Researches On Wilhelmine Germany's Diplomatic Relationship Towards Britain (1890-1906)

This thesis has a research on Wilhelmine Germany's diplomatic relationship towards Britain, whose aim is to analyze the reason why it failed during this period from the perspective of Germany.The first part outlined German foreign policy's final objective. After 1890s, with the development of industrialization and of economic strength, commandeering colonies could not meet Germany's demands. Therefore, German final objective was contesting the orbit and the world hegemony even dismembering the world. This part also tries to orientate Britain in Wilhelmine Germany's foreign policy.The second part tells German diplomatic relationship towards Britain experienced three stages. The first stage was from 1890 to 1896. The men of 'New Course' abandoned Russo-German Reinsurance Treaty. Because the Dual Alliance made Germany and Britain both face isolation, Germany hoped for the quadruple alliance, attempting to set Britain against the Dual Alliance. Their relationship went to strategic approach. The second stage was from 1897 to 1902, with their relationship going from strategic approach to strategic estrangement. 'World Policy' came into being in 1897. Germany did not want to act as Britain's regional alliance in the Far East, thinking of the contradiction of France and Russia as irreconcilable. In this case, Germany thought it could make use of this contradiction, through which it can keep its own action free. The third stage was from 1902 to 1906. Their relationship went to strategic conflict. Their controversy focused on German navy policy. The quicker Germany built its fleet, the more Britain felt challenged in her traditional element and the more British opposition to the expansion of German power increased, In 1907, Britain aligned itself with France and Russia in the Triple Entente. As a result Germany's diplomatic and strategic position was in many respects decisively weaker in 1907 than it had been for a generation or more.The last part analyzes the factors. There are quite a lot of factors which influenced German diplomatic relationship towards Britain. They include geographic, political, economic and other factors. At the same time, they also involve factors in previous stages. In a word, the inner factors in the German Empire are most important.