Lecture hst 102 the path to wwi spring 2013 1

The Path to WWI
The War to End All Wars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n
7kp3vf1uKA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g
jlGoe1mnw0&feature=related

The Crimean War
• What were the main results of the Crimean
War?
– New technologies were introduced to warfare…
– New civilian attitudes toward war…
– Russian and Austria's dominance of Europe
– Russia was forced to reform…

What varying roles did warfare play in
19th century national building?
• War w outsiders helped nations build
nationalism and unity under one ruler…
• War abroad to build an overseas empire
provided income and maintained peace and
prosperity at home…
• Internal warfare preserved national unity at
the expense of regionalism…
• The threat of warfare increased colonial
independence…

What were the major economic changes
in the west between 1850-1880?
• Governments reorganized economic
superiority as a key to political superiority…
• New business laws and practices developed to
raise capital and encourage investments…
• Innovative approaches to business
management and production created new
types of jobs…
• A new consumer economy encouraged
spending…

How did nation-states expand their
reach, and what resistance did they
face?
• Construction, intended to make crowd control
easier and cities safer, instead encouraged
rebellion based on class and economic
inequality…
• Expanded bureaucracies led to embittered
and distrustful citizens…
• Direct rule over colonies increased cultural
influence and caused cultural backlash among
the colonized…

The 19th century…The Coming of the
storm…
• Nationalism Was high
• It was Ultimately a solidifying force
• Business practices became more organized
• A more rigid hierarchy established
• Civil service jobs begin to be awarded by merit
• Education improved
• Health and sanitation – great progress
• But all of this had a price:
• Nation building involved war
• This costs money and lives
• Social Darwinism states….survival of the fittest
• So..if you were struggling, you were not fit…you lacked the essential
• Increased value on education…removed midwives..who had experience, not
education
• As governments improved the looks and functions of cities, the poor were
often driven out of their homes…
• Creation of the “haves” v. the “have nots”…

New Imperialism
• The “new imperialism,” which brought direct rule
by European nations to Africa and Asia, was
closely connected with both industrial prosperity
and the formation of national identity.
• However, heated competition of
colonies, growing tensions among colonial
powers, the rise of non-Western powers such as
Japan, and the increasing resistance of colonial
peoples made empire-building diplomatically and
financially problematic and potentially explosive.

• With modernization, population patterns
began ton change. Europe become more and
ore urbanized and, due to improvements in
sanitation and public health…populations
soared.
• Psychology and psychoanalysis began as a
field of study…
• Imperial competition, the arms race,
militarism, ethic-based nationalism, a tangle
of alliance, and conflicts in domestic polices all
set the stage for WWI

The Real Truth:
• Europeans- facing revolutions, terrorism, violent
repression, controversy in the arts and sciences,
and industrial conflicts-had to feel that war might
relieve them from the perils of modernity.
• But, instead of refreshment, the war that erupted
opened an era of political turmoil and even greater
does of modernity…

Here we gooo…
• The Scramble for Africa…
• Imperial Newcomers…
• Growing Resistance to Colonial Domination…
• Life in the “Best of Circles”…
• Working People’s Strategies…
• Sciences of the Modern Self…
• The Birth of Mass Politics…
• The Power of Labour…
• Liberalism Modified…
• Anti-Semitism, Nationalism, and Zionism in Mass politics…
• Threats to the Russian Empire…
• Competing Alliances and Clashing Ambitions…
• The Race to Arms…

Time Line
• 1878 ·The end of Germany's Kulturkampf campaign against Catholics.
• 1879 ·Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• 1882 ·Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
• 1884 ·Berlin Conference held to regulate imperialism in Africa.
• 1885 ·Second Balkan Crisis between Bulgaria and Serbia.
• 1886 ·Gold discovered in the Transvaal territory in South Africa, heightening
British interests in controlling this area.
• 1889 ·Boulanger Affair in France.
• 1890 ·Kaiser Wilhelm II dismisses Otto von Bismarck.
• 1892 ·James Kier Hardie is the first representative in the British Parliament
from the Labour Party.

• 1894 ·"Dreyfus Affair" in France begins and captures the attention of the entire
nation for some time.
• 1896 ·Battle of Adowa in Ethiopia, allowing Ethiopia to remain independent.
• 1899-1902 ·Boer War in South Africa between the British and the Afrikaners.
– Boer War - 1899-1902; a conflict between the British and the Afrikaner population of
South Africa caused by British interests in mining gold out of Afrikaner land.
– The war progressed rather poorly for the better-equipped, better-trained, and larger
British army.
– Under inept leadership and harassed by effective Afrikaner guerrilla tactics, the British
were forced fight the Boer War for three years. I
– n 1902, the British accepted the conditional surrender of the Afrikaners in which the
entire colony was united under British rule; however, the British promised the Afrikaners
that no decision to include the black majority in government would be made before rule
was returned to the Afrikaners.
• 1900 ·Boxer Rebellion in China.
– Boxer Rebellion - 1900; with secret encouragement from the Chinese empress, the
Boxers, dedicated to ending foreign exploitation in north China, killed scores of
European and seized the large foreign legation in Beijing.
– Reacting immediately, an international expeditionary force of Japanese, Russian, British,
American, German, French, Austrian and Italian troops sacked Beijing to protect the
interests of their respective countries.
– Afterward, the European powers propped up a weak central government for their own
economic benefit.

