The Shadow of the Past


Book Description

In The Shadow of the Past, Gregory D. Miller examines the role that reputation plays in international politics, emphasizing the importance of reliability-confidence that, based on past political actions, a country will make good on its promises-in the formation of military alliances. Challenging recent scholarship that focuses on the importance of credibility-a state's reputation for following through on its threats-Miller finds that reliable states have much greater freedom in forming alliances than those that invest resources in building military force but then use it inconsistently. To explore the formation and maintenance of alliances based on reputation, Miller draws on insights from both political science and business theory to track the evolution of great power relations before the First World War. He starts with the British decision to abandon "splendid isolation" in 1900 and examines three crises--the First Moroccan Crisis (1905-6), the Bosnia-Herzegovina Crisis (1908-9), and the Agadir Crisis (1911)-leading up to the war. He determines that states with a reputation for being a reliable ally have an easier time finding other reliable allies, and have greater autonomy within their alliances, than do states with a reputation for unreliability. Further, a history of reliability carries long-term benefits, as states tend not to lose allies even when their reputation declines.




The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1890-1894


Book Description

Excerpt from The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1890-1894 It may be objected that a definitive treatment of the problem cannot be undertaken until the-historian has more authentic material from the French, English and especially the Russian archives. The author has, of course, felt the dearth of Russian material very keenly in all stages of the work. But there is some consolation in the thought that the historian can never hope for exhaustive source material. The effort to reconstruct the past is worth making if the data available is reasonably abundant and relevant. The study here presented would never have been written unless the writer had been convinced that the material is quite sufficient to clear up the fundamental problems. He cannot believe that the publication of new material would destroy the basic lines of the argument. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.




The Revolution of 1905


Book Description

The second of two volumes, this is a comprehensive account of the Revolution of 1905 - a decisive turning point in modern Russian history - and its aftermath. The book focuses on the years 1906 and 1907 and in particular on the struggle over the Duma, the elected legislature that was the principal fruit of the events of 1905.







A Great Russia


Book Description

The Triple Entente of Great Britain, Russia, and France was the foreign policy prong of the Russian imperial government's reaction to the disastrous events of 1905, including the revolution and the near defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. This alignment with the two western, liberal powers was almost universally perceived within official Russian governing circles as a necessary, if ideologically distasteful, diplomatic relationship to offset the growing German threat on the continent. Maintaining the entente would help Russia retain its great power status. For the first time, Tomaszewski tells the official Russian side of the story, long inaccessible due to restrictions imposed by the relevant Russian archives during the Soviet era. In doing so, she sheds new light on the international scene as the crisis of World War One approached. The Triple Entente went hand in hand with two policies of Stolypin, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers: draconian repression of the revolutionaries and sweeping domestic reforms. Acutely aware that serious failures in foreign policy would threaten the regime's existence, the imperial government designed both its foreign and its domestic policies to consolidate the autocracy for the twentieth century. Nicholas II gambled on the Triple Entente and its diplomatic alignment with the other two status-quo powers as the best means of preserving the peace in Europe and thereby preserving the imperial system as well.




Transition to Global Rivalry


Book Description

During the years before the First World War, the realignment of world powers resulted in agreements concluded in 1904 and 1907 between Britain, France, Russia and Japan. John Albert White terms this a Quadruple Entente, a more accurate and complete description than the more commonly used Triple Entente, which omits Japan. His more inclusive view leaves undisturbed the conception of Europe as the centre of political gravity, but at the same time calls proper attention to the enhanced role which Japan had won through her victories in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars and by her careful management of her entry into the larger family of nations. This wider perspective on the crucial pre-war years shows how, in its political context as well as its geographical terrain and its general impact, the First World War was a world war in every sense.




The Fateful Alliance


Book Description

An analysis of the Russian-French alliance of 1894 and what went wrong in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century.




A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918


Book Description

Describes, surveys, and discusses the major historical aspects of the Habsburg Empire - diplomatic, political, institutional, socioeconomic, and cultural.




Access to History: From Kaiser to Fuhrer: Germany 1900-1945 for Edexcel


Book Description

About the series The Access to History series is the most popular and trusted series for advanced level history students, offering: - Authoritative, engaging and accessible content - Comprehensive coverage of the History AS and A level specifications - Design features, study guides and web support to help students achieve exam success. About the book Endorsed by Edexcel, this title combines content from From Bismarck to Hitler 1890-1933 with Germany: The Third Reich to provide coherent and comprehensive coverage of Edexcel's A2 Unit 3 'From Kaiser to Fuhrer: Germany 1900-1945'. It charts the developments in Germany from 1900-1945 including an examination of: - the Second Reich: society and governent 1900-1919 - the democratic experiment 1919-29 - the rise of the Nazis - life in wartime Germany 1939-45 Throughout the book, key dates, terms and issues are highlighted, and historical interpretations of key debates are outlined. Summary diagrams are included to consolidate knowledge and understanding of the period, and exam-style questions and tips written by an examiner provide the opportunity to develop exam skills




The Decline of Bismarck's European Order


Book Description

In an attempt to discover some of the underlying origins of World War I, the eminent diplomat and writer George Kennan focuses on a small sector of offstage events to show how they affected the drama at large long before the war even began. In the introduction to his book George Kennan tells us, "I came to see World War I . . . as the great seminal catastrophe of this century--the event which . . . lay at the heart of the failure and decline of this Western civilization." But, he asks, who could help being struck by the contrast between this apocalyptic result and the "delirious euphoria" of the crowds on the streets of Europe at the outbreak of war in 1914! "Were we not," he suggests, "in the face of some monstrous miscalculation--some pervasive failure to read correctly the outward indicators of one's own situation?" It is from this perspective that Mr. Kennan launches a "micro-history" of the Franco-Russian relationship as far back as the 1870s in an effort to determine the motives that led people "to wander so blindly" into the horrors of the First World War.