Britain and the First World War

Despite the mounting differences between the political parties up to 1914, such as Suffrage and Home Rule, August the 2nd saw the Conservatives pledge their support, The Irish Nationalist followed soon after and then the Labour Party, and so the Liberals had the support of almost all of Parliament to steer Britain through war.

Asquith as Prime Minister, conducted the war through his means of ‘Wait and See’ by usual processes and procedures, but this didn’t work effectively with a cabinet over 20 members. There was little planning, only reaction to the events that happened. Lord Kitchener was Secretary of State for War, who struggled to face trench warfare, and his lack of skills undermined Asquith’s position. The key members of the government struggled to work together under this pressure.
• Asquith though intellectually brilliant could not make decisions quickly
• Winston Churchill developed impractical schemes (Dardanelles)
• Lloyd George became impatient with both, certain he could do better.

Lloyd George as impatient as he was released a memorandum in spring 1915 arguing that Britain’s economy should be prepared for Total War, producing munitions for its services and its Allies. Kitchener disagreed and they argued frequently. By this time, the shortage of shells on the western front became public with Major Repington ‘We had not sufficient high explosives to lower the enemy’s parapets to the ground’ This was partly because of Sir John French (whom was a weak diplomat and staff work), the commander-in-chief, assured Lord Kitchener that he had all the ammo needed. This was a major crisis, and was followed by the resignation of Sir John Fisher, the First Sea Lord who did so because of a series of major quarrels with Winston Churchill over the Dardanelles campaign in which the fleet would of needed to be increased.

Because of these reasons, H.H Asquith was now fatally compromised, and could no longer depend on conservative support due to the resignation of the Conservative Sea Lord. He had to look to form a governmental coalition. Asquith needed Andrew Bonar Law’s support, and so he dictated his on terms on the issue of coalition, with Law becoming colonial secretary, Balfour as Admiralty and LG took over minister of Munitions. However the new coalition was no stronger than the Last Liberal Government as the direction of the war was still hesitant and the government became increasingly divided in opinion. Conscription was one issue, with the creation of a war cabinet being the other.

Conscription
Kitchener’s volunteer campaign was undoubtedly a success, but as losses grew it was clear conscription was needed to retain full fighting strength. Lloyd George said that Britain would lose the war without it, but many liberals were uneasy because of their traditional individualism attitude. Sir John Simon, the home secretary resigned over the introduction.

War Cabinet
The war was conducted disastrously by too many originally, and the cabinet of the war needed diversity and the will to make very quick decisions. A committee put together for the Dardanelles campaign became the war cabinet, although it lacked any real power and was nothing more than a ‘talking shop’. Two events put an end to the cabinet, in that Lord Kitchener drowned when his ship struck a mine, and Lloyd George became War minister.

Lloyd George, with more authority finally had the power to take initiative. On the first of December 1916, he proposed the formation of a War Cabinet that did NOT include Asquith but did Bonar Law, Carson. Asquith would still be prime-minister. This was because he always remained on the fence with issues over the War. Asquith firstly dismissed the whole thing as out of hand. Then when the conservatives threatened to resign, he changed his mind. As soon as the newspapers criticised Asquith, he reverted back to his old opinion. Because of this, Lloyd George resigned, as did all conservative ministers, soon followed by Asquith himself.

The 6th December, 1916 saw the meeting of the party leaders at Buckingham Palace, Attended by Asquith and Lloyd, Bonar Law and Balfour, and Henderson. Bonar Law was offered PM Job, but turned it down only agreeing if Asquith would serve under him, Asquith refused. And so Lloyd George, supported by conservative ministers, became Prime Minister. Asquith and his Asquithian Liberals resigned. Lloyd George however, secured the support of the Conservative and Labour party with 100 Liberal ministers. Lloyd George was the prime minister whilst Asquith was the leader of the Liberals, many liberals saw Lloyd George as a traitor.

Lloyd George did however, have an immediate effect on the conduction of the war, in that it became invigorated, which was needed. Losses on the western front and U-boats put pressure on britain, with morale desperately low. Lloyd George rocketed a will to win that Britain had previously not seen. He immediately appointed a War Cabinet, of Henderson, Curzon, Bonar Law and Milner, with Carson becoming first lord of Admiralty and Balfour Foreign secretary.

