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international relations - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The suez canal
        
        Franco-Egyptian project
        
        scheme of Ferdinand de Lesseps
        
        raised the possibility of french control over trade route to India
        
        posed a threat to Britains commercial and political position
      - Asia
        
        colonies of French Indochina were close to British territory in Burma/India, making region a potential flashpoint for conflict
        
        both powers had commercial holdings in china (opium wars), making french and British merchants rivals
      - Africa
        
        France ruled much of North Africa and had ambitions towards Sudan and Egypt
        
        The french strategy in Africa of spreading across continent from east to west was likely to come into conflict with the British strategy of spreading South to North (Egypt/sudan the meeting point)
        
        west Africa had no clear boundaries between British and french territories, another potential area where Anglo-french tensions could turn into conflict
    - - Asia response
        
        the kingdom of Siam (Thailand) was made into a buffer state
        
        between British Burma and french Indochina
        
        treaty in 1898 agreeing to not size Siam to avoid war
        
        treaty of Teinstin 1858: opened up Chinese ports for British, french and other traders, allowing western merchants access to the Chinese market :
      - Africa response
        
        fashoda incident 1898 in the Sudan
        
        after the battle of Omdurman, Lord Kitchener and British forces came face to face with french forces under captain Marchand
        
        after a tense face-off the french withdrew back to formal french territory
        (avoided war and left Sudan to the British)
        
        in west africa a franco-British agreement 1898 on the boundaries of Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast left most of the region with France, while the British got the large territory of Nigeria (first as the Royal Niger company 1898, then as a crown colony, 1900)
  - - - Central Asia
        during the 1860s Russia was expanding its influence and territory in the region; prompting British fears that ultimately Russian ambitions would point towards India
        The Great Game was the term for the competition between Britain and Russia for control of Afghanistan and Central Asia during the 1800s
        
        By the 1870s Russia had designs on Afghanistan, a stepping stone to India
        
        If Russia gained control of Afghanistan or would create a problem
      - Ottoman empire
        Ottoman power declining throughout 1800s
        Britains policy was to try to prop up the Ottoman Empire to prevent other European powers from taking it
        
        Russia had ambitions to spread into and take over Ottoman territory
        
        British shipping to India had to pass through Ottoman territory (Egypt, Suez Canal, Arabian peninsular) - thus if Russia took over Ottoman possessions it would threaten British imperial trade route s
      - British responses to Russian threats
        
        Afghanistan/India:
        Britain kept a close eye on Russian influence within Afghanistan
        Disraeli sent British troops into Afghanistan 1878 under General Roberts
        Afghanistan effectively became a British protectorate making it into a buffer state between british and Indian territory
        this would protect the British Raj
        
        Ottoman empire:
        The crimean war 1853-56, saw Britain and France fighting and defending Tsarist Russia (main objective was to keep Russia out of the Ottoman Empire and stopping the Ottoman Empire collapsing
        
        Britain therfore took limited possession from the Ottomans during the 1800s
        
        Britain avoided triggering total Ottoman downfall prior to WWI
        
        1917: Revolution and change
        (WWI)
        
        Britain and Russia fighting on the same side as allies
        
        Britian and had mutual alliances with the frenc entente (entente cordiale), therfore became more natural for Russia and Britian to become allies
        
        This Anglo-Russian alliance did NOT last
        
        the October revolution 1917 in Russia brought the communist party into power
        
        Lenin pulled Russia out of WWI, vowing to oppose all forms of western capitalist imperialism and released a full text of the Sykes-picot agreement publically
        
        In WWII British empire allied itself to Stalin as a means to oppose hiter
        
        Climate of the Cold War, this did not last
  - - - German military and economic power
        
        Germany’s fast growing industrial economy and military development, especially the powerful German navy
        
        1884 Bismark signaled that Germany wanted an empire
        
        Germany was behind but determined to close the gap
        
        Kaiser declared in 1901 that Germany must have ‘her place in the sun’
      - Scramble for Africa
        
        Germany had particular ambitions to acquire substantial territory in African continent
        
        Berlin conference 1884-1885 attempted to avid European wars over Africa by establishing rules (e.g effective occupation)
      - West Africa
        
        Germany’s ambition to sieze territory in this region threatened British commercial interests (especially palm oil in Nigeria)
      - East Africa
        
        Both Germany and Britian claimed the area
    - - German military and economic power
        
        in the 1890s to meet the German naval threat, Britain adopted a policy of the two power standard where the Royal Navy aimed to be as strong as the next two strongest European navies combined
        
        the french alliance made through the entente cordiale was also partly a reaction to the growth of German power (becoming the triple entent with Russia in 1907
      - west Africa
        
        Britian did Not object as Germany gained territory in the 1880s and 1890s
        
        giving British approval to German imperial ambitions
        
        Britian ensured own interests protected by establishing control of Nigeria and Ghana
        
        British policy was to allow Germany to have African territory except where the land was important to Britain
      - East Africa
        
        Britain avoided conflict by agreeing to a British sphere of influence (Kenya) and a German one (Rwanda)
        
        although Britain did have to send military expedition to Uganda to establish British control there before Germany could
      - Southern Africa
        
        during Boer war 1899-1902
        
        Germany sold and supplied the Boers with modern weaponry
        ensuring Britain became bogged down in difficult gueriila warfare