• 1907 ·Triple Entente between Great
Britain, France, and Russia.
• 1911 ·National Insurance Act passed in Britain.
• 1912 ·Third Balkan Crisis: Italy versus Turkey.
• 1913 ·Third Balkan Crisis: Serbia and Bulgaria
go to war.

When Historians Disagree
• http://articles.cnn.com/2004-06-
21/entertainment/review.wwi_1_serbia-first-
world-war-great-war?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ

Europe in the Last 1/3 of the 19th century
• The last third of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of the
masses as a serious political force in national politics.
• In Britain, the working classes that had given the country the
greatest successes in the industrial revolution clamored to be
heard by the ruling elite.
• Eventually, workers threw their support behind the Labour
Party, a political party based on trade unions that advocated the
creation of the government welfare state.
• A similar development took place in Germany, where the Social
Democratic party emerged as a political force despite the
numerous attempts by the ruling elite to destroy its power.

• In France, the modernized and centralized state that
emerged in the Third Republic united the nation and
allowed a mass media culture to emerge.
• The entire population, receiving the same information
and the same interpretation of the news, was
galvanized by various events, such as the Dreyfus Affair,
which cut right to the heart of French society.
• In Austria-Hungary, the power of the bourgeoisie, who
had identified their interests with those of the
aristocracy, began to weaken as the entire outsider
population--ethnic minorities, students, radical right-
wing groups--began to emerge in Austrian politics in an
atmosphere of demagoguery and fantastic politics

• The Dreyfus affair
– was a political scandal
– divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s.
– It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894
of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer
of Alsatian Jewish descent.
– Sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly having
communicated French military secrets to the German
Embassy in Paris, Dreyfus was sent to the penal colony at
Devil’s Island in French Guiana and placed in solitary
confinement, where he was to spend almost 5 years
under the most inhumane conditions.
– http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=978030012532
0

• Dreyfus Affair - 1894; Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian
Jew, was tried and convicted of treason for selling
French military secrets to the Germans.
• The media went on extensive investigations to
discover the truth and when conclusive evidence
emerged to prove his innocence, the entire
French nation became caught up in the issue.
• Conservatives generally supported his conviction
in the name of national unity and anti-
Semitism, while liberals and supporters of the
government demanded his exoneration in the
name of liberty and truth; he was eventually
exonerated.

• Foreign policy throughout this era was generally
dominated by the imperial game.
• By 1914, nearly the entire continent of Africa was
dominated by Europeans.
• The ancient states of Asia (i.e. China and southeast
Asian societies) also generally succumbed to
European invasion.
• Only the Japanese, after years of modernization and
westernization, were able to become imperialists
themselves and exert their own interests on the
Chinese mainland.

• By the end of the nineteenth century, the political
balance of power that had kept Europe at a moderate
level of peace since 1815 began to unravel.
• With the consolidation of the German Empire, new
alliances and new balances had to be formed; however,
the new models would not succeed.
• The balance of power degenerated into the
bipolarization of the European world--namely, the
separation of alliances into two groups, the Triple
Alliance and the Triple Entente.
• With an arms race developing and the breakdown of
peace in the Balkans, Europe was racing toward utter
destruction and World War.

• In 1870 and 1871 Italy and Germany became unified
nations, with Germany in particular emerging as an
immediate international force.
• The years between 1871 and 1914 brought liberal progress in
England, social welfare in Germany, imperial expansion
throughout the world, the spread of European
civilization, and economic strengthening of
England, Germany, the United States, and Japan.
• Newspaper editors and cultural pundits referred to these
years contemporaneously as the "dawn of a new era" in
scientific development, peace, economic expansion, and
cultural civilization.
• Without war or major conflict in sight, Europe set out to
perfect its home and spread its perfection throughout the
world.

• The order of the day was, quite simply, self-
improvement, national improvement, and attainable
perfection; the great successes of Europe during these
years seemed to prove that such was possible.
• Unfortunately, certain paternalistic policies developed
out of such a perspective.
• While we cannot apologize for brutal treatment of
Africans and Asians during the imperial period, we can
understand such practices as the manifestations of a
European polity that thought it was implementing the
true inheritance of its liberal heritage.

