When Churchill arrived at the Prime Minister's office, Prime Minister Asquith was already waiting in his office. Besides Prime Minister Asquith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of War, the Home Secretary, and the Colonial Secretary were also present. Upon receiving the summons, they had hastened to the Prime Minister's residence, all fully aware of the critical importance of the naval showdown between the Royal Navy and the German Navy, which would directly determine the survival or downfall of the British Empire.
As Churchill entered the room, all eyes turned toward him. However, their anticipation quickly turned to disappointment. They saw no trace of a smile on Churchill's face; instead, his expression was grim. Despite his efforts to appear calm, these seasoned ministers could easily detect a glimmer of despair in his eyes.
This inevitably led the ministers to conjecture about the outcome of the battle.
"Lord Churchill, have we lost again?" asked Richard Haldane, the Secretary of War.
Churchill nodded solemnly.
"My God! Has the British Empire been forsaken?" Richard Haldane lamented in anguish.
The other ministers' faces reflected similar despondency. Though they had known from the outset that a Royal Navy victory was nearly impossible, there had always been a faint hope in their hearts that a miracle might occur. Now, the harsh reality had struck them like a cruel slap, revealing that their earlier hopes were but fleeting illusions.
"Lord Churchill, how great are our losses?" Prime Minister Asquith asked, still clinging to a sliver of hope. Perhaps if the losses were not catastrophic, there might still be a chance.
"Prime Minister, in this battle, the Royal Navy has lost all of its capital ships to the Germans. The French still have four battleships, and the Italians have two, but both have surrendered to the Germans. It was their cowardly flight that allowed the Germans to swiftly defeat our fleet," Churchill explained.
"Those damn French and Italians, they actually fled the battlefield?" Prime Minister Asquith erupted in fury, naturally placing the blame for the defeat squarely on France and Italy.
The other ministers echoed Asquith's wrath, cursing the French and Italians as though their flight had been the sole cause of the disaster, as if victory could have been secured had their fleets not retreated.
Churchill, observing this reaction, could only shake his head in resignation. He knew well that even without the French and Italian retreat, the Royal Navy would have been annihilated; it would have only delayed the inevitable for a little longer. Now, Asquith and the other ministers were merely venting their frustrations.
"Prime Minister, gentlemen, the Royal Navy has suffered another crushing defeat. I fear that from now on, we no longer have the strength to challenge the German Navy. This battle has made it almost impossible for the British Empire to defeat Germany. So what shall we do now?" Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, asked.
At once, the room fell into an oppressive silence, so quiet that even the fall of a pin would have been heard.
Sir Edward Grey's question was one that none of them could answer easily. The British Empire now stood at a crossroads with only two paths before them. However, neither option offered any hope for Britain's future. If they had a choice, they would have preferred to avoid both roads, but the situation had become so dire that their will was no longer their own.
"Well, gentlemen, speak your minds. What should the British Empire do now?" Prime Minister Asquith asked.
Once the most powerful man in the world, Prime Minister Asquith now wished he had never held the office. A sense of deep frustration overwhelmed him as he pondered why, when others had led the country to peace and dominance, he had inherited the task of overseeing its downfall. While the current state of the British Empire could not be wholly blamed on him, it had been under his tenure that the Empire had gone from global supremacy to the brink of defeat. History would not be kind to him, and this thought weighed heavily on him.
"Prime Minister, the only choices left are either to surrender to Germany or to fight to the bitter end. As for negotiating a dignified peace, that is virtually impossible now. With the Royal Navy decimated, we no longer have the leverage to bargain with the Germans. Germany now holds all the cards," Sir Edward Grey remarked.
"If we surrender, the terms imposed by Germany will surely be harsh beyond measure. We will likely lose all our overseas colonies, and even our homeland may not be spared. The Germans have always had ties with the Irish, and if we surrender, Ireland will undoubtedly break away from the British Empire. Scotland's situation is also precarious. Moreover, the Germans will almost certainly demand enormous reparations from us, a practice they have long adhered to. To neutralize the Empire as a threat, they will impose restrictions that will ensure we never rise again, relegating us to the status of a third-rate nation," Sir Edward Grey added.
As Sir Edward Grey spoke, the faces of the ministers grew pale, drained of all color. The prospect of the conditions Germany might impose upon them was something they all recoiled from, yet they knew that surrender would strip them of all agency, leaving them as mere pawns on the chessboard, to be discarded at Germany's will.
"No! We cannot surrender to the Germans. We cannot let them butcher us like this! If it comes to that, it would be better to let the British Empire perish!" Churchill exclaimed through gritted teeth.
Though the Royal Navy's devastating defeat, with its capital ships lost, was a grievous blow to Churchill, surrendering to Germany was a fate he could not abide.