The Samoan Tangle: A Study in Anglo-German-American Relations 1878-1900

In: Pacific Studies

Abstract

When Hugh Laracy reviewed this book in The Journal of Pacific History in 1978 he rightly described it as the 'product of monumental research'. Exploring the diplomatic negotiations that led to the division of the Samoan Islands between Germany, Great Britain and the USA in 1899, it is a significant study of international relations between the three late nineteenth century super powers. The Pacific Islands were pawns in an international diplomatic chess game that involved Britain's early, but often unwilling, acquisition of Pacific territory; Germany's scramble to get its share to bolster its p