• Further, though no major war seemed to
threaten, the forty years after 1871 erupted in
World War I, a catastrophic war that tore through
Europe with a brutality unanticipated by any of its
combatants.
• Any study of the period between 1871 and 1914
must be made with an eye to 1914, and the
massive, transformative war that year

The Balance of Power
The European geopolitical system based on the assumption that
nations are inherently expansionist, which maintained peace
by pitting various camps or alliances of equal power against
each other, thereby minimizing one nation's ability to
conquer and disrupt the peace.
The system originated after the defeat of Napoleon, continued
throughout the nineteenth century in Europe and succeeded
at promoting peace.
The balance of power collapsed in 1914 under the pressure of
the arms race, a shift in the criteria of power, and the
mistaken expectation of a short war rather than the World
War that seized Europe.

Conservative Austria
• Though manifested somewhat differently, the domestic
events in Britain, Germany, and France between 1871
and 1914 follow a similar trend: these forty years
before the outbreak of World War I mark the
emergence of the masses as a political force.
• In Britain and Germany, we refer to the workers; in
France, we refer to the agrarian poor and non-
Parisians; in Austria, we refer to everyone save the
elite, Germanic bourgeoisie. Each and every group
became a powerful force in politics and society during
this time period.

So, what does this mean?
• So, what does this mean?
• The growth of popular power in Europe at this time
suggests that the forty years before World War I can be
seen as the beginning of "late modernity", setting the
stage for a twentieth century in which the western
democracies dedicated themselves to the expansion of
democratic civil and individual rights.
• The domination of traditional aristocratic elements in
European society came to its final end in this period of
history and, by virtue of that fact alone, the years after
1871 should be viewed as a revolutionary time, even if
it was a revolution without blood.

• So, what does this mean?
– The growth of popular power in Europe at this time
suggests that the forty years before World War I can be
seen as the beginning of "late modernity", setting the
stage for a twentieth century in which the western
democracies dedicated themselves to the expansion of
democratic civil and individual rights.
– The domination of traditional aristocratic elements in
European society came to its final end in this period of
history and, by virtue of that fact alone, the years after
1871 should be viewed as a revolutionary time, even if it
was a revolution without blood.

• The Empire of Austria-Hungary, a dominion in which
the Magyars of Hungary received a modicum of
autonomy under the rule of one monarch who was
simultaneously emperor of Austria and king of
Hungary, was a multinational empire that controlled
the region of Eastern Europe to the south of
Russia's Polish lands.
• In 1860, the Habsburg monarchs were forced to
accept constitutional government with a
parliamentary system based on a very limited
suffrage.

• As a result, the bourgeoisie, who identified their
interests with those of the landed and inherited
aristocracy, took control of Austrian politics and
society.
• As testament to their rights as inheritors of
Austria's great western and cultural tradition, the
Germanic bourgeois leaders in Vienna rebuilt the
city as a virtual fortification of grand structures.
• However, this control led to a popular backlash that
limited its longevity.

• By 1900, liberal bourgeois politicians who favored free trade
and little government involvement in economic affairs were
being eliminated by mass politics movements from the right
that were based on charisma, fantasy, and mere appearances.
• These mass parties were formed out of any number of views:
– anti- Germanic feelings (supported by most ethnic minorities in
the empire),
– anti- capitalist opinions (supported by millions of
farmers, peasants, and the very small worker population),
– anti-Semitic perspectives (supported by everyone from artisans to
students to the agrarian poor to the militarists),
– and nationalist hopes (supported by the lower-middle class).
• These groups used demagoguery and scapegoating policies to
rouse opposition to Jews (who were associated with
capitalists and Germanic peoples for irrational reasons--and
thus sweep themselves to political victory throughout the
empire.

Crisis in the Balkans
• First Balkan Crisis - 1874-1878; Bosnia and Herzegovina
rebelled against Ottoman rule, leading to Serbia declaring war
on the Ottoman Empire on 30 June 1876.
• Russia, based on its foreign policy of pan-Slavism, declared
war on the Ottomans in due course.
• Britain, interested in maintaining the balance of power and
protecting its Mediterranean holdings that depended upon
the status quo, nominally supported the Turkish sultan.
• Sultan Hamid II of Turkey sought peace in January 1878.

• Second Balkan Crisis - 1885; conflict between
Bulgaria and Serbia over territory; Russia
warned it was ready to occupy Bulgaria if it
did not yield to Serbian claims, at which point
Austria-Hungary stepped in to support
Bulgaria; Germany supported Austria-
Hungary and the Russians backed down; led to
the breakdown of the Three Emperors' League
because Russia felt betrayed by Germany.

