Another important factor in British factor in foreign policy between 1902 and 1939 was the German question. This first arose in 1905 as Germany began to become more and more powerful, threatening the balance of power. This forced Britain to become more and more involved in European affairs, and eventually to go to war with Germany (world war one). Germany became more and more aggressive, not only manipulating the two Moroccan crises in 1905 and 1911 in an effort to force Britain and France apart, but also by building a navy under the Kaiser Wilhelm. During the First World War Britain went on to play a leading role, pushing Germany back and eventually defeating her, as well as playing a decisive role in the treaty of Versailles in 1919, which led to Germany being harshly punished for her attempts at European dominance. This quickly restored the balance of power, meaning Britain could attempt to return to her policy of ‘splendid isolation’.
After the First World War Britain desperately wanted to go back to ‘splendid isolationism’ and concentrating solely on her economy and empire. This caused an argument with France, who wanted to strengthen ties with Britain. However, Britain perceived France to be a bigger threat to the balance of power than Germany, and refused to build a channel tunnel linking the two countries. Wishing instead to merely preserve the balance of power and her own ‘splendid isolation’. Britain was considered to be a world country, other than a European country, with very little interest in the League of Nations as she realised that without America the league would have very little power over anything. Despite Britain giving vocal support for the idea of collective security she did not like the idea of being dragged into another countries war, especially with the memories of WW1 so fresh in everybody’s minds.
During the 1930’s Britain was faced with another major factor to take into her foreign policy, the second rise of Germany under Hitler, once again forcing her out of splendid isolationism in order to protect her economy and empire. Originally Britain decided on a policy of appeasement towards Germany, giving into her in order to avoid war not only by allowing Germany to re-arm and remilitarize the Rhineland, but also by allowing Germany to create an anschluss with Austria allowing her to take control of the Sudetenland back. All of these things were against the terms of the Versailles treaty, but Britain did not want to be drawn into a second world war. This was, however unavoidable, with Britain being forced to fight Germany following her attack on Poland. Winston Churchill warned that the policy of appeasement towards Germany would not work, stating that Germany would keep pushing on, and that Britain needed to stand up to her before she got too strong. He was ignored however, and the consequences were the Second World War and the death of millions of troops.
So, in conclusion, although ‘splendid isolation’ was a small part of Britain’s foreign policy, it is possible to say that it never actually existed, as it was never an official policy, and more of a collection of policies that would have appeared to be ‘splendid isolation’ to the rest of the world. However Britain never stuck strictly to this, always interfering in order to preserve both the balance of power and the state of her own economy and empire, even when this mean going to war with Germany.