请翻译(64)题
In the late nineteenth century Britain kept out of foreign polities as much as possible.
Europe was divided into two camps:France and Russia in one,Germany,Austria and Italy in the other.(63)Britain favoured the second group so long as France threatened her interests in Africa and the Russians threatened her Indian border.But Germany was growing too strong.The various German states had been united under the King of Prussia after his conquest of France in 1870.He was now Emperor of all Germany.He was Queen Victoria's son-in-law,but his ambitions took no account of such a tie.Britain watched him with growing mistrust.The Germans already had the best army in Europe.By 1901,when Victoria died,they had begun to build a very large navy,which was not needed to protect their trade.It could only have one purpose,to fight its British rival.(64)Edward VII had never shared his mother's faith in the Emperor's goodwill,and Britain now openly made friends with France. She would not make a defence treaty,but she showed that her sympathy would be with the French if the Germans attacked them.Plans were made for an army of 150000 men which would be ready to cross the Channel at a moment's notice.When war came in 1914,this force managed to arrive just in time to save Paris.(65)Britain had no quarrel with Germany,and public opinion was divided on the question of supporting France.If the Germans had made a direct attack, they might have taken Paris before anyone interfered.But they attacked through Belgium.Their Emperor did not believe that Britain would go to war for"a bit o of paper,"which was his scornful description of Palmerston's treaty.(66)However,when he attacked Belgium,all Britain united against him,and half the nations of the world were soon fighting in the muddy ditches of France.Every part of the Empire immediately joined the British side,and three years later the United States followed their example.When the war was won,both sides had suffered immense losses.The empire's forces had lost a million men,and Britain had spent all her wealth.(67)The war destroyed the power of the Liberal Party,which had been in office for eight years when fighting started.During that time it had done much to tax the rich and to help the poor,especially the old and the workless.
(From The World at War)