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Maurice Debate
The Maurice Debate was a debate in the British House of Commons which took place on 9 May 1918, during the First World War. A senior British Army officer, Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, alleged that the War Cabinet had misled Parliament about troop strengths on the Western Front. The leader of the Liberal Party, H. H. Asquith, took up the allegations and attacked Prime Minister David Lloyd George, also a Liberal. The debate ripped apart the Liberal Party. While Asquith's attack was ineffective, Lloyd George vigorously defended his position, treating the debate like a vote of confidence. He won over the House with a powerful, if misleading, speech, rebutting all of Maurice's allegations. The debate did not cause the profound split in the Liberal Party, but did make it more visible and harder to heal. The main results were to strengthen Lloyd George, weaken Asquith, end public criticism of overall strategy, and strengthen civilian control of the military. Background to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Commons Of The United Kingdom
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs). MPs are elected to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved. The House of Commons of England started to evolve in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1707 it became the House of Commons of Great Britain after the political union with Scotland, and from 1800 it also became the House of Commons for Ireland after the political union of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the body became the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after the independence of the Irish Free State. Under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the Lords' power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Michael
Operation Michael was a major German military offensive during the First World War that began the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to break through the Allied (Entente) lines and advance in a north-westerly direction to seize the Channel Ports, which supplied the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and to drive the BEF into the sea. Two days later General Erich Ludendorff, the chief of the German General Staff, adjusted his plan and pushed for an offensive due west, along the whole of the British front north of the River Somme. This was designed to first separate the French and British Armies before continuing with the original concept of pushing the BEF into the sea. The offensive ended at Villers-Bretonneux, to the east of the Allied communications centre at Amiens, where the Allies managed to halt the German advance; the German Army had suffered many casualties and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secretary Of State For War
The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and was assisted by a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for War, a Parliamentary Private Secretary who was also a Member of Parliament (MP), and a Military Secretary, who was a general. In the nineteenth century the post was twice held by future prime minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman. At the outset of the First World War, prime minister H. H. Asquith was filling the role, but he quickly appointed Lord Kitchener, who became famous while in this position for Lord Kitchener Wants You. He was replaced by David Lloyd George, who went on to become prime minister. Between the World Wars, the post was held by future prime minister Winston Churchill for two years. In the 1960s, John Profumo held this post at the time of the Profumo affair. Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From December 1916 to November 1918, he was one of the most important members of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's War Cabinet. Early life and education Milner had partial German ancestry. His German paternal grandmother married an Englishman who settled in the Grand Duchy of Hesse (now thestate of Hesse, in west-central Germany). Their son, Charles Milner, who was educated in Hesse and England, established himself as a physician with a practice in London and later became Reader in English at University of Tübingen in the Kingdom of Württemberg (modern state of Baden-Württemberg). His wife was a daughter of Major General John Ready, a former Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island and later the Isle of Man. Their only son, Alfred Miln ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Kirke
General Sir Walter Mervyn St George Kirke, (19 January 1877 – 2 September 1949) was the Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces during the Second World War. Military career Born the second son of Colonel St. George Mervyn Kirke RE and his wife Sarah, Walter Kirke was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 21 September 1896. He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 September 1899, and to captain on 4 December 1901 while serving in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India between 1901 and 1902. From July 1902 he was seconded for service with the Burma Military Police. Kirke was instrumental in creating the Army's Intelligence Corps in 1907, and he worked for Colonel George Macdonogh in the War Office's Intelligence Department. This area of work comprised special duties, such as protective security, ciphers and censorship of post (news) and telegraphs. Starting October 1, 1909, the new Secret Service Bureau (MI5) was created and fell under Mac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Macpherson, 1st Baron Strathcarron
