A matter of imperial defence : Arthur Balfour and the Anglo-Japanese alliance, 1894-1923
This thesis investigates Arthur Balfour’s policy towards Japan and the Anglo-Japanese alliance from 1894 to 1923. Although Balfour was involved in the Anglo-Japanese alliance from its signing to termination, no comprehensive analysis of his role in the alliance has been carried out. Utilising unpublished materials and academic books, this thesis reveals that Balfour’s policy on the Anglo-Japanese alliance revolved around two vital principles, namely imperial defence and Anglo-American cooperation. From the viewpoint of imperial defence, Balfour emphasised the defence of India and Australasia more than that of China. He opposed the signing of the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 because it was not useful in the defence of India. The Russo-Japanese War raised the concern of Indian security. Changing his lukewarm attitude, Balfour took the initiative in extending the alliance into India to employ Japanese troops for the defence of India. Moreover, as an advocate of Anglo-American cooperation, Balfour made every effort to maintain good Anglo-American-Japanese relations. However, imperial defence and Anglo-American cooperation began to clash within the alliance during the Great War. Although the Siberian intervention was useful Japanese military assistance in the defence of India, America, who was not interested in India, hesitated to support it due to her suspicion against Japan. After the war, the alliance was still instrumental in defending India and Australasia, but its existence damaged the relations with America. Balfour tried to achieve both imperial defence and Anglo-American cooperation by developing the alliance into an Anglo-American-Japanese trilateral agreement with a military clause to revive a bilateral defensive alliance. But America and Japan did not support Balfour’s plan at the Washington Conference, and he had to accept the Four-Power Treaty without any military commitment.
Britain, America and the sinews of war, 1914-1918
Introduction. Part 1: 1914-1917 and American Neutrality: British Relations with Private America 1. British Purchasing, August 1914 to May 1915, and the Appointment of J. P. Morgan & Co 2. British Purchasing in America: The Ministry of Munitions, June 1915-April 1917 3. Purchasing and the Allies, 1914-1917 4. Financial Relations, 1914-1915: The Growth of British Dependence 5. Financial Relations, 1916-1917: the Slide to Disaster and the Advent of the Treasury Mission Part 2: 1917-1918 and the Love-hate Relationship: British Relations with Public America 6. The Balfour Mission, April - May 1917: the American Giant Awakens 7. The Northcliffe Mission, June-November 1917: the Imposition of American Control 8. The Reading Missions, September-November 1917 and February-November 1918 9. Financial Relations, 1917-1918: Crisis, Humiliation and Chagrin. Epilogue.
The Edwardian Turn of Mind
The "Edwardian Turn of Mind" brilliantly evokes the cultural temper of an age. The years between the death of Queen Victoria and the outbreak of the First World War witnessed a turbulent and dramatic struggle between the old and the new. Samuel Hynes considers the principal areas of conflict - politics, science, the arts and the relations between men and women - and fills them with a wide-ranging cast of characters: Tories, Liberals and Socialists, artists and reformers, psychoanalysts and psychic researchers, sexologists, suffragettes and censors. His book is a portrait of a tumultuous time - out of which contemporary England was made.