The Course of the Great War and its Impact on Britain: 1914—15

The Declaration of War and the Public Response

On 1 August 1914, the British government was faced with the decision to support France and Russia or not. On the declaration of war only two cabinet ministers resigned, the “LibLab” John Burns, and the aged biographer of Gladstone, John Morley. The Liberals were mostly brought around to support the war by the German invasion of Belgium. It persuaded wavering Liberals that the war was a struggle of right and wrong in the Gladstonian tradition and not a war of realpolitik. The Labour party generally supported the war. But Ramsay MacDonald resigned as leader. Trade Unionist, Arthur Henderson took over as Labour leader.

The declaration of war itself was curiously undemocratic. On 4th August, 1914 the king held a privy council at Buckingham Palace, to which only one minister (the minister for works!) attended. The cabinet had previously decided to defend the neutrality of Belgium, but was subsequently not consulted. The parliament of the United Kingdom never voted formal approval of the war, though it did vote credits of £100m, without division, on 6th August. Neither were the governments and parliaments of the Dominions consulted. War was declared by each Dominion by means of a decree issued by the governor general. This quaint process by which the declaration of war was made partly reflected the assumption that the war would be fought with the existing forces available, and that it was a matter of imperial prerogative, and would not affect the ordinary citizen.

Financial panic, however, was anticipated, and the government, therefore, declared a moratorium on international payments and guaranteed bills drawn on neutral and enemy countries. However, there was no panic, and in fact, demand for sterling increased. Paper notes were issued, but only to facilitate transactions, not because there was a shortage of gold.

Railways were taken over by the government, but not into public ownership. Dividends at 1913 levels were guaranteed.

The British public responded with enthusiasm to the war. But rumours abounded, and hysteria also followed. Harmless foreign nationals were interred as a result. Belgian refugees were initially greeted with sympathy, but by the end of the war Belgian refugees were not popular. Kitchener predicted that the war would last three years, and planned to raise an army of 70 divisions. Conscription was not an option for Asquith at the time, so Kitchener agreed to raise the men voluntarily, and in the end 2.5 million men enlisted before conscription came in. It was the greatest volunteer force ever raised in one country.

Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer. His budget of November 1914 doubled income tax, but did not even remotely cover the increased expenditure, and his second war budget of May 1915 added no new taxes at all. However, Lloyd George made his mark when there was a dispute between industry and trade unionists over "dilution" of skilled workers by unskilled workers. Union leaders announced that they would be prepared to accept dilution provided they managed it themselves. Lloyd George accepted their proposal and formed a Treasury Agreement with them. They were given three promises: (1) traditional practices would be restored at the end of the war; (2) profits would be restricted; (3) the unions would participate in the management of industry. This last promise was not kept. However, the agreement revolutionised the position of the trade unions, who shared political power with government for the first time.

Early campaigns: Halt of the German advance

Prior to the declaration of war there had been no discussion of whether the army would be involved. However, at a council of war chaired by Asquith on 5th August, it was agreed that the territorial army could protect Britain, and the British Expeditionary Force could be sent abroad. Unfortunately, railway schedules made it impossible to send the force to Belgium, so it was sent to Maubeuge instead. Lord Kitchener agreed, reluctantly, to become secretary for war. The French placed no value on the British force as such, but were keen to have it in order to secure the British alliance. Kitchener would have preferred to send the force to Amiens, but technical difficulties again dictated that it would go to Mauberge — one consequence of which was that it became an appendage of the French army and lost its independence. The British army was inadequately equipped — for example, there were only two machine-guns per battalion, and the entire British army had a total of 80 motor vehicles, with guns and ammunition being drawn by horses. Radio was not used — messages were still run by horse.