(James) Ian Stewart Macpherson, 1st Baron Strathcarron (14 May 1880 – 14 August 1937), known as Sir Ian Macpherson, Baronet between 1933 and 1936, was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. In 1931 he joined the breakway National Liberal Party. Background and education Macpherson was the son of James Macpherson, JP, of Inverness, and Anne, daughter of James Stewart. Lord Drumalbyn, George Macpherson and Sir Tommy Macpherson were his nephews. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1906. Political career Macpherson sat as Member of Parliament for Ross and Cromarty from 1911 to 1935. In 1916 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War, a post he held until 1918, and then served as Deputy Secretary of State for War and Vice-President of the Army Council between 1918 and 1919, as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1919 and 1920 and as Minister of Pensions between 1920 and 1922. He was admitted to the British ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Labour Corps
The Chinese Labour Corps (CLC; french: Corps de Travailleurs Chinois; ) was a force of workers recruited by the British government in the First World War to free troops for front line duty by performing support work and manual labour. The French government also recruited a significant number of Chinese labourers, and although those labourers working for the French were recruited separately and not part of the CLC, the term is often used to encompass both groups. In all, some 140,000 men served for both British and French forces before the war ended and most of the men were repatriated to China between 1918 and 1920. Origins In 1916, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig requested that 21,000 labourers be recruited to fill the manpower shortage caused by casualties during the First World War. Recruiting labourers from other countries was not something unusual at that time. Other than the Chinese, labour corps were serving in France from Egypt, Fiji, India, Malta, Mauritius, Seychelles, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Army During World War I
The Indian Army during World War I was involved World War I. Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire on the Western Front. At the First Battle of Ypres, Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to be awarded a Victoria Cross. Indian divisions were also sent to Egypt, Gallipoli, German East Africa and nearly 700,000 served in Mesopotamia against the Ottoman Empire. While some divisions were sent overseas others had to remain in India guarding the North West Frontier and on internal security and training duties. Field-Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from 1942 asserted that the British "couldn't have come through both World War I and II if they hadn't had the Indian Army." Kitchener's reforms Herbert Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India in 1902 an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamian Campaign
The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from British India, against the Central Powers, mostly the Ottoman Empire. Background The Ottoman Empire had conquered the region in the early 16th century, but never gained complete control. Regional pockets of Ottoman control through local proxy rulers maintained the Ottomans' reach throughout Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). With the turn of the 19th century came reforms. Work began on a Baghdad Railway in 1888; by 1915 it had only four gaps, and travel time from Istanbul to Baghdad had fallen to 21 days. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) had obtained exclusive rights to petroleum deposits throughout the Persian Empire, except in the provinces of Azerbaijan, Ghilan, Mazendaran, Asdrabad, and Khorasan.The Encyclopedia Americana, 1920, v.28, p.403 In 1914, months before the war bega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Grigg (writer)
John Edward Poynder Grigg (15 April 1924 – 31 December 2001) was a British writer, historian and politician. He was the 2nd Baron Altrincham from 1955 until he disclaimed that title under the Peerage Act on the day it received Royal Assent in 1963. Grigg edited the '' National and English Review'' (1954–1960) as his father had done. He was a liberal Tory but was defeated at the 1951 and 1955 general elections. In an article for the ''National and English Review'' in August 1957, Grigg argued that Queen Elizabeth II's court was too upper-class and British, and instead advocated a more "classless" and Commonwealth court. His article caused a furore and was attacked by the majority of the press, with a minority, including the ''New Statesman'' and Ian Gilmour's ''The Spectator'', agreeing with some of Grigg's ideas. He left the Conservative Party for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1982. Early years Born in Westminster, Grigg was the son of Edward Grigg, 1st Baron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of the war. He was commander during the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras, the Third Battle of Ypres, the German Spring Offensive, and the Hundred Days Offensive.Sheffield 2002, p. 21.Sheffield 2002, p. 263.Hart 2008, p. 2. His military career included service in the War Office, where he was instrumental in the creation of the Territorial Force in 1908. In January 1917 he was raised up to the rank of Field Marshal, subsequently leading the BEF during the final Hundred Days Offensive, when it crossed the Canal du Nord and broke through the Hindenburg line, capturing 195,000 German prisoners. This campaign, in combination with the Kiel mutiny, the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, the proclamation of a republic on 9 November 1918, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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