When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

David Lloyd George's assent to the top of the greasy pole came at a difficult time for Britain and the allied war effort. The war did not appear near its end after all; instead the bloody stalemate had begun to tell, on all sides, and 1916 had been a year of crushing disappointments. Faced with a crisis in confidence, PM Asquith made way for the last Liberal Prime Minister of the age, Lloyd George, who ensured by early 1917 that he had the support of his colleagues in the wartime coalition to continue on with the war in the manner that he saw fit.Lloyd George's vision was tempered by realities and the hard lessons which still lay ahead, but he was at his best when delegating to his colleagues, when relinquishing something of his iron grip on power, and when accepting that sharing the load was the best way to win the war. New men were made and old men retreated from public life in disgust, but Lloyd George wasn't here to make friends. His single minded determination to win this damned war earned him admiration