This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The development of British war aims : August 1914 - March 1915. Ekstein-Frankl, Michael G The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 08. Oct. 2021 TIDEDEVELOPMENT QF BRITISH WARAIMS s AUgQT 1914 - MARCH1915 by Michael G. Ekstein-Frankl. Thesis submitted to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of London, 1969. L G0NTENTS Page. 3 ABSTRACT""..... "....... 5 I1 T1ODUCTION ............. ......... Is 15 CHAPTER Personalities, Institutions and Authority. CHAPTER 82 II: Prussian Militarism, ....... ..... CHAPTERIIIi Western Europe: Belgium, France *Ad Germany 130 .""""".. ". """"9""" CHAPTERIVi Austria-Hungary: Eastern and Central 167 Europe. ......... ......... CHAPTERVs Russia: Constantinople and the Straits .. 201 CHAPTERVIs German Colonies. ............. 257 CONCLUSION. .... .... ...... .9...... 292 APCFMIX 295 9.... 9.... 009000000..... 307 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES ON ABBREVIATIONS. ........ 3 The dissertation is divided into six chapters, there is also an introduction, a conclusion, and an appendix which consists of short biographical notes on the personalities mentioned in the narrative. The Introduction outlines the main themes of the study, it includes a discussion of the sources used, and lists acknowledgements. Chapter I examines the character of the decision-making process. III the early part of the First World War, wak aims were decided in very much the same way as had been foreign policy before the war. Authority was concentrated in the hands of a small group of men surrounding the Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey. At the same timof the executive eras able to use the overwhelming popular enthusiasm for the war to assert its independence from external influences. Chapter II concerns Prussian militarism. Grey and his colleagues believed that the military advisers of the German Government had deliberately precipitated the war$ and that they were the iieCato rulers of Germany. The Foreign Secretary refused to consider making any peace which left the *Prussian military caste" in control of German policy and free to repeat its aggression. Chapter III is about British war aims with regard to Western Europe. Britain went to war to -. tP-ot her strategic interest in the independence of the North-West of Europe and to safeguard the naval position in HomeWaters. The peace settlement was to ensure that in yearn to come Western Europe would be free from the danger of further German attack. Germany was to evacuate and compensate Belgium; Alsace-Lorraine was to be restored to France; Germannaval power was to be greatly weakened. Chapter IT explains British war aims with regard to Lustrie-41ungary. British interests are seen to lie in securing the safety of the i! est of Europe. Policy towards Central and Eastern Europe was entirely pragmatic: the future of the Habsburg Empire vas used as a pawn to secure more immediate interests. Chapter V is centred on the question of Constantinople and the Straits. Britain and Rassia had few commoninterestsf Grey tried to buy Russian co-operation and minimise Anglo-Ruaaien differences with the offer of territorial expansion at the expense of Turkey. Chapter VI explores British policy tovsxds the Germancolonies. Britain-neither wanted nor needed territorial aggrandisement, but there were strong arguments - mainly strategic - for retaining German colonies-after the war. Moreover, Frances Japan, New Zealand, Australia and the Union of South Africa laid claims to large parts of Germanyfs overseas Empire. These claims Britain could not refuse. b)here Britain had a reasonably tree band, in German East Africa, policy tended to fluctuate according to the fortunes of war. The main conclusion of this dissertation is that Britain fought for securityt above all to prevent Germany from dominating Western Trope. However, the enormity of British interests the diversity of her friendships* and the dislocating effects of war itself caused her to widen her objectives as the war went on. c (i) The appearance of Professor Fisoher! s mas3ive and controversial volume on the war aims of Imperial Germany' has done rauch to renew interest in the political issues of the First World W'er. Three years ago 14r#( now Professor) Jolly in drawing the attention of English-speaking historians to Fitbher's works observed, that there were no similar studies of British war aims. He suggested that students insearch of Interesting and fruitful subjects for research could Usefully turn 2 their attention and energies to this neglected topic,, was Professor Jollis suggestion as tim3ly as, it was encouraging, for it roughly coincided with the half-centenary of the outbreak of war in 1914. An anniversary doubly significant for historians for it was marked - albeit quite fortuitously - by the opening of the public archives. At the saws times many important collections of private papersp_also tied to a fifty-year-rule, became generally available for the first time. It is largely on these primary materiala, that I have drawn in the preparation of this dissertation. (ii) The relevant documents at the public Record Office falz into two categories: official papers] private papors. 1 Fischer, F., Griff nach der Weltmacht 3rd Edition 1963). Joil, J., 2 , FMvi zuiiber 34, PP"100-113. Pßß, ' rr;ste L The official records of the various departments of State - the Cabinet Office, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office and so on - are virtually complete, and those very rare cases where documents are missing are almost certainly the result of some administrative oversight at the time. Before the formation of Lloyd George's Government there were no Cabinet minutes taken. The historian has to rely on the Prime Minister's letters to the King - CAB.41. There are, however, minutes of the War Council - CAB.22. The War Council was a body of a rather chameleon-like nature; ' it stood mid-way between the Committee of Imperial Defence and the War Cabinet as it existed under Lloyd George. Cabinet memoranda are tobe found under various classifications, but especially, CAB.24, 'CAB.29 and CAB. 37. The bulk of official Foreign Office correspondence Is to be found in the political series - F. 0.371., These'ffles are absolutely indispensable sources for any study, of the development of British foreign policy and. attitudes towards the peace settlement., They contain amine of information, and their sheer volume enables the student to form a very clear image of how the Foreign Office worked and of'the various personalities involved. In footnoting ,. 0.371 references I have included jacket numbers but excluded file numbers. In their admirably edited volumes of British Documents on the Origins of-the War, Professors Gooch and Temperley included file numbers. Since Gooch and Temperley into performed their labours the Foreign Office files have been bound ýT the file volumes, and number is now superfluous. Similarly, I have not included telegram numbers; given the volume number, the jacket number and the date of the telegram, the addition of a telegram number serves no useful purpose. The same method of footnoting has been adopted for the corresponding Colonial office series - C. 0.616. The Public Record Office houses also several collections of She private papers. " precise nature of distinction between private and official documents was often of political significance, and the question is'considered Inndetail in the body of this dissertation. The important collections of private papers are those of ministers and diplomats connected with the Foreign Office. These are all under the F. 0.800 classification. By far the most useful of these collections is the Grey Papers; they constitute an invaluable complement to the F. 0.371 series. The Carnock Papers contain a good deal of interesting information on Grey's rather sad and sickly Permanent Under Secretary. The Spring-Rice Papers and the Bertie Papers have little correapondence that cannot be found in the Grey Papers. Bartle was, however, in the habit of making personal memoranda on conversations with the Foreign Seceetary, and was a compulsive chronicler of Foreign office gossips his records of both are of interest. Public There are also some Kitchener Papers at Record Office. These were extensively and efficiently used'by Sir Philip Magnus in his brilliant biography of Kitchener, and have little-fore to yield that is Magnus, Sir. P. KitchenerI Portrait of an Imperialist (Penguin 1968). All references to Magnus refer to this volume and this edition. 7 new* Private collections of papers outside the Public Record Office may aIso be divided into two categories those of men inside Government; these of men on the periphery - journalists, Members of Parliament, and radXaal critics of official policy. ,,The private papers of Cabinet ministers are for the most part disappointing.