British-American Diplomacy, 1895–1917. Early Years of the Special Relationship

The Anglo-American special relationship has endured for a hundred years, to become one of the most remarkable alliances in modern history. This study describes the first 20 years of the official friendship of these two great English-speaking nations. By no means ordained by kinship or geography, it is seen here as the result of mutual need and mutual advantage. The relationship begins with British willingness to accommodate American pretensions in the Venezuelan boundary dispute of 1895. The United States entry into World War I in 1917, thereby making Britain a winner in the war, marks the end of this formative period. Foundations thus put down in the foreign policy conducted from London and Washington proved strong enough to provide a century of understanding in times of turbulence and calm.