page_title: Treaty of London (1839)
section_title: The "scrap of paper"
hierarchical_section_title: Treaty of London (1839) / The "scrap of paper"
caption_attribution_description: English: The 1839 Treaty of London guaranteed Belgium's neutrality. In 1914, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg infamously sneered at Britain’s willingness to go to war over a "scrap of paper." This British poster encouraged enlistment by arousing sympathy for Belgium and support for the British Empire's pledge of honour in its defence.
context_page_description: The Treaty of London of 1839, also called the First Treaty of London, the Convention of 1839, the Treaty of Separation, the Quintuple Treaty of 1839, or the Treaty of the XXIV articles, was a treaty signed on 19 April 1839 between the Concert of Europe, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium. It was a direct follow-up to the 1831 Treaty of the XVIII Articles which the Netherlands had refused to sign, and the result of negotiations at the London Conference of 1838–1839.
  Under the treaty, the European powers recognised and guaranteed the independence and neutrality of Belgium and established the full independence of the German-speaking part of Luxembourg. Article VII required Belgium to remain perpetually neutral, and by implication committed the signatory powers to guard that neutrality in the event of invasion.
context_section_description: Belgium's de facto independence had been established through nine years of intermittent fighting. The co-signatories of the Treaty of London—Great Britain, Austria, France, the German Confederation (led by Prussia), Russia, and the Netherlands—now officially recognised the independent Kingdom of Belgium, and at Britain's insistence agreed to its neutrality.
  The treaty was a fundamental "lawmaking" treaty that became a cornerstone of European international law; it was especially important in the events leading up to World War I. On 31 July 1914 the mobilisation of the Belgian Army was ordered, and the Belgian King at the same time publicly called Europe's attention to the fact that Germany, Great Britain and France were solemnly bound to respect and to defend the neutrality of his country. When the German Empire invaded Belgium in August 1914 in violation of the treaty, the British declared war on 4 August. Informed by the British ambassador that Britain would go to war with Germany over the latter's violation of Belgian neutrality, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg exclaimed that he could not believe that Britain and Germany would be going to war over a mere "scrap of paper".
caption: "The Scrap of Paper – Enlist Today", a British World War I recruitment poster of 1914, Canadian War Museum. The "Bülow" mentioned is Heinrich von Bülow, Prussian ambassador to Britain.
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