Hey, this is the first timeline I feel ready to post, and it is pretty self evident what its about-Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Britain's radical Prime Minister, surviving longer that in OTL. Comments, suggestions, anything would be welcome.
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[FONT="]PART I[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Prime Ministership of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1906-1916)[/FONT]
[FONT="]On the 8th February, 1906, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the leader of the Liberal Party, was elected Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Liberal Party won a large majority, the collapse of the Conservative vote being the primary reason for this. Campbell-Bannerman, or, as he was known, CB, was well-known for introducing the Liberal reforms (discussed below)[/FONT]
[FONT="]REFORMS[/FONT]
[FONT="]Children were supposed to be provided with free school meals, however these were not made compulsory until 1914, although by 1912 half of councils were offering them anyway. The government introduced the first old-age pensions in 1908, however they were roundly criticized, from the Labour party as too little and the Conservative party as too much. Workers, too, were given a shorter working day and in 1909 Labour exchanges were opened to help get the unemployed back into work. Workers earning less than £160 per year were given compulsory health insurance, which eventually covered around 13 million people. The unemployed, too, were given a small amount of money until they found work. [/FONT]
[FONT="]THE DEATH OF ASQUITH AND THE PEOPLE’S BUDGET[/FONT]
[FONT="]In 1908 Asquith was struck down with a sudden heart attack. He died on April 22nd, and was replaced as Chancellor by David Lloyd George. Lloyd George’s position of President of the Board of Trade was filled by Winston Churchill. Lloyd George was a very radical Liberal, and in 1909, with the particularly vocal support of Churchill, passed a deliberately provocative People’s Budget, which was specifically designed to redistribute wealth towards those who were poorer. One of the most contentious issues was the introduction of a Land Tax, which at first led to the Lords vetoing the bill. The budget was held until September when the Lords, under enormous pressure, relented and passed the budget, with the Land Tax still in place.[/FONT]
[FONT="]THE ENTENTE CORDIALE[/FONT]
[FONT="]In 1907, a new Anglo-Russian Entente was signed, in an effort to balance the power of Europe by bringing Russia onto the side of Britain. In order to do this, solid borders in the Middle East were introduced and control of Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet was decided. There were also concerns over increasing German imperialism.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Britain also began to drift away from France. When Clemenceau presumed he could count on British troops should France be invaded by the Germans Campbell-Bannerman nearly fainted, and the Entente Cordiale was more or less ended.[/FONT]
[FONT="]SELF-GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA[/FONT]
[FONT="]Self-government was also on the cards for the colonies. In South Africa, the various colonies were joined together in 1910 and granted autonomy as the Union of South Africa. It conntinued to recognize the Queen as Head of State however it was left to govern itself, despite the fact that there were generally similar policies in both places.[/FONT]
[FONT="]At the beginning of Campbell-Bannerman’s government, Irish home rule was not primary in his mind, however with reforms underway it reared its ugly head again. Campbell-Bannerman was a supporter of home rule however the issue was not without contention, indeed it threatened to split the party. In 1910, Campbell-Bannerman introduced a bill to parliament which would give Ireland home rule under the British crown. The Ulster Unionists protested but there was wild celebration in Ireland. As it happened, an election intervened and the bill was delayed until Parliament reconvened.[/FONT]
[FONT="]1910 GENERAL ELECTION[/FONT]
[FONT="]The election, which finished in February 1910, saw a fall in the Liberal vote due to the antipathy against Irish Home Rule. Despite this, the reforms proved popular among voters and the Liberals managed to keep a slender majority. The results of the four largest parties were as follows:[/FONT]
[FONT="]LIBERAL PARTY, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 339 seats, a fall of 60[/FONT]
[FONT="]CONSERVATIVE PARTY, Arthur Balfour, 219 seats, an increase of 63[/FONT]
[FONT="]IRISH PARLIAMENTARY PARTY, John Redmond, 73 seats, a fall of 9[/FONT]
[FONT="]LABOUR PARTY, Arthur Henderson, 36, an increase of 7[/FONT]
[FONT="]Campbell-Bannerman successfully remained Prime Minister.[/FONT]
[FONT="]IRISH HOME RULE ACT, 1911[/FONT]
[FONT="]The bill which had been presented to the previous parliament was now reintroduced. It was met by vocal opposition from the Conservatives and the Unionists. There were threats of rebellion in the Liberal Party, too, however in the end, with the support of the IPP, the act passed in September. This was too much for some Liberals, and the party came close to losing its majority when 2 MPs resigned from the party. However, the Liberals were now virtually guaranteed the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Labour, so in essence was more powerful.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In Ireland, violence erupted in Ulster as it had been included in the Home Rule act. When elections were held for the new Irish Parliament, the Unionist Party members who were elected refused to take their seats in the same manner Sinn Féin would refuse to take their seats in Westminster. It was unlikely that Ulster would be happy with the new arrangement in the short run, despite the best efforts of the government to make it clear that they were still in Britain and Ireland did not have independence, and in January of 1912 civil war in Ireland broke out.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
THE FIRST IRISH CIVIL WAR[/FONT]
[FONT="]Protestant inhabitants of Ulster took up arms and formed a volunteer army in order to fight against the Southern counties and have themselves part of Britain without Home Rule, which they regarded as the route to poverty and chaos. In response, those who regarded Ulster as rightfully part of an (eventually) independent Ireland declared the Ulster residents to be rebels against the rightful law of Britain. In the ensuing and very bloody war, nearly 5,000 people were killed. British troops refused to fire on the Ulster rebels at first, it was only the killing of a British soldier by the denizens of Ulster which led to the British Army finally intervening in October 1912. In order to placate the inhabitants of Ulster, they were given the option to ‘opt-out’ of laws passed by the Irish parliament which they did not like and instead take only the British laws on these matters. While this was not enough for the hardline elements on both sides, and tension remained, it was felt to be the only workable solution at the time, despite the logistical problems of holding the required number of referenda.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
