"We are now in a position of self-defence, and necessity knows no law! (Cries of “Quite right.”) Our troops have occupied Luxembourg, perhaps they have already entered Belgium. (Loud applause.) That is a breach of international law. The French Government, it is true, had declared in Brussels that they would respect Belgian neutrality so long as their opponent respected it. But we knew that France stood ready to invade it. (Cries of indignation.)"
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Speech to the Reichstag (4 August 1914), Berliner Tageblatt (5 August 1914), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (1941), p. 84
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theobald_von_Bethmann-Hollweg
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Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
1856 – 1921
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg →
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