Between Empire and Continent British Foreign Policy before the First World War [Hardcover]

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, asBetween Empire and Continentdemonstrates, 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.

Andreas Roseteaches Modern History at the University of Bonn. His research interests include the international history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the history of Britain and Germany. His recent publications includeDie Au?enpolitik des Wilhelminischen Kaiserreichs, 18901918(2013) and, as coeditor,The Wars before the Great War: Conflict and International Politics before the Outbreak of the Great War(2015).

Supported by a wealth of research and an extensive command of the historical literature on the subject, the book is important for academic libraries focusing on modern British history, diplomatic history, and the history of WW I&Highly recommended. Choice

Likely to invigorate the revisionist interpretation of British foreign policy before 1914& The focus suggested by the title& is where future research should find a fruitful starting point. The Journal of Modern History

If Ranke actually held fast to his famous concept of the primacy of foreign policy, he might not have liked Rose's conclusions, but surely he would have approved the scholarship. The International History Review

The quality of this research is olS+