The North Atlantic Triangle and the blockade, 1914–1915

Abstract

The British blockade of Germany, and its effects on neutral shipping, was a major issue in Anglo-American relations during the early part of the First World War. From the British point of view it was an obvious necessity to prevent supplies from the USA reaching Germany whereas from the US Government's perspective this strategy infringed American rights and the principle of the freedom of the seas. As tensions grew over this issue in the early months of the war Canada played an important role in ameliorating the effects of the British blockade on American shipping and thereby underlined the growing significance of the ‘North Atlantic Triangle’ in Anglo-American relations.

Keywords:

• blockade
• Canada
• naval power
• trade
• North Atlantic Triangle

Notes

1. I would like to thank the Canadian High Commission in London for awarding me a Faculty Research Program Award for doing research on this topic in Canada; the British Academy for a Small Grant during my sabbatical in 2002 which enabled me to do much of the British research; and to funding provided through the Academic Research Program of the Royal Military College of Canada.

2. Foreign Office (FO) 382/2/282/17792 (Kew, London: National Archive), 15 February 1915, confidential memo to American Ambassador to England, Walter H. Page from Sir E. Grey.

3. See C.M. Mason, ‘Anglo-American Relations: Mediation and ‘‘Permanent Peace’’’, in British Foreign Policy Under Sir Edward Grey, ed. F.H. Hinsley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 466–87; Marsden, ‘The Blockade’, Ibid., 488–515; Marion C. Siney, ‘The Allied Blockade Committee and the Inter-allied Trade Committees: The Machinery of Economic Warfare, 1917–1918,’ in Studies in International History, eds K. Bourne and D.C. Watt (London: Gazelle Book Services, 1967), 330–44; John W. Coogan, The End of Neutrality: The United States, Britain, and Maritime Rights 1899–1915 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982); Paul Hayes, ‘Britain, Germany, and the Admiralty's Plans for Attacking German Territory, 1906–1915’, in War, Strategy, and International Politics: Essays in Honour of Sir Michael Howard, eds Lawrence Freedman, Paul Hayes and Robert O'Neill (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 95–116; Lord Hankey, The Supreme Command, 1914–1918, 2 vols (London: Allen and Unwin, 1961); David French, British Economic and Strategic Planning, 1905–1915 (New York: Harper Collins, 1982), 112–18; Keith Neilson, ‘‘‘The British Empire Floats on the British Navy’’: British Naval Policy, Belligerent Rights, and Disarmament, 1902–1909,’ in Arms Limitation and Disarmament: Restraints on War, 1899–1939, ed. B.J.C. McKercher (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992), 21–43.

4. See Arthur S. Link, Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality 1914–1915 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960); Ethel C. Phillips, ‘American Participation in Belligerent Commercial Controls 1914–1917’, The American Journal of International Law 27 (1933): 675–93; David F. Trask, Captains and Cabinets: Anglo-American Naval Relations, 1917–1918 (Columbia: Missouri University Press, 1972), 54–89.

5. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States (hereafter FRUS), 1914 Supplement, Washington, 1928, telegram from Secretary of State (W.J. Bryan) to Page, 6 August 1914, 216.

6. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Page to Bryan with attached letter and memo, 26 August 1914, 218–20.

7. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Acting Secretary of State to Page, 28 September 1914, 232–3. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Page to Secretary of State, 29 September 1914, 233; Ibid., telegram from Page to Secretary of State, 30 September 1914, 235; Ibid., 236; Ibid., copy of telegram from Grey to Spring Rice given to Lansing, 1 October 1914, 236–7; Ibid., telegram from Bryan to Page, 1 October 1914, 238–9.; Ibid., 239.

8. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, despatch from Acting Secretary of State to Page, 26 September 1914, 225–32.

9. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Page to Secretary of State, Sept. 29, 1914, 233; Ibid, telegram from Page to Secretary of State, Sept. 30, 1914, 235; ibid, telegram from Page to Secretary of State, Sept. 30, 1914, 236; ibid, copy of telegram from Grey to Spring Rice given to Lansing, Oct. 1, 1914, 236–237; ibid, telegram from Bryan to Page, Oct. 1, 1914, 238–239; ibid, telegram from Bryan to Page, Oct. 1, 1914, 239.

10. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Bryan to Page, 1 October 1914, 240; telegram from Page to Bryan, 9 October 1914, 244–6.

11. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, memo from Page to Wilson, 15 October 1914, 248–9.

12. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Acting Secretary of State to Page, 16 October 1914, 250–2.

13. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Wilson to Page, 16 October 1914, 252–3.

14. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Page to Bryan, 19 October 1914, 253–4.

15.FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Page to Bryan, 19 October 1914, 253–4.

16. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, copy of telegram from Grey to Spring Rice given to Lansing, 20 October 1914, 254–5; Ibid., 255.

17. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Page to Bryan, 20 October 1914, 255–56; Ibid., telegram from Page to Bryan, 21 October 1914, 256–7.

18. FRUS, 1914 Supplement, telegram from Lansing to Page, 22 October 1914, 257–9; Ibid., telegram from Page to Bryan, 23 October 1914, 258; Ibid., telegram from Page to Bryan, 24 October 1914, 259–60.

19. David H. Burton, Cecil Spring Rice: A Diplomat’s Life (London: Fairleigh Dickinson, 1990), 152–81.

20. FO 800/85, The Grey Paper (hereafter Grey Papers), PRO, Kew, London, memo from Spring Rice to Grey, 8 January 1915.

21. FO 800/85, The Grey Paper (hereafter Grey Papers), PRO, Kew, London, memo from Spring Rice to Grey, 8 January 1915.

22. FO 800/85, The Grey Paper (hereafter Grey Papers), PRO, Kew, London, memo from Spring Rice to Grey, 8 January 1915., memo by Spring Rice to Grey, 5 January 1915.

