While the Democratic platform followed the "Peace wing" of the party and called the war a "failure", their candidate, General George B. McClellan, supported the war and repudiated the platform. HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln provided Grant with more troops and mobilized his party to renew its support of Grant in the war effort. Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September and David Farragut's capture of Mobile ended defeatist jitters;[214] HP G62t-350 CTO Laptop Keyboard
the Democratic Party was deeply split, with some leaders and most soldiers openly for Lincoln. By contrast, the National Union Party was united and energized as Lincoln made emancipation the central issue, and state Republican parties stressed theperfidy of the Copperheads.[215] Lincoln was re-elected in a landslide, carrying all but three states, and receiving 78 percent of the Union soldiers' vote.[216] HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address. In it, he deemed the high casualties on both sides to be God's will. Historian Mark Noll concludes it ranks "among the small handful of semi-sacred texts by which Americans conceive their place in the world".[217] Lincoln said: Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said, HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
"the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether". With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.[218] ACER NSK-H361D Laptop Keyboard
Reconstruction began during the war, as Lincoln and his associates anticipated questions of how to reintegrate the conquered southern states, and how to determine the fates of Confederate leaders and freed slaves. Shortly after Lee's surrender, a general had asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates should be treated, and Lincoln replied, "Let 'em up easy."[219 SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
] In keeping with that sentiment, Lincoln led the moderates regarding Reconstruction policy, and was opposed by the Radical Republicans, under Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, Sen. Charles Sumner and Sen. Benjamin Wade, political allies of the president on other issues. Determined to find a course that would reunite the nation and not alienate the South, TOSHIBA Satellite A300 Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held throughout the war. His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office, had not mistreated Union prisoners, and would sign an oath of allegiance.[220] As Southern states were subdued, ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
critical decisions had to be made as to their leadership while their administrations were re-formed. Of special importance were Tennessee and Arkansas, where Lincoln appointed Generals Andrew Johnson andFrederick Steele as military governors, respectively. DELL PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
In Louisiana, Lincoln ordered General Nathaniel P. Banks to promote a plan that would restore statehood when 10 percent of the voters agreed to it. Lincoln's Democratic opponents seized on these appointments to accuse him of using the military to ensure his and the Republicans' political aspirations. HP Business Notebook nx9000 Laptop Keyboard
On the other hand, the Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient, and passed their own plan, the Wade-Davis Bill, in 1864. When Lincoln vetoed the bill, the Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat representatives elected from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.[221] HP Mini 110-3135dx Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln's appointments were designed to keep both the moderate and Radical factions in harness. To fill Chief Justice Taney's seat on the Supreme Court, he named the choice of the Radicals, Salmon P. Chase, who Lincoln believed would uphold the emancipation and paper money policies.[222] ASUS F80Q Laptop Keyboard
After implementing the Emancipation Proclamation, which did not apply to every state, Lincoln increased pressure on Congress to outlaw slavery throughout the entire nation with a constitutional amendment. Lincoln declared that such an amendment would "clinch the whole matter".[223] DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
By December 1863, a proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw slavery was brought to Congress for passage. This first attempt at an amendment failed to pass, falling short of the required two-thirds majority on June 15, 1864, SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
in the House of Representatives. Passage of the proposed amendment became part of the Republican/Unionist platform in the election of 1864. After a long debate in the House, a second attempt passed Congress on January 31, 1865, and was sent to the state legislatures for ratification.[224][225] ACER TravelMate 2800 Series Laptop Keyboard
Upon ratification, it became the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.[226]
As the war drew to a close, Lincoln's presidential Reconstruction for the South was in flux; having believed the federal government had limited responsibility to the millions of freedmen. DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
· He signed into law Senator Charles Sumner's Freedmen's Bureau bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate material needs of former slaves. The law assigned land for a lease of three years with the ability to purchase title for the freedmen. Lincoln stated that his Louisiana plan did not apply to all states under Reconstruction. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 Keyboard
Shortly before his assassination, Lincoln announced he had a new plan for southern Reconstruction. Discussions with his cabinet revealed Lincoln planned short-term military control over southern states, until readmission under the control of southern Unionists.[227] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S420 Keyboard
The successful reunification of the states had consequences for the name of the country. The term "the United States" has historically been used, sometimes in the plural ("these United States"), and other times in the singular, without any particular grammatical consistency. The Civil War was a significant force in the eventual dominance of the singular usage by the end of the 19th century.[228] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420S Keyboard
In recent years, historians such as Harry Jaffa, Herman Belz, John Diggins, Vernon Burton and Eric Foner have stressed Lincoln's redefinition of republican values. As early as the 1850s, a time when most political rhetoric focused on the sanctity of the Constitution, Lenovo Thinkpad T420 Keyboard
Lincoln redirected emphasis to the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of American political values—what he called the "sheet anchor" of republicanism.[229] The Declaration's emphasis on freedom and equality for all, in contrast to the Constitution's tolerance of slavery, shifted the debate. Lenovo Thinkpad T420i Keyboard
As Diggins concludes regarding the highly influential Cooper Union speech of early 1860, "Lincoln presented Americans a theory of history that offers a profound contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself."[230] His position gained strength because he highlighted the moral basis of republicanism, rather than its legalisms.[231] Lenovo Thinkpad T420S Keyboard
Nevertheless, in 1861, Lincoln justified the war in terms of legalisms (the Constitution was a contract, and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree), and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a republican form of government in every state.[232] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5107 laptop keyboard
Burton (2008) argues that Lincoln's republicanism was taken up by the Freedmen as they were emancipated.[233]
In March 1861, in his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln explored the nature of democracy. He denounced secession as anarchy, and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system. HP G61-511WM laptop keyboard
He said "A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."[234] SONY KFRGBA028B laptop keyboard
Other enactments
Lincoln adhered to the Whig theory of the presidency, which gave Congress primary responsibility for writing the laws while the Executive enforced them. Lincoln only vetoed four bills passed by Congress; the only important one was the Wade-Davis Bill with its harsh program of Reconstruction.[235] HP Mini 210 laptop keyboard
He signed the Homestead Act in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost. The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed in 1862, provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state. The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad, TOSHIBA Satellite l25-s1196 laptop keyboard
which was completed in 1869.[236] The passage of the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Acts was made possible by the absence of Southern congressmen and senators who had opposed the measures in the 1850s.[237] IBM 42T3671 laptop keyboard
Other important legislation involved two measures to raise revenues for the Federal government: tariffs (a policy with long precedent), and a new Federal income tax. In 1861, Lincoln signed the second and third Morrill Tariff, the first having become law under James Buchanan. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E125 laptop keyboard
Also in 1861, Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861, creating the first U.S. income tax.[239] This created a flat tax of 3 percent on incomes above $800 ($20,800 in current dollar terms), which was later changed by the Revenue Act of 1862 to a progressive rate structure.[240] HP Pavilion dv6-2187la laptop keyboard
Lincoln also presided over the expansion of the federal government's economic influence in several other areas. The creation of the system of national banks by the National Banking Actprovided a strong financial network in the country. SONY VAIO VGN-CR363 laptop keyboard
It also established a national currency. In 1862, Congress created, with Lincoln's approval, the Department of Agriculture.[241] In 1862, Lincoln sent a senior general, John Pope, to put down the "Sioux Uprising" in Minnesota. Presented with 303 execution warrants for convicted Santee Dakota who were accused of killing innocent farmers, Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
HP Mini 210-1084TU laptop keyboard
Lincoln conducted his own personal review of each of these warrants, eventually approving 39 for execution (one was later reprieved).[242] President Lincoln had planned to reform federal Indian policy.[243] HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
In the wake of Grant's casualties in his campaign against Lee, Lincoln had considered yet another executive call for a military draft, but it was never issued. In response to rumors of one, however, the editors of the New York World and the Journal of Commerce published a false draft proclamation which created HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
an opportunity for the editors and others employed at the publications to corner the gold market. Lincoln's reaction was to send the strongest of messages to the media about such behavior; he ordered the military to seize the two papers. The seizure lasted for two days.[244] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln is largely responsible for the institution of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.[245] Before Lincoln's presidency, Thanksgiving, while a regional holiday in New England since the 17th century, had been proclaimed by the federal government only sporadically and on irregular dates. HP Probook 4510S Laptop Keyboard
The last such proclamation had been duringJames Madison's presidency 50 years before. In 1863, Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November of that year to be a day of Thanksgiving.[245] In June 1864, Lincoln approved the Yosemite Grant enacted by Congress, which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as Yosemite National Park.[246] FUJITSU Lifebook E8110 Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln's declared philosophy on court nominations was that "we cannot ask a man what he will do, and if we should, and he should answer us, we should despise him for it. Therefore we must take a man whose opinions are known."[245] ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln made five appointments to the United States Supreme Court. Noah Haynes Swayne, nominated January 21, 1862 and appointed January 24, 1862, was chosen as an anti-slavery lawyer who was committed to the Union. DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
Samuel Freeman Miller, nominated and appointed on July 16, 1862, supported Lincoln in the 1860 election and was an avowed abolitionist. David Davis, Lincoln's campaign manager in 1860, nominated December 1, 1862 and appointed December 8, 1862, had also served as a judge in Lincoln's Illinois court circuit. Stephen Johnson Field, a previous California Supreme Court justice, SONY 147915321 Laptop Keyboard
was nominated March 6, 1863 and appointed March 10, 1863, and provided geographic balance, as well as political balance to the court as a Democrat. Finally, Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, was nominated as Chief Justice, and appointed the same day, on December 6, 1864. Lincoln believed Chase was an able jurist, would support Reconstruction legislation, and that his appointment united the Republican Party.[247] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
After attending an April 11, 1865, speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks, an incensed Booth changed his plans and became determined to assassinate the president.[251] Learning that the President, First Lady, HP Pavilion DV3000 laptop keyboard
and head Union general Ulysses S. Grant would be attending Ford's Theatre, Booth formulated a plan with co-conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William H. Seward and General Grant. Without his main bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, ASUS F6VE laptop keyboard
Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin on April 14. Grant, along with his wife, chose at the last minute to travel to Philadelphia instead of attending the play.[252]
Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker, left Ford's Theater during intermission to join Lincoln's coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door. The now unguarded President sat in his state box in the balcony. SONY VGN-FE41S laptop keyboard
Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped.[253][254]
After being on the run for 10 days, Booth was tracked down and found on a farm in Virginia, some 70 miles (110 km) south of Washington, D.C. After a brief fight with Union troops, Booth was killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26.[255] HP Pavilion DV7-3067nr laptop keyboard
An Army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, was sitting nearby at the theater and immediately assisted the President. He found the President unresponsive, barely breathing and with no detectable pulse. Having determined that the President had been shot in the head, and not stabbed in the shoulder as originally thought, HP Pavilion DV7-3165dx laptop keyboard
he made an attempt to clear the blood clot, after which the President began to breathe more naturally.[256] The dying President was taken across the street to Petersen House. After remaining in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 15. Presbyterian minister Phineas Densmore Gurley, then present, was asked to offer a prayer, after which Secretary of War Stanton saluted and said, "Now he belongs to the ages."[257] DELL Studio 1749 laptop keyboard
Lincoln's flag-enfolded body was then escorted in the rain to the White House by bareheaded Union officers, while the city's church bells rang. President Johnson was sworn in at 10:00 am, less than 3 hours after Lincoln's death. DELL Studio 1747 laptop keyboard
The late President lay in state in the East Room, and then in the Capitol Rotunda from April 19 through April 21. For his final journey with his son Willie, both caskets were transported in the executive coach "United States" and for three weeks the Lincoln Special funeral train decorated in black bunting[258] SONY VAIO VGN-NW320F/T laptop keyboard
bore Lincoln's remains on a slow circuitous waypoint journey from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois stopping at many cities across the North for large-scale memorials attended by hundreds of thousands, as well as many people who gathered in informal trackside tributes with bands, bonfires and hymn singing[259][260] or silent reverence with hat in hand as the railway procession slowly passed by. HP COMPAQ 486654-001 laptop keyboard
As a young man, Lincoln was a religious skeptic,[261] or, in the words of a biographer, even an iconoclast.[262] Later in life, Lincoln's frequent use of religious imagery and language might have reflected his own personal beliefs or might have been a device to appeal to his audiences, TOSHIBA NSK-T4701 laptop keyboard
