The Story of the Great War (Vol. 1-8). Various Authors
Читать онлайн книгу.
different from those which the other countries have to face. Its defenses, both military and naval, are naturally greatly influenced by its geographical location, and so are the policies which England has followed in connection with foreign politics. Nature, having put vast oceans between it and the rest of the world, gave thereby to England the strongest possible natural defenses. On the other hand, this gift of Nature necessitated that the island's government should at all times maintain a navy, strong and efficient enough to defend it, not only from the attack of any one other nation, but from the attack of any possible combination of countries. Inhabited as it is by almost half a hundred million people, crowded into a space of only 120,000 square miles, its economic problems also are strongly influenced by its geographical location. For it stands to reason that on comparatively so small a space it is impossible to raise sufficient food for the inhabitants, and it also stands to reason that many of the raw materials which in modern times are required by civilized nations have to be secured from outside sources. This is a second reason why an immensely strong and efficient navy has been indispensable to England at all times.
A second peculiarity of England is found in the fact that, although England itself—by this we mean the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland—is exceeded in extent by every one of the other important European nations except Italy, it possesses more numerous, more scattered, and more profitable colonies than any of the other countries. Just as it was said of the old Spanish colonial empire at the time of Charles V that the sun never set on it, this claim can now be made for the English colonies. Large parts of every one of the three continents—Africa, Asia, America—are ruled either directly or indirectly by England, and the fourth continent, Australia, it possesses entirely. This added only another reason to England's need of a navy. For unless the home country's lines of communication with its colonies in all parts of the world were kept open at all times, the latter would have lost a great deal of their value. In a way it may be claimed that English foreign politics was predicated by these three fundamental conditions: to defend the home country against all comers; to insure a plentiful supply of all raw materials and products needed by the home country at all times; to keep open communication with its colonies in every part of the world against any interference, and to protect these colonial possessions against all attacks.
Needless to say, the fact that England possessed colonies in all parts of the world made it at once the greatest, richest, most influential, and most jealous nation. For one of the chief national characteristics of the English race is its tenacity, and it is loath to let go of anything that has once come into its possession. This characteristic frequently brought it into conflict with other nations who wanted some of England's possessions. Furthermore, there were many other instances where other nations were desirous of acquiring territory or, at least, certain rights in other countries, the acquisition of which found England's disapproval and opposition, not because England possessed these lands or wished to possess them, but because English interests apparently did not make it desirable that the nation which was trying to gain these lands should succeed. If we, however, consider that a great many of England's colonial possessions were wrested at one time or another from other nations, and that in some other cases their acquisition by conquest or treaty ran counter against the interests of some other nations which, however, were not strong or subtle enough to prevent England from carrying out its plans, it becomes clear why England up to comparatively recent times may be said to have possessed more and more bitter enemies than any other nation.
In the consideration of the historical development of the various European nations which we have set forth so far we have seen that, whenever a nation possessed or acquired colonies, it was brought immediately into contact, sometimes friendly and more frequently unfriendly, with other nations, and this, of course, is not only equally true of England, but even more so, because its colonial interests were so much more extensive than any others. In one other important direction England exerted an immense influence on the rest of the world. From this vast colonial empire there had been flowing for generations a steady stream of unequaled riches into the coffers of England. And much of the surplus wealth accumulated in this way was invested by Englishmen in other countries, and, even though there were quite a number of countries on the government of which England possessed no direct influence, still there were very few nations who were not financially entirely, or at least partly, dependent on England. The vastness of English interests may readily be understood if we remember that out of the total inhabited surface of the earth of about 50,000,000 square miles with 1,750,000,000 inhabitants, 13,500,000 square miles with 500,000,000 inhabitants are under the rule of England.
Comparatively little of this empire was acquired by England during the last half century, but the acquisitions which were made in that period were at once greater and more desirable than similar acquisitions by other nations. With very few exceptions England's new territorial conquests during the last fifty years were made at the expense of uncivilized and unorganized nations, and there was, therefore, comparatively little direct cause for animosity. But, on the other hand, a great many of the choice morsels which England gathered in were desired by some other nation or nations, and England's successes, therefore, gave plenty of indirect causes for animosity, especially if it is borne in mind that English statesmen were not only at all times striving very hard to secure for their country the best of everything, but were also working equally hard to prevent, if at all possible, other nations from getting anything.
In the period of European history, to which we are restricting our attention, the first milestone of the long line of conflicts between the different nations and countries has been the war between Prussia and Austria on one hand and Denmark on the other for the possession of Schleswig-Holstein. In this matter England, previous to the outbreak of actual hostilities, expressed very strongly that anyone who would attack Denmark would have to reckon with other than Denmark; but when the English Foreign Secretary of that period, Lord John Russell, found that he could not get the active support of Napoleon III in opposing Prussia and Austria's aggressive steps, Lord Palmerston's Cabinet, of which Lord Russell was a member, found it necessary to maintain neutrality during the war, especially in view of the fact that Queen Victoria was strongly opposed to any active interference on the part of England. In spite of this attitude of the queen a marriage was arranged in 1863 between the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, Princess Alexandria. Although it is true that the personal relations of the ruling houses of the different European countries did not any longer possess the same importance that they formerly had, this new alliance undoubtedly had, even if not immediately, an important influence on English foreign politics. For not only was the Princess of Wales, later Queen of England, unable to forget and forgive the territorial loss which her father had suffered at the hands of Prussia, but this attitude was shared by her sister, who was to become a few years later, as wife of Alexander III of Russia, a powerful influence at the Russian court. To a certain extent, of course, the influence of the Princess of Wales did not make itself felt until she had become Queen of England, and possibly not very strongly then, and it was also somewhat counteracted by the fact that one of Queen Victoria's daughters was married to the Crown Prince of Prussia, who later, as Frederick III, became for a short time the German Emperor.
During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 England maintained the strictest neutrality and showed the same attitude during the few years following, covering Napoleon III's attempts to stop the tide of Prussian ascendancy. The English Government of that period was headed by one of the most famous statesmen that England has ever produced, Benjamin Disraeli. There can be no doubt that his attitude toward affairs on the European continent was strongly influenced by Queen Victoria's own attitude, who, it may be frankly acknowledged, was strongly pro-German on account of her personal relations, which not only included a German prince as son-in-law, but also a German prince as husband. The official explanation which the prime minister gave of England's policy of noninterference at that time was that England had "outgrown the European continent because she was no longer a mere European power. England is the metropolis of a great maritime empire extending to the boundaries of the furthest oceans … she is as ready, and as willing even, to interfere as in the old days when the necessity of her position required it. There is no power, indeed, which interferes more than England; she interferes in Asia because she is really more of an Asiatic than of a European power." This undoubtedly was not an explanation made for convenience' sake, but expressed truly and sincerely the broad view which the English