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, as Between Empire and Continent demonstrates, 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.
The public sphere in Edwardian London -- The policy of drift?: balance of power, concert of Europe, or political power blocks? -- Safety first: the politics of defence and the realities behind ...diplomacy -- Imperial defence or continental commitment? -- Foreign policy under Lansdowne and Balfour -- The myth of continuity: foreign policy under Edward Grey -- The Committee of Four: the German peril revisited -- At the cost of stability: the Anglo-Russian Convention and its European implications -- More Russian than the Russians?: British Balkan diplomacy and the annexation of Bosnia 1908-9 -- Conclusion and perspectives. Print version: Historians have commonly interpreted Britain's attempts to break through older alliances of European states before World War I as a reaction to aggressive German foreign policy. This groundbreaking political history demonstrates that British strategy instead arose from the complex interplay of national, continental and imperial considerations.
On 6 January 1584, the provost of Zwettl in the archduchy of Austria below the Enns recounted events two days earlier that had greatly alarmed him. Present in the town of Zwettl on administrative ...business, Ulrich Hackel had been very surprised to see the town church unlocked and packed with peasants and townspeople. An additional 600 peasants, according to his reckoning, were gathered outside the church. All were dressed in their best and all were celebrating Christmas. Yet, as far as Hackel had been concerned, Christmas had already been celebrated ten days earlier. He halted worship in the church, telling the congregation that Christmas was now past and had been duly marked. He then sought out the local magistrate to ensure that the church would be kept locked and that trade would be resumed in the town. His actions had, however, aroused very great opposition. An angry crowd surrounded Hackel, accusing him of being a papist and a rogue and demanding to know why he was depriving them of Christmas. He believed that had he uttered one more word in favor of the earlier celebration of Christmas, he would have been killed on the spot. Hackel had escaped their fury only by being escorted by the town magistrate out of the local parish house in which he had taken refuge and beyond the walls of the town.
This chapter examines the specific and illuminating event within the processes of integration, renewal and the religious houses of the Austrian Habsburg lands were one component of this dynamic ...relationship. The historic spiritual, political and economic potential of the monastic houses was considerable and legally their position remained well entrenched, but in the process of renewal they were to be tethered to the interests of both bishop and prince. Such practical cooperation between the princely and episcopal authorities in practice between the Monastery Commission and the Passau Official, their respective representatives in Vienna could be highly productive, as Bishop Urban had foreseen. Rudolf did agree, however, that there must be no incursions on the princely sovereignty and authority' and that the Passau commissioners at the meeting and in the agreement which followed would not debate the privileges of the House of Austria. But the princely authority had also gained dramatically, if less explicitly, in the negotiations.
