2 - The First World War

Summary

Introduction

When Britain entered the First World War on 4 August 1914 Liberal ministers could agree on the aims of maintaining Belgian independence and excluding the Germans from the Channel ports. Asquith and Grey from the outset, and Lloyd George by 1915, also thought in terms of regime change in Germany, to make her more pacific by replacing ‘Prussianism’ with democracy. This third objective implied a greater margin of victory than the first two. Britain found itself at war on the side of France and Russia against Germany and Austria-Hungary on account of a conflict between the last named power and Serbia. Gradually other countries were drawn in: Japan on 15 August 1914 to take over German colonies in the Far East; Turkey in late October 1914 to regain lost territories, thereby threatening British interests in the Middle East; Italy on 23 May 1915 to gain territory from Austria-Hungary; Bulgaria on 12 October 1915 to regain territory from Serbia; and Romania on 27 August 1916 to gain territory from Austria-Hungary. From the late autumn of 1914 trench warfare prevailed on the Western Front and ministers looked elsewhere for opportunities, most notably at the Dardanelles in 1915, where an unsuccessful attempt was made to break Turkey's stranglehold on access to the Black Sea. The United States remained neutral, but interpreted that status in a way that allowed the Allies to place orders there for munitions.