A Research On Eyre Crowe’s Diplomatic Thoughts Towards Germany Before WWI

Eyre Crowe who’s both of British and German decent,was an ordinary diplomat of British Foreign Ministry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.On January 1,1907,Crowe filed a Memorandum on the Present State of British Relations with France and Germany,including two core points:on the one hand,’Balance of Power’ is the fundament of British policy,only being the most formidable maritime fore of the world can Britain maintain the balance of Europe.On the other hand,in view of the ’Prussianism’ of German diplomacy,Britain just couldn’t earn a good relationship with German by means of appeasing.Crowe’s diplomatic thoughts on Germany before WWI had been formed so far,which were reflected in Anglo-German relations from 1904 to 1914.In March of 1905,the First Moroccan Crisis broke out.It seemingly was the colonial clash between France and Germany,actually was Germany’s challenge to Britain’s world hegemony.The Algeciras Conference was held in 1906.During the conference,both Crowe and Grey supported for France ’s containment of Germany’s colonial expansion.Meanwhile,given the rise of America and its common interest with Britain—’Balance of Power’,they both insist on that America should dominantly handle the conflict between France and Germany.And finally the conference led to Germany’s isolation in Europe,which made Germany enact a new navy bill immediately.Thus Britain was forced into opposing Germany.The main way of opposing Germany was limiting its navy development.Since the 1907’s Hague Conference couldn’t reconcile the navy contradiction between Britain and Germany,Britain turned to privately negotiated with Germany from 1908 to 1912.Crowe’s attitude on Germany had also gone through a process of transformation.At the beginning.Crowe thought that since Britain was loyal to ’Balance of Power’,she should not weaken Germany to a weak state.So Crowe suggested Grey not to oppose the legitimate development of Germany’s navy if possible.But Grey pursued the containment strategy all the time so that Germany’s attitude towards Britain was increasingly ’Prussianized’.Especially when Germany demanded a political agreement in exchange for a naval agreement,Crowe firmly believed that Germany’s rearmament was dangerous,behind which was an unpalatable ambition.In the end,the naval negotiation failed due to the radical interest conflictsHereafter,Germany’s hostility to Britain became increasingly obvious.During the 1914’s Sarajevo Crisis,Germany had been continuously egg Austria-Hungary on to declare war against Serbia.Due to the confidence on Britain’s navy strength,Crowe suggested Grey that Britain should announce to participate in the war as soon as possible when the war was explosive.Only knowing that Britain would support France and Russia in the war can Germany possibly withdraw the mobilization order and then an European war could be possibly avoided.But in fact,Grey’s hesitation during the crisis made Germany mistakenly believe that Britain would be away from the war and remain neutral,so that Germany dared escalate the crisis from time to time,which led to the eruption of the great war.Every political behavior(whether really happens or in the form of policy recommendations)is based on a set of ideas and values.When thinking and analyzing Anglo-German relations,Grey’s proposal was typically full of British conservatism.But specific German experiences and influence made Crowe’s thoughts on Germany before World War I uniquely different from Grey’s.Crowe’s analysis on Britain-German relations was profound and accurate,though he didn’t play an essential effect.When we rethink on British foreign policies since modern times,we’ll find that Crowe’s diplomatic thoughts on Germany also fundamentally reflected the historical traditions of British diplomacy.