114th Meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence

The 114th Meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence took place on 23 August, 1911. The meeting was apparently proposed by Haldane at dinner with Asquith, Grey, McKenna and Churchill on 14 August. Excluded from the meeting were Lewis Harcourt, the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Marquess of Crewe, Leader of the House of Lords and Secretary of State for India; and Viscount Morley, Lord President of the Council. The meeting was, according to Harcourt, Colonial Secretary, "arranged some time ago for a date when it was supposed that we should all be out of London!"

Minutes

Present:

The Right Hon. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P., Prime Minister (in the chair).

The Right Hon. D. LLOYD GEORGE, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Right Hon. SIR EDWARD GREY, Bart., M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

The Right Hon. W. S. CHURCHILL, M.P., Secretary of State for the Home Department.

The Right Hon. REGINALD MCKENNA, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.

Admiral of the Fleet SIR ARTHUR WILSON, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., V.C., First Sea Lord of the Admiralty.

Rear-Admiral the Hon. A. E. BETHELL, C.M.G., Director of Naval Intelligence.

The Right Hon. VISCOUNT HALDANE, Secretary of State for War.

Field-Marshal SIR WILLIAM NICHOLSON, G.C.B., Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

Brigadier-General H. H. WILSON, C.B., D.S.O., Director of Military Operations.

General SIR JOHN FRENCH, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G., Inspector-General of the Forces.

Rear-Admiral SIR CHARLES OTTLEY, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.V.O., Secretary.

Major-General SIR A. J. MURRAY, K.C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O., Director of Military Training, also attended.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN IN THE EVENT OF INTERVENTION IN A EUROPEAN WAR

THE PRIME MINISTER said he had called the Committee together as the European situation was not altogether clear, and it was possible that it might become necessary for the question of giving armed support to the French to be considered.
The Sub-Committee which examined this question in 1908 came to the following conclusions:—		Report of Sub-Committee on "Military needs of the Empire (C.I.D. Paper 109-B).
"(a) The Committee, in the first place, desire to observe that, in the event of an attack on France by Germany, the expediency of sending a military forceabroad or of relying on naval means alone is a matter of policy which can only be determined when the occasion arises by the Government of the day.		The question of policy.
"(b) In view, however, of the possibility of a decision by the Cabinet to use military force, the Committee have examined the plans of the General Staff, and are of opinion that, in the initial stages of a war between France and Germany, in which the Government decided to assist France, the plan to which preference is given by the General Staff is a valuable one, and the general Staff should accordingly work out all the necessary details.		Instructions to the General Staff.
The General Staff had prepared a fresh Memorandum on the subject in the light of recent developments (C.I.D. Paper 130-B), and on the second hypothesis that the United Kingdom becomes the active ally of France, the important points were those contained on p. 2, namely, that we should mobilise and dispatch the whole of our available regular army of six divisions and a cavalry division immediately upon the outbreak of war, mobilising upon the same day as the French and Germans. It was further suggested that additional reinforcements, consisting of two or three divisions of British and native troops might be drawn from India, and possibly the seventh division from the Mediterranean and South Africa.		Re-examination of the question by the General Staff. Proposals of the General Staff.
Lastly, the General Staff asked from the Admiralty an assurance that the Expeditionary Force could be safely transported across the Channel and from the other directions indicated in their paper, and that the Navy will protect the United Kingdom from organised invasion from the sea. As regards these last two points, Admiralty Memorandum (C.I.D. Paper 131-B) did not give a categorical reply.		Assurances asked from the Admiralty by the General Staff.

Bibliography

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• Wilson, Keith M. (1985). The Policy of the Entente: Essays on the Determinants of British Foreign Policy 1904-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-30195-5.