Between Empire and Continent: British Foreign Policy before the First World War (Studies in British and Imperial History, 5)

Prior to World War I, Britain was at the center of global relations, utilizing tactics of diplomacy as it broke through the old alliances of European states. Historians have regularly interpreted these efforts as a reaction to the aggressive foreign policy of the German Empire. However, as Between Empire and Continent demonstrates, British foreign policy was in fact driven by a nexus of intra-British, continental and imperial motivations. Recreating the often heated public sphere of London at the turn of the twentieth century, this groundbreaking study carefully tracks the alliances, conflicts, and political maneuvering from which British foreign and security policy were born. Contents......Page 6 Illustrations......Page 7 Abbreviations......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 11 Foreword......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 1 The Public Sphere in Edwardian London......Page 26 2 The Policy of Drift? Balance of Power, Concert of Europe, or Political Power Blocs?......Page 87 3 Safety First: The Politics of Defence and the Realities behind Diplomacy......Page 144 4 Imperial Defence or Continental Commitment?......Page 197 5 Foreign Policy under Lansdowne and Balfour......Page 231 6 The Myth of Continuity: Foreign Policy under Edward Grey......Page 288 7 The Committee of Four: The German Peril Revisited......Page 321 At the Cost of Stability: The Anglo-Russian Convention and its European Implications......Page 359 9 ‘More Russian than the Russians’? British Balkan Diplomacy and the Annexation of Bosnia 1908/9......Page 416 Conclusion and Perspectives......Page 477 Bibliography......Page 498 Index......Page 536 In the years leading up to the First World War, Great Britain sat at the center of global relations, and it applied its considerable diplomatic strength to break through the older alliances of European states. Historians have commonly interpreted these efforts as a reaction to Germany's aggressive foreign policy, but as this groundbreaking political history demonstrates, Britain's strategy instead arose from the complex interplay of national, continental and imperial considerations. Between Empire and Continent explores the intense political space that was prewar London, reconstructing the negotiations and disputes that drove British foreign policy while offering a persuasive new model for understanding the origins of the Great War. "Prior to the First World War, Britain was at the centre of global relations, utilizing tactics of diplomacy as it broke through the old alliances of European states. Historians have regularly interpreted these efforts as a reaction to the aggressive foreign policy of the German Empire. However, as Between Empire and Continent demonstrates, British foreign policy was in fact driven by a nexus of intra-British, continental and imperial motivations. Recreating the often-heated public sphere of London at the turn of the twentieth century, this groundbreaking study carefully tracks the alliances, conflicts and political manoeuvring from which British foreign and security policy were born."-- Back cover Between Empire and Continent -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Abbreviations -- Acknowledgements -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. The Public Sphere in Edwardian London -- Chapter 2. The Policy of Drift? -- Chapter 3. Safety First -- Chapter 4. Imperial Defence or Continental Commitment? -- Chapter 5. Foreign Policy under Lansdowne and Balfour -- Chapter 6. The Myth of Continuity -- Chapter 7. The Committee of Four -- Chapter 8. At the Cost of Stability -- Chapter 9. 'More Russian than the Russians'? -- Bibliography -- Index Historians have commonly interpreted Britain's attempts to break through older alliances of European states before World War I as a reaction to aggressive German foreign policy. This groundbreaking political history demonstrates that British strategy instead arose from the complex interplay of national, continental and imperial considerations.