who were mostly evangelical Protestants.[263] He never joined a church, although he frequently attended with his wife,[264] but he was deeply familiar with the Bible, quoted it and praised it.[265] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5155 laptop keyboard
In the 1840s Lincoln subscribed to the Doctrine of Necessity, a belief that asserted the human mind was controlled by some higher power.[266] In the 1850s, Lincoln acknowledged "providence" in a general way, and rarely used the language or imagery of the evangelicals; he regarded the republicanism of the Founding Fathers with an almost religious reverence.[267] When he suffered the death of his son Edward, SONY VAIO PCG-FR415B laptop keyboard
Lincoln more frequently acknowledged his own need to depend on God.[268] The death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused Lincoln to look toward religion for answers and solace.[269] After Willie's death, Lincoln considered why, HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
from a divine standpoint, the severity of the war was necessary. He wrote at this time that God "could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Yet the contest proceeds."[270] On the day Lincoln was assassinated, he reportedly told his wife Mary at Ford's Theatre he desired to visit the Holy Land.[271]
Historical reputation
See also: Abraham Lincoln cultural depictions SONY 148024022 laptop keyboard
In surveys of scholars ranking Presidents since the 1940s, Lincoln is consistently ranked in the top three, often #1.[5][6] A 2004 study found that scholars in the fields of history and politics ranked Lincoln number one, while legal scholars placed him second after Washington.[272] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Of all the presidential ranking polls conducted since 1948, Lincoln has been rated at the very top in the majority of polls: Schlesinger 1948, Schlesinger 1962, 1982 Murray Blessing Survey, Chicago Tribune 1982 poll, Schlesinger 1996, CSPAN 1996, HP 636376-001 laptop keyboard
Ridings-McIver 1996, Time 2008, and CSPAN 2009. Generally, the top three presidents are rated as 1. Lincoln; 2. George Washington; and 3. Franklin D. Roosevelt, although Lincoln and Washington, and Washington and Roosevelt, occasionally are reversed.[273] HP Compaq NC8400 laptop keyboard
President Lincoln's assassination made him a national martyr and endowed him with a recognition of mythic proportion. Lincoln was viewed by abolitionists as a champion for human liberty. Republicans linked Lincoln's name to their party. Many, though not all, in the South considered Lincoln as a man of outstanding ability.[274] DELL NSK-DB301 laptop keyboard
Schwartz argues that Lincoln's reputation grew slowly in the late 19th century until the Progressive Era (1900–1920s) when he emerged as one of the most venerated heroes in American history, with even white Southerners in agreement. The high point came in 1922 with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington.[275] SONY KFRMBA151B laptop keyboard
In the New Deal era liberals honored Lincoln not so much as the self-made man or the great war president, but as the advocate of the common man who doubtless would have supported the welfare state. In the Cold War years, Lincoln's image shifted to emphasize the symbol of freedom who brought hope to those oppressed by communist regimes.[276] TOSHIBA Satellite L775D-S7340 Laptop Keyboard
By the 1970s Lincoln had become a hero to political conservatives[277] for his intense nationalism, support for business, his insistence on stopping the spread of human bondage, his acting in terms of Lockean and Burkean principles on behalf of both liberty and tradition, and his devotion to the principles of the Founding Fathers.[278][279][280] ACER TravelMate 6292 Laptop Keyboard
As a Whig activist, Lincoln was a spokesman for business interests, favoring high tariffs, banks, internal improvements, and railroads in opposition to the agrarian Democrats.[281] William C. Harris found that Lincoln's "reverence for the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the laws under it, and the preservation of the Republic and its institutions undergirded and strengthened his conservatism".[282] HP Mini 210-1083CA Laptop Keyboard
James G. Randall emphasizes his tolerance and especially his moderation "in his preference for orderly progress, his distrust of dangerous agitation, and his reluctance toward ill digested schemes of reform". SONY Vaio PCG-K35 Laptop Keyboard
Randall concludes that, "he was conservative in his complete avoidance of that type of so-called 'radicalism' which involved abuse of the South, hatred for the slaveholder, thirst for vengeance, partisan plotting, and ungenerous demands that Southern institutions be transformed overnight by outsiders."[283] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
By the late 1960s, liberals, such as historian Lerone Bennett, were having second thoughts, especially regarding Lincoln's views on racial issues.[284][285]Bennett won wide attention when he called Lincoln a white supremacist in 1968.[286] ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
He noted that Lincoln used ethnic slurs, told jokes that ridiculed blacks, insisted he opposed social equality, and proposed sending freed slaves to another country. Defenders, such as authors Dirck and Cashin, retorted that he was not as bad as most politicians of his day;[287] HP Mini 110-3012tu Laptop Keyboard
and that he was a "moral visionary" who deftly advanced the abolitionist cause, as fast as politically possible.[288] The emphasis shifted away from Lincoln-the-emancipator to an argument that blacks had freed themselves from slavery, or at least were responsible for pressuring the government on emancipation.[289][290] SONY VAIO VGN-CS16G/Q Laptop Keyboard
Historian Barry Schwartz wrote in 2009 that Lincoln's image suffered "erosion, fading prestige, benign ridicule" in the late 20th century.[291] On the other hand, Donald opined in his 1996 biography that Lincoln was distinctly endowed with the personality trait of negative capability, HP Probook 4320s Laptop Keyboard
defined by the poet John Keats and attributed to extraordinary leaders who were "content in the midst of uncertainties and doubts, and not compelled toward fact or reason".[292]
Lincoln's portrait appears on two denominations of United States currency, the penny and the $5 bill. His likeness also appears on many postage stamps and has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names,[295] including thecapital of Nebraska. GATEWAY V021646BS1 Laptop Keyboard
The most famous and most visited memorials are the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln's sculpture on Mount Rushmore;[296] Ford's Theatre and Petersen House (where he died) in Washington and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, located in Springfield, Illinois, not far from Lincoln's home and his tomb.[297][298] ACER 9J.N1H82.01D Laptop Keyboard
Barry Schwartz, a sociologist who has examined America's cultural memory, argues that in the 1930s and 1940s, the memory of Abraham Lincoln was practically sacred and provided the nation with "a moral symbol inspiring and guiding American life". TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S7467 laptop keyboard
During the Great Depression, he argues, Lincoln served "as a means for seeing the world's disappointments, for making its sufferings not so much explicable as meaningful". Franklin D. Roosevelt, preparing America for war, used the words of the Civil War president to clarify the threat posed by Germany and Japan. Americans asked, "What would Lincoln do?"[299] HP Pavilion DV7-3067cl laptop keyboard
However, he also finds that since World War II, Lincoln's symbolic power has lost relevance, and this "fading hero is symptomatic of fading confidence in national greatness".[300] He suggested that postmodernism and multiculturalism have diluted greatness as a concept. GATEWAY ML3109 laptop keyboard
In 1889 he became an Alderman on the Caernarfonshire County Council which had been created by the Local Government Act 1888. COMPAQ Presario CQ60-200EP laptop keyboard
At that time he appeared to be trying to create a separate Welsh national party modelled on Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party and worked towards a union of the North and South Wales Liberal Federations. For the same county Lloyd George would also become a JP (1910)[9] and chairman of Quarter Sessions (1929–38),[10] and DL in 1921.[9] SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard
Lloyd George was returned as Liberal MP for Carnarvon Boroughs — by a margin of 19 votes — on 13 April 1890 at a by-election caused by the death of the former Conservative member. He was the youngest MP in the House of Commons, Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
and he sat with an informal grouping of Welsh Liberal members with a programme of disestablishing and disendowing the Church of England in Wales, temperance reform, and Welsh home rule. He would remain an MP until 1945, 55 years later. HP Pavilion DV7-3067nr laptop keyboard
As backbench members of the House of Commons were not paid at that time, he supported himself and his growing family by continuing to practise as asolicitor, opening an office in London under the name of Lloyd George and Co. TOSHIBA Satellite P305-S8915 laptop keyboard
and continuing in partnership with William George in Criccieth. In 1897 he merged his growing London practice with that of Arthur Rhys Roberts (who was to become Official Solicitor) under the name of Lloyd George, Roberts and Co.. HP Mini 210-1083CA laptop keyboard
He was soon speaking on Liberal issues (particularly temperance—the "local option", and national as opposed to denominational education) throughout England as well as Wales. During the next decade, DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
Lloyd George campaigned in Parliament largely on Welsh issues and in particular for disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England. He wrote extensively for Liberal papers such as the Manchester Guardian. Acer eMachines E732 laptop keyboard
When Gladstone retired after the defeat of the second Home Rule Bill in 1894, the Welsh Liberal members chose him to serve on a deputation to William Harcourt to press for specific assurances on Welsh issues; when those were not provided, SONY VAIO VGN-N31M laptop keyboard
they resolved to take independent action if the government did not bring a bill for disestablishment. When that was not forthcoming, he and three other Welsh Liberals (David Alfred Thomas, Herbert Lewis and Frank Edwards) refused the whip on 14 April 1892 but accepted Lord Rosebery's assurance and rejoined the official Liberals on 29 May. Lenovo 3000 G430 4152 laptop keyboard
Thereafter, he devoted much time to setting up branches of Cymru Fydd(Young Wales), which, he said, would in time become a force like the Irish National Party. He abandoned this idea after being criticised in Welsh newspapers for bringing about the defeat of the Liberal Party in the 1895 election and when, at a meeting in Newport on 16 January 1896, HP Mini 110-1212NR Laptop Keyboard
the South Wales Liberal Federation, led by David Alfred Thomas and Robert Bird moved that he be not heard.
He gained national fame by his vehement opposition to the Second Boer War. He based his attack firstly on what were supposed to be the war aims – remedying the grievances of the Uitlanders and in particular the claim that they were wrongly denied the right to vote, saying GATEWAY M-6803M Laptop Keyboard
"I do not believe the war has any connection with the franchise. It is a question of 45% dividends" and that England (which did not then have universal male suffrage) was more in need of franchise reform than the Boer republics. His second attack was on the cost of the war, which, he argued, prevented overdue social reform in England, Lenovo ThinkPad T510-4349 Laptop Keyboard
such as old age pensions and workmen's cottages. As the war progressed, he moved his attack to its conduct by the generals, who, he said (basing his words on reports by William Burdett-Coutts in The Times), were not providing for the sick or wounded soldiers and were starving Boer women and children in concentration camps. He reserved his major thrusts for Chamberlain, HP G62-456TU Laptop Keyboard
accusing him of war profiteering through the Chamberlain family companyKynoch Ltd, of which Chamberlain's brother was Chairman and which had won tenders to the War Office though its prices were higher than some of its competitors. After speaking at a meeting in Chamberlain's political base at Birmingham. DELL NSK-D8001 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George had to be smuggled out disguised as a policeman, as his life was in danger from the mob. At this time the Liberal Party was badly split as Herbert Henry Asquith, Richard Burdon Haldane and others were supporters of the war and formed the Liberal Imperial League. HP AEAT5U00010 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George had been impressed by his journey to Canada in 1899. Although sometimes wrongly supposed – both at the time and subsequently – to be a Little Englander, he was not an opponent of the British Empire per se, but in a speech at Birkenhead (21 November 1901) stressed that it needed to be based on freedom – including for India – not “racial arrogance”.[11] GATEWAY M-6846 Laptop Keyboard
His attacks on the government's Education Act, which provided that County Councils would fund church schools, helped reunite the Liberals. His successful amendment that the County need only fund those schools where the buildings were in good repair served to make the Act a dead letter in Wales, Compaq Presario CQ42-228LA Laptop Keyboard
where the Counties were able to show that most Church of England schools were in poor repair. Having already gained national recognition for his anti-Boer War campaigns, his leadership of the attacks on the Education Act gave him a strong parliamentary reputation and marked him as a likely future cabinet member. HP Pavilion G7-1167DX Laptop Keyboard
Although old-age pensions had already been introduced by Asquith as Chancellor, Lloyd George was largely responsible for the introduction of state financial support for the sick and infirm (known colloquially as "going on the Lloyd George" for decades afterwards) — legislation often referred to as the Liberal reforms. TOSHIBA MP-06863US-9308 Laptop Keyboard
In 1909 he introduced his famous budget imposing increased taxes on luxuries, liquor, tobacco, incomes, and land, so that money could be made available for the new welfare programmes as well as new battleships. The nation's landowners (well represented in the House of Lords) were intensely angry at the new taxes. In the House of Commons Lloyd George gave a brilliant defence of the budget, which was attacked by the Conservatives. HP G72-a01SG Laptop Keyboard
On the stump, most famously in his Limehouse speech, he denounced the Conservatives and the wealthy classes with all his very considerable oratorical power. The budget passed the Commons, but was defeated by the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. HP Pavilion DV6-1100sv laptop keyboard
The elections of 1910 upheld the Liberal government and the budget finally passed the Lords. Subsequently, the Parliament Bill for social reform and Irish Home Rule, which Lloyd George strongly supported, HP Mini 210-1190NR laptop keyboard
was passed and the veto power of the House of Lords was greatly curtailed. In 1911 Lloyd George succeeded in putting through Parliament his National Insurance Act, making provision for sickness and invalidism, SONY VGN-FE21H laptop keyboard
and this was followed by his Unemployment Insurance Act. He was helped in his endeavours by forty or so backbenchers who regularly pushed for new social measures, and often voted with the Labour Party on them.[12] FUJITSU CP270342-02 laptop keyboard
These social reforms began in Britain the creation of a welfare state and fulfilled the aim of dampening down the demands of the growing working class for rather more radical solutions to their impoverishment.[13] HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
In 1906 Lloyd George entered the new Liberal Cabinet of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as President of the Board of Trade. In that position he introduced legislation on many topics, from Merchant Shipping and Companies to Railway regulation, DELL PK130801B00 laptop keyboard
but his main achievement was in stopping a proposed national strike of the railway unions by brokering an agreement between the unions and the railway companies. While almost all the companies refused to recognise the unions, HP Pavilion dv6-2016ez laptop keyboard
Lloyd George persuaded the companies to recognise elected representatives of the workers who sat with the company representatives on conciliation boards — one for each company. If those boards failed to agree then there was a central board. This was Lloyd George's first great triumph, HP Pavilion DV7-3160us laptop keyboard
for which he received praises from, among others, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Two weeks later, however, his great excitement was crushed by his daughter Mair's death fromappendicitis.
