The foreign policy of Victorian England, 1830-1902

"Set against the background of England's economic and military power, the book's recurrent theme is the determination of successive governments to preserve maximum freedom of action throughout the world. An introductory chapter explains how this came to be the main preoccupation of Victorian statesmen, and an epilogue carries the story through the process of gradual commitment to the war alliance of 1914." --from back cover.