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The Great Rapprochement, according to historians including Bradford Perkins, describes the convergence of diplomatic, political, military and economic objectives between the United States and Great Britain in 1895–1915, the two decades up to and including the beginning of World War I. == Mixed feelings == Adam Smith predicted in ''The Wealth of Nations'' (1776) that if given representation in Parliament, in a century the Thirteen Colonies would become the center of the British Empire, but the American Revolution that began at that time disrupted the empire's relationship with the new United States. The War of 1812 and disputes along the United States-Canada border continued to cause suspicion between the two countries. The U.S. was seen as a potential threat by the British Empire, and the latter was seen by the former as the antique and aristocratic empire which had once ruled it. Americans, for their part, remained guarded in their assessment of British aims and motives after 1815, in no small part due to the status of "belligerent" conferred by Her Britannic Majesty's government upon the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Particularly galling to the United States was the building, arming and launching of the CSS Alabama from an English port. The Alabama had a rather too-successful career disrupting U.S. shipping in the Atlantic for the remainder of the War. The Alabama restitution dispute was settled between the two Atlantic powers by arbitration several years after the War; forming a useful model for resolving other disputes arising between the two nations into the early 20th Century. Britain itself remained at all times a model of civilisation for Anglo-Americans, a still overwhelming proportion of the upper echelons of American society well into the 20th Century. Cultural and economic ties served to keep the two nations at something less than arms length during even the very worst of times. For example, a sizable portion of New Englanders remained ambivalent toward the War of 1812, and were quick to let bygones be bygones almost immediately after the cessation of hostilities in 1815. Even before the 1776 Revolution, Americans were well aware of how much they owed to their British background, and the British institutions had always contrasted favorably against their European counterparts; as early as 1823, the United Kingdom backed up the American Monroe Doctrine, and the two countries cooperated in naval anti-piracy. Britain's earlier abolition of slavery served as a beacon for the incipient American abolition movement in the mid- to late 1830's. Against this background, Britain's at times tacit support for the Confederacy struck some in America as hypocritical or worse, as Machiavellian. Nevertheless, the differences that had separated an agrarian and anti-imperialist United States and the industrialized, imperialistic Britain rapidly diminished after 1865. The United States emerged from its civil war a major industrial power with a renewed commitment to a stronger Federal (centralized) government vis a vis the individual States, and America emerged from the Spanish–American War (1898) an imperial power with possessions around the globe, and a special interest in the approaches to what in 1914 became the Panama Canal. By 1901 many influential Britons advocated for a closer relationship between the two countries. W. T. Stead even proposed that year in ''The Americanization of the World'' that the British Empire and the United States merge to unify the English-speaking world, as doing so would help Britain "continue for all time to be an integral part of the greatest of all World-Powers, supreme on sea and unassailable on land, permanently delivered from all fear of hostile attack, and capable of wielding irresistible influence in all parts of this planet". The Scottish-born American Andrew Carnegie shared the goal, telling Stead "We are heading straight to the Re-United States". As American Anglophobia declined, London realized the value of a long-term ally that would prevent an upset in Britain's balance of power, which Germany and Russia appeared to threaten. America seemed to understand and to some extent agree with British imperial aspirations if not always with Her methods. Britain's adoption of American Secretary of State John Hay's "Open Door Policy" toward China garnered Her much good will on the Western side of the Atlantic, further accelerating the pace of Rapprochement after 1900. After one final British flirtation with Kaiser Willy's anti-American designs on Venezuela in 1902, Britain and America embraced unreservedly during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), an embrace which remains in full force and effect in 2015 and presumably well beyond. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Great Rapprochement」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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