12. _Europe since the Decade 1890-1900_.


Let us now, endeavouring to bear in our minds the whole situation we have
been analysing, consider a little more particularly the various episodes
and crises of international policy from the year 1890 onwards. I take that
date, the date of Bismarck's resignation, for the reason already given (p.
42). It was not until then that it would have occurred to any competent
observer to accuse Germany of an aggressive policy calculated to disturb
the peace of Europe. A closer _rapprochement_ with England was, indeed,
the first idea of the Kaiser when he took over the reins of power in 1888.
And during the ten years that followed British sympathies were actually
drawn towards Germany and alienated from France.[1] It is well known that
Mr. Chamberlain favoured an alliance with Germany,[2] and that when the
Anglo-Japanese treaty was being negotiated the inclusion of Germany was
seriously considered by Lord Lansdowne. The telegram of the Kaiser to
Kruger in 1895 no doubt left an unpleasant impression in England, and
German feeling, of course, at the time of the Boer War, ran strongly
against England, but so did feeling in France and America, and, indeed,
throughout the civilized world. It was certainly the determination
of Germany to build a great navy that led to the tension between her
and England, and finally to the formation of the Triple Entente, as
a counterpoise to the Triple Alliance. It is 1900, not 1888, still
less 1870, that marks the period at which German policy began to be
a disturbing element in Europe. During the years that followed, the
principal storm-centres in international policy were the Far and Near
East, the Balkans, and Morocco. Events in the Far East, important though
they were, need not detain us here, for their contribution to the present