37 Day Count Down to War - Day 20

17th July 1914

the Vienna correspondent hears 'disquieting reports' that the Serbian government is calling up reservists and is now halfway to a war footing. He may be swallowing Austrian propaganda whole, but there's no doubt the tension is being cranked up

 At Spithead, the might of the British fleet is preparing for inspection by George V

Unbelievably, given that we know the two countries were little more than a fortnight away from war with each other, the German fleet is said to be intending to pay a reciprocal visit to Portsmouth, following the Royal Navy's trip to Kiel

More about Kiel - Opened originally in June 1895 by the Emperor William II, the canal was afterwards widened and deepened; it was reopened in June 1914. Under the terms of the Peace Treaty of Versailles (1919) merchant vessels and warships of nations at peace with Germany have equal rights of passage, although as foreign warships thus pass through German territorial waters, permission for transit has to be obtained through diplomatic channels.

The canal is one of the outstanding achievements of modem Germany. Before its opening ocean-going ships had to go out of German territorial waters and north of the Jutland peninsula of Denmark to get from the Baltic to the North Sea ports of Germany. The canal brought the Baltic port of Kiel as near to the North Sea as the great port of Hamburg, on the River Elbe. Kiel is one of the most remarkable modern ports in Europe. The magnificent harbour is deep, sheltered, spacious and ice-free. Yet before Germany aspired to sea-power the place was a sleepy, old-world town. Directly Germany became naval-minded the port grew rapidly into one of the great naval bases of the world and became the Portsmouth of the German Empire. At one time the town was in the Hanseatic League in the duchy of Holstein. Later it became part of Denmark, but the Prussians annexed it when they took Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark in 1866. The population was only just over 31,000 in the early seventies, but by the end of the century, five years after the opening of the canal, it had trebled itself, and in 1917 was over 203,000

And here is evidence of some frontier guards just a little too eager to get on with the conflict

Information resourced from the following sites:
http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/ships/world-waterways-the-kiel-canal/
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardpreston/100280438/ww1-18-days-to-go-the-serbs-are-said-to-be-mobilising-the-german-navy-intends-to-visit-britain-in-august/