First World War Galleries Table of contents
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- 2.Why War
A Maritime NationWe're a maritime nation - we've grown by the sea and live by it; if we lose command of it we starve. Erskine Childers, author,
1903
The sea was Britain’s lifeblood. British merchant ships, guarded by the Royal Navy, traded goods across the globe. British industry generated great riches. London was the financial centre of the world. Did all British people benefit from such wealth? Only the ruling classes really benefited. Millions lived in poverty. Discontent was growing. Industrial workers downed tools in strikes over poor conditions and low pay. Barely two-thirds of men and no women had the right to vote. Suffragettes waged a sometimes violent campaign to change this. British politics was divided over Home Rule for Ireland, which was on the verge of civil war. By 1914 the United Kingdom looked increasingly disunited. Display captionsModel of HMS Hercules The largest model here is a shipbuilder’s model of ‘Dreadnought’ battleship HMS Hercules, launched in 1910. The Dreadnoughts marked a revolution in speed, armour and firepower, and symbolised the Royal Navy’s determination to rule the waves. Model of SS Nonsuch SS Nonsuch was a merchant ship. Britain relied on ships such as this to bring in food and raw materials and to export its goods. Almost half of the world’s merchant shipping was British. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
SS Gloucester Castle was a mail ship. Ships such as this enabled families and businesses to keep in touch across vast distances. As well as carrying post, mail ships carried passengers emigrating from Britain to new lives in the Empire and the United States. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
‘England and the Empire were never greater than they are to-day.’ The Times, New Year’s Day, 1914 Most Britons were proud of their empire, the greatest the world had ever seen. Every fourth person on Earth owed allegiance to the British Crown. Many had emigrated from Britain, while millions more, notably in India, lived in lands conquered by the British. Did all Britons feel pride in the Empire? Most Britons believed that Britain’s empire was a force for good. British emigrants who had sailed for new lives in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa felt pride in both their adopted homelands and the ‘mother country’. Yet doubts about the future of the British Empire were growing. People living in Britain’s overseas possessions increasingly demanded greater freedoms to control their own affairs. Britain’s worldwide empire also aroused the envy of its European neighbours. Clouds in the international sky‘There are always clouds in the international sky.’ David Lloyd George, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, 17 July 1914
Display captionsSummary caption Germany had been unified in 1871. Britons admired this new nation for its music, literature, philosophy and science, and initially saw it as a friend. Any future war seemed likely to be against France, Britain’s old enemy, or against Russia, which threatened British India. By 1900, Germany industry was overtaking Britain’s, allowing it to build a formidable army and a rival fleet of warships. Britons now began to see Germany as a threat. Kaiser Wilhem II’s coat Kaiser Wilhelm II, favourite grandson of Queen Victoria, was the Emperor of Germany. His cousin, Tsar Nicholas II, gave him this Russian cavalry officer’s coat. Wilhelm was intelligent and open-minded in many ways but also restless and insecure. His love of uniforms reflected Germany itself, where the army strongly influenced politics and society. The Kaiser was born with a withered arm, which explains the shorter sleeve. Tinplate toy ship The Kaiser built a navy to show Germany’s strength, hoping to unite his politically divided people in ‘loyalty to, and love for the Emperor and the Reich’. Patriotic German parents could show pride in their nation by buying their children a toy battleship or a sailor suit. For the British people, Germany’s navy was a threat to the supremacy of the Royal Navy, and to Britain itself. Photo caption Germany’s emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, in 1902 2.Why War?
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