Imperial War Cabinet

Consisting of representatives from Canada, Australia, India, the Dominion of Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the Cabinet considered many aspects of waging the First World War.

It was organised at the behest of the Imperial Federation League in hopes of creating closer ties between the colonies and the United Kingdom.

[3] The British Empire was ill prepared upon the outbreak of World War I for land warfare, consisting of a small professional force with 247,432 regular troops.

[8] On 14 December 1916, Lloyd George cabled all countries in the British Empire, informing them that "Your Prime Minister will be a member of the War Cabinet.

[9] Robert Borden secretly departed and arrived in February 1917,[10] and all of the involved Prime Ministers were present by 20 March 1917 (with the exception of Billy Hughes of Australia), and the first meeting of the Imperial War Cabinet was held.

Lloyd George said that formation of the cabinet marked "the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the Empire," and The Times wrote the following day:[7] The new world is to redress the balance of the old ....

The Cabinet engaged in many policy decisions, including asking Canada to send troops to Siberia,[15] and travelling to a meeting of the Supreme War Council on 4 or 5 July and later on 3 December.

The Imperial War Cabinet in 1917
Imperial War Cabinet, offset picture
The Imperial War Cabinet in 1918