What the Germans thought at this time, no one knows, in short, the British themselves do not know, what to do.

There was a heated debate in the Cabinet, but unlike in France, the British Cabinet had more control over the government, because under the British parliamentary system, the Cabinet was formed by the majority party, which means that the decisions of the Cabinet were generally supported by the majority party. In addition, in the cabinet, in order to win over different factions, joint cabinets are often formed, and several minority forces will be given a certain important post. Therefore, whenever a resolution is passed by the Cabinet, it is generally supported by the Parliament. Exceptionally, there is a disagreement among the members of the Cabinet themselves, and there is also a disagreement within the majority party.

This complex political incident is precisely the kind of event that can trigger a split between the cabinet and the parliament. Let Germany attack France, not only did Germany violate the previous British attitude towards Germany, that is, it did not support the intervention of a third party, but Germany allowed Poland to enter the war, ignoring Britain's warning; Moreover, the Germans also invaded neutral Belgium, Belgium was determined to be a permanent neutral country, openly recognized by Britain and France, and now Belgium was invaded for no reason, and if Britain did not sanction Germany, Britain's diplomatic commitment would lose its credibility.

But if there was a war with Germany, then a world war would break out, and the British still remember that world war more than 30 years ago, which is not only shame, but also fear. At that time, the British army, under the leadership of the victorious general Wellington, could only surrender and withdraw from the war, and in the naval battle, a third of the battleships were lost, and almost all the seamen who participated in the war were spared. The end result was that Britain lost a large amount of Indian territory and paid a billion pounds in reparations to China.

In contrast, China at that time was not as strong as it is now, with a population of just over 300 million and a low level of industrialization. But today's China, recognized by the world, has surpassed Britain in terms of industrial level, and the overall level is not as good as Britain, but the eastern region and the west coast of the Americas have greatly exceeded Britain, where industry has stagnated, and the population of this region is eight times that of the entire British population.

At that time, China's allies were not as strong as they are now. At that time, China was almost a local and foreign company, a separate alliance with Britain, Spain, the United States, and Russia. Now China is temporarily allied with the powerful Germany, while Britain has only one France to ally with, and in terms of overall strength, France is inferior to Germany, and Britain is inferior to China. In the end, Russia was almost dismembered, the United States was at both ends of the rat, Spain was divided, and the British navy suffered heavy losses. Now that the war is going to war, the British Cabinet believes that there is no chance of victory.

Wars that have no chance of winning are not impossible to fight, and the British have always been admirable in this regard, such as the war against Louis XIV and the war against Napoleon, but the British are also very shrewd, and they will fight wars that cannot be won, but they must be based on the security of the homeland.

After more than three years of arms race, the Chinese navy has reached twice that of Britain, and the fleets of China's vassal and allied countries are also on par with Britain, so it can be said that Britain will have to confront a naval force three times its own.

So the shrewd members of the British Cabinet, who were resolutely opposed to the war, did not mean that they sat idly by and watched France be defeated by Germany, and they thought that France should be given unprecedented aid to resist the attack of the barbaric Germans on their own. And Britain, first of all, should ensure its own security.

The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is Gladstone, who is not an unknown person, and is later evaluated as one of the greatest Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt openly professed his admiration for Gladstone. In Gladstone's hands, Britain continued to carry out reforms for five years, from 1868 to this year (1874). There are a lot of changes in various areas.

In the economic field, Gladstone is the Liberal Party, he implemented a free trade policy, and Britain's powerful industry developed to its peak, but also in his hands, British industry began to decline, and the rising stars such as virtue and virtue came to the top, and through tariff protection, countries established their own industrial systems, and at the same time used Britain's free trade policy to dump a large number of British colonies and domestic markets.

For the world, Gladstone's free trade policy has indeed contributed a lot, because many backward countries can take advantage of the huge British market that has been formed to quickly complete their own industrialization. But for Britain, industry began to decline under the competition of other countries.

