As British Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury ( ) stuck to a policy of “Splendid Isolation” (though historians have debated how isolated Britain was under him). He said that he wanted British Foreign Policy “….. to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boathook to avoid collisions.” Britain had spent most of the nineteenth century as the dominant military and industrial nation. As we saw in the last topic, however, other countries had caught up industrially by the start of the twentieth century and were now economic rivals. These included the USA, Japan, Russia, Germany and France. Some of these countries, like Germany, Russia and France, also wanted to expand the amount of land they controlled. The big problem for Britain was how it should respond to these new challenges? Britain’s tradition was to keep away from alliances with other countries in case it was drawn into wars. This was particularly true of its attitude towards Europe. Britain’s main interest in Europe was to keep some sort of ‘balance of power’, and to ensure that that balance was not destroyed. It was in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna that this balance was created, and it continued in existence until the third quarter of the 19th century.

Britain’s main concern was to keep its Empire protected. By the end of the century the Empire was regarded as essential to Britain’s economic and social power. Free trade ensured that imports, especially food imports, into Britain protected the standard of living of the working class, and the profits that came from the investments of the middle class maintained the interests of capitalism in Britain. The British governing class depended on keeping the Empire as a source of work and employment. Therefore, the protection of the Empire was vitally important to Britain, especially the safety of the water routes linking the ‘East’ and Britain (the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.) Between 1870 and 1900, however, there was growth in the size of the French and Russian Empires in particular. These represented a serious threat to the British Empire, particularly to its territories in India. France, Germany and Britain were also competing to get land in Africa. This was called the ‘scramble for Africa’.

The Boer War, , revealed great weaknesses in Britain’s military and foreign position. In addition, even though the British navy was stronger than the French and Russian navies, together they could provide Britain with a hard fight and threaten its empire. As well as this, the Germans had already started to become a threat. They had criticised Britain’s role in the Boer War and had started to increase the size of their navy. In the face of these new threats, it was now difficult for Britain to remain isolated in European and world affairs. It was therefore, necessary, for Britain to develop links with countries as a way of safe-guarding its interests.