In the evening of 3 August, Germany finally declared war on France. The war, Berlin insisted, was caused by hostile French acts, but most knew better. The Italians certainly did. In a series of painful communications between Berlin, Vienna, and Rome, Italian neutrality was crystallised. Austria could not give her the concessions she required, and the Italian people would fly to revolt rather than fight for the hated Habsburgs. But the Austrians had at least begun to reckon with the consequences of their actions - they accepted the German argument, that the war with Serbia would have to take a back seat to the showdown with Russia.

But the news was not all bad. The Ottoman Empire was moments away from finalising its commitment to the Central Powers, and Bulgaria was also amenable to the idea. Through this unlikely coalition, Germany prepared to take on the rest of the world. In London the signs were clear - Germany was planning something at Constantinople, and there was no time to lose. And yet, everyone had already lost. The failure of diplomacy is surely etched into our minds by now, but it does no harm to stress that what happened in the July Crisis was something much more, and much worse, than this.

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