THE BEGINNING OF THE EUROPEAN WAR[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the June of 1914 a Bosnian insurgent named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo. The Archduke’s wife, Sophie, survived. Austria-Hungary discovered that Princip had been funded by Serbia, a Balkan state that remained stubbornly independent in the face of Austrian desire for its possession. In the south, the Ottomans also wished to acquire it and restore their status as predominant power in the Balkans. The third main power in the region was Russia, who wished for Serbia and indeed the Balkans to be independent. The Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Josef I, threatened to invade Serbia unless a ridiculously extortionate ultimatum was met. Austria was expecting a quick annexation and, when Serbia dismissed this, troops were mobilized and war was declared on the July 28th. Russia, infuriated, declared war on Austria-Hungary on July 29th, triggering a declaration of war against Russia from Germany on July 30th. The French mobilized against Germany on August 1st and Britain sent an urgent entreaty to Germany requesting a guarantee of Belgian neutrality. The Kaiser, an Anglophile, immediately telegraphed back a three word reply: ‘BELGIUM REMAINS NEUTRAL’ and Campbell-Bannerman, reassured, refused to declare war in a decision supported by the public. The Ottomans, too, decided to remain back from the war at first, seeing an opportunity to regain the Balkans when Russia and Austria had fought themselves to exhaustion. Italy also stayed neutral, seeking an opportunity for possible territorial expansion if it joined the winning side later on. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The Austrian army first clashed with Russia on August 7th in northern Serbia. While the battle was indecisive, following further clashes the Russians were on the back foot. With the assistance of the Serbians, they managed to fight the Austrians to a standstill on the outskirts of Belgrade on August 10th, and so began trench warfare on the Balkans front.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Russia also diverted troops to the north of Austria, where they steamrollered into Galicia. The Galicia campaign was to be a huge success, not because of the skill of Russian troops but because of the sheer numbers of soldiers thrown against outnumbered Austrians. Eventually, however, the steamroller overstretched itself and had to fall back. Galicia was to become a heavily fought over area in the campaign, and again trench warfare began here, on October 9th.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the West things too were at a standstill. The French had repelled the small German force who landed by sea in the west however Alsace-Lorraine remained German despite large battles fought at Strasbourg, Haguenau and Sélestat. Trenches were dug across Europe, and there was generally huge loss of life to not much gain.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
1914 GENERAL ELECTION[/FONT]
[FONT="]The election, which finished in September 1914, saw a rise in the Liberal vote as Britain had successfully kept out of the European conflict. The Conservatives, who would have seen Britain involved, began to see their vote collapse and in Ireland the IPP held nearly all the seats. The Labour party, too, continued to see its vote and number of seats rise.[/FONT]
[FONT="]LIBERAL PARTY, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 382 seats, an increase of 43[/FONT]
[FONT="]CONSERVATIVE PARTY, Arthur Balfour, 150 seats, an fall of 69[/FONT]
[FONT="]IRISH PARLIAMENTARY PARTY, John Redmond, 78 seats, an increase of 5[/FONT]
[FONT="]LABOUR PARTY, Ramsay MacDonald, 49, an increase of 13[/FONT]
[FONT="]Campbell-Bannerman was re-elected Prime Minister.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
THE EGYPTIAN CONFLICT[/FONT]
[FONT="]In November, 1914, the Ottomans, who had remained out of conflict in Europe, invaded Egypt. Why this decision was made has been the subject of debate ever since, however it was instrumental in later development of the British in Africa. The Egyptian troops were inefficient and the Ottomans managed to take Port Said, gaining control of the Suez, in February 1915. By this point, the British troops had entered and the frontiers of the Ottomans began to fluctuate back and forth. In the ensuing fourth months, Port Said changed hands around twenty times and at one point the security of Cairo was threatened.[/FONT]
[FONT="]By July 1915, the British had pushed the Ottomans back to a small enclave around the town of el-Arīsh, in northern Egypt. The Battle of el-Arīsh was one of the bloodiest of the war, and resulted in the deaths of many troops from both sides. At the close of play, however, on the 27th July 1915, the dust cleared and the Ottomans had been repelled from Egypt.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Ottomans sheepishly sued for peace. The British government did not impose an incredibly harsh treaty on the Ottomans, however the failure of this war is believed to have contributed to the collapse of the Ottomans the following year.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
BREAKTHROUGH IN EUROPE[/FONT]
[FONT="]In January 1916, in the cold snowy winters of Eastern Europe, German troops were suffering. The Russians, meanwhile, were doing far better. They had consolidated their hold over Galicia and were beginning the slow push through East Prussia further north, having previously been repulsed in 1914. At the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in February 1915, the result had been inconclusive. In February of 1916, the Third Battle of the Masurian Lakes led to a decisive Russian victory, and the troops marched to Konigsberg.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It was further south where the true breakthrough occurred. On March 1st, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and opened another front, invading modern-day Dalmatia. At the Battle of Trieste, a small Austrian garrison was throroughly trounced by an Italian army.[/FONT]
[FONT="]At home in Britain, however, all was about to change at the top. On March 15th, Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigned, citing ill health. He would survive another 4 years, eventually dying aged 84 and he is now widely regarded as one of the best Prime Ministers of Great Britain due to his reforms and keeping Britain out of an increasingly escalating conflict[/FONT]
[FONT="]Campbell-Bannerman nominated David Lloyd George as his successor as the Liberal leader. He was elected as leader unopposed and in late March, the general election was held.[/FONT]