On Campbell-Bannerman's death he succeeded Asquith, who had become Prime Minister, as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1908 to 1915. HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
While he continued some work from the Board of Trade — for example, legislation to establish a Port of London authority and to pursue traditional Liberal programmes such as licensing law reforms — his first major trial in this role was over the 1908–1909 Naval Estimates. SONY VAIO VGN-N130E laptop keyboard
The Liberal manifesto at the 1906 general electionsincluded a commitment to reduce military expenditure. Lloyd George strongly supported this, writing to Reginald McKenna, First Lord of the Admiralty, "SONY VAIO VGN-SZ650N laptop keyboard
the emphatic pledges given by all of us at the last general election to reduce the gigantic expenditure on armaments built up by the recklessness of our predecessors." He then proposed the programme be reduced from six to four dreadnoughts. ASUS A6J laptop keyboard
This was adopted by the government, but there was a public storm when the Conservatives, with covert support from the First Sea Lord, Admiral Jackie Fisher, campaigned for more with the slogan "We want eight and we won't wait". TOSHIBA NB100 laptop keyboard
This resulted in Lloyd George's defeat in Cabinet and the adoption of estimates including provision for eight dreadnoughts. This was later to be said to be one of the main turning points in the naval arms race between Germany and Britain that contributed to the outbreak of the First World War. DELL NSK-DCM01 laptop keyboard
After the Shell Crisis of 1915 dismayed public opinion with the news that the Army was running short of artillery shells, demands rose for a strong leader to take charge of munitions. The cabinet was reconstituted as the first coalition ministry in May 1915, HP Mini 110-1212NR laptop keyboard
and Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions in a new department created after a munitions shortage.[15] In this position he was a brilliant success, but he was not at all satisfied with the progress of the war. SONY VAIO VGN-CS110D/W laptop keyboard
He wanted to "knock away the props", by attacking Germany's allies – he argued for the sending of British troops to Greece (this was done – theSalonika expedition – although not on the scale that Lloyd George had wanted, and mountain ranges made his suggestions of grand Balkan offensives impractical) and for the sending of machine guns to Romania (insufficient were available). HP G62-456TU laptop keyboard
These suggestions were the beginning of Lloyd George's poor relations with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Robertson, who was "brusque to the point of rudeness" and "barely concealed his contempt for Lloyd George's military opinions", to which he was in the habit of retorting "I've 'eard different".[16] TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S5077 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George persuaded Kitchener to raise a Welsh Division, but not to recognise nonconformist chaplains in the Army.[17]
Late in 1915 Lloyd George became a strong supporter of general conscription, and he helped to put through the conscription act of 1916. In spring 1916Milner hoped Lloyd George could be persuaded to bring down the coalition government by resigning, but this did not happen.[18] GATEWAY M-6846 laptop keyboard
In June 1916 Lloyd George succeeded Kitchener (whose ship was sunk by a mine while on his way to Russia) as Secretary of State for War, although he had little control over strategy, as General Robertson had been given direct right of access to the Cabinet so as to bypass Kitchener. However, HP Pavilion DV7-3173nr laptop keyboard
he did succeed in securing the appointment of Sir Eric Geddes to take charge of military railways behind British lines in France, with the honorary rank of major-general.[19]
Lloyd George told a journalist, Roy W. Howard, in late September that “the fight must be to a finish – to a knockout”, a rejection of President Wilson’s offer to mediate.[20] TOSHIBA PK13AT10600 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George was increasingly frustrated at the limited gains of the Somme Offensive, criticising Haig to Foch on a visit to the Western Front in September (British casualty ratios were worse than those of the French, who were more experienced and had more artillery), proposing sending Robertson on a mission to Russia (he refused to go), and demanding that more troops be sent to Salonika to help Romania. Robertson eventually threatened to resign.[21] HP Pavilion dv6-2165tx laptop keyboard
Much of the press still argued that the professional leadership of Haig and Robertson was preferable to civilian interference which had led to disasters like Gallipoli and Kut. Lord Northcliffe, owner of The Times stormed into Lloyd George’s office and, finding him unavailable, told his secretary “You can tell him that I hear he has been interfering with Strategy, ASUS F82Q Laptop Keyboard
and that if he goes on I will break him”, and the same day (11 October) Lloyd George also received a warning letter from H. A. Gwynne, editor of the Morning Post. Lloyd George had to give his “word of honour” to Asquith that he had complete confidence in Haig and Robertson and thought them irreplaceable, Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
but he wrote to Robertson wanting to know how their differences had been leaked to the press (affecting to believe that Robertson had not personally “authorised such a breach of confidence & discipline”) and asserting his right to express his opinions about strategy. By November ministers had taken to holding meetings to which Robertson was not invited.[22] SONY VAIO VGN-N21S/W Laptop Keyboard
The weakness of Asquith as a planner and organiser was increasingly apparent to senior officials. After Asquith had refused to agree to Lloyd George's demand that he be allowed to chair a small committee to manage the war, LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 Laptop Keyboard
he was forced out in December 1916, and Lloyd George became Prime Minister, with the nation demanding he take vigorous charge of the war.[14] A "Punch" cartoon of the time showed him as "The New Conductor" conducting the orchestra in the "Opening of the 1917 Overture".DELL Vostro PP38L Laptop Keyboard
Although during the political crisis Robertson had advised Lloyd George to “stick to it” and form a small War Council, Lloyd George had planned if necessary to appeal to the country, his Military Secretary Colonel Arthur Lee having prepared a memo blaming Robertson and the General Staff for the loss of Serbia and Romania. HP 640436-001 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George was restricted by his promise to the Unionists to keep Haig as Commander-in-Chief and the press support for the generals, although Milner and Curzon were also sympathetic to campaigns to increase British power in the Middle East.[23] HP MP-08K33US-930 Laptop Keyboard
After Germany’s offer (12 December 1916) of a negotiated peace, Lloyd George rebuffed President Wilson’s request for the belligerents to state their war aims by demanding terms tantamount to German defeat.[24] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George engaged almost constantly in intrigues calculated to reduce the power of the generals, including trying to subordinate British forces in France to the French General Nivelle. He backed Nivelle because he thought he had “proved himself to be a Man” by his successful counterattacks at Verdun, IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R52 1870 Laptop Keyboard
and because of his promises that he could "rupture" the German lines in 48 hours.[28] Nivelle increasingly complained of Haig's dragging his feet rather than co-operating with their plans for the offensive, whilst Haig further irritated Lloyd George with a press interview in February in which he said the British were short of heavy guns, a complaint which Lloyd George, ACER TravelMate 3232WXMi Laptop Keyboard
former Minister of Munitions and an advocate of sending guns to Italy, took personally.[29]
This plot, launched with the full knowledge of Nivelle and the French Prime Minister Aristide Briand, was announced in guarded terms at a War Cabinet meeting on 24 February, to which neither Robertson nor Lord Derby (Secretary of State for War) had been invited. ASUS A6000J Laptop Keyboard
Ministers felt that the French generals and staff had shown themselves more skilful than the British in 1916, whilst politically Britain had to give wholehearted support to what would probably be the last major French effort of the war. Nivelle's proposal was then landed on Robertson and Haig without warning at an Anglo-French conference at Calais (26–27 February). DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
Minutes from the War Cabinet meeting were not sent to the King until 28 February, so that he did not have a prior chance to object.[30][31] SONY VAIO VGN-NW51FB laptop keyboard
Robertson wrote to Haig (28 February) that Lloyd George was “an awful liar”, claiming he had misled the Cabinet in his claim that the French had originated the proposal, and that he lacked the “honesty & truth” to remain Prime Minister.[30][32] Packard Bell Easynote TK87 laptop keyboard
After continued lobbying by Robertson, and talk of the government falling, War Cabinet opinion turned in favour of Haig. If no government could be formed with a majority in the House of Commons, the King would have had to have agreed to a General Election (there had not been one since December 1910) and there were concerns that, HP Mini 110-3015dx laptop keyboard
after the recent Fall of the Tsar, Lloyd George wanted to neutralise the British Army before fighting on a republican platform. Lloyd George was also rebuked by the King for having insulted the British Army.[33] At another conference in London (12–13 March) HP COMPAQ NX6120 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George expressed the government’s full support for Haig and the status quo ante, by which British forces were expected to defer to French wishes but were allies rather than subordinates, was essentially restored.[34] ASUS F80 laptop keyboard
The affair further poisoned relations between Lloyd George and the "Brasshats". In the event Nivelle's offensive was a failure, pushing the French Army to the point of mutiny and damaging Lloyd George's credibility.[30] LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 laptop keyboard
In early 1917 the Germans were seeking victory on the Western Approaches. A Ministry of Shipping was set up under Sir Joseph Maclay, a Glasgow shipowner who was not, until after he left office, a member of either House of Parliament, SONY Vaio VGN-AW310J laptop keyboard
and housed in a wooden building in a specially drained lake in St. James's Park, within a few minutes’ walk from the Admiralty. The Junior Minister and House of Commons spokesman was the self-advertising Leo Chiozza Money, TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-S5227 laptop keyboard
with whom Maclay did not get on, but on whose appointment Lloyd George insisted, feeling that their qualities would complement one another. The Civil Service staff was headed by the highly able John Anderson (then only thirty-four years old) and included Arthur Salter. ACER Aspire 4315 laptop keyboard
A number of shipping magnates were persuaded, like Maclay himself, to work unpaid for the ministry (as had a number of industrialists for the Ministry of Munitions), who were also able to obtain ideas privately from junior naval officers who were reluctant to argue with their superiors in meetings. ASUS F82Q laptop keyboard
The ministers heading the Board of Trade, for Munitions (Addison) and for Agriculture and Food (Lord Rhondda), were also expected to co-operate with Maclay.[35]
In accordance with a pledge Lloyd George gave in December 1916, GATEWAY MX6956 laptop keyboard
nearly 90% of Britain’s merchant shipping tonnage was soon brought under state control (previously less than half had been controlled by the Admiralty), whilst remaining privately owned (similar measures were in force at the time for the railways). Merchant shipping was concentrated, IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R52 laptop keyboard
largely on Chiozza Money’s initiative, on the transatlantic route where it could more easily be protected, instead of being spread out all over the globe (this relied on imports coming first into North America). COMPAQ Presario V5000 laptop keyboard
Maclay began the process of increasing ship construction, although he was hampered by shortages of steel and labour, and ships under construction in the United States were confiscated when she entered the war. In May 1917 Eric Geddes, based at the Admiralty, was put in charge of shipbuilding, and in July he became First Lord of the Admiralty.[36] ACER Aspire 4736Z laptop keyboard
Lloyd George had raised the matter of convoys at the War Committee in November 1916, only to be told by the admirals present, including Jellicoe, that convoys presented too large a target, and that merchant ship masters lacked the discipline to “keep station” in a convoy.[37] HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
In February 1917 Hankey wrote a memorandum for Lloyd George calling for the introduction of “scientifically organised convoys”, almost certainly after being persuaded by Commander Henderson and the Shipping Ministry officials with whom he was in contact. After a breakfast meeting (13 February 1917) HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
with Lloyd George, Carson (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Admirals Jellicoe and Duff agreed to “conduct experiments”. However, convoys were not in general use until August, by which time the rate of shipping losses was already in decline after peaking in April.[38] SONY VAIO PCG-792L Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George later claimed in his memoirs that the delay in introducing convoys was because the Admiralty mishandled an experimental convoy between Britain and Norway, and because Jellicoe obtained, behind Maclay’s back, DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
an unrepresentative sample of merchant skippers claiming that they lacked the skill to “keep station” in convoy. In fact Hankey’s diary shows that Lloyd George’s interest in the matter was intermittent, whilst Frances Stevenson’s diaries contain no mention of the topic. HP G61-409CA Laptop Keyboard
He may well have been reluctant, especially at a time when his relations with the generals were so poor, for a showdown with Carson, a weak administrator who was as much the mouthpiece of the admirals as Derby was of the generals, but who had played a key role in the fall of Asquith and who led a significant bloc of Conservative and Irish Unionist MPs.[39] DELL Vostro 3500 Laptop Keyboard
The new Commander of the Grand Fleet Admiral Beatty, whom Lloyd George visited at Invergordon on 15 April, was a supporter of convoys, as was the American Admiral Sims (the USA had just entered the war). ASUS F6A Laptop Keyboard
The War Cabinet (25 April) authorised Lloyd George to look into the anti-submarine campaign, and on 30 April he visited the Admiralty. Duff had already recommended to Jellicoe that the Admiralty adopt convoys after a recent successful convoy from Gibraltar.[40] SONY VGN-FE790 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George’s personal efforts to promote convoys were less consistent than he (and Churchill in The World Crisis and Beaverbrook in Men and Power) later claimed; the idea that he, after a hard struggle, sat in the First Lord’s chair (on his 30 April visit to the Admiralty) and imposed convoys on a hostile Board is a myth. However, HP Compaq NW8440 Laptop Keyboard
