Edward Grey And British Policy Towards Germany Before The First World War(1905-1914)

From 1905 to 1914,before the outbreak of the First World War,the contradictions between Britain and Germany became increasingly acute.However,the British policy towards Germany was not a simple hostile policy,but a rational policy which was constantly adjusted based on the development of the situation.Edward Grey,the British Foreign Secretary at that time,was an important figure in shaping the policy.In 1905,after Grey became the British Foreign Secretary,the situation inside and outside Britain profoundly affected Grey’s decision-making space and diplomatic thinking.Grey’s background,character and political values consolidated his political status,and the complicated political environment in Britain was conducive to his gaining support from the government and the public.Against the backdrop that Britain was losing the advantage of "glorious isolation",Grey attempted to defend Britain’s vested interests through diplomatic negotiations,with Germany as the key object of his negotiations.From 1905 to 1914,before Britain declared war on Germany,the British were generally hostile to Germany,but did not advocate war against Germany.During this period,British Foreign Secretary John Grey advocated to build a friendly relationship between Britain and Germany,and to maintain Britain’s vested interests through mutual compromise.In order to maintain the sea hegemony and treaty relations,which are the most important vested interests of Britain,Grey advocated to adopt a two-track policy towards Germany.On the one hand,Britain should firmly oppose the behavior of Germany to seize the sea hegemony and destroy the treaty relations.On the other hand,on these two issues,Britain should exercise restraint,seek Germany’s recognition of its vested interests with limited concessions,and avoid any alliance obligations to either side.From 1905 to1911,under the premise of ensuring Britain’s maritime hegemony,Grey proposed cooperation to Germany for three times,but all of them were rejected by Germany.Germany intended to induce Britain to join the Allied forces or maintain neutrality in the continental war through naval issues,so the negotiations between the two sides broke down.During this period,Germany drove a wedge between the Allies several times,and the relevant provocations were resisted by Grey,but Grey was unwilling to further develop the treaty relationship into a formal alliance and urged restraint on both Germany and France and Russia.In early 1911,when the Agadir crisis broke out,Grey,clearly aware of the unbridged differences between Britain and Germany over naval matters and the alliance,abandoned his two-track policy.In 1912,Richard Haldane visited Germany and attempted to negotiate again with the Germans on the naval issue,but the Germans continued to compromise on Britain’s wartime neutrality.The talks were fruitless.The failure of the Haldane mission led to an agreement between Britain and France on maritime military cooperation against Germany and its Allies,effectively ending the two-track policy.During the Balkan crisis of 1912-13 and the July crisis of 1914,Grey passively called for restraint by France,Russia and Germany,and advocated a coordinated European policy,which ultimately failed,and Britain declared war on Germany to defend its interests.Grey advocated a two-track policy towards Germany,seeking Germany’s recognition of Britain’s maritime hegemony,continental status and colonial interests through diplomatic negotiation rather than war,which was determined by the reality of Britain.First of all,under the pragmatic diplomatic tradition,Grey needed to reduce the burden of British empire,maintain the balance of power in Europe and Britain’s "Free Hand".Therefore,Grey attempted to reach naval cooperation with Germany to reduce the financial burden of the country,and refused to join the military camp of either side.Secondly,before the war,Britain had a complicated cognition of Germany.The British government and people were increasingly disgusted with Germany psychologically,but there were big differences on whether to go to war or to participate in war.Under such consideration,Grey’s two-track policy was a sound response to the complicated domestic differences in Britain.Grey tried to obtain Germany’s recognition of Britain’s interests in a peaceful way,but failed.In addition to the fundamental reason that the interests of Britain and Germany were not compatible,the spillover effect of the treaty relationship and the tension caused by military competition were also important reasons that led to the failure of Grey’s claim.Although Grey refused to recognize the alliance nature of the Anglo-French Entente and the Anglo-Russian Convention,the existence of the Entente intensified the sense of encirclement in Germany and the expectations of France and Russia on Britain.Due to the ambiguity and duplicity of the two-track policy,both Germany and France and Russia intended to obtain Britain’s support in wartime.Coupled with the relative decline of Britain’s strength,Britain could not effectively restrain the belligerent behaviors of the two sides.In addition,the arms race between Britain and Germany led to the security dilemma,and the trend of imperialism,nationalism and militarism emerged one after another,which strengthened the war desire of military attaches.The military secret talks and naval cooperation between Britain and France also indicated the alliance relationship of Britain in the war in fact.When the neutrality of Belgium was destroyed by Germany,Britain needed to join the Franco-Russian side to fight which was more suitable for its own interests.Before the war from 1905 to 1914,under the influence of Grey’s two-track policy,British policy towards Germany was restrained and rational,rather than impulsive and simple hostile policy.Although Grey did not maintain the vested interests of Britain through peace negotiations,he eased the differences within Britain,elevated Britain’s international status,delayed the outbreak of war,and finally enabled Britain to enter the war in a dominant position.In one sense,Grey was a good pragmatist and foreign secretary,making foreign policy decisions based on British interests and trying to defend established advantages at minimal cost.But Grey was not noble.The starting point of his argument was to safeguard Britain’s selfish interests,all of which were based on hegemonic thinking.