Sir John French was the British commander-in-chief — 62 years old, fluctuating in mood and typical of the "old school". After consolidating at Mauberge he pushed his forces forward and encountered the German 1st army under Kluck. The British were outnumbered 3 to 1 at the Battle of Mons, but managed to beat off the Germans who mistook the British rapid rifle fire for machine guns. The British were forced to make a rapid retreat from Mons — marching 200 miles in 13 days, with sometimes only 4 hours sleep at night. French wished to withdraw further, but Kitchener ordered him to take up a position in the French line. The French commander-in-chief, Joffre, thus came to have practical command of the British army as well as the French. For the British the Battle of the Marne was a manoeuvre that resulted in the British army occupying a gap between the 1st and 2nd German armies. The Germans were forced to halt on the Aisne, discovering that trenches defended with machine guns could resist almost any attack. Both sides attempted to break the deadlock by turning the other side's flank — since there were 200 miles of open territory to the sea, this appeared like a "race for the sea". The allies decided not to assist the main Belgium army.

As first lord of the admiralty, Churchill sent a force of poorly equipped marines to Antwerp, and visited there himself on 3rd October. However, the force was only token, and Antwerp fell on 10th October, and the Belgium army withdrew down the coast, where it remained for the rest of the war. The British marines were taken prisoner. However, the Belgium defence of Antwerp may have been decisive in preventing the Germans winning the "race to the sea".

The "race to the sea" resulted in the British army being deployed in Flanders, and it encountered the Germans at the first battle of Ypres from 12th October to 11th November. Both forces were steadily reinforced, and fought each other to a standstill. However, on 31st October the Germans broke through the British line, but were unable to exploit the breach, which French forces filled. By the end of the battle over half the men in the original BEF had been wounded or killed, and the old army had ceased to exist. By November there was deadlock over the entire front.

During 1915, in France, the British army, under Sir John French, mounted an independent attack on the Germans in the battle of Neuve Chapelle (10th — 13th March). They pierced the line, but were unable to exploit the breach. The Germans mounted an attack using poison gas for the first time, resulting in the second battle of Ypres, which the British were able to contain, after suffering severe losses.

Naval War

At sea there was no decisive battle — the Germans refused to risk their battleships at sea. But German U boats had success against British cruisers and a British battleship was sunk by a mine. Scapa Flow had not been protected against submarines, and the Grand Fleet was redeployed to the west coast of Ireland. As a result the North Sea became a kind of "no-man's land". The Germans never attempted to disrupt British communications with France, and never considered an invasion of Britain. German naval forces elsewhere in the world were hunted down by British naval forces. A German force, under Admiral von Spee, crossed the Pacific and entered the South Atlantic, but was eventually destroyed. The British established a blockade over Germany. The United States objected, but it was an effective weapon against Germany.

Domestic Politics during the Early Stages of the War

The war was not managed by a central authority, and the cabinet was hardly involved. Instead, separate departments ran their own campaigns. The Prime Minister, Asquith, was ineffective, and thought that his role was to act as a kind of super-being benevolently overseeing the activities of the separate departments. He also did not expect any opposition from within Parliament — except from the half dozen Labour men that actually opposed the war. The Unionist leader, Bonar Law, was not at first prepared to challenge Asquith's authority; he was biding his time.

When parliament resumed (on 25th August) the first matters of consideration were bills for Welsh Disestablishment and Irish Home Rule. Both statutes, though ready to become law, were suspended until after the end of the war. Regarding Ireland, there had been no agreement reached over the place of Ulster within the Union, and this issue was postponed by the suspension of the Act. However, the unity of Ireland had been effectively abandoned when Asquith had given into unionist pressure and made a declaration that employment of force for the coercion of Ulster was unthinkable.

Apart from the dispute over Ireland, the Unionists were fully behind the war — they thought Germany was a dangerous rival, and wanted Germany destroyed. The war itself was not discussed by Parliament throughout all the time of Asquith's administration — up to May 1915.

Kitchener agreed to allow the Irish Volunteers (in favour of Home Rule) to become part of the British army, but not the Irish Volunteers (who were opposed to Home Rule). Kitchener's decision had the effect of dissipating Irish patriotism. As Secretary of state for war, Kitchener was also responsible for supplying the army. He failed to fully appreciate the need for supply. Kitchener was also responsible for strategy, but was not very able to devise one.

