From to-day on, the Post and Telegraph communications between Germany
on the one hand and:

1. England,
2. France,
3. Russia,
4. Japan,
5. Belgium,
6. Italy,
7. Montenegro,
8. Servia,
9. Portugal;

on the other hand are interrupted because Germany finds herself in a
state of war.

(Signed) Director of the Post and Telegraph.


This notice, which was never published, shows that the man who directed
the Post and Telegraph Service of the Imperial Government knew on the
2nd of August, 1914, who Germany's enemies would be. Of the eleven
enemies of Germany to-day only Roumania and the United States were not
included. If the Director of the Post and Telegraph knew what to
expect, it is certain that the Imperial Government knew. This
announcement shows that Germany expected war with nine different
nations, but at the time it was posted on the bulletin board of the
Haupttelegraphenamt, neither Italy, Japan, Belgium nor Portugal had
declared war. Italy did not declare war until nearly a year and a half
afterwards, Portugal nearly two years afterward and Japan not until