UC Historian, David Monger, has recently published the open-access article ‘Speaking to or for the world? Britain, presumed authority and world opinion at the start of the First World War’ online in the journal Historical Research. The article takes a close look at an under-studied text, the 1914 charity book, edited by the novelist Hall Caine in support of Belgian refugees, King Albert’s Book. It uses quantitative methods to deconstruct the book’s text, highlighting the unusual prominence of the term ‘world’ and arguing that its very frequent use by contributors to the book indicates uncertainty, very early in the First World War, that Britain was capable of overseeing world affairs. The contributions thus became appeals to ‘world opinion’, and particularly to the culturally close, powerful neutral nation, the United States, to intervene in support of Belgium and Britain. In so doing they suggest recognition, even at the beginning of the war, that Britain’s time as the world’s leading power was ending. The article adds to an earlier piece by Monger in the Journal of Transatlantic Studies on Anglo-US reactions to the Armenian Genocide in discussing the shifting relations between Britain and the US during the First World War period.
