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The Maurice Debate was a debate in the British House of Commons which took place on 9 May 1918. A senior army officer Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice made public the spectacular allegation that the War Cabinet had deliberately held soldiers back from the Western Front, and had lied to Parliament about it. Liberal leader H H Asquith, took up the allegations and attacked Prime Minister David Lloyd George, also a Liberal. It ripped apart the Liberal Party. While Asquith's attack was ineffective, Lloyd George vigorously defended his position, treating the debate like a vote of confidence. He won over the House with a powerful, if misleading speech, refuting all of Maurice's allegations. The debate did not cause the profound split in the Liberal Party, but did make it more visible and harder to heal. The main results were to strengthen Lloyd George, weaken Asquith, end public criticism of overall strategy, and strengthen civilian control of the military.〔John Gooch, "The Maurice Debate 1918," ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (1968) 3#4 pp. 211–228 (in JSTOR )〕 ==Maurice's allegations== The motion was tabled in response to the publication of a letter in The Times newspaper the day before〔''The Times,'' 7 May 1918 p7〕 from Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, who had recently been removed as Director of Military Operations.〔David Dutton, ''A History of the Liberal Party in the Twentieth Century''; Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 p72〕 Maurice was close to General Robertson, who had recently been removed as CIGS after months of argument with the government about manpower and deployment of resources between fronts, and who was suspected of engaging in political intrigues to return to power. Historians find that Robertson was instrumental in getting Maurice to write the letter, and that represented military interference in civilian roles. Historian John Grigg concludes, "Robertson is the person who comes worst out of the affair."〔John Grigg, ''Lloyd George: War leader, 1916–1918'' (2002) p 503.〕 Maurice's letter also appeared in The Morning Post, the Daily Chronicle and Daily News.〔Trevor Wilson and Robin Prior, ''Sir Frederick Barton Maurice'' in ''Dictionary of National Biography'', OUP 2004–08〕 In his letter, Maurice claimed that ministers in the coalition government of Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Unionist Party leader Andrew Bonar Law, had deliberately provided false information to Parliament about the strength of British troops on the Western Front to cover up the fact that the number of British troops there had been reduced following Lloyd George's decision (against military advice) to send additional forces to Palestine.〔Liberal Democrat History Group website, 2009: http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=55&item=history〕 In his letter he accused both Bonar Law and Lloyd George of misleading the House.〔The Times, 7 May 1918 p7〕 As Jones elaborates, Maurice challenged: :"statements...made by Lloyd George in the House of Commons on 9 April: first, that notwithstanding the heavy casualties in 1917, the army in France was considerably stronger on 1 January 1918 than on 1 January 1917, and second, that in Egypt and Palestine there was a very small proportion of British as compared with Indian troops; and by Bonar Law on 23 April that the extension of the British Front which took place before the battle of 21 March was an arrangement made solely by the military authorities."〔Thomas Jones, ''Lloyd George'' (1951) p 148 〕 The disputed statements indicated that the British forces on the Western Front were adequate, and the military defeats recently inflicted by Germany were the responsibility of General Headquarters. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Maurice Debate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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