in Grigg’s view the credit goes largely to men and institutions which he set in place, and with a freer hand, and making fewer mistakes, than in his dealings with the generals, he and his appointees took decisions which can reasonably be said to have saved the country. “It was a close-run thing … failure would have been catastrophic”.[41] HP Pavilion DV3000 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George welcomed the Fall of the Tsar, both in a private letter to his brother and in a message to the new Russian Prime Minister, Prince Lvov, not least as the war could now be portrayed as a clash between liberal governments and the autocratic Central Powers. TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-S5227 Laptop Keyboard
Like many observers he had been taken by surprise by the exact timing of the revolution (it had not been predicted by Lord Milner or General Wilson on their visit to Russia a few weeks earlier) and hoped – albeit with some concerns – that Russia’s war effort would be invigorated like that of France in the early 1790s.[42] Packard Bell PEW91 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George gave a cautious welcome to the suggestion (19 March on the western calendar) of the Russian Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov that the toppled Tsar and his family be given sanctuary in Britain (although Lloyd George would have preferred that they go to a neutral country). From the very start the King’s adviser Stamfordham raised objections, Lenovo 3000 Y510a 15303 laptop keyboard
and in April the British government withdrew its consent under Royal pressure. Eventually the Russian Royal Family were moved to the Urals where they were executed in 1918. Lloyd George was often blamed for the refusal of asylum, SONY VGN-FE48E laptop keyboard
and in his memoirs he did not mention King George V’s role in the matter, which was not explicitly confirmed until Kenneth Rose’s biography of the King was published in 1963.[43]
Lloyd George set up a War Policy Committee (himself, Curzon, Milner, Law and Smuts, Packard Bell Easynote TK85 laptop keyboard
with Maurice Hankey as secretary) to discuss strategy, which held 16 meetings over the next six weeks. At the very first meeting (11 June) Lloyd George proposed helping the Italians to capture Trieste,[45] explicitly telling the War Policy Committee (21 June 1917) that he wanted Italian soldiers to be killed rather than British.[46] SONY VAIO PCG-FR415S laptop keyboard
Haig believed that a Flanders Offensive had good chance of clearing the Belgian Coast, from which German submarines and destroyers operated (a popular goal with politicians), and that victory at Ypres “might quite possibly lead to (German) collapse”. Robertson was less optimistic, HP Pavilion dv6-3190sf laptop keyboard
but preferred Britain to keep her focus on defeating Germany on the Western Front, and had told Haig that the politicians would not “dare” overrule both soldiers if they gave the same advice. Haig promised he had no “intention of entering into a tremendous offensive involving heavy losses” (20 June) whilst Robertson wanted to avoid “disproportionate loss” (23 June).[47] HP 636191-001 laptop keyboard
The Flanders Offensive was reluctantly sanctioned by the War Policy Committee on 18 July and the War Cabinet two days later, on condition it did not degenerate into a long drawn-out fight like the Somme. DELL Latitude D430 laptop keyboard
The War Cabinet promised to monitor progress and casualties and, if necessary call a halt, although in the event they made little effort to monitor progress until September. Frustrated at his inability to get his way, DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George talked of resigning and taking his case to the public.[48]
Third Ypres began on 31 July, but soon became bogged down in unseasonably early wet weather.[49] Lloyd George tried to enlist the King for diverting efforts against Austria-Hungary, telling Stamfordham (14 August) that the King and Prime Minister were “joint trustees of the nation” who had to avoid waste of manpower. A new Italian offensive began (18 August), ASUS X82S laptop keyboard
but Robertson advised that it was “false strategy” to call off Third Ypres to send reinforcements to Italy, and despite being summoned to George Riddell’s home in Sussex, where he was served apple pudding (his favourite dish), HP Pavilion dv6-2160ep laptop keyboard
agreed only reluctantly. The Anglo-French leadership agreed in early September to send 100 heavy guns to Italy (50 of them French) rather than the 300 which Lloyd George wanted – Lloyd George talked of ordering a halt to Third Ypres, HP G62-450SV laptop keyboard
but in Hankey’s words “funked it” (4 September). Had he not done so his government might have fallen, for as soon as the guns reached Italy Cadorna called off his offensive (21 September).[50]
At a meeting at Boulogne (25 September) Lloyd George broached with Painleve the setting up of an Allied Supreme War Council then making Fochgeneralissimo.[51] HP Mini 110-1014NR laptop keyboard
Bonar Law had written to Lloyd George that ministers must soon decide whether or not the offensive was to continue. Lloyd George and Robertson met Haig in France (26 September) to discuss the recent German peace feelers (which in the end were publicly repudiated by ChancellorMichaelis)[52] ASUS X82S laptop keyboard
and the progress of the offensive. Haig preferred to continue, encouraged by Plumer’s recent successful attacks in dry weather at Menin Road (20 September) and Polygon Wood (26 September), and stating that the Germans were “very worn out”. In October the wet weather returned for the final attack towards Passchendaele.[53] LENOVO IdeaPad S10e 4068 laptop keyboard
At the final meeting of the War Policy Committee on 11 October 1917, Lloyd George authorised the Passchendaele Offensiveto continue, but warning of failure in three weeks' time. Hankey (21 October) claimed in his diary that Lloyd George had deliberately allowed Third Ypres to continue in order to discredit Haig and Robertson and make it easier for him to forbid similar offensives in 1918.[51] FUJITSU Lifebook S7210 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George played a critical role in the Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour's famous Declaration in favour of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".
The Italians suffered disastrous defeat at Caporetto, requiring British and French reinforcements to be sent. Lloyd George said he "wanted to take advantage of Caporetto to gain "control of the War".[54] TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-SP5165RM laptop keyboard
The Supreme War Council was inaugurated at the Rapallo Conference (6–7 November 1917). Lloyd George then gave a controversial speech at Paris (12 November) at which he criticised the high casualties of recent Allied "victories" (a word which he used with an element of sarcasm). These events led to an angry Commons debate (19 November), which Lloyd George survived.[55] Compaq Presario CQ42-137TU laptop keyboard
In reply to Robertson's 19 November memo, which warned (correctly) that the Germans would use the opportunity of Russia's departure from the war to attack in 1918 before the Americans were present in strength, HP Pavilion DV7-2277cl laptop keyboard
Lloyd George wrote (wrongly) that the Germans would not attack and would fail if they did. That autumn he declared that he was willing “to risk his whole political reputation” to avoid a repetition of the Somme or Third Ypres.[56] HP G61-409CA laptop keyboard
In December 1917, Lloyd George remarked to C. P. Scott that: "If people really knew, the war would be stopped tomorrow. But of course they don't know, and can't know."
HP G42-415DX Laptop Keyboard [57][58]
The first meeting of the Manpower Committee was on 10 December, and it met twice the next day and again on 15 December. Lloyd George questioned GeneralsMacready (Adjutant-General) and Macdonogh (Chief of Military Intelligence), SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
who advised that the Allied superiority of numbers on the Western Front would not survive the transfer of German reinforcements from the East now that Russia was dropping out of the war.[59] Lloyd George, deeply concerned at the publicity attracted by the recent Lansdowne Letter’s mention of casualties, ASUS X53S Laptop Keyboard
suggested removing Haig and Robertson from office at this time, but this was met by a threat of resignation from Lord Derby. At this stage Lloyd George opposed extending conscription to Ireland – Carson advised that extending conscription to Ulster alone would be impractical.[60] HP PK13ZK31000 Laptop Keyboard
Hankey’s eventual report reflected Lloyd George’s wishes: it gave top priority to shipbuilding and merchant shipping (not least to ship US troops to Europe), and placed Army manpower below both weapons production and civilian industry.[61][62] ACER ZU2 Laptop Keyboard
In the House of Commons (20 December) Lloyd George also argued that the collapse of Russia and defeat of Italy required further “combing-out” of men from industry, in breach of pledges given to the trade unions in 1916. Lenovo 3000 Y500 Laptop Keyboard
Auckland Geddes was given increased powers to direct labour – a new bill became law, despite the opposition of the Engineers’ Union, in February 1918.[62] The unions were placated with the Caxton Hall conference early in the New Year, at which Lloyd George outlined Allied war aims. HP Pavilion dv6-2040ev laptop keyboard
He called for Germany to be stripped of her conquests (including her colonies and Alsace-Lorraine, annexed in 1871) and democratised, and for the liberation of the subject peoples of Austria-Hungary and Turkey. SAMSUNG NP-N145-JP02 laptop keyboard
He also hinted at reparations and a new international order. Lloyd George explained to critics that he was hoping to detach Austria-Hungary and turn the German people against her rulers; the speech greatly increased his support amongst trade unions and the Labour Party.[63] TOSHIBA Satellite L775-S7245 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George had told Allenby, who was appointed the new commander in Egypt in June, that his objective was “Jerusalem before Christmas” and that he had only to ask for reinforcements, although the exact nature of his offensives was still undecided when he was appointed. DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
Amidst months of argument throughout the autumn of 1917 Robertson was able to block Lloyd George's plan to make Palestine the main theatre of operations by having Allenby make the impossible demand that thirteen extra divisions be sent to him.[64][65] Allenby captured Jerusalem in December 1917. TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5107 laptop keyboard
In the winter of 1917/18 Lloyd George secured the resignations of both the service chiefs. Removing the First Sea Lord Admiral Jellicoe earlier in 1917, as Lloyd George wanted, would have been politically impossible given Conservative anger at the return of Churchill (still blamed for the Dardanelles) to office as Minister of Munitions in July, DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
and Lloyd George’s preoccupations with Third Ypres, Caporetto and the Supreme War Council from July onward. By December it was clear that Lloyd George would have to sack Jellicoe or lose Eric Geddes (First Lord of the Admiralty), who wanted to return to his previous job in charge of military transportation in France. TOSHIBA Satellite L40-14Y laptop keyboard
The Christmas holiday, when Parliament was not sitting, provided a good opportunity. Before Jellicoe left for leave on Christmas Eve he received a letter from Geddes demanding his resignation. The other Sea Lords talked of resigning but did not do so, whilst Jellicoe's ally Carson remained a member of the War Cabinet until he resigned in January over Irish Home Rule.[66] HP Pavilion dv6-3030em laptop keyboard
Relations with General Robertson had worsened further over the creation of the Supreme War Council at Versailles and he was eventually forced out over his insistence that the British delegate there be subordinate to Robertson as CIGS in London. DELL E141395 laptop keyboard
Lincoln provided Grant with more troops and mobilized his party to renew its support of Grant in the war effort. Sherman's capture of Atlanta in September and David Farragut's capture of Mobile ended defeatist jitters;[214] HP G62t-350 CTO Laptop Keyboard
the Democratic Party was deeply split, with some leaders and most soldiers openly for Lincoln. By contrast, the National Union Party was united and energized as Lincoln made emancipation the central issue, and state Republican parties stressed theperfidy of the Copperheads.[215] Lincoln was re-elected in a landslide, carrying all but three states, and receiving 78 percent of the Union soldiers' vote.[216] HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
On March 4, 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address. In it, he deemed the high casualties on both sides to be God's will. Historian Mark Noll concludes it ranks "among the small handful of semi-sacred texts by which Americans conceive their place in the world".[217] Lincoln said: Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said, HP 636376-001 Laptop Keyboard
"the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether". With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.[218] ACER NSK-H361D Laptop Keyboard
Reconstruction began during the war, as Lincoln and his associates anticipated questions of how to reintegrate the conquered southern states, and how to determine the fates of Confederate leaders and freed slaves. Shortly after Lee's surrender, a general had asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates should be treated, and Lincoln replied, "Let 'em up easy."[219 SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
] In keeping with that sentiment, Lincoln led the moderates regarding Reconstruction policy, and was opposed by the Radical Republicans, under Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, Sen. Charles Sumner and Sen. Benjamin Wade, political allies of the president on other issues. Determined to find a course that would reunite the nation and not alienate the South, TOSHIBA Satellite A300 Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held throughout the war. His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office, had not mistreated Union prisoners, and would sign an oath of allegiance.[220] As Southern states were subdued, ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
critical decisions had to be made as to their leadership while their administrations were re-formed. Of special importance were Tennessee and Arkansas, where Lincoln appointed Generals Andrew Johnson andFrederick Steele as military governors, respectively. DELL PVDG3 Laptop Keyboard
In Louisiana, Lincoln ordered General Nathaniel P. Banks to promote a plan that would restore statehood when 10 percent of the voters agreed to it. Lincoln's Democratic opponents seized on these appointments to accuse him of using the military to ensure his and the Republicans' political aspirations. HP Business Notebook nx9000 Laptop Keyboard
