Edward Grey

Sir Edward Grey served as Britain's Foreign Secretary from 1905 to 1916, the longest continuous tenure in that office, and was the principal architect of British foreign policy in the years leading to the war. He deepened the Entente Cordiale into a framework of military and naval staff talks that created strong, if informal, obligations to France, while attempting to maintain sufficient ambiguity to keep Germany from feeling certain of British intervention. His failure — or refusal — to issue a clear warning to Germany in the July Crisis that Britain would fight if Belgium were invaded contributed to German miscalculation. His famous remark about the lamps going out over Europe, uttered on the eve of Britain's entry into the war, remains one of the most haunting statements in modern diplomatic history. He recorded his account of British policy in his memoir Twenty-Five Years (1925).

• Lived: 1862 CE – 1933 CE
• Nationality: British
• Roles: foreign secretary, diplomat

Related

• Entente Cordiale
• July Crisis
• German Invasion of Belgium and British Entry into the War