Grey & UK officialdom were looking for an excuse to fight Germany preWWI to crush an economic rival

Grey & UK officialdom were looking for an excuse to fight Germany preWWI to crush an economic rival

  • Yes

    Votes: 6 26.1%
  • No

    Votes: 17 73.9%

  • Total voters
    23

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
Did Grey, Asquith and other pre-WWI officialdom dread German economic and commercial rivalry so much that they preferred war to peaceful competition?

In other words, they despaired of beating Germany on price and value and thus sought to raise the conflict to a military-naval level which would allow Britain to cut off Germany from overseas markets and raw materials thus eliminating a competitor who was driving the price of Britain’s imports up and its industrial exports down?
 
Yes with a big BUT.

It wasn't just commercial rivalry, there were several intersecting rivalries, naval and colonial were others. Nor did this mean that Britain was willing to fight Germany alone to deal with these issues; if Germany was to be taken down a peg or two it was best to do so in conjunction with allies.
 
They were worried and sought to contain and balance Germany to prevent their rise. But they also needed Germany to make themselves vital allies to their old enemies, the French and the Russians. Thus Germany was a necessary evil, and there were strong cultural and economic links between the two countries.
 
So, this falls into the same trap that an awful lot of theories about why <insert country> fought WW1 in that it tries to ascribe a single overarching motivation to what was, on all sides, a deeply complex set of motivations. Now, I'll freely admit to preferring certain interpretations of WW1 in accordance with that view, but I don't think it's particularly controversial to note that there's really no single cause for the war and no single reason for any of the countries that fought in it. Additionally, we should be careful to distinguish between direct and proximate causes of the war. I.e, the clash of interests between Great Powers and the formaton of the alliance systems enabled the war but the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the escalating crisis actually caused it.

So, in this case I think it's fair to say that pre-existing economic and political rivalry between Britain and Germany was a cause of British entry, but it goes much too far to say that the British government entered the war to crush an economic rival. It's similar to the discussion that arises when someone asks if Britain really entered the war because of German aggression against Belgium. The answer can be both yes and no depending on what you consider to be a cause. In this case I would contend that the actual reason Britain went to war against Germany was to prevent the defeat of France and secondarily to preserve a vital continental ally and to ensure that war with Germany happened in the best available circumstances. But the reason those things mattered was the underlying Anglo-German rivalry.

I hope my point about the distinction I'm trying to make is clear, even if it isn't especially well organised. But that's enough rambling from me for now.
 

BooNZ

Banned
Did Grey, Asquith and other pre-WWI officialdom dread German economic and commercial rivalry so much that they preferred war to peaceful competition?

In other words, they despaired of beating Germany on price and value and thus sought to raise the conflict to a military-naval level which would allow Britain to cut off Germany from overseas markets and raw materials thus eliminating a competitor who was driving the price of Britain’s imports up and its industrial exports down?
Probably not. As best I can gather, both Grey and Asquith had a strong preference for peace, but became lost in the shadows and fumbled down the path to war. Indeed aside from Churchill, the entire British Liberal Cabinet had a strong preference for peace in most circumstances. The only parts of British officialdom with an enthusiasm for war were the echo chambers in the British Foreign office and the British Admiralty. Immediately prior to the war the British industry and financial markets made it perfectly clear they were against the war [let alone a war in their honor].

Notwithstanding the above, there were influential individuals within the British Foreign Office and British Admiralty whose world view was entirely aligned with your premise, but generally those individuals were not the ultimate decision makers.
 
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