#20 Hanging on Russia's apron strings - Ep 4 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?

History Cafe - A podcast by Jon Rosebank, Penelope Middelboe

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Rerelease of this series, ahead of new series on The Battle of the Somme, 1916, to be released in the New Year. NEW story to tell.Synopsis:In 1912 a deal between War Secretary Haldane and the German chancellor Bethmann-Holweg to allow Britain to retain naval supremacy if they both remained neutral (if neither side had started the war), was rudely sabotaged. It involved lying to Cabinet that the Germans were demanding a full-scale Anglo-German alliance, which they weren’t. It meant throwing away what the majority of the Cabinet saw as the best chance to contain Russian expansion, by making common cause with Germany. Russia, allied to the French, could now call all the shots. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.