Of course, Gladstone's economic policy is evaluated differently under different worldviews, and for Britain, although it began to decline in industry, it continued to maintain an advantage in business because of this liberal policy. Britain maintained the largest merchant fleet in the world, and the industrial goods of the competing countries were also exported in large quantities through the commercial channels and networks of the British. Relying on a well-developed business, the financial industry has developed. The most developed commercial network and financial system allowed Britain to almost establish commercial hegemony. During this period, at least the European economy operated according to the norms of the British.

It can be said that during the years of Gladstone's rule, the British completely completed the economic transformation. From an industrial country, it began to move to a financial country. This kind of transformation is mixed, but purely economically, Britain's economic indicators have actually been greatly improved. The income of residents in the UK is much higher than that of other countries. From this point of view, he is a country that stands at the top of the world economic industrial chain, and he is successful.

At the same time, this stage of transformation has completely transformed the most influential forces on the government in Britain from the old aristocracy to the new aristocracy, allowing shipping groups, commercial groups and financial groups to replace the past trade and industrial groups and become the dominant force in British politics.

Gladstone also made a great deal of political, educational, administrative, and military reforms, politically, he passed legislation that gave legal status to trade union organizations, and at the same time actively opposed the power of trade unions to form pickets.

In terms of education, he began to implement compulsory education, and in the past, schools in Britain were in the hands of the church, and a large number of school-age children were not educated. Gladstone made basic education accessible in Britain by establishing a large number of secular schools.

Administratively, the civil service system was introduced, and the restraint on officials began to be strengthened, so that the aristocracy monopolized government positions, and at the same time, the situation of wanton corruption was curbed. Although the British government is still far from being more efficient and incorruptible than Germany, which spends far more on social welfare than Germany, there are almost no beggars in German cities, and there are slums everywhere in Britain's big cities. Overall, however, the UK's administrative apparatus has reached the world-class level, on par with other European countries.

Militarily, Gladstone abolished Britain's most corrupt system of selling officials, and the children of rich families like Wellington could no longer buy military ranks by spending money. At the same time, the short-term military service system was introduced, so that Britain began to establish a standing army, instead of the previous empty shelves composed of only officers in peacetime, so that these officers who spent money to buy military ranks usually spent all day on military expenses issued by the government, and urgently hired mercenaries in wartime.

It is precisely because of so many reforms that Britain has gone modern in all aspects, and many of the systems implemented have influenced all subsequent countries, so Gladstone has a very high evaluation in later generations.

But like any reformer in history, no matter how he was evaluated in later generations, he may not be recognized at the time, because no matter how significant the reform, it is impossible to exert positive energy immediately, and the pain caused by the loss may be more unforgettable.

Just like the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, under the influence of social ideas in European countries after World War II, a large number of state-owned enterprises were established, and Britain nationalized a large number of assets such as railways, postal services, and minerals.

Margaret Thatcher began to implement privatization reforms, which were later considered necessary means for the British economy to recover benignly, but at the time, Margaret Thatcher was reproached by the people at the bottom, and would be attacked wherever she went, and if it were not for a nationalist Falklands War, Thatcher would probably not be able to maintain her power until the reform was completed.

The same is true of Gladstone, who reformed education and sinned against the church; He carried out administrative reforms and offended the powerful; He carried out military reforms, cutting off the way for all rich people to spend money to buy officials and status; He gave the union legal status and made it his supporter for a short time, but when he went on a swing to arrest the union leaders who tried to form workers' pickets and launch violent actions, he was hated by the union.

By the end of his reign, he had lost everyone's support.

In this situation, the Franco-German war broke out, Britain was in a dilemma, and Gladstone, at the height of his prestige, the control of the cabinet and parliament prevented him from acting according to his own ideas, and as for what his thoughts were, he did not say anything.

In the midst of the dispute, Gladstone immediately said that as a caretaker cabinet, it was not suitable for him to make decisions that were important to the country's interests for the time being, and he decided to leave the choice to the next government, because it was the time of the general election, and Gladstone's previous policies made him an ironclad failure.