The Boer war revealed many problems within the British Empire. Britain was seen as vulnerable because she had failed to succeed where she probably should have succeeded, and also because of the 'barbarous tactics' adopted by the British Army when fighting the Boer. It revealed that splendid Isolation was beginning to become an outdated tactic. One could say that because Britain's empire had been around for so long, other nations were becoming used to what was once a new approach to .....
Very much alike to the Roman Empire, the British expanded their empire fairly rapidly. Many years of peace followed, and then suddenly everything had started to go wrong. It is widely regarded that due to the size of the empire, Britain was overstretched. Although large, the navy was simply not big enough to cope with and effectively withstand the pressure. For example, battleships had to travel vast distances just to sort out minor issues.
A factor which was definitely important to foreign policy, but not generally recognised, were the developments in Germany at the time. It is one that although still important, not many people would necessarily come across. It was basically about Britain's relations with Germany at the time and what Germany was doing to affect that relationship. At the beginning of the 20th century, Germany was keen to establish a relationship with Britain, but the possibilities were on a number of occasions pushed aside by Britain. This could be because Britain was so keen to preserve its 'splendid isolation' as this was before anyone could foresee the need for any binding alliances. The final blow that ended likeliness of an alliance came when Britain, Germany and Italian ships set up a blockade in order to force the Venezuelan government to repay outstanding debts it owed. When this failed, German ships fired on Venezuelan ships. The American President intervened, asserting the Monroe Doctrine, which Germany did not accept the validity of. The British did, and they immediately removed their ships. Consequently, the German ships had to back down. This extract which is written from a German point of view by Ray, whose statement helps to summarise the problem:
'All attempts to forge a closer relationship with Britain were abandoned in favour of concentrating on a naval building programme designed to give [Germany] room for manoeuvre.'
(Ray, 1998.)
Britain changed its approach to foreign policy as a way trying to protect its empire. Their chosen method of obtaining allies was in some ways effective as help can often be provided to protect areas which are difficult to access. On the other hand, such alliances can drag you into wars which involve issues that do not matter to you. A perfect example which demonstrates the problem is the outbreak of WW1, which was fought over the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire whose death acted as the main trigger. With all of the alliances in place, a war became inevitable. From the events that followed, Germany ended up declaring war on Russia, who were part of the triple Entente with Britain and France. This resulted in Britain going to war because of affairs that didn't have any concern to Britain.
In conclusion, I would definitely argue that the main reason for Britain changing its approach to foreign policy was the need to protect the empire. Britain went to great lengths to preserve the empire they had created, but at the same time unintentionally contributed to the diplomatic tensions that were made as a result.
