The British Empire and "World War"

Comments by John Bourne, Birmingham University, in THE OXFORD HISTORY OF MODERN WAR, 2000

The [Great War] began in the Balkan cockpit of competing nationalisms and ancient ethnic rivalries. Hopes that it could be contained there proved vain. Expansion of the war was swift. . .

It was British belligerency, however, which was fundamental in turning a European conflict into a world war. Britain was the world’s greatest imperial power. The British had world-wide interests and world-wide dilemmas. They also had world-wide friends. Germany found itself at war not only with Great Britain but also with the dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa and with the greatest British imperial possession, India. Concern for the defence of India helped bring the British into conflict with the Ottoman Empire in November 1914 and resulted in a major war in the Middle East. 

Most important of all, perhaps,  Britain’s close political, economic, and cultural ties with the United States of America, if they did not ensure that nation’s eventual entry into the war, certainly made it possible. The American declaration of war on Germany on 6 April 1917 was a landmark not only in the history of the United States but also in that of Europe and the world, bringing to an end half a millennium of European domination and ushering in ‘the American century’.

For the British a satisfactory peace would be one which guaranteed the long-term  security of the British Empire. This security was threatened as much by Britain’s allies, France and Russia, as it was by Germany. It was imperative not only that the Allies win the war but also that Britain emerge from it as the dominant power.