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This article focuses on the Anglo-German rivalry. The main factor in the international situation during the first decade of the twentieth century was Anglo-German rivalry. On the part of England it was a search for security, and this meant, as it had meant since the days of Cardinal Woolsey, a control of the balance of power described by Bishop Stubbs as the principle which gives unity to the political plot of modern European history. Naturally this growing controversy affected nearly every country on the face of the globe. It acted as a powerful ligature between England on the one side and the enemies of Germany on the other. It enabled certain Great Powers to exploit the situation to their own advantage. Furthermore, one of the oldest principles of French foreign policy was to prevent a unified state from growing up in Central Europe. The Franco-Prussian War was therefore an inevitable step in the unification of Germany. Prussia had done what Austria had failed to do, but French foreign policy was too deeply rooted to change with the achievement.

The article focuses on Europe's efforts at peacemaking during the Turco-Italian war. An alleged danger of a native uprising was the pretext used by Italy to justify her demand to Turkey, September 28, 1911, for the right to occupy Tripoli. Interested as they were in winning the friendship of Italy, none of the powers raised a restraining hand, although Germany and Austria had worked for more than a year to iron out difficulties between their Italian ally and their Turkish friend. Thus Europe was faced with a new risk, the seriousness of which no one could predict. The reaction of opinion in England, Germany, and Austria was in general unfavorable, since it was believed that the war might upset the Balkan cauldron, inflame the Mohammedan world, and lead to even more serious consequences. French opinion, influenced, no doubt, by the cordiality of relations with the Latin sister since the beginning of the century, was more favorable to Italy. The immediate interest of the powers was to restrain the Balkans.

El artículo discute varios acontecimientos acerca de la economía y la política monetaria en Europa durante 1958 y 1959. La recesión norteamericana influyó la situación económica mundial durante este período. Sin embargo, esa recesión terminó en la primavera de 1958 y trajo una nueva recuperación económica.