World War one

from British perspective

Made by: Carmen Kreutzelman, Daniël de Haas, Derek Steendijk,

Gido van Heeswijk, Indy van Kuringen, Jasmijn van der Meer, Lena Sandmeier,
Mayke Kreutzelman, Nanette Panhuizen, Selina Mennes and Lisa Klessens
Class: TA3B
Subject: ELC

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 Content
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………..3
Treaty of London………………………………………….…………………………………………………..4
The Anglo-German naval race…………………………………………………………………………..5
British fear of Russia……………………………………………...………………………………………..6
Trouble with colonies...........................................................................................7
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8

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 Introduction
On September 3rd, Britain declared war on Germany. They had good reason for doing that.
The treaty of London, the arms race we’ll discuss all of it and make you understand why it
was completely justified for Britain to go to war in the first world war.
We’ve made brochures, which you will find on your tables. In these brochures you’ll be able
to find some information and arguments concerning the subjects we’re going to talk about.
Feel free to look at our hand-out and let us convince you why it was completely justified for
Britain to involve with everything that was happening during the very first World War.

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 Treaty of London
The treaty of london, or the treaty of seperation was signed on 19 April 1839. Under the
treaty, the European powers recognized and guaranteed the independence and neutrality of
Belgium.
But it all goes wrong when Germany thinks of the Schlieffen plan. They know that Russia is
so big that it will take them all to get ready for war, so Germany will send all its troops to
France while Russia is getting ready, defeat France and then move all its troops to Russia.
Just one problem, France has lots of defences against its German border. And Germany can’t
waste any time fighting them, so Germany decides to go around them… through Belgium.
Belgium is neutral, but Germany wants to march 750 thousand troops through it to get
around France’s defences. They’re hoping Belgium will just kind of sit down and let it all
happen. But they don’t, they fight back and they’re pretty good too, so they slow the
Germans down. But then.. Britain shows up and they obviously aren’t that pleased with
Germany invading neutral countries.
Even though Britain was part of the Triple Entente, they didn’t want to go to war in 1914.
Germany hoped Britain would stay out of the war. However, Germany knew that Britain
would defend Belgium under the Treaty of London. Germany wanted that Britain would
ignore this, so the Germans could pass through Belgium. But the British government made it
their duty to protect Belgium. Plus, Belgium’s ports were close to the coast of Britain and if
Germany was in control of Belgium, that would be a big threat to Britain. In hours, Britain
declared was on Germany.
German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg exclaimed that he could not believe
that Britain and Germany would be going to war over a mere "scrap of paper".
Britain lost lose much of her vast wealth, and surrenderd her important position as the
leading power of the world. but they still participated in the war (because of some scrap of
paper), and it’s even likely that without Britain’s participation, Germany would have won.

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 Trouble with colonies

Why Great Britain being afraid of Germany taking their colonies caused Britain going to
war?

Prior to World War I the world’s largest, richest and most dominant imperial power was
Great Britain. The British Empire famously occupied one-quarter of the globe “the sun never
sets on Britain” was a famous slogan of the mid 19th century. British imperialism was
focused on maintaining and expanding trade, the importation of raw materials and the sale
of manufactured goods. Britain’s imperial power was reinforced by her powerful navy, the
world’s largest, and a fleet of mercantile (commercial) vessels.

Britain had a lot of colonies and they had to support them in the War. Those colonies gave
Britain support, more people for the army and other assistance in the war they were
fighting.

Even though Britain was very focussed on the empire, they were also interested in the
events happening in Europe. For example, the other European countries had other empires
as their enemy. Both Belgium and France had large empires in Africa. Britain and France also
had a strong rivalry over ownership in North Africa. Germany also had colonies in Africa in
the early 1900s and they started to show interest in North Africa.
When the Germans attack Belgium at 4 august, the Belgian king asked Britain for help.
Because of the fact Belgium had made some rules with Britain, it had to support him in the
war.

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 The Anglo-German naval race
Britain's main weakness is her dependence on imports from across the seas. To protect her
trade and defend herself from invasion, England has historically built and controlled a huge
and powerful navy. To keep power, the small island nation has traditionally made sure her
navy was at least bigger than the next two dominant naval powers. However, even though
Britain in 1914 was still the primary naval power in the world, her level of dominance had
been decreasing. The second most powerful navy at the time was the German High Seas
Fleet. While Britain still had a comfortable lead over the Germans, the Royal Navy could not
destroy the German fleet outright. By having the second strongest fleet, Germany was
England's greatest potential threat.
Kaiser Wilhelm II’s pet project was the German Imperial Navy, created in alliance with Grand
Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, a sailor who happened to be Germany’s most skilled politician.
But their naval obsession made Britain a little scared, an island nation for who the sea was
just simply very important. In the first years of the 20th century, Britain responded by
building more ships and entering an informal alliance with its traditional rival, France—the
entente cordiale which translates to friendly understanding.