On the other hand, the Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient, and passed their own plan, the Wade-Davis Bill, in 1864. When Lincoln vetoed the bill, the Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat representatives elected from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.[221] HP Mini 110-3135dx Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln's appointments were designed to keep both the moderate and Radical factions in harness. To fill Chief Justice Taney's seat on the Supreme Court, he named the choice of the Radicals, Salmon P. Chase, who Lincoln believed would uphold the emancipation and paper money policies.[222] ASUS F80Q Laptop Keyboard
After implementing the Emancipation Proclamation, which did not apply to every state, Lincoln increased pressure on Congress to outlaw slavery throughout the entire nation with a constitutional amendment. Lincoln declared that such an amendment would "clinch the whole matter".[223] DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
By December 1863, a proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw slavery was brought to Congress for passage. This first attempt at an amendment failed to pass, falling short of the required two-thirds majority on June 15, 1864, SONY VAIO VGN-NW240F Laptop Keyboard
in the House of Representatives. Passage of the proposed amendment became part of the Republican/Unionist platform in the election of 1864. After a long debate in the House, a second attempt passed Congress on January 31, 1865, and was sent to the state legislatures for ratification.[224][225] ACER TravelMate 2800 Series Laptop Keyboard
Upon ratification, it became the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.[226]
As the war drew to a close, Lincoln's presidential Reconstruction for the South was in flux; having believed the federal government had limited responsibility to the millions of freedmen. DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
· He signed into law Senator Charles Sumner's Freedmen's Bureau bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate material needs of former slaves. The law assigned land for a lease of three years with the ability to purchase title for the freedmen. Lincoln stated that his Louisiana plan did not apply to all states under Reconstruction. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 Keyboard
Shortly before his assassination, Lincoln announced he had a new plan for southern Reconstruction. Discussions with his cabinet revealed Lincoln planned short-term military control over southern states, until readmission under the control of southern Unionists.[227] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S420 Keyboard
The successful reunification of the states had consequences for the name of the country. The term "the United States" has historically been used, sometimes in the plural ("these United States"), and other times in the singular, without any particular grammatical consistency. The Civil War was a significant force in the eventual dominance of the singular usage by the end of the 19th century.[228] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420S Keyboard
In recent years, historians such as Harry Jaffa, Herman Belz, John Diggins, Vernon Burton and Eric Foner have stressed Lincoln's redefinition of republican values. As early as the 1850s, a time when most political rhetoric focused on the sanctity of the Constitution, Lenovo Thinkpad T420 Keyboard
Lincoln redirected emphasis to the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of American political values—what he called the "sheet anchor" of republicanism.[229] The Declaration's emphasis on freedom and equality for all, in contrast to the Constitution's tolerance of slavery, shifted the debate. Lenovo Thinkpad T420i Keyboard
As Diggins concludes regarding the highly influential Cooper Union speech of early 1860, "Lincoln presented Americans a theory of history that offers a profound contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself."[230] His position gained strength because he highlighted the moral basis of republicanism, rather than its legalisms.[231] Lenovo Thinkpad T420S Keyboard
Nevertheless, in 1861, Lincoln justified the war in terms of legalisms (the Constitution was a contract, and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree), and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a republican form of government in every state.[232] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5107 laptop keyboard
Burton (2008) argues that Lincoln's republicanism was taken up by the Freedmen as they were emancipated.[233]
In March 1861, in his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln explored the nature of democracy. He denounced secession as anarchy, and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system. HP G61-511WM laptop keyboard
He said "A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."[234] SONY KFRGBA028B laptop keyboard
Other enactments
Lincoln adhered to the Whig theory of the presidency, which gave Congress primary responsibility for writing the laws while the Executive enforced them. Lincoln only vetoed four bills passed by Congress; the only important one was the Wade-Davis Bill with its harsh program of Reconstruction.[235] HP Mini 210 laptop keyboard
He signed the Homestead Act in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost. The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed in 1862, provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state. The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 granted federal support for the construction of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad, TOSHIBA Satellite l25-s1196 laptop keyboard
which was completed in 1869.[236] The passage of the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Acts was made possible by the absence of Southern congressmen and senators who had opposed the measures in the 1850s.[237] IBM 42T3671 laptop keyboard
Other important legislation involved two measures to raise revenues for the Federal government: tariffs (a policy with long precedent), and a new Federal income tax. In 1861, Lincoln signed the second and third Morrill Tariff, the first having become law under James Buchanan. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E125 laptop keyboard
Also in 1861, Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861, creating the first U.S. income tax.[239] This created a flat tax of 3 percent on incomes above $800 ($20,800 in current dollar terms), which was later changed by the Revenue Act of 1862 to a progressive rate structure.[240] HP Pavilion dv6-2187la laptop keyboard
Lincoln also presided over the expansion of the federal government's economic influence in several other areas. The creation of the system of national banks by the National Banking Actprovided a strong financial network in the country. SONY VAIO VGN-CR363 laptop keyboard
It also established a national currency. In 1862, Congress created, with Lincoln's approval, the Department of Agriculture.[241] In 1862, Lincoln sent a senior general, John Pope, to put down the "Sioux Uprising" in Minnesota. Presented with 303 execution warrants for convicted Santee Dakota who were accused of killing innocent farmers, Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
HP Mini 210-1084TU laptop keyboard
Lincoln conducted his own personal review of each of these warrants, eventually approving 39 for execution (one was later reprieved).[242] President Lincoln had planned to reform federal Indian policy.[243] HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
In the wake of Grant's casualties in his campaign against Lee, Lincoln had considered yet another executive call for a military draft, but it was never issued. In response to rumors of one, however, the editors of the New York World and the Journal of Commerce published a false draft proclamation which created HP 496878-001 Laptop Keyboard
an opportunity for the editors and others employed at the publications to corner the gold market. Lincoln's reaction was to send the strongest of messages to the media about such behavior; he ordered the military to seize the two papers. The seizure lasted for two days.[244] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln is largely responsible for the institution of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.[245] Before Lincoln's presidency, Thanksgiving, while a regional holiday in New England since the 17th century, had been proclaimed by the federal government only sporadically and on irregular dates. HP Probook 4510S Laptop Keyboard
The last such proclamation had been duringJames Madison's presidency 50 years before. In 1863, Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November of that year to be a day of Thanksgiving.[245] In June 1864, Lincoln approved the Yosemite Grant enacted by Congress, which provided unprecedented federal protection for the area now known as Yosemite National Park.[246] FUJITSU Lifebook E8110 Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln's declared philosophy on court nominations was that "we cannot ask a man what he will do, and if we should, and he should answer us, we should despise him for it. Therefore we must take a man whose opinions are known."[245] ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
Lincoln made five appointments to the United States Supreme Court. Noah Haynes Swayne, nominated January 21, 1862 and appointed January 24, 1862, was chosen as an anti-slavery lawyer who was committed to the Union. DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
Samuel Freeman Miller, nominated and appointed on July 16, 1862, supported Lincoln in the 1860 election and was an avowed abolitionist. David Davis, Lincoln's campaign manager in 1860, nominated December 1, 1862 and appointed December 8, 1862, had also served as a judge in Lincoln's Illinois court circuit. Stephen Johnson Field, a previous California Supreme Court justice, SONY 147915321 Laptop Keyboard
was nominated March 6, 1863 and appointed March 10, 1863, and provided geographic balance, as well as political balance to the court as a Democrat. Finally, Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, was nominated as Chief Justice, and appointed the same day, on December 6, 1864. Lincoln believed Chase was an able jurist, would support Reconstruction legislation, and that his appointment united the Republican Party.[247] IBM Lenovo Thinkpad X201 Laptop Keyboard
After attending an April 11, 1865, speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks, an incensed Booth changed his plans and became determined to assassinate the president.[251] Learning that the President, First Lady, HP Pavilion DV3000 laptop keyboard
and head Union general Ulysses S. Grant would be attending Ford's Theatre, Booth formulated a plan with co-conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William H. Seward and General Grant. Without his main bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, ASUS F6VE laptop keyboard
Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin on April 14. Grant, along with his wife, chose at the last minute to travel to Philadelphia instead of attending the play.[252]
Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker, left Ford's Theater during intermission to join Lincoln's coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door. The now unguarded President sat in his state box in the balcony. SONY VGN-FE41S laptop keyboard
Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped.[253][254]
After being on the run for 10 days, Booth was tracked down and found on a farm in Virginia, some 70 miles (110 km) south of Washington, D.C. After a brief fight with Union troops, Booth was killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26.[255] HP Pavilion DV7-3067nr laptop keyboard
An Army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, was sitting nearby at the theater and immediately assisted the President. He found the President unresponsive, barely breathing and with no detectable pulse. Having determined that the President had been shot in the head, and not stabbed in the shoulder as originally thought, HP Pavilion DV7-3165dx laptop keyboard
he made an attempt to clear the blood clot, after which the President began to breathe more naturally.[256] The dying President was taken across the street to Petersen House. After remaining in a coma for nine hours, Lincoln died at 7:22 am on April 15. Presbyterian minister Phineas Densmore Gurley, then present, was asked to offer a prayer, after which Secretary of War Stanton saluted and said, "Now he belongs to the ages."[257] DELL Studio 1749 laptop keyboard
Lincoln's flag-enfolded body was then escorted in the rain to the White House by bareheaded Union officers, while the city's church bells rang. President Johnson was sworn in at 10:00 am, less than 3 hours after Lincoln's death. DELL Studio 1747 laptop keyboard
The late President lay in state in the East Room, and then in the Capitol Rotunda from April 19 through April 21. For his final journey with his son Willie, both caskets were transported in the executive coach "United States" and for three weeks the Lincoln Special funeral train decorated in black bunting[258] SONY VAIO VGN-NW320F/T laptop keyboard
bore Lincoln's remains on a slow circuitous waypoint journey from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois stopping at many cities across the North for large-scale memorials attended by hundreds of thousands, as well as many people who gathered in informal trackside tributes with bands, bonfires and hymn singing[259][260] or silent reverence with hat in hand as the railway procession slowly passed by. HP COMPAQ 486654-001 laptop keyboard
As a young man, Lincoln was a religious skeptic,[261] or, in the words of a biographer, even an iconoclast.[262] Later in life, Lincoln's frequent use of religious imagery and language might have reflected his own personal beliefs or might have been a device to appeal to his audiences, TOSHIBA NSK-T4701 laptop keyboard
who were mostly evangelical Protestants.[263] He never joined a church, although he frequently attended with his wife,[264] but he was deeply familiar with the Bible, quoted it and praised it.[265] TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5155 laptop keyboard
In the 1840s Lincoln subscribed to the Doctrine of Necessity, a belief that asserted the human mind was controlled by some higher power.[266] In the 1850s, Lincoln acknowledged "providence" in a general way, and rarely used the language or imagery of the evangelicals; he regarded the republicanism of the Founding Fathers with an almost religious reverence.[267] When he suffered the death of his son Edward, SONY VAIO PCG-FR415B laptop keyboard
Lincoln more frequently acknowledged his own need to depend on God.[268] The death of his son Willie in February 1862 may have caused Lincoln to look toward religion for answers and solace.[269] After Willie's death, Lincoln considered why, HP Mini 110-3504tu laptop keyboard
from a divine standpoint, the severity of the war was necessary. He wrote at this time that God "could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
Yet the contest proceeds."[270] On the day Lincoln was assassinated, he reportedly told his wife Mary at Ford's Theatre he desired to visit the Holy Land.[271]
Historical reputation
See also: Abraham Lincoln cultural depictions SONY 148024022 laptop keyboard
In surveys of scholars ranking Presidents since the 1940s, Lincoln is consistently ranked in the top three, often #1.[5][6] A 2004 study found that scholars in the fields of history and politics ranked Lincoln number one, while legal scholars placed him second after Washington.[272] Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard
