February 10, 2015

Relations between Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces, and the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, were not harmonious. Churchill tried to mediate between them.

He planned to visit Dunkirk to observe operations firsthand but the Prime Minister agreed with Kitchener that the First Lord should not visit the Army Commander’s head-quarters. Kitchener charged that the First Lord was meddling in Army matters and exacerbating relations between French and himself. Asquith forbade any future Churchill visits to the continent. Churchill and Kitchener never again had a congenial relationship.

French and Churchill continued covert correspondence through Churchill’s relatives who were on the Field Marshal’s staff, his brother Jack and his cousin Freddie Guest. Perhaps the best advice for all was Churchill’s remark: “We are on the stage of history. Let us keep our anger for the common foe.”

In Parliament Churchill was criticized by Admiral of the Fleet Lord Charles Beresford for recent naval defeats and for his propensity for telling the admirals how they were to carry out policy. Churchill defended himself by stating that judgments could be made only from a close examination of the documents and that military security made it impossible to disclose the evidence. He did acknowledge “the acute discomfort under which our great newspapers are living at the present time” and asked that particular incidents not be given too much attention because they were merely part of a larger strategy all over the world.

2024 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 41st International Churchill Conference. London | October 2024
More

What he could not share was the news that Britain had come into possession of the codes for German naval signals and that henceforth they would have advance warning of German naval movements in the North Sea.

Churchill and others were becoming very frustrated with the progress of the war, the deadlock on the western front and Asquith’s indecisiveness. WSC agreed with a friend who wrote that “it’s going to be a long long war in spite of the fact that on both sides every single man in it wants it stopped at once.”

Because he believed that Germany’s northern flank was the most vulnerable, he supported Fisher’s idea to attack Germany through the Baltic combined with a joint thrust to Berlin with the Russians. But when he realized that he had colleagues (Kitchener, Lloyd George, Hankey) who preferred an attack in the Balkans, he characteristically became the outspoken proponent for that course of action. Asquith wrote to Venetia Stanley: “His volatile mind is at present set on Turkey and Bulgaria, and he wants to organise a heroic adventure against Gallipoli and the Dardanelles: to which I am altogether opposed…”

When Kitchener argued that there were no troops available for the campaign Churchill, despite reluctance in his own staff officers, realized that the pressure on Russia was so great that an Admiralty initiative was imperative. On 13 January the War Council decided on an attack on the Dardanelles and authorized Churchill to develop plans.

Lord Fisher did not agree with plans for an all-naval attack, and felt that any redeployment of ships to the Mediterranean would weaken the navy in the North Sea. But he was always “out-argued” by Churchill. Despite their mutual affection Fisher and Churchill were constantly at odds. Admiral Beatty felt that an explosion was inevitable: ” . . . two very strong and clever men, one old, wily, and of vast experience, one young, self-assertive, with a great self-satisfaction but unstable. They cannot work together, they cannot both run the show. ” Fisher took his objections to the War Council but found that they were unanimous in support of Churchill’s plans for the Dardanelles.

The major issue regarding those plans was whether Army troops would support the naval action. Kitchener was concerned that Russia would collapse and all troops would be required to confront the additional German soldiers which would be sent westward. Nevertheless on March 18 British and French battleships began the naval attack in the Dardanelles.

It had been a trying winter for the First Lord. Not all his foes were external. Asquith thought him “far the most disliked man in my Cabinet by his colleagues. ” The Prime Minister felt that “he is intolerable! Noisy, longwinded and full of perorations. We don’t want suggestions – we want wisdom. ” Lord Fisher threatened to resign twice. Kitchener resented Churchill’s interference in Army matters. But it was also a most exhilarating time. At one point Churchill desperately wanted to be Viceroy of India. Now that the position was becoming vacant he clearly indicated his preference to Margot Asquith: “My God! this war is living History. Everything we are doing and saying is thrilling — it will be read by a thousand generations, think of that!! Why I would not be out of this glorious delicious war for anything the world could give me. I say, don’t repeat that I said the word “delicious”  — you know what I mean.”

A tribute, join us

#thinkchurchill

Subscribe

WANT MORE?

Get the Churchill Bulletin delivered to your inbox once a month.