In London in the autumn of 1916 it was the argument over strategic priorities in the third year of the war that brought down the Asquith government.47 Ironically, those who were most open to Wilson’s idea of a negotiated peace were those who were most suspicious of the long-term rise of American power. This was particularly true of old-school liberals, such as the British Chancellor Reginald McKenna. As he warned the cabinet, if they continued on their current course ‘I venture to say with certainty that by next June [1917] or earlier the President of the American Republic will be in a
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