Of all the presidential ranking polls conducted since 1948, Lincoln has been rated at the very top in the majority of polls: Schlesinger 1948, Schlesinger 1962, 1982 Murray Blessing Survey, Chicago Tribune 1982 poll, Schlesinger 1996, CSPAN 1996, HP 636376-001 laptop keyboard
Ridings-McIver 1996, Time 2008, and CSPAN 2009. Generally, the top three presidents are rated as 1. Lincoln; 2. George Washington; and 3. Franklin D. Roosevelt, although Lincoln and Washington, and Washington and Roosevelt, occasionally are reversed.[273] HP Compaq NC8400 laptop keyboard
President Lincoln's assassination made him a national martyr and endowed him with a recognition of mythic proportion. Lincoln was viewed by abolitionists as a champion for human liberty. Republicans linked Lincoln's name to their party. Many, though not all, in the South considered Lincoln as a man of outstanding ability.[274] DELL NSK-DB301 laptop keyboard
Schwartz argues that Lincoln's reputation grew slowly in the late 19th century until the Progressive Era (1900–1920s) when he emerged as one of the most venerated heroes in American history, with even white Southerners in agreement. The high point came in 1922 with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington.[275] SONY KFRMBA151B laptop keyboard
In the New Deal era liberals honored Lincoln not so much as the self-made man or the great war president, but as the advocate of the common man who doubtless would have supported the welfare state. In the Cold War years, Lincoln's image shifted to emphasize the symbol of freedom who brought hope to those oppressed by communist regimes.[276] TOSHIBA Satellite L775D-S7340 Laptop Keyboard
By the 1970s Lincoln had become a hero to political conservatives[277] for his intense nationalism, support for business, his insistence on stopping the spread of human bondage, his acting in terms of Lockean and Burkean principles on behalf of both liberty and tradition, and his devotion to the principles of the Founding Fathers.[278][279][280] ACER TravelMate 6292 Laptop Keyboard
As a Whig activist, Lincoln was a spokesman for business interests, favoring high tariffs, banks, internal improvements, and railroads in opposition to the agrarian Democrats.[281] William C. Harris found that Lincoln's "reverence for the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the laws under it, and the preservation of the Republic and its institutions undergirded and strengthened his conservatism".[282] HP Mini 210-1083CA Laptop Keyboard
James G. Randall emphasizes his tolerance and especially his moderation "in his preference for orderly progress, his distrust of dangerous agitation, and his reluctance toward ill digested schemes of reform". SONY Vaio PCG-K35 Laptop Keyboard
Randall concludes that, "he was conservative in his complete avoidance of that type of so-called 'radicalism' which involved abuse of the South, hatred for the slaveholder, thirst for vengeance, partisan plotting, and ungenerous demands that Southern institutions be transformed overnight by outsiders."[283] DELL Vostro 3550 Laptop Keyboard
By the late 1960s, liberals, such as historian Lerone Bennett, were having second thoughts, especially regarding Lincoln's views on racial issues.[284][285]Bennett won wide attention when he called Lincoln a white supremacist in 1968.[286] ACER Aspire One D150-1920 Laptop Keyboard
He noted that Lincoln used ethnic slurs, told jokes that ridiculed blacks, insisted he opposed social equality, and proposed sending freed slaves to another country. Defenders, such as authors Dirck and Cashin, retorted that he was not as bad as most politicians of his day;[287] HP Mini 110-3012tu Laptop Keyboard
and that he was a "moral visionary" who deftly advanced the abolitionist cause, as fast as politically possible.[288] The emphasis shifted away from Lincoln-the-emancipator to an argument that blacks had freed themselves from slavery, or at least were responsible for pressuring the government on emancipation.[289][290] SONY VAIO VGN-CS16G/Q Laptop Keyboard
Historian Barry Schwartz wrote in 2009 that Lincoln's image suffered "erosion, fading prestige, benign ridicule" in the late 20th century.[291] On the other hand, Donald opined in his 1996 biography that Lincoln was distinctly endowed with the personality trait of negative capability, HP Probook 4320s Laptop Keyboard
defined by the poet John Keats and attributed to extraordinary leaders who were "content in the midst of uncertainties and doubts, and not compelled toward fact or reason".[292]
Lincoln's portrait appears on two denominations of United States currency, the penny and the $5 bill. His likeness also appears on many postage stamps and has been memorialized in many town, city, and county names,[295] including thecapital of Nebraska. GATEWAY V021646BS1 Laptop Keyboard
The most famous and most visited memorials are the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln's sculpture on Mount Rushmore;[296] Ford's Theatre and Petersen House (where he died) in Washington and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, located in Springfield, Illinois, not far from Lincoln's home and his tomb.[297][298] ACER 9J.N1H82.01D Laptop Keyboard
Barry Schwartz, a sociologist who has examined America's cultural memory, argues that in the 1930s and 1940s, the memory of Abraham Lincoln was practically sacred and provided the nation with "a moral symbol inspiring and guiding American life". TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S7467 laptop keyboard
During the Great Depression, he argues, Lincoln served "as a means for seeing the world's disappointments, for making its sufferings not so much explicable as meaningful". Franklin D. Roosevelt, preparing America for war, used the words of the Civil War president to clarify the threat posed by Germany and Japan. Americans asked, "What would Lincoln do?"[299] HP Pavilion DV7-3067cl laptop keyboard
However, he also finds that since World War II, Lincoln's symbolic power has lost relevance, and this "fading hero is symptomatic of fading confidence in national greatness".[300] He suggested that postmodernism and multiculturalism have diluted greatness as a concept. GATEWAY ML3109 laptop keyboard
In 1889 he became an Alderman on the Caernarfonshire County Council which had been created by the Local Government Act 1888. COMPAQ Presario CQ60-200EP laptop keyboard
At that time he appeared to be trying to create a separate Welsh national party modelled on Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party and worked towards a union of the North and South Wales Liberal Federations. For the same county Lloyd George would also become a JP (1910)[9] and chairman of Quarter Sessions (1929–38),[10] and DL in 1921.[9] SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard
Lloyd George was returned as Liberal MP for Carnarvon Boroughs — by a margin of 19 votes — on 13 April 1890 at a by-election caused by the death of the former Conservative member. He was the youngest MP in the House of Commons, Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard
and he sat with an informal grouping of Welsh Liberal members with a programme of disestablishing and disendowing the Church of England in Wales, temperance reform, and Welsh home rule. He would remain an MP until 1945, 55 years later. HP Pavilion DV7-3067nr laptop keyboard
As backbench members of the House of Commons were not paid at that time, he supported himself and his growing family by continuing to practise as asolicitor, opening an office in London under the name of Lloyd George and Co. TOSHIBA Satellite P305-S8915 laptop keyboard
and continuing in partnership with William George in Criccieth. In 1897 he merged his growing London practice with that of Arthur Rhys Roberts (who was to become Official Solicitor) under the name of Lloyd George, Roberts and Co.. HP Mini 210-1083CA laptop keyboard
He was soon speaking on Liberal issues (particularly temperance—the "local option", and national as opposed to denominational education) throughout England as well as Wales. During the next decade, DELL Vostro PP38L laptop keyboard
Lloyd George campaigned in Parliament largely on Welsh issues and in particular for disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of England. He wrote extensively for Liberal papers such as the Manchester Guardian. Acer eMachines E732 laptop keyboard
When Gladstone retired after the defeat of the second Home Rule Bill in 1894, the Welsh Liberal members chose him to serve on a deputation to William Harcourt to press for specific assurances on Welsh issues; when those were not provided, SONY VAIO VGN-N31M laptop keyboard
they resolved to take independent action if the government did not bring a bill for disestablishment. When that was not forthcoming, he and three other Welsh Liberals (David Alfred Thomas, Herbert Lewis and Frank Edwards) refused the whip on 14 April 1892 but accepted Lord Rosebery's assurance and rejoined the official Liberals on 29 May. Lenovo 3000 G430 4152 laptop keyboard
Thereafter, he devoted much time to setting up branches of Cymru Fydd(Young Wales), which, he said, would in time become a force like the Irish National Party. He abandoned this idea after being criticised in Welsh newspapers for bringing about the defeat of the Liberal Party in the 1895 election and when, at a meeting in Newport on 16 January 1896, HP Mini 110-1212NR Laptop Keyboard
the South Wales Liberal Federation, led by David Alfred Thomas and Robert Bird moved that he be not heard.
He gained national fame by his vehement opposition to the Second Boer War. He based his attack firstly on what were supposed to be the war aims – remedying the grievances of the Uitlanders and in particular the claim that they were wrongly denied the right to vote, saying GATEWAY M-6803M Laptop Keyboard
"I do not believe the war has any connection with the franchise. It is a question of 45% dividends" and that England (which did not then have universal male suffrage) was more in need of franchise reform than the Boer republics. His second attack was on the cost of the war, which, he argued, prevented overdue social reform in England, Lenovo ThinkPad T510-4349 Laptop Keyboard
such as old age pensions and workmen's cottages. As the war progressed, he moved his attack to its conduct by the generals, who, he said (basing his words on reports by William Burdett-Coutts in The Times), were not providing for the sick or wounded soldiers and were starving Boer women and children in concentration camps. He reserved his major thrusts for Chamberlain, HP G62-456TU Laptop Keyboard
accusing him of war profiteering through the Chamberlain family companyKynoch Ltd, of which Chamberlain's brother was Chairman and which had won tenders to the War Office though its prices were higher than some of its competitors. After speaking at a meeting in Chamberlain's political base at Birmingham. DELL NSK-D8001 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George had to be smuggled out disguised as a policeman, as his life was in danger from the mob. At this time the Liberal Party was badly split as Herbert Henry Asquith, Richard Burdon Haldane and others were supporters of the war and formed the Liberal Imperial League. HP AEAT5U00010 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George had been impressed by his journey to Canada in 1899. Although sometimes wrongly supposed – both at the time and subsequently – to be a Little Englander, he was not an opponent of the British Empire per se, but in a speech at Birkenhead (21 November 1901) stressed that it needed to be based on freedom – including for India – not “racial arrogance”.[11] GATEWAY M-6846 Laptop Keyboard
His attacks on the government's Education Act, which provided that County Councils would fund church schools, helped reunite the Liberals. His successful amendment that the County need only fund those schools where the buildings were in good repair served to make the Act a dead letter in Wales, Compaq Presario CQ42-228LA Laptop Keyboard
where the Counties were able to show that most Church of England schools were in poor repair. Having already gained national recognition for his anti-Boer War campaigns, his leadership of the attacks on the Education Act gave him a strong parliamentary reputation and marked him as a likely future cabinet member. HP Pavilion G7-1167DX Laptop Keyboard
Although old-age pensions had already been introduced by Asquith as Chancellor, Lloyd George was largely responsible for the introduction of state financial support for the sick and infirm (known colloquially as "going on the Lloyd George" for decades afterwards) — legislation often referred to as the Liberal reforms. TOSHIBA MP-06863US-9308 Laptop Keyboard
In 1909 he introduced his famous budget imposing increased taxes on luxuries, liquor, tobacco, incomes, and land, so that money could be made available for the new welfare programmes as well as new battleships. The nation's landowners (well represented in the House of Lords) were intensely angry at the new taxes. In the House of Commons Lloyd George gave a brilliant defence of the budget, which was attacked by the Conservatives. HP G72-a01SG Laptop Keyboard
On the stump, most famously in his Limehouse speech, he denounced the Conservatives and the wealthy classes with all his very considerable oratorical power. The budget passed the Commons, but was defeated by the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. HP Pavilion DV6-1100sv laptop keyboard
The elections of 1910 upheld the Liberal government and the budget finally passed the Lords. Subsequently, the Parliament Bill for social reform and Irish Home Rule, which Lloyd George strongly supported, HP Mini 210-1190NR laptop keyboard
was passed and the veto power of the House of Lords was greatly curtailed. In 1911 Lloyd George succeeded in putting through Parliament his National Insurance Act, making provision for sickness and invalidism, SONY VGN-FE21H laptop keyboard
and this was followed by his Unemployment Insurance Act. He was helped in his endeavours by forty or so backbenchers who regularly pushed for new social measures, and often voted with the Labour Party on them.[12] FUJITSU CP270342-02 laptop keyboard
These social reforms began in Britain the creation of a welfare state and fulfilled the aim of dampening down the demands of the growing working class for rather more radical solutions to their impoverishment.[13] HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
In 1906 Lloyd George entered the new Liberal Cabinet of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as President of the Board of Trade. In that position he introduced legislation on many topics, from Merchant Shipping and Companies to Railway regulation, DELL PK130801B00 laptop keyboard
but his main achievement was in stopping a proposed national strike of the railway unions by brokering an agreement between the unions and the railway companies. While almost all the companies refused to recognise the unions, HP Pavilion dv6-2016ez laptop keyboard
Lloyd George persuaded the companies to recognise elected representatives of the workers who sat with the company representatives on conciliation boards — one for each company. If those boards failed to agree then there was a central board. This was Lloyd George's first great triumph, HP Pavilion DV7-3160us laptop keyboard
for which he received praises from, among others, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Two weeks later, however, his great excitement was crushed by his daughter Mair's death fromappendicitis.
