British declaration of war on Germany
E441629
The British declaration of war on Germany was the formal act on 4 August 1914 by which the United Kingdom entered World War I in response to Germany’s invasion of Belgium and France.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| British declaration of war on Germany canonical | 1 |
| British declaration of war on Germany (1914) | 1 |
| United Kingdom entry into World War I | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4468684 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: British declaration of war on Germany Context triple: [July Crisis of 1914, hasKeyEvent, British declaration of war on Germany]
-
A.
United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)
The United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany in 1939 was the formal announcement by the British government that it was entering World War II in response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
-
B.
Declaration of war on Japan
The Declaration of war on Japan was the formal U.S. congressional resolution passed on December 8, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
-
C.
British distant blockade of Germany
The British distant blockade of Germany was a World War I naval strategy that used the Royal Navy’s control of the North Sea to cut off Germany’s maritime trade and supplies, aiming to weaken its economy and war effort.
-
D.
Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland was the 1939 German and Soviet military campaign that triggered the start of World War II in Europe.
-
E.
German attack on Westerplatte
The German attack on Westerplatte was the opening military engagement of World War II in Europe, where German forces assaulted a Polish military transit depot near Gdańsk in early September 1939.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: British declaration of war on Germany Target entity description: The British declaration of war on Germany was the formal act on 4 August 1914 by which the United Kingdom entered World War I in response to Germany’s invasion of Belgium and France.
-
A.
United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)
The United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany in 1939 was the formal announcement by the British government that it was entering World War II in response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
-
B.
Declaration of war on Japan
The Declaration of war on Japan was the formal U.S. congressional resolution passed on December 8, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
-
C.
British distant blockade of Germany
The British distant blockade of Germany was a World War I naval strategy that used the Royal Navy’s control of the North Sea to cut off Germany’s maritime trade and supplies, aiming to weaken its economy and war effort.
-
D.
Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland was the 1939 German and Soviet military campaign that triggered the start of World War II in Europe.
-
E.
German attack on Westerplatte
The German attack on Westerplatte was the opening military engagement of World War II in Europe, where German forces assaulted a Polish military transit depot near Gdańsk in early September 1939.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
declaration of war
ⓘ
diplomatic document ⓘ event in World War I ⓘ |
| allianceContext | Triple Entente ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | British entry into World War I ⓘ |
| announcedBy | Sir Edward Grey ⓘ |
| appliesTo | British Empire ⓘ |
| archivedIn |
UK National Archives
ⓘ
linked to:
The National Archives
|
| belligerent |
German Empire
ⓘ
United Kingdom ⓘ |
| capitalOfDeclaringState |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| cause |
German invasion of Belgium
ⓘ
linked to:
Battle of the Frontiers
German invasion of France ⓘ
linked to:
Battle of France
violation of Belgian neutrality ⓘ |
| chronologicalOrder | one of the first major Allied declarations of war in 1914 ⓘ |
| commemoratedOn |
World War I centenary (2014)
ⓘ
linked to:
World War I Centennial Commission
|
| conflict | World War I ⓘ |
| country | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| date | 4 August 1914 ⓘ |
| day | 4 ⓘ |
| deadlineForUltimatum | 23:00 BST, 4 August 1914 ⓘ |
| declaredOn | German Empire ⓘ |
| governmentHeadAtTime |
H. H. Asquith
ⓘ
linked to:
Herbert Henry Asquith
|
| historicalPeriod | early World War I ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| legalBasis | 1839 Treaty of London ⓘ |
| location |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| mediaCoverage |
reported in The Times
ⓘ
linked to:
The Times
reported in major British newspapers ⓘ |
| militaryConsequence |
Royal Navy placed on war footing
ⓘ
mobilization of British Expeditionary Force ⓘ |
| monarchAtTime | George V ⓘ |
| month | August ⓘ |
| officeOfAnnouncer | British Foreign Secretary ⓘ |
| opposedAlliance |
Triple Alliance
ⓘ
linked to:
Triple Alliance (1882)
|
| partOf |
United Kingdom entry into World War I
ⓘ
linked to:
British declaration of war on Germany
World War I diplomatic history ⓘ |
| politicalConsequence |
beginning of total war for British Empire
ⓘ
broad support in British Parliament ⓘ |
| precededBy | British ultimatum to Germany regarding Belgium ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
German invasion of Luxembourg
ⓘ
linked to:
Invasion of the Low Countries
July Crisis ⓘ
linked to:
July Crisis of 1914
Schlieffen Plan ⓘ |
| result |
United Kingdom entered World War I
ⓘ
linked to:
United Kingdom: Allied Powers
state of war between United Kingdom and German Empire ⓘ |
| timeOfDay | 23:00 BST ⓘ |
| triggeredBy | German refusal to withdraw from Belgium ⓘ |
| typeOfAct | formal diplomatic note ⓘ |
| year | 1914 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: British declaration of war on Germany Description of subject: The British declaration of war on Germany was the formal act on 4 August 1914 by which the United Kingdom entered World War I in response to Germany’s invasion of Belgium and France.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: British declaration of war on Germany
subject linked to:
British declaration of war on Germany
linked to: British declaration of war on Germany