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| 4 August 1914 (declared war on Germany following its invasion of Belgium) |
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| Constitutional monarchy and empire |
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George V: sovereign, 1910-36
H H Asquith: prime minister, 1908-16
David Lloyd George: prime minister, 1916-22
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| 45.2 million (Britain and Ireland) |
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| 250,000 regular troops (1914). Half of these were stationed abroad; half were in the British Expeditionary Force. Britain was forced to introduce conscription in 1916 |
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| 24 dreadnoughts, 29 pre-dreadnought battleships, 200 cruisers (different classes), 200 destroyers (1914). Britain's navy was the largest in the world |
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| Britain joined France in the Entente Cordiale ('friendly understanding') in 1904. This was expanded into the Triple Entente when Britain signed an entente with Russia in 1907. However, neither of these committed Britain to military action. On the whole, it wanted to stay out of European wars (as long as no single power dominated the continent) and concentrate its energies on its empire. |
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| Britain's was the largest empire in the world in 1914, covering 11.5 million square miles and comprising 365 million people. There were British colonies and dominions in Africa, the Caribbean, North America, the Pacific and Australasia, and Britain could count on support from these territories in time of war. By the start of the 20th century, Britain's economic pre-eminence was under threat from both Germany and the United States. |
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| 660,000 dead, 140,000 missing (presumed dead), 2 million wounded |
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