British ministers initially judged that France had helped create the crisis and should make concessions. A possible German naval foothold on the Atlantic changed the calculation, leading to battleship deployments and Lloyd George's Mansion House speech. Grey, Lloyd George, and Asquith nevertheless faced a cabinet majority wary of intervention and a later backbench challenge. The internal argument shows that the Entente Cordiale still had real political limits in 1911.
Notable Point · 1:18:30-1:22:06
Britain's divided response to Agadir
The British cabinet did not automatically support France, but concern over a German Atlantic base sharpened its stance.