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 British fear of Russia
You have to understand, that at a certain point, war was unavoidable, and every country
knew that. But the question was, against who would the war be fought?

In the end of 1800 and the beginning of 1900, Britain was described as being in ‘Splendid
Isolation’ from the rest of Europe. Britain had a big empire and it was very important to
them to rule this empire. The key to Britain’s power was India. India had its vast resources of
manpower and Britain relied on the Indian troops to control the empire. Britain’s highest
priority was to protect the trade routes between India and Britain.
In the 19th century, Russia wanted control over the Dardanelles, the area where the Black
Sea opened out into the Mediterranean Sea. If they got control over that, it would allow
Russian war and trading ships to easily sail around Europe. Russia had ports in the North, but
those would freeze in winter. But the problem was that the Dardanelles were Turkeys
property. Turkey and Russia were enemies and they had been for a long time. Britain was on
Turkeys side, because Britain didn’t want Russian ships in the Mediterranean, which was
part of the most important trade route of Britain to India.
Until the early 1900s, Britain was more concerned about Russia and France than Germany.
Relations between Britain and Germany were very good.
British policy suggested that in Europe, no country should be completely dominant. If Russia,
France, Germany and Austria-Hungary worried about each other, then they wouldn’t be a
big threat to Britain. In about 1907, it became clear to Britain that Germany was probably
their threat. Because of this, Britain joined the Triple Entente.
But if Russia was such a threat, then why did Britain join Russia and France to form the triple
entente? I mean it’s not smart to have alliances with the competition right? That’s where it
gets confusing. Britain did not have an alliance with Russia and France, they had an entente.
Which is the French word for agreement.

Of course the concerned countries weren’t stupid and everyone knew a war was coming if
no measures were taken. So on July 26 1914 Britain attempts to organize a political
conference among the major European powers to resolve the conflict between Austria-
Hungary and Serbia. France and Italy agree to participate. Russia then agrees, but Germany
refuses

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 Extra Reasons

The British as a peaceful community

In 1914 the British had no peacetime conscription and little experience of military life.
Despite ruling a formal and informal Empire that stretched around the globe, they thought
of themselves as a peaceful and unmilitary people. Their strength lay in finance and industry,
and in the Royal Navy, the best and largest navy in the world, while their volunteer army was
tiny by European standards. They went to war mainly to oppose German domination of
Europe, and specifically to preserve the independence and neutrality of Belgium as a buffer-
state between Germany and France. There was no formal alliance compelling them to do so,
simply a ‘friendly understanding' (entente cordiale) with France and Russia. In this sense the
British fought the same kind of war that they had fought for centuries, to prevent any one
country dominating western and central Europe, and so creating an Empire big enough to
swallow Great Britain in the next war. They fought the Germans just as they had once fought
the French and the Spanish, but they did not particularly hate them at first. In the same way,
they fought as part of an alliance, although they did not always get on well with their allies.

Britain’s vital oil supplies

Many say no but they forget Britain’s vital oil supplies from Iran which were vulnerable to
the Central Powers particularly Germany. It was mainly a war between Germany plus her ally
the old and dying Austro-Hungarian (Hapsburgs) Empire versus France and Russia.

Britain went to war in Europe, because it had a “Gentleman’s agreement with France and
neutral Belgium which the Germans used to march through, as their best route to Paris.
Britain also needed to defend their oil wells in Iran, which fuelled the Navy and was eyed by
the Germans for similar reasons. As soon as the Ottoman Turks joined the war the need for
Britain to defend the Persian Oil Fields and the Suez Canal, which was the gateway to both
the Oil fields and India, was vital.

Industrialization and militarism

Industrialisation played a major role as well. It allowed for new machinery to be produced
and at a much faster rate than ever before. This increase in technology combined with old
war tactics led to total carnage that shocked the world. But also militarism, which convinced
young man war was a good thing and therefor stimulated them to go in the army. Were all
things that led to the rampage known to us a World War 1.

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 Conclusion

So, we had to make clear why it was justified for Britain to go to war in 1914.
Let’s just summarize everything real quick, Britain had to remain its power over seas which
led to the Anglo-German naval race, Because of the Treaty of London,
(which Germany broke) Britain had good reason to declare war on Serbia, Imperialism and of
course the vital oil supplies in Iran. Left Great Britain no other choice than to take part in the
shocking event.