Summary
Lloyd George emerged from the war with his prestige at an all-time high. All the political crises he had provoked through his inept deviousness were forgotten. He was hailed as the “man who won the war” (not the least by himself), a characterization that was patently untrue. For one thing, the war was not won by Britain alone but by a coalition of powers. For another, there were factors that probably weighed more than Lloyd George's leadership in the final victory: the strangling naval blockade that hastened Germany's capitulation; Kitchener, who built a formidable army, which became the mainstay of the Entente after the spring of 1917; American help; and Haig, who learned from past defeats, and adopted a formula in 1918 that would produce a string of brilliant victories.
Still, there are many modern day historians who consider that Lloyd George was the indispensable man in the First World War, just like Churchill would be in the second. They argue that he brought talented men into government, cut through red tape to achieve his objective and conciliated the workers, and that he could withstand relentless pressure, maintain his composure in the face of adversity and possessed dogged determination, a fertile imagination, boundless energy and the ability to inspire those with whom he came into contact. In other words, there was no one else on the political scene better suited to cope with the myriad and complex problems stemming from the worldwide conflict.
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- Lloyd George at War, 1916–1918 , pp. 343 - 352Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009