ABSTRACT
France faced economic problems from the very start of the war. Total mobilisation for the Army brought an immediate drop in industrial production. Voluntary recruitment played almost as much havoc with the British economy as conscription did with the French, though more slowly. By 1917, therefore, Britain and France faced an acute economic crisis. In making purchases from neutral countries, and especially the United States, Great Britain held the key position. The French and British achieved remarkable feats of co-operation to fight the war and to survive its economic problems. In April 1917 the United States entered the war. Franco-British relations were therefore of particular importance. The British and French governments considered this matter very quickly, in response to enquiries about mediation from two widely different sources: the United States and Luxembourg. The British and French governments set themselves far-reaching aims, which could only be achieved by the destruction of German power.
