On August 1, 1914 the British cabinet of Prime Minister H.H. Asquith decided against sending the British Expeditionary Force to France and as late as August 4, the day Britain declared war on Germany, the cabinet was repeatedly told that the BEF would not be sent abroad. Only two days later, however, the cabinet changed course and approved the force’s despatch to France. In his article “The Asquith Cabinet and the Decision to Send an Expeditionary Force to France in 1914” (Diplomacy & Statecraft, 33:4, 2022), John W. Young (University of Nottingham) seeks to explain the maneuvering of the pro-Entente Asquith and his key ministerial allies Lord Chancellor Lord Haldane and the Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in the first days of August 1914 and the cabinet’s eventual agreement to sending the BEF. Young concludes that “there had been good reasons for delay. If Asquith, Haldane and Grey […] had pressed for a more rapid deployment, it could have broken up the Cabinet and, perhaps, seriously delayed entry into the war at France’s side. Asquith was a past master at holding his team together and, even in the face of a great power conflagration, his cautious touch did not desert him.” Churchill, who was in the Cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty, is described by Young as “always the most pro-war of ministers” who was “already committed in principle to sending the BEF to the continent” but was aware of the tactics being used by Asquith, Haldane, and Grey. The journal’s website is here.
Churchill Research
11 Friday Aug 2023
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