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When Europe went to war in 1914, the continental belligerents had plans for the mobilisation, deployment, and initial campaigns of their armies. Britain was different. It had planned the mobilisation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), but it did not approve the BEF’s deployment plan, which subordinated the BEF’s campaign plan to that of France, until after the war began. The British army was optimised for colonial war, not for major European war. The latter was the navy’s responsibility, and British maritime thinking – although not a clearly defined plan – encapsulated at least some of major war’s dimensions.