Chamberlain's policy is being rejected by the foreign policy establishment for a lot of reasons. The biggest is that the Germans don't want to play the role Chamberlain assigns them as defender of British interests against Russia. Chamberlain first approaches the Germans after the Russians take...
The German fleet is more nuisance than threat and in fact by 1914 Russian naval construction had once again surpassed Germany's.
Of course, the French entente prevents a European triplice (which was its point) unless the Russians and the Germans come to an agreement and France gets dragged into...
Diplomacy rarely moves on a single track and there are multiple reasons for everything.
Anglo-German relations had been excellent until near the end of the Roseberry administration when there is a sharp division. The main driving point is the Germans feel that the British are no longer showing...
Russia had several stumbling blocks to industrialization
1) Poorly organized agriculture which wasted both labor and provided bad yeilds. The scattered plots and inability to use land as collateral prevented the use of advanced machinery and the selling out by bad farmers Russian yields were...
What the piece shows is that the German fleet is only a small part of what is driving the British foreign policy at the time- the need for reconciliation with France and Russia is seen in much broader terms. In no way does it contradict anything I said.
The German fleet is more nuisance than...
Don't see how that conflicts with what I said at all- the Entente is seen as a means of settling the differences with France and Russia because France and Russia represent a far greater threat to Britain at the time the plan is initiated and long term. Russia's weakness between 1905-14 is an an...
Well the Germans hated the idea. They stopped work on it. They had to have a reason. What deployment did they make for the West. They would have decided where they were putting their troops.
They aren't thinking in a vacuum here. If they are going East with this 4 Army plan, then they would...
That's very nice but can we see the actual German plan for dealing with the French in this situation? Obviously if they are devising an attack East they are doing something in the West. They wouldn't just game out the East and say the West will take care of itself. Unless, this is just from...
Give the German numbers- they are going to be hard pressed more so than the French as the Germans are dividing their forces between East and West
The German plan in 1914 was to concentrate everything and make a go for broke shot at taking down the French. It largely worked in crippling the...
Yes, Germany is bigger than either France or Russia but France and Russia were allies before the Entente. The Entente is actually an attempt to make peace with Russia and France because of their strong navies. While Russia's navy declined due to the Japanese War, they were roaring back and...
Here are a couple of charts about the state of the Naval Race in 1914
https://warandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/great-powers-naval-expenditure1.jpg
https://warandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/naval-strength-19141.jpg
It is clear that by 1914, the Franco-Russians were wildly...
Are we really? Or are we taking a German war game out of context? What exactly do the Germans think happens in the West? What is the German, not the Tail, plan for dealing with the French? Or is this based on an old war game that has France neutral in a Russo-German War?
There's a brief period when they would. Churchill gives the orders but later is forced to rescind them but, yes, its another possible flashpoint between Germany and Britain.
It doesn't necessarily mean war if the parties are inclined to peace- the Cabinet could disavow Churchill after the fact...