So it went until gloom once more took up its abode amid the Allies.
Bucharest fell before the German assault: Greece seethed with the
unhappy mess that Entente diplomacy had made of a great opportunity:
land and sea registered daily some fresh evidence of Teutonic advance.
What was wrong?
England speculated, yet one man knew and that man was Lloyd George. He
realised the futility of a many-headed direction of the war: with his
swift insight he saw the tragic toll that all this cross purpose was
taking. He made a demand on Asquith for a small War Council that would
put dash, vigour and success into the British side of the conflict. The
Premier refused to assent and Lloyd George resigned as War Chief. The
Government toppled in a crisis that menaced the very future of the
nation.
Great Britain stood aghast. Lloyd George stood for all the popular
confidence in victory that the nation felt. For a moment it appeared as
if the very foundations of authority had crumbled.
But not for long. When Bonar Law declined to reestablish the Government
the oft-repeated cry for action that had invariably found its answer in
the intrepid little Welshman, again rose up. Upon him devolved the task
of constructing a new Cabinet which he headed as Prime Minister. He now
reached the inevitable goal toward which he had unconsciously marched
ever since that faraway day when his voice was first heard in
Parliament.
Even with Cabinet-making Lloyd George was a Revolutionist.
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