Europe 1898: Britain's Splendid Isolation
19 September 1898
19 Sep 1898
Imperial Europe
-27–68 The Julio-Claudian Dynasty
68–96 The Flavian Dynasty
96–192 The Nerva–Antonine Dynasty
192–235 The Severan Dynasty
235–285 The Crisis of the Third Century
285–1815 NO MAPS FOR THIS PERIOD YET
1815–1848 Congress Europe
1848–1850 The Springtime of Peoples
1850–1859 The Crimean War
1859–1862 Italian Unification
1862–1871 German Unification
1871–1914 Imperial Europe
1914–1918 The Great War
1918–1922 Armistice Europe
1922–1939 The Rise of Fascism
1939–1942 World War II: Blitzkrieg
1942–1945 World War II: Fall of the Third Reich
1945–1990 The Cold War
1990–2010 Post-Cold War Europe
2010–pres The Crisis of Europe
Britain's Splendid Isolation
2 Jan 1878 Great Eastern Crisis
17 Mar 1878 Treaty of San Stefano
20 Oct 1878 Aftermath of the Great Eastern Crisis
15 Nov 1884 Scramble for Africa
4 Jan 1894 Franco-Russian Alliance
19 Sep 1898 Britain's Splendid Isolation
8 Apr 1904 Entente Cordiale
31 Mar 1906 Tangier Crisis
7 Oct 1908 Bosnian Crisis
1 Jul 1911 Agadir Crisis
17 May 1912 Italo-Turkish War
23 Apr 1913 First Balkan War
31 Jul 1913 Second Balkan War
25 Sep 1913 Aftermath of the Balkan Wars
28 Jun 1914 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
At the close of the Nineteenth Century, Britain was still Europe's foremost power but was facing ever greater competition from the other nations as its lead in industrialization was eroded. The United States had already overtaken Britain economically and was now asserting itself in the Pacific and Caribbean, while recent German industrial and population growth had turned it into the most powerful nation on the continent. However Britain's vast empire meant its most frequent disputes were with France and Russia, its biggest competitors in Africa and Asia.