You only have to look at the Agadir (Panther gunboat) Incident of 1911 to understand Germany's intentions. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadir_Crisis)
Indeed, it was this matter which brought to a halt Winston Churchill's brief, radical flirtation with pacifism as both friend and colleague of Lloyd George.
Suddenly, the penny had dropped and Winston became alert to Kaiser Wilhelm's warmongering intentions as his armies grew at the same time as he was constructing the largest navy in the world. Even Lloyd George seemed to be waking up to reality as seen in his Mansion House speech.
Germany's Fleet Law of 1900 had already given adequate warnings of Kaiser Nutjob's intentions - it had literally spelled them out.
It was blindingly obvious that Britain was a target.
From as early as 1905, the British Government had had a pretty good idea what the Schlieffen Plan actually meant.
War was inevitable in almost the same way it had been one World War later.
Furthermore, we were obligated by treaty to support Belgium once she was invaded.
Furthermore, we were obligated by treaty to support Belgium once she was invaded.
The Liberal Party had sat on its hands and blinkered its eyes. Our failure to match Germany in military and naval strength from 1905 onwards was as much to blame for the dreadful slaughter from 1914 to 1918 as any other single factor. If you do not stand up to bullies ...
When the government had wanted to spend money on eight new dreadnoughts - Churchill had opposed this as 'money wasted'.
Thanks be to God that his blinkers eventually disappeared.
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