There was a great increase in "secrecy" during the war. This was initially motivated by genuine desire to protect the nation's interests, but subsequently the preference for secrecy was motivated by the desire to cover up the fact that no one had the foggiest idea how to win the war. Initially, no war correspondents went to France, and the war office censored all correspondence under the Defence of the Realm Act.

The Gallipoli Campaign

In November 1914 the cabinet accepted that the war would not be a short one, and alternative projects for bringing it to a conclusion were considered. Lloyd George proposed an expedition to Salonika or the Dalmatian coast. Hankey, secretary to the council, proposed an attack on Turkey. Kitchener supported this idea, especially after the Russians appealed for help at the end of 1914. Churchill supported an amphibious operation against Turkey; Fisher (first sea lord) preferred an amphibious operation against Sleswig, but decided not to oppose Churchill, who persuaded Kitchener that the navy could force the Dardanelles without support from the army. The decision to attack the Gallipoli Peninsula was taken by the war council unanimously on 13th January 1915. This would upset the French, and Kitchener hoped to divert forces to the Gallipoli campaign without the French noticing. The navy attacked the Dardanelles with some French support on 18th March. They ran out of ammunition after one day, and two British battleships and one French ship were sunk by mines during the retreat. It was decided to revert to the army, but the transports were not ready, so the general in command, Hamilton, decided to return to Alexandria in order to refit. During the three weeks this took the Turks were able to reinforce their defences of the peninsula from two to six divisions. British and Australian troops attempted to land in Gallipoli on 25th April, 1915; without landing craft they were only able to occupy the extreme end of the peninsula, and were quickly pinned down by the Turks, and a fresh instance of trench warfare ensued.

The “Shell Scandal” and the formation of a Coalition Government

British and French forces combined in the assault of the battle of Festubert (also called Aubers ridge) during 9th —25th May 1915, which was also contained by the Germans. Sir John French decided to divert attention away from his failure by complaining about a lack of shells — resulting in the "shells scandal".

The shell scandal particularly appealed to Northcliffe, the proprietor of the Daily Mail, which had the largest circulation. Unionist backbenchers also wanted to exploit the "shell scandal" with a view to weakening the position of Liberal Free Trade ministers.

Meanwhile, the Labour party was becoming increasingly independent. However, on 5th August 1915, Ramsay MacDonald resigned as leader of the parliamentary party, and he was replaced by Arthur Henderson. The trade unions came out in support of the war, and announced an industrial truce on 24th August.

There was mounting pressure for the removal of Kitchener, with Northcliffe in Fleet Street preparing an outcry over the "shells scandal". Unionist backbenchers, Irish nationalists and Labour were uniting in discontent. The failure of the Dardenelles campaign meant that ships would have to be diverted to the Mediterranean. Fisher, first sea lord, resigned in protest, which diverted the protest against Churchill.

Lloyd George exploited the opening these political developments created. He projected himself as a "man of the people". Initially, he had been against the war, but he changed his opinion on 14th September 1914, when he spoke publicly in its favour. On 17th May Bonar Law met Lloyd George and they agreed to form a Coalition. Together they saw Asquith, who agreed to the coalition. Northcliffe's campaign against the shells scandal was finally unleased, but the liberal government was already dead. However, the Northcliffe's campaign reinforced the claim for an independent ministry of supply, which Lloyd George headed. He was replaced at the Treasury by McKenna. Churchill was forced to out of the Admiralty, becoming Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; Arthur Henderson was brought into the cabinet, apparently in charge of education, but acting as "the voice of Labour". Law only got the colonial office, and Carson became attorney general. Redmond refused an English post, but would have accepted an Irish post, which would have acknowledged him as leader of the Irish. However, this new coalition did not please the backbenchers — it was a coalition of the front benches against the back.