Why Britain went to war in 1914

 Unlikely Allies

After decades of unbroken prosperity and peace in Europe, and with a very small army in comparison with her neighbours, why did Britain enter into a continental war in 1914?As early as January 1902, William Robertson, then a Lieutenant Colonel and head of the foreign section of military intelligence, enquired of the Foreign Office regarding Britain's treaty obligations to Belgium in the event of a breach of that country's neutrality by either France or Germany. He was becoming aware of a growing antagonism in Europe and by October of that year said: "That instead of regarding Germany as a possibly ally we should recognise her as our most persistent, deliberate and formidable rival ..."

The extraordinary "Wully" Robertson rose from Private to Field Marshal of the British army. Quartermaster to the BEF in 1914, he was made Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1915. He strongly disagreed with David Lloyd George's strategic ideas in late 1917 and was soon replaced by Sir Henry Wilson.

Robertson's warning was noted in Government circles, although many considered France - so recently confronting Britain at Fashoda - and Russia, the traditional risk to India - to be equally threatening to British interests. These long-term enemies became unlikely friends when Britain and France signed an agreement in April 1904 formally titled the Declaration between the United Kingdom and France Respecting Egypt and Morocco, Together with the Secret Articles Signed at the Same Time but best known as the Entente Cordiale. The agreement specifically covered the interests of the two parties in Egypt and Morocco but was to prove sufficiently robust as a basis of friendly relations to ward off German challenges until 1914. France was already in alliance with Russia.

After their 1906 landslide election victory, Liberal leaders Asquith, Grey and Haldane were politically disposed to taking action to defend the interests of Britain and empire, being among the "small minority of Ministers in the cabinets of Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith [who] were convinced that the gains to be derived from the entente with France outweighed the liabilities attached to it". Churchill and to a lesser extent Lloyd George could also be counted into this minority.

10 YEARS ON:France and Britain celebrate the years of Entente,in the Spring of 1914

Why did Germany lose World War 1

The war ended with the allies of Britain, France and Russia winning the war successfully. There were many reasons to why the Allies won the war. Some of the reasons were the effects of the long war on the German Economy, the Alliance Systems, The Allied Naval Blockade on Germany, The Development of the Tank towards the end of the war, and the leadership.After Germany became united as one country, they were becoming one of the wealthiest and powerful countries in the world. Their industries were mainly based on stuff like steel and coal which played big parts in the lead up to becoming very rich. Since they became so strong, they wanted more colonies, more land and more money. They thought they deserve colonies like any other countries. So the Germans started the war on the upper hand. But as the war started, all started to go wrong for Germany.First since Germany had to fight on two fronts France and Russia, Germany wanted to destroy France quickly then turn on Russia and underestimated Britain and thought they will be effective at sea but would play little part in a European war. However, Germany’s Schlieffen plan completely failed. It was very hard to break down the French resistance. France wanted vengeance on Germany as they stole Alsace-Lorraine away from France when France lost the war in 1870 against Germany. So Germany was attacked from two fronts. The British, who Germany underestimated at the start of the war, were in fact well trained to fight on land causing Germany problems. So the economy declined as the on going attritional warfare at the fronts was wearing down the Germans very quickly.

Another reason was the Alliance problems. Britain had strong allies which served Britain well. For example, the Dominions and Colonies provided great manpower and supplied food. Also in 1917, U.S.A joined the war which provided great manpower and brought resources useful in war. However, Germany’s allies were more or less useless. They did little to pressurize the enemies and unable to provide huge resources. Also, the Italians changed sides as soon as war broke out which was a shock. A big problem for Germany was the Allied Naval blockade. As only the northern part of Germany faced the sea and there were only few major ports, Britain took advantage and stopped all supplies getting into Germany through sea. As the Germans couldn’t get any supplies from their allies and Britain could get lots of supplies from their allies and even neutral countries like the U.S, Germany was on the verge of starvation. So the morale within German citizens was falling everyday.Then Germany made two horrible mistakes which basically made them lose the war possibly because of bad leadership. First they used U-boats (submarines) and attempted to starve Britain into submission by destroying all ships heading to Britain meaning supplies wouldn’t be able to get through. It seemed effective at first, but as the war went on, the allies invented anti-submarine weapons like depth charge to locate the submarines and bomb them. They also used aircrafts to do that as well. Also Germany destroyed a U.S ship heading towards Britain which killed many Americans and angered the U.S. Then the Zimmermann telegram caused America to join the war. The Germans suggested a German-Mexican alliance meaning Mexico will march to the U.S and recover their lost territories such as Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. This telegram was intercepted by the British and the British told the Americans. The U.S was furious and joined the war for world peace to end the war. The Germans’ worst mistake throughout this war. The allies’ leaders like Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson were clever people who were courageous and brilliant leaders. The German leaders like Zimmermann and Schlieffen were no match for them and made horrible blunders which led Germany to a loss. Also as the attritional warfare continued, the leaders didn’t come up with anything new which could end the war. They thought of great defensive weapons like machine guns and poisonous gases but couldn’t build an offensive weapon until the development of tanks.Most people think that the development of tanks had less impact on the war than people suggest it has but it actually added a lot of pressure on the Germans. It was one of the only major offensive weapons so it did some great damages.Looking at all these mistakes which Germany made, it isn’t really that surprising it all went wrong for Germany. So in the end, it was a disastrous war for Germany.