So it went all through those dark closing months
of 1914 as reverse after reverse shook the British arms and brought home
the realisation that the war would be long and costly.
The year 1915 dawned full of gloom for England but pointing a fresh star
for the career of Lloyd George. Although the first wave of Kitchener's
new army had dashed against the German lines in France and established
another tradition for British valour, the air of England became charged
with an ominous feeling that something was wrong at the front. The
German advance in the west had been well nigh triumphant. Reckless
bravery alone could not prevail against the avalanche of Teutonic steel.
All the while the imperturbable Kitchener sat at his desk in the War
Office--another man of Blood and Iron. He ran the war as he thought it
should be run despite the criticism that began to beat about his head.
To the average Englander he was a king who could do no wrong. But the
conduct of war had changed mightily since Kitchener last led his troops.
Like Business it had become a new Science, fought with new weapons and
demanding an elastic intelligence that kept pace with the swift march of
military events. The Germans were using every invention that marvellous
efficiency and preparedness could devise. They met ancient England
shrapnel with modern deadly and devastating high-explosives. If the war
was to be won this condition had to be changed--and at once.
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