With the rest of Europe being controlled in a complex string of alliances and treaties during the later half of the 19th century, Britain remained uninvolved. Their policy of "Splendid Isolation" was to keep themselves out of the quarrels and disputes of continental Europe, and allow them to focus on their overseas empire. With the crowing of a new Kaiser in Germany, and the interest of other nations to hold overseas colonies, Britain's colonial empire was under attack. Their interest to focus on their vast empire would eventually lead them into disputes with other European nations. It would ultimately be their reason of going into isolation that would end it.
             In 1888 Kaiser William II ascended unto the German throne. William II was "filled with a sense of Germany's destiny as the leading power in Europe."(Kagan, Ozment, Turner, The Western Heritage 2nd Ed.) William longed to achieve recognition from the rest of the world that Germany was as great, if not greater the Great Britain. He believed the only way to achieve a "place under the sun" (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, The Western Heritage 2nd Ed.) was to build a navy and establish colonies like Britain. Thus began William II's commitment to colonial and commercial expansion. The German commercial rivalry with Great Britain not only brought direct trouble, but nourished German desire for sea power and a large navy.
             The Baghdad Railway was a venture from German businessmen to create a railway from Turkey to Baghdad. The British, who feared German influence too close to the Suez Canal and India, opposed greatly to the idea. The Suez Canal was an important waterway to India. If the oncoming Germans disrupted the usage of the canal, then Britain's ability to transport to and from India would be disrupted by having to go around the tip of Africa. Even worse, if the Suez Canal were to fall under German hands, then Britain might have...