This chapter deals with the Allied all-front attack in summer 1916 (Somme, Brussilow, Isonzo), the military crisis, the defensive strategy and final success of the Central Powers.

Britain's great gamble began with the launch of the Somme Offensive. To extend their American assets, Asquith dislodged the spendthrift Lloyd George from the Ministry of Munitions by promoting him to War Secretary, replacing him with the more economy-minded Edwin Montagu. Startling talk of peace came from French President Raymond Poincaré, which British hardliners moved rapidly to bury. Otherwise, the question of American mediation only rumbled very quietly beneath the surface. British intelligence opened a new source of information with the discovery of the "Swedish Roundabout", unlocking the communications of the German Ambassador to the United States. The British military leadership continually reassured the government that the Somme Offensive was making great headway. As Romania moved to enter the war on the Allied side in August, the government was taken to unfamiliar heights of optimism: it finally seemed as if the Allies might be able to win the war on schedule.

The optimism within the government steadily receded. Some ministers began to grapple with the reality of the failure of British war strategy, while others remained in emphatic denial of their growing US economic problem. Although some within the government remained tempted by the possibility of American mediation, Montagu aimed to offer an alternative way forward, seeking to build new munitions factories. This would enable the Allies to continue the war even after a radical wind-down in their American purchasing. Lloyd George, however, stridently opposed any reductions in their US spending. He also abruptly became a vehement opponent of American mediation when he was shown misleading intelligence that seemed to reveal secret German-American collaboration against the British. Distrusting his colleagues to take appropriate action, Lloyd George moved to kill the possibility of American mediation with a dramatic newspaper interview. Lloyd George committed Britain to an indefinite war until they had landed a 'knock-out blow'. This was popular with Conservatives, but it left his Asquithian colleagues furious and the Americans bewildered and hurt. Grey attempted, with some success, to apply a salve to the wound inflicted on the Americans by publicly promising British support for a league of nations.

This chapter examines Bandmann’s efforts to buy, build or improve theatres along his circuit. These endeavours were motivated not only by practical and pecuniary considerations but also functioned as a means to form deeper relationships with the localities where he operated. This chapter explores both his theatre-building and his forays into cinema, including activities distributing British war propaganda films during the First World War. The chapter includes detailed discussions of The Empire (Calcutta), the Royal Opera House (Bombay) and his last building initiative, the New Empire in Gibraltar. The second section provides a detailed discussion of Bandmann’s competition with J. F. Madam to obtain exclusive distribution rights of the British propaganda films.