Research On Anglo-German Alliance Negotiations During 1898-1901

Since the beginning of Bismarck, the German successive prime chancellors had tried to ally with Britain, and also the two countries had many tries on alliance, but the most striking negotiations were in 1898-1901. At that time, Britain suffered a relative decline in all parts of the world, showed that the British Empire was facing the danger of foreign invasion. Joseph Chamberlain described Britain as"the weary Titan, staggering under the too-fast orb of his fate". In order to safeguard the huge colonies, Britain needed to change the traditional "isolationism" policy, seeking allies; Germany, as a rapidly rising power, in the wave of dividing the world of imperialists, actively involved in the colonial struggle, for accessing to more of the colonial interests, needed the British support. So cherishing separate purpose, from 1898-1901, the two countries conducted a series of alliance negotiations.Anglo-German alliance negotiations mainly centered on dividing the colonies and defensing France and Russia. They got some short-lived successes between several or, in some issues, such as 1899's "Samoa Agreement" and in 1900 the "Anglo-German Agreement". But because of among many problems lacking of a common basis of interests, Anglo-German alliance negotiations went toward a final breakdown.Bismarck once said, "No government is strong enough to stand the reproach of having sacrificed its own national interest as a favour to friend power". Britain tried to ally with Germany, making the German contain Russia in the Far East region, in order to reduce the pressure of itself in the Far East; but Germany was unwilling to offend the interests of Russia. On the contrary, it hoped that the British involved in the conflict with Russia in Asia, storing for European affairs. Moreover, the increasingly powerful naval force and strong expansion desire of Germany, presented the contradictions between the Britain and Germany, Britain began to put Germany as a potential enemy. The two countries had gradually distanced, and ultimately moved toward confrontation.