Part I - The Dim
PART I - THE DIMMING OF LIGHTS
Winston Churchill stepped out of his carriage, past the Royal Guardsmen towards the entrence of Buckingham Palace. The day was chilly this January day, and King George greeted Churchill outside the Palace entrence. They shook hands and both began walking into the Palace talking heavily. News was bad in Europe, the Germans and this Southern menance, the Austrians were growing increasingly belligerent towards the Serbian issue, Ottoman Empire's Young Turk government was becoming increasingly unfriendly to British policy and Bulgaria's King Ferdinand turned a deaf ear to British diplomatic moves to try and gain Bulgaria's support as a check to the Osmanli resurgance.
Britian was at the height of her power and prestige by January 1914, with a Commenwealth Empire that spread across the globe, every possible natural reasource in abundance, the most powerful and largest navy in the world as a small but extremely experienced and skilled military and officer corps. Britian was the police dog of the world, but during the 1900s that had been gravely threatened. With the resurgance of Japan and the increasing Russian aggression in Afghanistan and Central Asia, Britian found itself gaining enemies on all borders. This was resolved with the 1905 treaty with Japan and diplomatic resolutions with Russia to solve the Central Asia crisises. However during the early 1910s the multiple conflicts in the Balkans, the increasing power of the German navy and the resurgance of Osmanli power and prestige once again posed a major threat to British policy and welfare. There were no garuantees Japan would stay loyal to its 1905 treaties, there was fear a war with the Ottomans would cause a massive Moslem uprising in British controlled areas and Ireland, India and other commonwealths made increasing demands for independence. Despite all of this, Britian remained secure, tightening relations with France and the United States and the development of the most powerful ships to date, the Queen Elizabeth class of Dreadnoughts.
In the midst of all this activity and anxiety Churchill approached King George with a reality, that a war would be soon and that Britian should prepare for it starting now rather than be left weakened during its first, crucial months.
Churchill spelled out his idea of the coming war, a war where Germany, Austria and probaly a host of smaller Baltic and Balkan nations would begin a rampage across the continent and it was unlikely that Russia and France, despite all their power could effectively stop it. The Italians and Japanese could easily be lured to the side of the French and Russians with garuntees of lands at Central Powers expense. However Churchill was worried about a war in almost every ocean in the world, something Britian had never done before. Germany had large colonies in Africa and the Pacifics with naval and land detachments of threatening porportions on them. Germany also possessed the greatest single naval threat any nation had possessed since Napoleon's time, and Germany also seemed to be luring to its side Austria-Hungary decient sized fleet and the Ottomans' rapidly expanding navy. Something would have to be done about this.
King George throughout the meeting with Churchill was quiet and thoughtful, listening intently. When Churchill was finished King George dismissed Churchill, thanking him and saying he would make a decision after consulting Lord Kitchner and the Military establishment. The next day Lord Kitchner with Sir John French and Lloyd George in follow meet with King George, during the meeting King George summoned Churchill and together they formulated a plan called 'Prevention and Prepardness Plan of 1914-1916', calling for a near doubling of the size of the regular army, increased consolidation of Commonwealth resources to be placed at the disposal of the War Ministries and a call to the commonwealth nations to beef up their military establishments for the quickier training and readying of troop formations for a possible war. Shipyards were given more steel and it was agreed to allow Australian, Canadian and South African ports to begin building ships of their own, of course under British direction and with British reasources. It was hoped by 1916 that 3 small British armies would be deployed, the 1st and 2nd in Britian with the 3rd in Egypt and Africa.
This policy was put into action and new troops were raised in volunteer drives and new headquarters set up. India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada were stripped of local forces to fight for the Commonwealth. The ANZAC or Australian-New Zealand Army Corps was formed from 2 Australian Infantry Divisions and a New Zealand Brigade that was expanded into a division with not only New Zealand volunteers but also some native para-military garrison forces retrained and weeded for active military duty.
The navy also received 2 new cruisers and several new Dreadnoughts, many of them going to the Mediterranean, in order to be avaliable to fight the auxiliary Central Power navies and be avaliable for any Pacific or Indian ocean naval battles.
By August the British Army looked so:
British Expeditionary Force (1st and 2nd British Armies
British 1st Army
- Commanded by Field Marshal Haig
I Army Corps (Haig)
1st Cavalry Division
1st Infantry Division
2nd Infantry Division
III Army Corps (Milne, G)
4th Infantry Division
9th Infantry Division
12th Infantry Division
Royal Canadian Army Corps (Currie)
1st Canadian Infantry Division
2nd Canadian Infantry Division
British 2nd Army
- Commanded by General Grierson
II Army Corps (Grierson)
3rd Infantry Division
10th Infantry Division
'Guards' Infantry Division
IV Army Corps (Chetwode)
5th Infantry Division
6th (Irish) Infantry Division
11th Infantry Division
3rd Canadian Infantry Division (Sailing to England to join Royal Canadian Army Corps)
Africa and Middle East Department
British 3rd Army (Egypt)
- Field Marshal Allenby
V Army Corps (Barrett)
1st Indian Cavalry Division
28th Infantry Division
29th Infantry Division
VI Army Corps (Congreve)
8th Infantry Division
27th Infantry Division
VII Army Corps (Allenby)
7th Infantry Division
ANZAC (Monash)
1st Australian Infantry Division
2nd Australian Infantry Division
New Zealand Infantry Division
3rd Australian Infantry Division (Still in Australia, sailing for Egypt to join VII Corps)
Africa Sub-Department
- Commanded by General Hamilton
East Africa, Uganda, Rhodesia Garrisons
II Indian Army Corps (Hamilton)
4th Indian Infantry Division
5th Indian Infantry Division
6th Indian Infantry Division
9th Indian Infantry Division
South African Defence Corps (Botha)
1 Division of Infantry
2 Divisions of Mounted Rifles
1 Division of Dismounted Rifles
(In addition to these forces there are British garrisons across the world and 2 major Indian Army Corps still stationed in India, as a general Africa-Indian-Pacific reserve force to be used when needed.)
On June 28th Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Serbian nationalits, sending an already smoldering dispute over the edge. Austria, Serbia, Russia, France and Germany were pulled into a great war on the continent during July. Ottomans and Bulgarians drew closer to Germany, while Greece disolved into near anarchy as the pro-allies and pro-german sides fought for power.
Britian braced herself when on August 1st, German troops poured into Belgium, violating the 1836 treaty. Britian, partly because of honor, partly because it was the right time and partially because it was now or never declared war on Germany and entered The Great War of Europe. The lights were dimming as the foots of soldiers trodded on the ground, and darkness began to envolpe...
