Introduction

Originally published in 1930, this volume opens with some selections dealing with the situation created by the victory of Japan over China in 1904 which opened a new epoch in the history of the Far East. It includes two momentous conflicts profoundly affecting international relations – the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. It also touches at many points on the long discussions aiming at a naval agreement, with or without some form of general understanding, between England and Germany. Through the Alliance with Japan and the Entente with France it leads up to the separation of Europe into two rival camps, in the course of an evolution in which crisis followed crisis with increasing and often alarming intensity.