Conclusion

Abstract

Britain entered the war because she feared a German victory in western Europe would threaten her safety and her Empire. It had long been clear that Germany was the most militarily powerful and economically dynamic state in Europe. Given the assumption that all great nations had a natural impulse to expand, few believed that Germany would prove to be the single exception. The recognition of the danger came in just that period when British statesmen were becoming aware of a far more competitive world situation. In absolute terms, Britain remained the world’s leading power in industrial capacity, trade, overseas investment, colonies and naval strength.¹ But the pessimists’ case could not be ignored. The source of diplomatic malaise arose less from inner tensions than from external developments. Germany, the United States and Japan were all becoming industrial powers moving ahead with their own forms of energy and resources. Older states, like France and Russia, began to look, as the British had in an earlier period, outside their own borders for means to enhance their national prestige and wealth.