№2-2024-02
DOI: 10.22281/2413-9912-2024-08-02-16-25
Arbekov A. B.
GREAT BRITAIN’S STRATEGY ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR AS ASSESSED
BY RUSSIAN MILITARY AGENTS IN LONDON
The article examines British military strategy in the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War through the prism of analysis of Russian military agents in London. Such research optics allows us to more objectively consider, from the position of competent military-diplomatic representatives of the Russian Empire, the actions of the government of the United Kingdom and the high command of the British army in the pre-war decade in the context of the developing military-political crisis in Europe. The source base for the study was the materials of reports of Russian military agents in London for the period 1905 – 1913. These reports contain valuable information about the preparation of the British Army and its high military command for the First World War. The preparation consisted of optimizing the military forces and practicing, through annual military maneuvers, various combat scenarios in which the British Army could directly participate. Based on the study, a conclusion is formulated that Russian military agents quite correctly read the current British strategy aimed at supporting France in the upcoming armed conflict with Germany. In turn, information supplied from London to St. Petersburg formed the foundation of Russian military-strategic planning on the eve of the First World War.
Keywords: World War I, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, France, military intelligence, military strategy, military agents, military maneuvers.
Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University (Russia)
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