Britain and the Last Tsar
British Policy and Russia, 1894-1917
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:28th Dec '95
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Britain and the Last Tsar is a fundamental re-interpretation of British foreign and defence policy before the First World War. The current orthodoxy asserts that the rise of an aggressive and powerful Germany forced Britain - a declining power - to abandon her traditional policy of avoiding alliances and to enter into alliance with Japan (1902), France (1904), and Russia (1907) in order to contain the German menace. In a controversial rejection of this theory, Keith Neilson argues that Britain was the pre-eminent world power in 1914 and that Russia, not Germany, was the principal long-term threat to Britain's global position. This original and important study shows that only by examining Anglo-Russian relations and eliminating an undue emphasis on Anglo-German affairs can an accurate picture of Britain's foreign and defence policy before 1914 be gained.
Neilson's book complements very well the work of Ian Nish on Anglo-Japanese relations, of P.M. Kennedy on Anglo-German relations, and of L.K. Young and E.W. Edwards on Anglo-Chinese relations, and adds new dimensions to the ground covered by David Gillard in The Struggle for Asia 1828-1914. It is a large step in the right direction. * Keith Wilson, University of Leeds, Canadian Journal of History, XXXI, December 1996 *
students of later Imperial Russia will ... learn much from the book ... Neilson's excellent book will certainly long remain much the most balanced, informative and well-written survey of British policy and attitudes towards Russia in this period. In addition, there is much in which to delight and chuckle as he cites British élite views (dry, witty and arrogant) on Russia and its place in Britain's world ... a careful and thorough researcher. * Dominic Lieven, London School of Economics, The Slavonic Review *
The strength of this book is in Neilson's skillful portrayal of Anglo-Russian relations ... Britain and the Last Tsar is a needed contribution to our understanding of Anglo-Russian relations. * Thomas Pierce, Boston College, History, Fall 1996 *
A book of this nature inevitably requires the concentration of the reader, but it is written with as much clarity as the subject matter allows and Keith Neilson rarely stumbles in either fact or interpretation. * Victor Rothwell, University of Edinburgh, The Historical Association *
ISBN: 9780198204701
Dimensions: 161mm x 247mm x 29mm
Weight: 830g
424 pages