British Isolation
With the rest of Europe being controlled in a complex string of alliances and treaties during the later half of the 19th century, Britain remained uninvolved. Their policy of "Splendid Isolation" was to keep themselves out of the quarrels and disputes of continental Europe, and allow them to focus on their overseas empire. With the crowing of a new Kaiser in Germany, and the interest of other nations to hold overseas colonies, Britain's colonial empire was under attack. Their interest to focus on their vast empire would eventually lead them into disputes with other European nations. It would ultimately be their reason of going into isolation that would end it.In 1888 Kaiser William II ascended unto the German throne. William II was "filled with a sense of Germany's destiny as the leading power in Europe."(Kagan, Ozment, Turner, The Western Heritage 2nd Ed.) William longed to achieve recognition from the rest of the world that Germany was as great, if not greater the Great Britain. He believed the only way to achieve a "place under the sun" (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, The Western Heritage 2nd Ed.) was to build a navy and establish colonies like Britain. Thus began William II's commitment to colonial and commercial expansion.
to conclude an alliance with Germany. However, Germany thought that an alliance between Britain with France or Russia would be impossible so they refused Britain's offer. With the Boer War ending in 1902, Britain was still looking for an ally to bring them out of isolation. Nothing convinced Britain to retract their policy of isolation more then the Boer War (1899) did. In 1895 Cecil Rhodes and his friend Leander Jameson led 600-armed men into Transvaal to cause an uprising against the president of Transvaal, Kruger. Kruger was able to fend the raid off, and Rhodes and Jameson were disgraced. Kaiser William II sent a telegram to Kruger congratulating him for his victory. The British took "the diplomatic insult as symptomatic of their isolation." (Perry, Western Civilization 6th Ed.) What enraged Britain even more was that they had to deal with not only French opposition with their colonies, but now German. In 1899, Britain declared war on the Boers. During the war, Britain was surprised and embarrassed at the general anti-British attitude the world had towards them. The British "were suddenly alarmed that their isolation no longer seemed splendid." (Perry, Western Civilization 6th Ed.) From 1898 to 1901, Britain had made several attempts! The Fashoda Incident, also known as the Fashoda Crisis, was the climatic event caused by years of territorial disputes in Africa, between France and Britain. Both countries held a great amount of Africa under their control, but both also claimed land over the area of Sudan. In 1898, the forces of the French and British collided at Fashoda. For days tensions between London and Paris built up and war seemed likely. However, France decided to back down from Fashoda to try to establish a friendship between Britain and France. Britain was faci
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Approximate Word count = 1216
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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