Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Plotting for Peace With Britain by late 1916 facing the prospect of an economic crisis and being increasingly dependent on the United States, rival factions in Asquith’s government battled over whether or not to seek a negotiated end to the First World War. In this riveting new account, Daniel Larsen tells the full story for the first time of how Asquith and his supporters secretly sought to end the war. He shows how they supported President Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to convene a peace conference and how British intelligence, clandestinely breaking American codes, aimed to sabotage these peace efforts and aided Asquith’s rivals. With Britain reading and decrypting all US diplomatic telegrams between Europe and Washington, these decrypts were used in a battle between the Treasury, which was terrified of looming financial catastrophe, and Lloyd George and the generals. This book’s findings transform our understanding of British strategy and international diplomacy during the war. Daniel Larsen is College Lecturer in History at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Plotting for Peace American Peacemakers, British Codebreakers, and Britain at War, 1914–1917 Daniel Larsen University of Cambridge © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108486682 DOI: 10.1017/9781108761833 © Daniel Larsen 2021 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2021 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Ltd, Padstow Cornwall A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Larsen, Daniel, 1985– author. Title: Plotting for peace : American peacemakers, British codebreakers, and Britain at war, 1914–1917 / Daniel Larsen, University of Cambridge. Other titles: American peacemakers, British codebreakers, and Britain at war, 1914–1917 Description: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020037949 (print) | LCCN 2020037950 (ebook) | ISBN 9781108486682 (hardback) | ISBN 9781108708197 (paperback) | ISBN 9781108761833 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1914–1918–Peace. | World War, 1914–1918– Diplomatic history. | United States–Foreign relations–Great Britain. | Great Britain–Foreign relations–United States. | United States–Foreign relations– 1913–1921. | Great Britain–Foreign relations–1910–1936. | World War, 1914–1918–Economic aspects–Great Britain. | World War, 1914–1918– Cryptography. Classification: LCC D619 .L39 2021 (print) | LCC D619 (ebook) | DDC 940.3/120941–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037949 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037950 ISBN 978-1-108-48668-2 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information For Mom and Dad © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Contents List of Figures page viii List of Maps ix List of Graphs and Tables x Dramatis Personae xi Preface xv Acknowledgements xxiv Introduction 1 1 The First Year of War: August 1914–August 1915 24 2 Strategy: August–December 1915 48 3 Negotiations: January–March 1916 71 4 Deliberations: March–May 1916 104 5 The Gamble: June–August 1916 137 6 The Knock-Out Blow: September–October 1916 159 7 The Fall of Asquith: October–December 1916 188 8 Peace Moves: December 1916–January 1917 246 9 The Zimmermann Telegram and Wilson’s Move to War: February–April 1917 280 Conclusion 307 Appendix I The Gold Standard and the Fixed Exchange Rate 321 Appendix II GDP of the United States, Britain, and France, 1914–1918 325 Notes 327 Bibliography 389 Index 411 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Figures 1 Edward M. House and Woodrow Wilson, c. 1915 page 10 2 Sir Edward Grey 12 3 Captain Reginald Hall 19 4 David Lloyd George 27 5 Headquarters of J. P. Morgan & Co. 31 6 Reginald McKenna 39 7 British war loan poster from 1915 42 8 Triangular arbitrage 50 9 Herbert Henry Asquith 53 10 Recruitment poster for the Derby Scheme, 1915 65 11 Arthur James Balfour 79 12 Austen Chamberlain 84 13 William Robertson and Douglas Haig 113 14 Lord Curzon 129 15 Charles Hardinge 144 16 A British field dressing station in France during the Battle of the Somme, 1916 146 17 Lord Northcliffe (Alfred Harmsworth) 167 18 Edwin Montagu 178 19 Lord Lansdowne 202 20 Edward Carson and Andrew Bonar Law 208 21 The illumination of the Statue of Liberty, drawn by Charles Graham 250 22 Karl I of Austria-Hungary 281 23 Signing the British War Loan, 1917 284 24 Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma in 1914 304 25 ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ exhibition at the Tower of London, November 2014 319 viii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Map 1 Map of First World War Europe page xxvi ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Graph and Table Graph 1 Price of Anglo-French five-year bonds, January 1915–April 1917 page 56 Table 1 US, British, and French GDP, 1914–1918 page 325 x © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information Dramatis Personae August 1914–April 1917 (Arranged in alphabetical order, may exclude offices not mentioned in the text) British † Liberal Party Politician * Conservative Party Politician H. H. Asquith† Prime Minister (to December 1916) Leader of the Opposition (from December 1916) Arthur J. Balfour* First Lord of the Admiralty (May 1915– December 1916) Foreign Secretary (from December 1916) Francis Bertie Ambassador to France Andrew Bonar Law* Leader of the Conservative Party Colonial Secretary (May 1915– December 1916) Chancellor of the Exchequer (from December 1916) John Bradbury Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Edward Carson* First Lord of the Admiralty (from December 1916) Robert Cecil* Foreign Office Parliamentary Undersecretary (from May 1915) Blockade Minister (from February 1916) Austen Chamberlain* Secretary of State for India Manpower Distribution Board Chair (August–December 1916) Winston Churchill† First Lord of the Admiralty (to May 1915) Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (May– November 1916) xi © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48668-2 — Plotting for Peace Daniel Larsen Frontmatter More Information xii Dramatis Personae Lord Crawford* President of the Board of Agriculture (July– December 1916) Lord Crewe† Lord President of the Council (May 1915– December 1916) Lord Cunliffe Governor of the Bank of England Lord Curzon* Lord Privy Seal (May 1915–December 1916) Shipping Control Committee Chair (January–December 1916) President of the Air Board (May 1916– January 1917) War Cabinet Minister without Portfolio (from December 1916) Lord Derby* Director General of Recruiting (October 1915–May 1916) Eric Drummond Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary (from 1915) Sir Edward Grey† Foreign Secretary (to December 1916) Douglas Haig Commander-in-Chief, British Expeditionary Force (from December 1915) Reginald Hall Director of Intelligence Division, Admiralty (from October 1914) Maurice Hankey Secretary to the War