An Age of Neutrals
Great Power Politics, 1815–1914

This book offers a new and pioneering history of the vital role played in nineteenth-century Great Power politics.

Maartje Abbenhuis (Author)

9781107037601, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 June 2014

300 pages
23.1 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.57 kg

'… Abbenhuis's [book is] ambitious and, above all, very readable … It is essential reading for all those interested in the international relations in the nineteenth century.' Samuël Kruizinga, Low Countries Historical Review

An Age of Neutrals provides a pioneering history of neutrality in Europe and the wider world between the Congress of Vienna and the outbreak of the First World War. The 'long' nineteenth century (1815–1914) was an era of unprecedented industrialization, imperialism and globalization; one which witnessed Europe's economic and political hegemony across the world. Dr Maartje Abbenhuis explores the ways in which neutrality reinforced these interconnected developments. She argues that a passive conception of neutrality has thus far prevented historians from understanding the high regard with which neutrality, as a tool of diplomacy and statecraft and as a popular ideal with numerous applications, was held. This compelling new history exposes neutrality as a vibrant and essential part of the nineteenth-century international system; a powerful instrument used by great and small powers to solve disputes, stabilize international relations and promote a variety of interests within and outside the continent.

Introduction: it is not the neutrals or lukewarms that make history
1. Neutrality on the eve of the industrial age
2. Neutrality, neutralisation and the Concert of Europe
3. The neutrals' war: Britain and the global implications of the Crimean War
4. How to be neutral: negotiating neutrality in the wars of nationhood, 1859–72
5. Neutrality as an international and patriotic ideal
6. Regulating neutrality from The Hague to The Hague, 1898–1907
7. Neutral no more: neutrality and the origins of the First World War
Conclusion: international law's 'finest and most fragile flower'
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], General & world history [HBG]