diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 35c44b5c9..20829bc30 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -359,7 +359,8 @@ if(NOT MANUAL_SUBMODULES)
       if (upToDate)
         message(STATUS "Submodule '${relative_path}' is up-to-date")
       else()
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "Submodule '${relative_path}' is not up-to-date. Please update all submodules with\ngit submodule update --init --force\nor run cmake with -DMANUAL_SUBMODULES=1\n")
+        message(STATUS "Initializing submodules")
+        execute_process(COMMAND git "submodule" "update" "--init" "--recursive" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
       endif()
     endfunction ()