Britain | worldwarone

The united kingdom of great Britain and ireland

Spanned all the continents and was the biggest empire of all time

They had many parts of Africa including the 2 most valuable possessions: South Africa and Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and all of Ireland.

Fought against the central powers and against Bolshevik Russia.

Britain was worried by the Kaiser's global ambition and the naval build up by Germany, resulting in a naval arms race between the 2 powers for the early 20th century
Britain was home of the industrial revolution but their industry was declining and were surpassed by America and Germany
Britain also had many problems, a growing labour movement in the home island and unrest and pushes for autonomy in Ireland and other parts of the Empire

Britain always wanted to seek a balance of power in Europe and felt Germany could win a continental war and tip the balance towards Germany
Britain choose to ally her old enemy, France, in order to contain Germany
In April 1904 the Anglo-French Entente was signed.
In August 1907 the Anglo-Russian Convention was signed ,even though there was still tension regarding Persia and Afghanistan, as France was allied to Russia
This created the triple Entente with France and Russia

Britain guaranteed Belgian neutrality and would defend Belgium from any aggression
Britain was a vocal supporter of the Czech minority in Austria-Hungary so there was tension between the 2 nations

Britain declared war on Germany August 4th near midnight
Over 100,000 British troops in 4 divisions crossed the English Channel and landed in France over 12 days from the 12th to the 24th.
This force would become the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and it was the only professional army. It was the best army in Europe but was very small
The British fought many battles in 1914 where they showed off their military prowess and helped defend Paris
The line on the Western Front stabilized and became a bloody stalemate
The British operated in a small sector of northern France and Belgium but their operations were expanded to include the Pas-De-Calais and Picardy further south

The British were engaged in many fronts throughout the war.
The British sent forces to the Western Front, Italian Front, Gallipoli (Against the Ottomans), Mesopotamian Front and the Palestinian Front
The British suffered numerous defeats in 1915 and 1916 but started to gain the advantage in 1917, using innovations like tanks and successful broke the back of the Germans in a counter offensive into the German lines