Abstract

Recent decades have seen growing historical interest in the phenomenon of rumours, how they arise, their impact on events and what they reveal about those who circulate them. This has included a number of studies relevant to the outbreak of the First World War, not least, in Great Britain’s case, of the so-called ‘spy scare’, which led to thousands of aliens facing police investigation and heightened fear of Germany. The focus of this article is on exaggerations in Britain of German aggression in early August 1914, including rumours that Germany had attacked France without a formal declaration of war, that Berlin delivered an ultimatum to Italy, demanding it enter the conflict, and that the Germans also had invaded such neutral states as Holland and Switzerland. These rumours, it is argued, served a similar purpose to the ‘spy scare’, deepening patriotic feeling and consoling Britons that their government’s decision to fight was justified. But the article also shows that exaggerations of German aggression may have impacted on the government decision, that some Cabinet ministers may have believed the stories circulating about Germany and that the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, made his own contribution to the rumour mill.

摘要

最近几十年来，人们一直对谣言现象，谣言的产生方式，它们对事件的影响以及对传播它们的人所揭示的内容越来越感兴趣。其中包括许多与第一次世界大战爆发有关的研究，尤其是在英国，所谓的“间谍恐慌”使许多成千上万的外国人面临警方调查，并加剧了对德国的恐惧。本文的重点是在1914年8月初英国对德国侵略的夸大其词，包括谣传德国在没有正式宣战的情况下袭击了法国，柏林向意大利发出了最后通it，要求它加入冲突，以及德国人还入侵了荷兰和瑞士等中立国家。有人认为，这些谣言的目的与“间谍恐慌”相似，加深了爱国主义的感情，并安慰英国人，他们的政府做出的战斗决定是有道理的。但是文章还表明，德国侵略的夸张可能影响了政府的决定，一些内阁部长可能已经相信有关德国的故事，而且外交大臣爱德华·格雷爵士为谣言工厂做出了自己的贡献。