Britain was at a position where the English Channel was threatened by possible German attacks on the Low Countries (Belgium, Netherlands etc) which meant that German naval docks would be built even closer to Britain. This was seen as a major threat and something was needed to be done in order to avoid it, even a preventative war if necessary. On the 4th of August, 1914, Germany invades Belgium as a part of the Schlieffen Plan to outflank French armies and quickly capture Paris. This was Britain’s great opportunity to declare war on Germany and they did it on the same day making the reason for declaring war an ideological purpose- which was that Germany did not respect the treaty of Belgian Neutrality of 1839 and thus could not be trusted in any other treaties, alliances and promises. The public of course was much more motivated by this statement than the otherwise possible “Germany is building ship docks closer to us” statement or “we need to prove ourselves stronger and eliminate them”. Germans were conceived as barbarians (Huns) to the public.
Britain’ main pride was the Royal Navy which was the strongest and most experienced in the world. Its principle stood on the fact that the Royal Navy always has be stronger than the two next best navies put together. There were many sea battles in WWI especially against Germany. The biggest one occurred in Jutland on May 31st, 1916. Britain suffered about 6100 casualties while Germany suffered only 2500 and many less ships. Still the battle of Jutland is considered to be won by the British because Germany did not reach its goal and Britain still remained in control of the North Sea.
After the severe casualty loss in Jutland, the British navy focused mainly on fighting against German U- Boats and the submarines in the Mediterranean.
By the end of the war, the Royal Navy had lost about 170 ships, and 35 000 men.
The army Britain had was not big, it was fairly average size. At the outbreak of the war in August 1914, Britain had about 235 000 regular troops. When Lord Kitchener was appointed new war minister, he started campaigning and recruiting new volunteer troops. This went fast, with about 33 000 people being recruited per day! By 1916, about 2.6 million men had already volunteered. This caused a major shortage of armoury including weapons. The number of soldiers was still not thought to be enough though, and because of the heavy losses, the government passed the Military Service Act which made participating in war compulsory to everyone. Even though at first only young men were taken, in further in time, 50 year old married men were told to participate. This caused very big controversy and protests amongst the public. Up to the end of World War One, the British army had lost 700 000 men and 1.6 million were wounded.
Especially at the beginning of the war, positive public opinion was very important for Britain to have, since only then was it possible to get volunteers, money to fund war and workmen in factories back home. The question of going to war or not caused a split in Britain’s society even before any war had started yet. The split also occurred in the government. At the time when war was inevitable, four senior members of the government, Charles Trevelyan, David Lloyd George, John Burns and John Morley were opposing the war and wanted to make the decision of England not participating official. In spite of clashes between every-day people and the government, prime minister Herbert Asquith knew that they would have to enter war and thus wanted to spiritually and governmentally unify the kingdom as much as possible. He gave a speech to the public in which he said “This war has been forced upon us. What is it we are fighting for? Everyone knows, and no one better than the government, the terrible, incalculable suffering, economic, social, personal and political, which war, and especially war between the Great Powers of the world, must entail”
This speech reached many hearts in Britain but many also resigned from the government. David Lloyd however did not- he later even became one of the main actors in trying to make the war last as little time as possible. A great wave of enthusiasm soared through Britain, after Asquith’s speech, believing that war would be over by Christmas and Britain would restore order in Europe and become its most powerful state. The public was overwhelmed with the idea of a much richer kingdom and better life-style. This meant that a lot of men signed themselves up to war. No one could have expected the war to last four years with such heavy casualties. Public opinion and support for the country’s participation in the war became negative. Many soldiers wrote letters and poems back home describing their life in the trenches which attributed to the disliking of the war. It was David Lloyd in fact who took the responsibility of motivating people in Britain to maintain the number of soldiers and factory workers by using the media. Newspaper articles and television-shows were shown which stressed that the success of the war depended on the people back home. Other methods were used as well but still, the second half of the Great War remained negative in the public eye.
At the end of the war there was a short relief in the public- the Great War was over. People now wanted to see some results for such great sacrifice and sufferings. Britain had won, but had not gained much from it other than a confident and much more respected name. Prime minister Lloyd George gave a speech saying: “Germany is going to pay restitution, reparation, and indemnity, and I have personally no doubt that we will get everything out of her that you can squeeze out of a lemon and a bit more” Of course, how much is it possible to take from a ruined and squashed country. None the less, after this speech the country gained much better public opinion. It was a matter of convincing the people of accomplishment and of the nation recovering quickly.
