World War I

The conflicts, which dominated British domestic affairs at the beginning of the century, in the 1910`s were coupled with a far greater conflict – the struggle for power in Europe moving towards open war. Germany made the Triple Alliance with Austria and Italy, while Britain allied with France and Russia into the Triple Entente.

On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, on August, 3 it declared war on France. On August, 4 Britain declared war on Germany. The Germans invaded Belgium and penetrated into the territory of France. The French army and small British forces managed to stop the German army only at the river Marne deep inside France. After the Marne two armies settled down to the prolonged siege warfare. It made a quick German victory impossible and gave time to Britain, France and Russia to mobilize their forces.

British government, who first considered this war “business as usual”, changed the attitude – the industry was mobilized for war and a Home Front was created. The situation was complicated by wars in other parts of the world – in the Middle East the British fought against Turkish troops in Iraq, Palestine and the Dardanelles. The most important war battles for Britain were at sea, because she possessed the largest and most powerful Navy in the world. The British made a blockage of supplies to Germany, which produced serious shortages and food riots by the end of the war. Beginning with 1915, German submarines started sinking merchant ships carrying supplies to Britain, more than 40% of Britain`s merchant fleet was sunk during the war.

In 1915-1916, for the first and only time in its history, Britain created a mass army to fight on the mainland front. Almost a million British soldiers were killed in the war and more than 1,5 million wounded. In 1918, after the October Revolution, Russia signed a peace treaty with Germany. The German generals hoped to win the rest of the Allies before the arrival of American troops, who supported France and Britain. There were some successful fighting, but in August the British got a decisive victory at Amiens and during the three following months the British and the French drove the Germans back liberating most of occupied Belgium and France. In November 1918 Germany surrendered to Britain and France, but fighting, connected with the war stopped only in 1923. It continued on the territories of Russia, Austro-Hungary, Ottoman Turkish and German Empires whose territories were broken up in the war.