The First World War by A J P Taylor

Author:A J P Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141042237
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2009-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

118. He thought he had the secret of victory: General Nivelle.

Conservative leader in the House of Lords, argued more sweepingly that the fabric of European civilization could not survive more years of war. None of them dared say these things in public. Lloyd George, on the other hand, raised an enthusiastic response when he called for ‘the knock-out blow’. The British were fighting for great moral principles, or so most of them believed; and these principles could be asserted only by the full defeat of Germany, not by a compromise peace. Lloyd George did not believe that the war could be won if things went on as they were at present – no coordination between the Allies, no ruthless marshalling of national resources for war. Attending an Allied conference at Paris in November, he said gloomily to his companion, Maurice Hankey: ‘We are going to lose this war.’ Lloyd George determined to secure a more energetic conduct of the war. Bonar Law, the Conservative leader, seconded him. Lloyd George’s original intention was to demand direction of the war for himself, with Asquith remaining Prime Minister as a figurehead. Asquith at first agreed, then changed his mind. He regarded himself as ‘the indispensable man’; and therefore supposed that, by breaking up his government, he could re-form it either without Lloyd George or with a Lloyd George thoroughly tamed.

The calculation did not work. Once out, Asquith could not get back. Ordinary M.P.s, both Conservative and Liberal, also wanted ‘a more energetic conduct of the war’, they did not mind from whom; and they recognized that they were more likely to get it from Lloyd George. Bonar Law, cajoled by Beaverbrook, brought in the Conservatives. Christopher Addison ‘whipped’ 120 Liberals. Lloyd George pulled off a particularly effective stroke when he won the backing of the Labour party – small in the House of Commons, but bringing with it the cooperation of the trade unions in the factories. On 7 December 1916 Lloyd George became Prime Minister. He set up a War Cabinet of five – himself, Bonar Law, Milner, Curzon, and Henderson; men free from departmental ties who would concentrate on winning the war. He called in businessmen and trade union leaders as ministers. Asquith and the former Liberal ministers withdrew into Opposition – the first official Opposition since May 1915. They were still committed to supporting the war. After all, Asquith and Grey had led the country into war; Lloyd George had opposed it till the last moment. All the same, the Liberals were out to make things difficult for Lloyd George if they could. His strength came not only from the backbenchers in Parliament. It came still more

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