Britain Will Fight And Britain Will Be Right.

"I remember his face was a contorted mass of rage and heartbreak. The news had just come through and it was as if time itself had frozen. I have an image seared into my mind, as clear now as it was all those years ago of him. Everything he had fought for and believed in had gone"

(Edward Carson 1978)
 
If the USA had stepped in. That is one of the biggest what if's of the 20th century and one of the century's most controversial turning points. Wilson had followed a strictly neutral stance when the war started and despite intense pressure from the Congress had resolutely kept out of the conflict in Europe.

It's always been a point of contention over "The Ludendorff Doctrine" and its existence. Did Wilson and Ludendorff come to an agreement whereby the German Empire would stop attacking American merchant ships in return for Washington staying out of the conflict? It's a question that has never been answered but the lack of US involvement has often been given as a reason for the truce reached between the Allies and Central Powers in 1917.

The truth is both sides were exhausted. The gruelling battles of attrition as well as the horrifically high death toll plus increasing domestic tensions played a major role in the ceasefire and what was later seen as Lloyd George's humiliation at Versailles in 1918

(Andrew Marr. Turning Points, 2004)
 
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