The British Imperial State and the Construction of National Identities

World War I wrought fundamental shifts in the British state and society. Although Britain emerged from the war weaker in international terms, both politically and economically, in domestic affairs the state had become bigger and more active as a result of the needs of the war. It is notable that the Liberal-controlled British state was able to be effectively interventionist during the war, despite its previous preference for a minimal central bureaucracy and reluctant intervention. ¹ The flexible capacity of the British state to adjust to the exigencies of the severe test of this war was in marked contrast to the lumbering failure of the supposedly stronger and certainly much larger German bureaucracy. ²