On Campbell-Bannerman's death he succeeded Asquith, who had become Prime Minister, as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1908 to 1915. HP 519265-001 laptop keyboard
While he continued some work from the Board of Trade — for example, legislation to establish a Port of London authority and to pursue traditional Liberal programmes such as licensing law reforms — his first major trial in this role was over the 1908–1909 Naval Estimates. SONY VAIO VGN-N130E laptop keyboard
The Liberal manifesto at the 1906 general electionsincluded a commitment to reduce military expenditure. Lloyd George strongly supported this, writing to Reginald McKenna, First Lord of the Admiralty, "SONY VAIO VGN-SZ650N laptop keyboard
the emphatic pledges given by all of us at the last general election to reduce the gigantic expenditure on armaments built up by the recklessness of our predecessors." He then proposed the programme be reduced from six to four dreadnoughts. ASUS A6J laptop keyboard
This was adopted by the government, but there was a public storm when the Conservatives, with covert support from the First Sea Lord, Admiral Jackie Fisher, campaigned for more with the slogan "We want eight and we won't wait". TOSHIBA NB100 laptop keyboard
This resulted in Lloyd George's defeat in Cabinet and the adoption of estimates including provision for eight dreadnoughts. This was later to be said to be one of the main turning points in the naval arms race between Germany and Britain that contributed to the outbreak of the First World War. DELL NSK-DCM01 laptop keyboard
After the Shell Crisis of 1915 dismayed public opinion with the news that the Army was running short of artillery shells, demands rose for a strong leader to take charge of munitions. The cabinet was reconstituted as the first coalition ministry in May 1915, HP Mini 110-1212NR laptop keyboard
and Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions in a new department created after a munitions shortage.[15] In this position he was a brilliant success, but he was not at all satisfied with the progress of the war. SONY VAIO VGN-CS110D/W laptop keyboard
He wanted to "knock away the props", by attacking Germany's allies – he argued for the sending of British troops to Greece (this was done – theSalonika expedition – although not on the scale that Lloyd George had wanted, and mountain ranges made his suggestions of grand Balkan offensives impractical) and for the sending of machine guns to Romania (insufficient were available). HP G62-456TU laptop keyboard
These suggestions were the beginning of Lloyd George's poor relations with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Robertson, who was "brusque to the point of rudeness" and "barely concealed his contempt for Lloyd George's military opinions", to which he was in the habit of retorting "I've 'eard different".[16] TOSHIBA Satellite U305-S5077 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George persuaded Kitchener to raise a Welsh Division, but not to recognise nonconformist chaplains in the Army.[17]
Late in 1915 Lloyd George became a strong supporter of general conscription, and he helped to put through the conscription act of 1916. In spring 1916Milner hoped Lloyd George could be persuaded to bring down the coalition government by resigning, but this did not happen.[18] GATEWAY M-6846 laptop keyboard
In June 1916 Lloyd George succeeded Kitchener (whose ship was sunk by a mine while on his way to Russia) as Secretary of State for War, although he had little control over strategy, as General Robertson had been given direct right of access to the Cabinet so as to bypass Kitchener. However, HP Pavilion DV7-3173nr laptop keyboard
he did succeed in securing the appointment of Sir Eric Geddes to take charge of military railways behind British lines in France, with the honorary rank of major-general.[19]
Lloyd George told a journalist, Roy W. Howard, in late September that “the fight must be to a finish – to a knockout”, a rejection of President Wilson’s offer to mediate.[20] TOSHIBA PK13AT10600 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George was increasingly frustrated at the limited gains of the Somme Offensive, criticising Haig to Foch on a visit to the Western Front in September (British casualty ratios were worse than those of the French, who were more experienced and had more artillery), proposing sending Robertson on a mission to Russia (he refused to go), and demanding that more troops be sent to Salonika to help Romania. Robertson eventually threatened to resign.[21] HP Pavilion dv6-2165tx laptop keyboard
Much of the press still argued that the professional leadership of Haig and Robertson was preferable to civilian interference which had led to disasters like Gallipoli and Kut. Lord Northcliffe, owner of The Times stormed into Lloyd George’s office and, finding him unavailable, told his secretary “You can tell him that I hear he has been interfering with Strategy, ASUS F82Q Laptop Keyboard
and that if he goes on I will break him”, and the same day (11 October) Lloyd George also received a warning letter from H. A. Gwynne, editor of the Morning Post. Lloyd George had to give his “word of honour” to Asquith that he had complete confidence in Haig and Robertson and thought them irreplaceable, Compaq Presario CQ57 Series Laptop Keyboard
but he wrote to Robertson wanting to know how their differences had been leaked to the press (affecting to believe that Robertson had not personally “authorised such a breach of confidence & discipline”) and asserting his right to express his opinions about strategy. By November ministers had taken to holding meetings to which Robertson was not invited.[22] SONY VAIO VGN-N21S/W Laptop Keyboard
The weakness of Asquith as a planner and organiser was increasingly apparent to senior officials. After Asquith had refused to agree to Lloyd George's demand that he be allowed to chair a small committee to manage the war, LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 Laptop Keyboard
he was forced out in December 1916, and Lloyd George became Prime Minister, with the nation demanding he take vigorous charge of the war.[14] A "Punch" cartoon of the time showed him as "The New Conductor" conducting the orchestra in the "Opening of the 1917 Overture".DELL Vostro PP38L Laptop Keyboard
Although during the political crisis Robertson had advised Lloyd George to “stick to it” and form a small War Council, Lloyd George had planned if necessary to appeal to the country, his Military Secretary Colonel Arthur Lee having prepared a memo blaming Robertson and the General Staff for the loss of Serbia and Romania. HP 640436-001 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George was restricted by his promise to the Unionists to keep Haig as Commander-in-Chief and the press support for the generals, although Milner and Curzon were also sympathetic to campaigns to increase British power in the Middle East.[23] HP MP-08K33US-930 Laptop Keyboard
After Germany’s offer (12 December 1916) of a negotiated peace, Lloyd George rebuffed President Wilson’s request for the belligerents to state their war aims by demanding terms tantamount to German defeat.[24] HP Pavilion dv6-2130er Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George engaged almost constantly in intrigues calculated to reduce the power of the generals, including trying to subordinate British forces in France to the French General Nivelle. He backed Nivelle because he thought he had “proved himself to be a Man” by his successful counterattacks at Verdun, IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R52 1870 Laptop Keyboard
and because of his promises that he could "rupture" the German lines in 48 hours.[28] Nivelle increasingly complained of Haig's dragging his feet rather than co-operating with their plans for the offensive, whilst Haig further irritated Lloyd George with a press interview in February in which he said the British were short of heavy guns, a complaint which Lloyd George, ACER TravelMate 3232WXMi Laptop Keyboard
former Minister of Munitions and an advocate of sending guns to Italy, took personally.[29]
This plot, launched with the full knowledge of Nivelle and the French Prime Minister Aristide Briand, was announced in guarded terms at a War Cabinet meeting on 24 February, to which neither Robertson nor Lord Derby (Secretary of State for War) had been invited. ASUS A6000J Laptop Keyboard
Ministers felt that the French generals and staff had shown themselves more skilful than the British in 1916, whilst politically Britain had to give wholehearted support to what would probably be the last major French effort of the war. Nivelle's proposal was then landed on Robertson and Haig without warning at an Anglo-French conference at Calais (26–27 February). DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
Minutes from the War Cabinet meeting were not sent to the King until 28 February, so that he did not have a prior chance to object.[30][31] SONY VAIO VGN-NW51FB laptop keyboard
Robertson wrote to Haig (28 February) that Lloyd George was “an awful liar”, claiming he had misled the Cabinet in his claim that the French had originated the proposal, and that he lacked the “honesty & truth” to remain Prime Minister.[30][32] Packard Bell Easynote TK87 laptop keyboard
After continued lobbying by Robertson, and talk of the government falling, War Cabinet opinion turned in favour of Haig. If no government could be formed with a majority in the House of Commons, the King would have had to have agreed to a General Election (there had not been one since December 1910) and there were concerns that, HP Mini 110-3015dx laptop keyboard
after the recent Fall of the Tsar, Lloyd George wanted to neutralise the British Army before fighting on a republican platform. Lloyd George was also rebuked by the King for having insulted the British Army.[33] At another conference in London (12–13 March) HP COMPAQ NX6120 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George expressed the government’s full support for Haig and the status quo ante, by which British forces were expected to defer to French wishes but were allies rather than subordinates, was essentially restored.[34] ASUS F80 laptop keyboard
The affair further poisoned relations between Lloyd George and the "Brasshats". In the event Nivelle's offensive was a failure, pushing the French Army to the point of mutiny and damaging Lloyd George's credibility.[30] LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 laptop keyboard
In early 1917 the Germans were seeking victory on the Western Approaches. A Ministry of Shipping was set up under Sir Joseph Maclay, a Glasgow shipowner who was not, until after he left office, a member of either House of Parliament, SONY Vaio VGN-AW310J laptop keyboard
and housed in a wooden building in a specially drained lake in St. James's Park, within a few minutes’ walk from the Admiralty. The Junior Minister and House of Commons spokesman was the self-advertising Leo Chiozza Money, TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-S5227 laptop keyboard
with whom Maclay did not get on, but on whose appointment Lloyd George insisted, feeling that their qualities would complement one another. The Civil Service staff was headed by the highly able John Anderson (then only thirty-four years old) and included Arthur Salter. ACER Aspire 4315 laptop keyboard
A number of shipping magnates were persuaded, like Maclay himself, to work unpaid for the ministry (as had a number of industrialists for the Ministry of Munitions), who were also able to obtain ideas privately from junior naval officers who were reluctant to argue with their superiors in meetings. ASUS F82Q laptop keyboard
The ministers heading the Board of Trade, for Munitions (Addison) and for Agriculture and Food (Lord Rhondda), were also expected to co-operate with Maclay.[35]
In accordance with a pledge Lloyd George gave in December 1916, GATEWAY MX6956 laptop keyboard
nearly 90% of Britain’s merchant shipping tonnage was soon brought under state control (previously less than half had been controlled by the Admiralty), whilst remaining privately owned (similar measures were in force at the time for the railways). Merchant shipping was concentrated, IBM Lenovo ThinkPad R52 laptop keyboard
largely on Chiozza Money’s initiative, on the transatlantic route where it could more easily be protected, instead of being spread out all over the globe (this relied on imports coming first into North America). COMPAQ Presario V5000 laptop keyboard
Maclay began the process of increasing ship construction, although he was hampered by shortages of steel and labour, and ships under construction in the United States were confiscated when she entered the war. In May 1917 Eric Geddes, based at the Admiralty, was put in charge of shipbuilding, and in July he became First Lord of the Admiralty.[36] ACER Aspire 4736Z laptop keyboard
Lloyd George had raised the matter of convoys at the War Committee in November 1916, only to be told by the admirals present, including Jellicoe, that convoys presented too large a target, and that merchant ship masters lacked the discipline to “keep station” in a convoy.[37] HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
In February 1917 Hankey wrote a memorandum for Lloyd George calling for the introduction of “scientifically organised convoys”, almost certainly after being persuaded by Commander Henderson and the Shipping Ministry officials with whom he was in contact. After a breakfast meeting (13 February 1917) HP Pavilion DV7-3065dx Laptop Keyboard
with Lloyd George, Carson (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Admirals Jellicoe and Duff agreed to “conduct experiments”. However, convoys were not in general use until August, by which time the rate of shipping losses was already in decline after peaking in April.[38] SONY VAIO PCG-792L Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George later claimed in his memoirs that the delay in introducing convoys was because the Admiralty mishandled an experimental convoy between Britain and Norway, and because Jellicoe obtained, behind Maclay’s back, DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard
an unrepresentative sample of merchant skippers claiming that they lacked the skill to “keep station” in convoy. In fact Hankey’s diary shows that Lloyd George’s interest in the matter was intermittent, whilst Frances Stevenson’s diaries contain no mention of the topic. HP G61-409CA Laptop Keyboard
He may well have been reluctant, especially at a time when his relations with the generals were so poor, for a showdown with Carson, a weak administrator who was as much the mouthpiece of the admirals as Derby was of the generals, but who had played a key role in the fall of Asquith and who led a significant bloc of Conservative and Irish Unionist MPs.[39] DELL Vostro 3500 Laptop Keyboard
The new Commander of the Grand Fleet Admiral Beatty, whom Lloyd George visited at Invergordon on 15 April, was a supporter of convoys, as was the American Admiral Sims (the USA had just entered the war). ASUS F6A Laptop Keyboard
The War Cabinet (25 April) authorised Lloyd George to look into the anti-submarine campaign, and on 30 April he visited the Admiralty. Duff had already recommended to Jellicoe that the Admiralty adopt convoys after a recent successful convoy from Gibraltar.[40] SONY VGN-FE790 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George’s personal efforts to promote convoys were less consistent than he (and Churchill in The World Crisis and Beaverbrook in Men and Power) later claimed; the idea that he, after a hard struggle, sat in the First Lord’s chair (on his 30 April visit to the Admiralty) and imposed convoys on a hostile Board is a myth. However, HP Compaq NW8440 Laptop Keyboard
in Grigg’s view the credit goes largely to men and institutions which he set in place, and with a freer hand, and making fewer mistakes, than in his dealings with the generals, he and his appointees took decisions which can reasonably be said to have saved the country. “It was a close-run thing … failure would have been catastrophic”.[41] HP Pavilion DV3000 Laptop Keyboard
Lloyd George welcomed the Fall of the Tsar, both in a private letter to his brother and in a message to the new Russian Prime Minister, Prince Lvov, not least as the war could now be portrayed as a clash between liberal governments and the autocratic Central Powers. TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-S5227 Laptop Keyboard
Like many observers he had been taken by surprise by the exact timing of the revolution (it had not been predicted by Lord Milner or General Wilson on their visit to Russia a few weeks earlier) and hoped – albeit with some concerns – that Russia’s war effort would be invigorated like that of France in the early 1790s.[42] Packard Bell PEW91 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George gave a cautious welcome to the suggestion (19 March on the western calendar) of the Russian Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov that the toppled Tsar and his family be given sanctuary in Britain (although Lloyd George would have preferred that they go to a neutral country). From the very start the King’s adviser Stamfordham raised objections, Lenovo 3000 Y510a 15303 laptop keyboard
and in April the British government withdrew its consent under Royal pressure. Eventually the Russian Royal Family were moved to the Urals where they were executed in 1918. Lloyd George was often blamed for the refusal of asylum, SONY VGN-FE48E laptop keyboard
and in his memoirs he did not mention King George V’s role in the matter, which was not explicitly confirmed until Kenneth Rose’s biography of the King was published in 1963.[43]
Lloyd George set up a War Policy Committee (himself, Curzon, Milner, Law and Smuts, Packard Bell Easynote TK85 laptop keyboard
with Maurice Hankey as secretary) to discuss strategy, which held 16 meetings over the next six weeks. At the very first meeting (11 June) Lloyd George proposed helping the Italians to capture Trieste,[45] explicitly telling the War Policy Committee (21 June 1917) that he wanted Italian soldiers to be killed rather than British.[46] SONY VAIO PCG-FR415S laptop keyboard
Haig believed that a Flanders Offensive had good chance of clearing the Belgian Coast, from which German submarines and destroyers operated (a popular goal with politicians), and that victory at Ypres “might quite possibly lead to (German) collapse”. Robertson was less optimistic, HP Pavilion dv6-3190sf laptop keyboard
but preferred Britain to keep her focus on defeating Germany on the Western Front, and had told Haig that the politicians would not “dare” overrule both soldiers if they gave the same advice. Haig promised he had no “intention of entering into a tremendous offensive involving heavy losses” (20 June) whilst Robertson wanted to avoid “disproportionate loss” (23 June).[47] HP 636191-001 laptop keyboard
The Flanders Offensive was reluctantly sanctioned by the War Policy Committee on 18 July and the War Cabinet two days later, on condition it did not degenerate into a long drawn-out fight like the Somme. DELL Latitude D430 laptop keyboard
The War Cabinet promised to monitor progress and casualties and, if necessary call a halt, although in the event they made little effort to monitor progress until September. Frustrated at his inability to get his way, DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George talked of resigning and taking his case to the public.[48]
Third Ypres began on 31 July, but soon became bogged down in unseasonably early wet weather.[49] Lloyd George tried to enlist the King for diverting efforts against Austria-Hungary, telling Stamfordham (14 August) that the King and Prime Minister were “joint trustees of the nation” who had to avoid waste of manpower. A new Italian offensive began (18 August), ASUS X82S laptop keyboard
but Robertson advised that it was “false strategy” to call off Third Ypres to send reinforcements to Italy, and despite being summoned to George Riddell’s home in Sussex, where he was served apple pudding (his favourite dish), HP Pavilion dv6-2160ep laptop keyboard
agreed only reluctantly. The Anglo-French leadership agreed in early September to send 100 heavy guns to Italy (50 of them French) rather than the 300 which Lloyd George wanted – Lloyd George talked of ordering a halt to Third Ypres, HP G62-450SV laptop keyboard
but in Hankey’s words “funked it” (4 September). Had he not done so his government might have fallen, for as soon as the guns reached Italy Cadorna called off his offensive (21 September).[50]
At a meeting at Boulogne (25 September) Lloyd George broached with Painleve the setting up of an Allied Supreme War Council then making Fochgeneralissimo.[51] HP Mini 110-1014NR laptop keyboard
Bonar Law had written to Lloyd George that ministers must soon decide whether or not the offensive was to continue. Lloyd George and Robertson met Haig in France (26 September) to discuss the recent German peace feelers (which in the end were publicly repudiated by ChancellorMichaelis)[52] ASUS X82S laptop keyboard
and the progress of the offensive. Haig preferred to continue, encouraged by Plumer’s recent successful attacks in dry weather at Menin Road (20 September) and Polygon Wood (26 September), and stating that the Germans were “very worn out”. In October the wet weather returned for the final attack towards Passchendaele.[53] LENOVO IdeaPad S10e 4068 laptop keyboard
At the final meeting of the War Policy Committee on 11 October 1917, Lloyd George authorised the Passchendaele Offensiveto continue, but warning of failure in three weeks' time. Hankey (21 October) claimed in his diary that Lloyd George had deliberately allowed Third Ypres to continue in order to discredit Haig and Robertson and make it easier for him to forbid similar offensives in 1918.[51] FUJITSU Lifebook S7210 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George played a critical role in the Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour's famous Declaration in favour of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".
The Italians suffered disastrous defeat at Caporetto, requiring British and French reinforcements to be sent. Lloyd George said he "wanted to take advantage of Caporetto to gain "control of the War".[54] TOSHIBA Satellite L755D-SP5165RM laptop keyboard
The Supreme War Council was inaugurated at the Rapallo Conference (6–7 November 1917). Lloyd George then gave a controversial speech at Paris (12 November) at which he criticised the high casualties of recent Allied "victories" (a word which he used with an element of sarcasm). These events led to an angry Commons debate (19 November), which Lloyd George survived.[55] Compaq Presario CQ42-137TU laptop keyboard
In reply to Robertson's 19 November memo, which warned (correctly) that the Germans would use the opportunity of Russia's departure from the war to attack in 1918 before the Americans were present in strength, HP Pavilion DV7-2277cl laptop keyboard
Lloyd George wrote (wrongly) that the Germans would not attack and would fail if they did. That autumn he declared that he was willing “to risk his whole political reputation” to avoid a repetition of the Somme or Third Ypres.[56] HP G61-409CA laptop keyboard
In December 1917, Lloyd George remarked to C. P. Scott that: "If people really knew, the war would be stopped tomorrow. But of course they don't know, and can't know."
HP G42-415DX Laptop Keyboard [57][58]
The first meeting of the Manpower Committee was on 10 December, and it met twice the next day and again on 15 December. Lloyd George questioned GeneralsMacready (Adjutant-General) and Macdonogh (Chief of Military Intelligence), SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard
who advised that the Allied superiority of numbers on the Western Front would not survive the transfer of German reinforcements from the East now that Russia was dropping out of the war.[59] Lloyd George, deeply concerned at the publicity attracted by the recent Lansdowne Letter’s mention of casualties, ASUS X53S Laptop Keyboard
suggested removing Haig and Robertson from office at this time, but this was met by a threat of resignation from Lord Derby. At this stage Lloyd George opposed extending conscription to Ireland – Carson advised that extending conscription to Ulster alone would be impractical.[60] HP PK13ZK31000 Laptop Keyboard
Hankey’s eventual report reflected Lloyd George’s wishes: it gave top priority to shipbuilding and merchant shipping (not least to ship US troops to Europe), and placed Army manpower below both weapons production and civilian industry.[61][62] ACER ZU2 Laptop Keyboard
In the House of Commons (20 December) Lloyd George also argued that the collapse of Russia and defeat of Italy required further “combing-out” of men from industry, in breach of pledges given to the trade unions in 1916. Lenovo 3000 Y500 Laptop Keyboard
Auckland Geddes was given increased powers to direct labour – a new bill became law, despite the opposition of the Engineers’ Union, in February 1918.[62] The unions were placated with the Caxton Hall conference early in the New Year, at which Lloyd George outlined Allied war aims. HP Pavilion dv6-2040ev laptop keyboard
He called for Germany to be stripped of her conquests (including her colonies and Alsace-Lorraine, annexed in 1871) and democratised, and for the liberation of the subject peoples of Austria-Hungary and Turkey. SAMSUNG NP-N145-JP02 laptop keyboard
He also hinted at reparations and a new international order. Lloyd George explained to critics that he was hoping to detach Austria-Hungary and turn the German people against her rulers; the speech greatly increased his support amongst trade unions and the Labour Party.[63] TOSHIBA Satellite L775-S7245 laptop keyboard
Lloyd George had told Allenby, who was appointed the new commander in Egypt in June, that his objective was “Jerusalem before Christmas” and that he had only to ask for reinforcements, although the exact nature of his offensives was still undecided when he was appointed. DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
Amidst months of argument throughout the autumn of 1917 Robertson was able to block Lloyd George's plan to make Palestine the main theatre of operations by having Allenby make the impossible demand that thirteen extra divisions be sent to him.[64][65] Allenby captured Jerusalem in December 1917. TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5107 laptop keyboard
In the winter of 1917/18 Lloyd George secured the resignations of both the service chiefs. Removing the First Sea Lord Admiral Jellicoe earlier in 1917, as Lloyd George wanted, would have been politically impossible given Conservative anger at the return of Churchill (still blamed for the Dardanelles) to office as Minister of Munitions in July, DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard
and Lloyd George’s preoccupations with Third Ypres, Caporetto and the Supreme War Council from July onward. By December it was clear that Lloyd George would have to sack Jellicoe or lose Eric Geddes (First Lord of the Admiralty), who wanted to return to his previous job in charge of military transportation in France. TOSHIBA Satellite L40-14Y laptop keyboard
The Christmas holiday, when Parliament was not sitting, provided a good opportunity. Before Jellicoe left for leave on Christmas Eve he received a letter from Geddes demanding his resignation. The other Sea Lords talked of resigning but did not do so, whilst Jellicoe's ally Carson remained a member of the War Cabinet until he resigned in January over Irish Home Rule.[66] HP Pavilion dv6-3030em laptop keyboard
Relations with General Robertson had worsened further over the creation of the Supreme War Council at Versailles and he was eventually forced out over his insistence that the British delegate there be subordinate to Robertson as CIGS in London. DELL E141395 laptop keyboard