page_title: British entry into World War I
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: British entry into World War I / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: HMS Dreadnought (British Battleship, 1906) underway, circa 1906-07; Removed caption read: Photo # NH 61017 &#160;&#160;&#160; HMS Dreadnought (British battleship, 1906)
context_page_description: Great Britain entered World War I on 4 August 1914 when the king declared war after the expiration of an ultimatum to Germany. The official explanation focused on protecting Belgium as a neutral country; the main reason, however, was to prevent a French defeat that would have left Germany in control of Western Europe. The Liberal Party was in power with Prime minister H.H. Asquith and foreign minister Edward Grey leading the way. The Liberal cabinet made the decision, although the party had been strongly anti-war until the last minute. The Conservative Party was pro-war. The Liberals knew that if they split on the war issue, they would lose control of the government to the Conservatives.
context_section_description: For much of the 19th century, Britain pursued a policy later known as splendid isolation, which sought to maintain the balance of power in Europe without formal alliances. As Europe divided into two power blocs during the 1890s, the 1895-1905 Conservative government realised this left Britain dangerously exposed. This resulted in the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, followed by King Edward VII's 1903 visit to Paris. By reducing anti-British feeling in France, it led to the 1904 Entente Cordiale, the first tangible impact of which was British support for France against Germany in the 1905 Moroccan Crisis.
  In 1907, the new Liberal government agreed the Anglo-Russian Convention. Like the Entente, the Convention focused on resolving colonial disputes but by doing so, paved the way for wider co-operation and allowed Britain to refocus its naval resources in response to German naval expansion.
  The 1911 Agadir Crisis encouraged secret military negotiations between France and Britain in the case of war with Germany. A British Expeditionary Force of 100,000 men would be landed in France within two weeks of war, while naval arrangements allocated responsibility for the Mediterranean to France, with the Royal Navy looking after the North Sea and the Channel, including Northern France. Britain was effectively bound to support France in a war against Germany regardless but this was not widely understood outside government or the military.
caption: HMS Dreadnought. The 1902, 1904 and 1907 agreements with Japan, France and Russia allowed Britain to refocus resources during the Anglo-German naval arms race
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:12 15:55:02", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4602", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "740", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "558"}