23. Grey Papers, private telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 10 January 1915.

24. Grey Papers, private telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 10 January 1915.

25. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, telegram from Page to Bryan, 26 October 1914, 289; Ibid., note from Spring Rice to Lansing, 26 October 1914, 290.

26. Grey Papers, letter from Spring Rice to Grey, 15 January 1915.

27. Keith Grieves, ‘Improvising the British War Effort: Eric Geddes and Lloyd George, 1915–18’, War and Society 7 (1989): 40–55; Gerry R. Rubin, ‘Law, War and Economy: the Munitions Acts 1915–1917 and Corporatism in Context’, Journal of Law and Society 11 (1984): 317–33; John McDermott, ‘Total War and the Merchant State: Aspects of British Economic Warfare against Germany, 1914–1915’, Canadian Journal of History 21 (1986): 63–76.

28. CAB 24/3, Cabinet Papers (war) (hereafter CAB 24/1, G-4), PRO, Kew, London, G-4, ‘After Six Months’, 29 January 1915.

29. CAB 24/3, Cabinet Papers (war) (hereafter CAB 24/1, G-4), PRO, Kew, London, G-4, ‘After Six Months’, 29 January 1915.

30. CAB 24/3, Cabinet Papers (war) (hereafter CAB 24/1, G-4), PRO, Kew, London, G-4, ‘After Six Months’, 29 January 1915.

31. Grey Papers, personal telegram from Grey to Spring Rice, 18 January 1915.

32. Grey Papers, personal telegram from Grey to Spring Rice, 18 January 1915.

33. Grey Papers, personal telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 19 January 1915.

34. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, telegram from Bryan to Page, 20 February 1915, 119–20; Ibid., telegram from Maurice F. Egan (US Minister in Denmark) to Bryan, 21 February 1915, 121; Ibid., telegram from Page to Bryan, 27 February 1915, 125.

35. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, telegram from Bryan to Page, 5 March 1915, 132–3; Ibid., note and enclosure from Spring Rice to Bryan, 10 March 1915, 136–7; Ibid., telegram from Page to Bryan, 13 March 1915, 138.

36. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, telegram and enclosed memo from Page to Bryan, 15 March 1915, 140–2; Ibid., telegram and enclosed note from Page to Bryan, 15 March 1915, 143–5; Ibid., telegram and enclosed note from Page to Bryan, 24 July 1915, 168–71.

37. Grey Papers, letter from Spring Rice to Grey, 16 April 1915.

38. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, memo from Rose to Bryan, 21 May 1915, 216–21.

39. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, memo from Rose to Bryan, 21 May 1915, 216–21.

40. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, letter from Rose to Crawford, 29 May 1915, 223–5; Ibid., letter from Crawford to Rose, 5 June 1915, 225.

41. Grey Papers, private and personal letter from Page to Grey, 27 May 1915.

42. Flavelle Papers, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, letter from Flavelle [chairman of Imperial Munitions Board] to R.H. Brand [Ministry of Munitions], 19 March 1916, MG 30, A16, vol. 24.

43. Flavelle Papers, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, letter from Flavelle [chairman of Imperial Munitions Board] to R.H. Brand [Ministry of Munitions], 19 March 1916, MG 30, A16, vol. 24., Flavelle to Brand, 5 May 1916.

44. FO 382/538/143529, 24 July 1916, telegram from Buchanan to Blockade Dept.; FO 382/442/36586 29 March 1915, Confidential telegram Spring Rice to Grey, 13 March 1915.

45. Colin Simpson, Lusitania (London: Avid Publications, 1972).

46. Grey Papers, telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 10 June 1915.

47. Grey Papers, telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 10 June 1915.

48. Grey Papers, personal telegram from Lord Crewe, Lord President to Spring Rice, 10 June 1915.

49. Marsden, ‘The Blockade’, 502–03; Grey Papers, very urgent and personal telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 11 June 1915; Ibid., urgent and personal telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 11 June 1915; Ibid., personal telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 13 June 1915.

50. FRUS, 1915 Supplement, telegram from Lansing to Page, 15 September 1915, 236; Ibid., Lansing to Page, 1 November 1915, 241–2; Ibid., telegram from Lansing to Page, 4 November 1915, 242; Grey Papers, personal telegram from Spring Rice to Grey, 10 October 1915.

51. CAB 24/1, G-27, ‘War Policy’, 12 October 1915; Ministry of Munitions, Historical Records, PRO, Kew, London, MUN 5/7/170/25, 8 March 1915.

52. CAB 42/6/7, Photographic copies of the Papers of War Council, Dardanelles Committee and War Committee, PRO, Kew, London, War Committee meeting, 13 December 1915; CAB 42/6/14, War Committee meeting, 28 December 1915.

53. FO 382/8/179864, 27 November 1915, draft minute from E.H. Marker, Board of Trade to S. Adams, Blockade Dept.

54. R.H. Brand Papers, National Archive of Canada, Ottawa, Reel 828, letter from Brand to C.B. Monfries, 2 May 1916.

55. John Barlet Brebner, North Atlantic Triangle: The Interplay of Canada, the United States and Great Britain (New Haven, CT, Toronto and London: Yale University Press, The Ryerson Press and Oxford University Press, 1945).