WAR READINESS IN 1914

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Stanley
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WAR READINESS IN 1914

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WAR READINESS IN 1914

How ready was Britain for war in 1914? We were a maritime trading nation with a large empire and had the security of the Channel to protect against land invasion. So, it isn't surprising that the main effort went into the 'Race of the Dreadnoughts' which was aiming for a two to one supremacy over the main threat, the German Imperial Navy. Political thought was directed towards the principle of maintaining a balance of power on the continent, treaties were entered into with France, Russia and Japan in order to balance the Central Powers, mainly Germany and the Austria-Hungarian Empire. The army's experience was with colonial war and no real planning or preparation was made to deal with a continental war which was not expected.
Germany was a different culture based largely on the military, they were also looking for foreign colonies and were ready to deploy troops on a large scale. France, with memories of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 when they were soundly beaten and lost territories to Germany like Alsace Lorraine had put a lot of effort into enlarging and equipping their armies. In 1914 the French army was arguably the best equipped in Europe, in particular their 75mm quick firing field gun was the best in the world at the time.
When war started Britain was playing 'catch-up'. We were so badly prepared that much of our heavy armament dated back to the two Boer wars. Artillery development had been under invested and we were using German fuses made on licence from Krupp's at Essen. In fact after the war Krupp's sent the British government a bill for the fuses used which, though reduced greatly to £40,000, was eventually paid. Manufacturing capacity for ammunition and even uniforms was minimal, fit only for peacetime needs. Due to the German chemical industry's pre-eminence in research into dyes, all the British uniforms at the start of the war were coloured khaki with German aniline dyes.
The heavy use of ammunition in the opening phases of the British Expeditionary Force's participation in the battle of the Marne in the early months of the war resulted in a shell shortage. Addressing this by using cheaper shells made of cast iron caused even more problems, many burst before leaving the barrel and many guns had to be withdrawn from service for repair. It wasn't until late in 1915 that any real improvement was made when British industry got geared up for the war effort. Even though America wasn’t in the war we bought hundreds of thousands of shells and rifles from them. This shortage of ammunition hit the Germans and the French as well, all because none of the strategists had fully appreciated that this new form of conflict relied heavily on artillery bombardment.
Both the allies and the central powers were on a learning curve and not only on the battlefield. There were problems on the home front as well.

Image

A postcard from Krupps.
Stanley Challenger Graham
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The floggings will continue until morale improves!
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Re: WAR READINESS IN 1914

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Bumped and image restored.
Stanley Challenger Graham
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"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Old age isn't for cissies!
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Stanley
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Re: WAR READINESS IN 1914

Post by Stanley »

Essential history again.
Stanley Challenger Graham
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"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Old age isn't for cissies!
User avatar
Stanley
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Re: WAR READINESS IN 1914

Post by Stanley »

I can almost see parallels between this situation and where we are today.
Worth a read and a bit of thought..... (For Dreadnought read aircraft carrier......)
Stanley Challenger Graham
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scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Old age isn't for cissies!
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