The Prime Minister did have critics however, such as the Military Chiefs who objected to him taking control of areas of tactics, and he used the excuse that the military's huge use of supplies and men meant that he should be involved, which lead to Lloyd George holding back 18 year olds and the creation of Armoured convoys. Lloyd George was also criticised for rarely attending Parliament and relying on outside experrs and not his cabinet. This was seen as far too radical.

The final offensive in March 1918, Lloyd George answered his critics about keeping troops back, by saying that their were more troops in Jan 1918, than Jan 1917. This was directly challenged by General F.D maurice, of the military operations who had just retired, accusing him of 'Misstatements'. It was at this point that Asquith, mounted his only public challenge, taking the side of Maurice and proposed a 'no confidence' vote in the coalition. Lloyd George on the 9th pointed out the information he had used was directly from Maurice's old department, and so he won the Vote of confidence, however Lloyd George failed to mention that the Department had sent him the corrected figures before the statement. This had two consequences
- It destroyed any chance of Unification, as Asquith sided with Maurice, as did 96 other liberals, and so the liberals were even further divided.
- It also revealed that Lloyd George needed his conservative support.

The Representation of the Peoples Act became law in 1918, the first time some householding women could vote and all men over 21, and so no one knew what effect women would have on the votes. Because of this, the Coupon Election as it became known, would be radically difficult from the ones of Previous.

SUMMARY
All political parties pledged support
Asquith misdirects war 'wait and see', cabinet too large and no unity
Lord Kitchener poor in skills
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Lloyd George memorandum on Total War vs Kitchener
The shell scandal a serious problem
Sir John fishers resignation removed Conservative support
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Asquith searches for coalition. BL on his own terms
BL replaces positions
Coalition no stronger than previous gov, with more conflict over Conscription/War cab
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Conscription - Britain would lose war without it, some liberals uneasy
War Cabinet - the Dardanelles previous', without power
Kitchener drowns, LG becomes minister
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LG acts quickly, plans war cabinet EXCLUDING Asquith
Asquith dismisses but is threatened with Cons resignations
Asquith soon comes back to this. All members resign
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Buckingham - LG becomes leader
Asquith remains from coalition
LG injects much needed will to win to war effort
criticised for untraditional methods and his interference in strategy.
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LG wins vote of no confidence, Maurice debate by holding back facts
Representation of People Act set up next Gen elect to be interesting.

THE COUPON ELECTION 1918

The war was now clearly reaching a climax, and Lloyd George could quite easily of made the claim to be a successful Wartime leader. However, the political parties remained with a number or problems. The Liberal party was completely destroyed, and how would Lloyd George with his remaining liberals stay in politics? The Labour Party also had to decide whether to keep their support for Lloyd George or use their new found experience to fight it out on their own. The Conservatives too, had to decided whether to support Lloyd George.

The Labour Party eventually decided to leave the Coalition because of their experiences gained in the Coalition governmentm and because Trade-unionism put them in a wealthy position. The Lloyd George Liberals, met with themselves to discuss their future, in which they wrote to him, urging him to continue the coalition and sign an agreement with Andrew Bonar Law. They came up with a letter, in which both ABL + LG would have to sign in order to support the coalition, and all party members who were willing to support the coalition. This agreement also, which correlates to the Macdonald-Bannerman (lib-lab) ruled out the chance of a split vote and Coalition Libs would not oppose Coalition Conservatives and vice versa. Asquith mocked these letters as ‘Coupons’ – The ration cards from the war. The Conservatives were keen to continue, as they believed that Lloyd George genuinely was a brilliant leader with huge popularity, Andrew Bonar Law was a particularly fond and close friend, ‘We must not let the little man go’. They also seen him as the one who could effectively stamp out Bolshevism as he was so socially minded.

The Election took place on the 14 of Dec. The results were a clear triumph for the Coalition. However, this was most definitely the end of the Liberal Party. This was also a victory for the conservatives, as Liberals were split and the Labour party was neutralised.