Splendid Isolation?: Britain and the Balance of Power 1874-1914 by John Charmley

Description

Splendid Isolation? is a book by British historian John Charmley that argues against the conventional view of Britain’s foreign policy leading up to World War I, suggesting that British inaction and “splendid isolation” were not glorious but rather a contributing factor to the war’s outbreak.

Charmley revisits the period of “splendid isolation” in British diplomacy, challenging established interpretations of the era and offering a revisionist account of how Britain’s approach to the balance of power contributed to the Great War.