DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY - Essay Example

ntroversies emerging between European states, Britain decisively worked on expansion of its international authority, adhering to the policy of splendid isolation at the same time. However, since the turn of the twentieth century, when other states began building up their military might, the situation had undergone certain changes, and the World War I became a dramatic turning point in the world’s history. As the war ended with the victory of the allies, Russia, Britain and France, the world was left shocked and devastated to certain extent: empires like Austro-Hungarian and German were defeated and eventually seized top exist, and economies of many countries were seriously impaired.

As the war led to increase in independence of dominions and rise of nationalist movements in colonies, the British Empire, through one of the victorious states, got its might undermined; moreover, its economy had also suffered certain damage caused by the war. Therefore, it could be assumed that Britain was still rather powerful in the interwar period, yet its capacities and authority were considerably harmed by the effects of the war. In the current paper, the major aspects of interwar period will be considered in order to confirm our statement.

After the war changed the world order, Britain – as many other states – sought to recover from the devastating outcomes of it and restore destabilized economies. Due to the shift in power balance, Japan and the United States grew as influential naval powers threatening Britain’s interests, which became the reason for reconsideration of Britain’s imperial policy (Goldstein, 2002, p.40). “Britain saw the greatest threats to her interests as coming from the Far East as a result of aggressive Japanese commercial expansion” (International Relations and Colonial Defence in West Africa in the Interwar Years, 2002, p.15). Reluctant to restore the alliance with Japan, Great Britain signed an agreement with the United States in 1922