Britain's army plan and naval strategy pulled apart

Sending the small British Expeditionary Force wherever France directed it amounted to a mobilization plan rather than a complete strategy. The Royal Navy had a different concept in which British troops could reinforce Danish defenses around Copenhagen, secure access to the Baltic, and exploit Germany's maritime vulnerability. French planning also relied on Britain to protect its northern coast while concentrating against a nominal Italian and Austro-Hungarian threat it could not defeat alone. A later exchange adds that France depended on moving troops and supplies from Africa, making Mediterranean sea control part of the western-front manpower plan. Separate service plans can fail to add up to a coherent use of national power.