In the first place, to fulfil a solemn international obligation ... an obligation ... of honour, which no self-respecting man could possibly have repudiated ... secondly, we are fighting to vindicate the principle ... that small nationalities are not to be crushed, in defiance of international good faith, by the arbitrary will of a strong and overmastering Power.”—Official Report, House of Commons, 6 August 1914; vol 65, c 2079.