4*ary GERMANOPHILISM IN BRITAIN: NON-GOVERNMENTAL ELITES AND THE LIMITS TO ANGLO-GERMAN ANTAGONISM, 1905-1914 By Steven Wai-Meng Siak London School of Economics and Political Science Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D. March 1997 UMI Number: U615717 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615717 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the limits to Anglo-German antagonism and the sources of rapprochement between Britain and Germany, during the approximate period 1905-1914. It thus explores Anglo-German relations before the First World War from a perspective which has up to now been largely neglected, and serves as a corrective to the emphasis on the sources of antagonism which prevails in the English-language historical literature. The study probes Germanophilism among British non-governmental elites, focusing on the commercial, financial and academic communities, as well as cooperative links between the two countries at the non-governmental level before the war. The topics examined include the Anglo-German friendship movement in Britain, ties between British and German commercial interests and Anglo-German economic interdependence, and Anglo-German links in education. The thesis also studies attitudes, including a discussion of British stereotypical images of Germany based on travel accounts. British textbooks on German history that were published before the war are analysed as well as a means of assessing the prewar attitude of British academics, in particular historians, towards Germany. This investigation reveals the strength of the idea of Anglo-German racial kinship, and demonstrates that British historians tended to view Germany favourably before the war. Their attitude, however, changed after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. In conclusion, the thesis reappraises the ultimate failure of the 'pro-German' forces in Britain to prevent the outbreak of Anglo-German hostilities in 1914. Its primary aim, nevertheless, is not to argue that the limits to the Anglo-German antagonism could have prevented the First World War, but to demonstrate that they existed and were important. 2 CONTENTS page List of Tables 4 Abbreviations 5 Acknowledgements 7 1. Introduction 9 Part One 2. The Anglo-German Friendship Movement, 1905-1914 23 3. Anglo-German Economic Rivalry: An Optical Illusion? 53 4. The German Connection in British Education 101 Part.Tjyp 5. The German in British Eyes: Friend, Foe or Blood Relation? 152 6. The Betrayal? 183 7. The Ambivalence of Being at War 250 8. Conclusion 306 Bibliography 338 3 TABLES Percentages of World Trade The Explosives Industry in Britain and Germany, 1889 ABBREVIATIONS AGFC Anglo-German Friendship Committee AGFS Anglo-German Friendship Society ED British Documents on the Origins of the War. 1898-1914 3DFA British Documents on Foreign Affairs BEF British Expeditionary Force BL British Library BLPES British Library of Political and Economic Science BodL Bodleian Library CAB Cabinet papers CID Committee of Imperial Defence CMH Cambridge Modem Historv DBB Dictionary of Business Biography PNB Dictionary of National Biography ED Board of Education papers FO Foreign Office papers HSBC Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation I£I Imperial Chemical Industries: A Historv ICIA Imperial Chemical Industries Archives IGS Institute of Germanic Studies JHI Journal of the Historv of Ideas KCMAC King's College Modem Archive Centre, Cambridge KEBF King Edward VII British-German Foundation LCC London County Council MET Modem Language Teaching NCA Nineteenth Century and After NLS National Library of Scotland PRO Public Record Office RHL Rhodes House Library RTC Report of the Tariff Commission T Treasury papers ULL University of London Library USL University of Southampton Library WO War Office papers ZUG Zeitschrift fur Untemehmensgeschichte 6