Conflict And Cooperation: A Study In Anglo-American Relations In The First World War

The Anglo-American Relations is an important subject in international history and a hot topic in modern society. Great Britain and America originally was a mother and a colony, but since American Independence, it has formed an "Anglo-American Special Relations" between the two countries today. In these more than 200 years, the First World War played an important part for these changes. This thesis is to research Anglo-American relations in the First World War as a whole under the background of Anglo-American relations development tendency since 1783. And it tries to analysis the character of Anglo-American relation in the first world and the impact the war had on Anglo-American relations. It contains five chapters.Chapter one is a retrospect of Anglo-American relations from 1783 to 1914(before the Great War). From 1783 to 1914 was the worst time of prewar Anglo-American relations since American Independence. From the signing of Ghent Treaty to Spanish-American war, the two countries were in a hostilely and friendly coexisting way. From 1898 to 1914, the two countries were in reconciliation.Chapter two investigates the Anglo-American conflict and compromise over marine rights in 1914. America suggested that all of the belligerent nations should abide the Declaration of London, but the Great Britain revised the declaration three times and didn't make any real concession. Finally, America compromised.Chapter three is to analysis the Anglo-American conflict and compromise over the endeavor for mediation. In 1915 and 1916, Colonel House visited Europe twice to mediate the war, the Great Britain treated it cautiously. In 1915 House's work was futile, in 1916 he and Grey signed an memorandum but finally it was delayed. The mediations failed.Chapter four makes an inquiry into the conflict and compromise in the course when the two countries were fighting shoulder by shoulder. After America entered the war, the two countries were in faced with lots of difficulty in war endeavor and cooperation, they also had conflict in peace aims. They sent commissions for communion and negotiation and established effective cooperation mechanism. They reached agreement about armistice terms on the basic of compromise.Chapter five is the conclusion of this thesis. The character of Anglo-American relations in the First World War was that there were always cooperation under the conflict and conflict beneath the cooperation. And the war made the two countries change a lot in their economic and marine status.Presently, there is no detail and thorough research about Anglo-American relations in the First World War, so to an extent, this thesis should be significant.