Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Lloyd George at War
- 1 Setting the Stage
- Part I The Home Front
- Part II Strategy and the War
- 5 The First Attempt at a Unified Command
- 6 Facing the Submarine Menace
- 7 Prelude to Catastrophe
- 8 The Horror of Passchendaele
- 9 The Peripheral War
- 10 The Quest for a Negotiated Peace
- 11 The Creation of the Supreme War Council
- 12 The Plans for 1918
- 13 Before the Storm
- 14 Crisis on the Western Front
- 15 The Maurice Affair
- 16 The Origins of Intervention in Russia
- 17 The German Advance Halted
- 18 The Turn of the Tide
- 19 The Road to the Armistice
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate section
19 - The Road to the Armistice
from Part II - Strategy and the War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Lloyd George at War
- 1 Setting the Stage
- Part I The Home Front
- Part II Strategy and the War
- 5 The First Attempt at a Unified Command
- 6 Facing the Submarine Menace
- 7 Prelude to Catastrophe
- 8 The Horror of Passchendaele
- 9 The Peripheral War
- 10 The Quest for a Negotiated Peace
- 11 The Creation of the Supreme War Council
- 12 The Plans for 1918
- 13 Before the Storm
- 14 Crisis on the Western Front
- 15 The Maurice Affair
- 16 The Origins of Intervention in Russia
- 17 The German Advance Halted
- 18 The Turn of the Tide
- 19 The Road to the Armistice
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
On the western front, the Allied plan in September was to continue to hammer away at the Germans. As previously noted, the War Cabinet had qualms about allowing the BEF to storm the heavily fortified Hindenburg Line. Since Lloyd George expected the war to extend at least into 1919, he did not want the British army to take the primary role in attempting to break through Germany's defenses. He was determined to ensure that when the fighting stopped, Britain would still retain sufficient military and economic strength to dictate peace terms to all the belligerents. But the matter was really out of his hands. Haig and Foch were of one mind about keeping the pressure on the Germans. The British government could hardly overrule Haig if he was acting under the orders of the generalissimo.
Haig journeyed to London on September 9 to persuade the government to allow him “to exploit our recent great success to the full.” The next day he had an interview with Milner and tried to impress upon him that German morale was breaking down and that victory was within sight. Milner had been subjected to that song and dance routine too many times in the past to fall prey to Haig's boundless enthusiasm. The British army had sustained 800,000 casualties since the start of the year and received only 700,000 drafts, leaving it 100,000 short.
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- Lloyd George at War, 1916–1918 , pp. 325 - 342Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009