• Third Balkan Crisis - 1912-1913; Italy in conflict
with the Ottoman Empire over holdings around
the Adriatic Sea; Serbia takes advantage of
weakened Ottoman Empire to attack Bulgarian
lands for her own sea port; Russia supports Serbia
and Austria-Hungary supports Bulgaria, while
Britain and Germany urged peace; this crisis
enraged Serbs against Austria-Hungary for its
support of Bulgaria and its continued occupation
of Bosnia-Herzegovina

• Through much of the nineteenth century, Great
Britain avoided the kind of social upheaval that
intermittently plagued the Continent between 1815
and 1870.
• Supporters of Britain claimed that this success
derived from a tradition of vibrant parliamentary
democracy.
• While this claim holds some truth, the Great Reform
Bill of 1832, the landmark legislation that began
extending the franchise to more Englishmen, still
left the vote to only twenty percent of the male
population.

• A second reform bill passed in 1867 vertically expanded
voting rights, but power remained in the hands of a
minority--property-owning elites with a common
background, a common education, and an essentially
common outlook on domestic and foreign policy.
• The pace of reform in England outdistanced that of the
rest of Europe, but for all that remained slow.
• Though the Liberals and Conservatives did advance
different philosophy on the economy and government
in its most basic sense, the common brotherhood on all
representatives in parliament assured a relatively stable
policy-making history.

• In the 1880s, problems of unemployment, urban
housing, public health, wages, working conditions, and
healthcare upset this traditional balance and led the
way for the advent of a new and powerful political
movement in Great Britain:
– the Labour Party.
• Labour Party - A British political party that first gained
prominence in 1892 with the election if its first
representative to the House of Commons; represented
the interests of British workers and called for the
beginnings of socialist platform, and generally
advocated the welfare state, government intervention
in the economy, protection to workers, a short work
day, et cetera

• By 1900, wages were stagnating while prices continued
to rise throughout the country.
• The urban centers of London and Manchester faced
crumbling housing and tenements arose throughout
every major industrial center.
• Workers responded to their problems by putting their
faith not in the Liberal Party, the group that
traditionally received the worker vote since
industrialization, but in the oft-militant trade
unions, organizations that advanced worker demands
in Parliament, cared for disabled workers, and assisted
in pension, retirement, and contract matters.

• In 1892 James Kier Hardie, an independent
workingman from Scotland, became the first such man
to sit in the House of Commons.
• He represented the Labour Party and built upon trade
union support to craft a workers' party dedicated to
advancing the cause of working Englishmen.
• For the first time in its history, the British Parliament
began to represent class distinctions in English society.
• By 1906, twenty-nine seats in Parliament went to
Labour.

• Pressured by the new Labour movement, Liberals and
Conservatives were forced to act for fear of losing any
substantial labor vote.
• The so-called New Liberals, led by Chancellor of the
Exchequer David Lloyd George, supported legislation to
strengthen the right of unions to picket peacefully.
• The Liberal government passed the National Insurance Act of
1911, providing payments to workers for sickness and
introducing unemployment benefits.
• In addition, heeding Labour's call for a more democratic
House, Lloyd George pushed the Parliament Bill of 1911 that
reduced the House of Lords (the upper house of Parliament
that had always been dominated by conservatives averse to
worker legislation) to a position lower than the House of
Commons.

• Since the Parliament Bill, the Commons could raise
taxes without the Lords approval and pay for any
needed worker legislation.
• Finally, in 1913, the powerful Labour movement,
about to eclipse the Liberals as the Conservative's
opposition, pushed through the Trade Unions Act.
• This law granted unions legal rights to settle their
grievances with management directly, without the
interference of a generally conservative Parliament

• The extension of the voting franchise that began in
England in 1832 with the Great Reform Bill initiated,
albeit slowly, a process of liberalization unseen in the
history of the British Parliament.
• Previously, power rested in the hands of the few
aristocrats with enough property and wealth to pass a
relatively high property requirement for voting and
holding office.
• Yet while the lowering of the wealth prerequisite
provided an easy target for modern liberals when
arguing for the democratization of Parliament, this
democratization at first did not extend to the working
class.

• Most representatives in the Commons came through
Eton to either Cambridge or Oxford where, under the
tutelage of the same professors, these future leaders
developed a similar outlook on the world:
– the superiority of the British system, the rightness of
imperialism, the power of industry, the benefits of trade, and
the value of general isolation from the Continent.
• These views, though subject to some slight degree
differences between Liberals and
Conservatives, remained common through most of the
House.
• Such views did not square with the new concerns of the
workers who had neither received an elite
education, nor, in some cases, an education at all.

• However, though it took more than half a century, the British
system did gradually change to meet the problems associated
with the industrial age.
• Also important to notice is that it did not require a Labour
majority in Parliament--something that would not come until
the interwar years--to initiate changes.
• The political system was malleable enough that pressure from
a small minority party in Parliament pushed the traditionally
uninterested Liberal and Conservative majority to seriously
modify their political goals and actions.
• Politicians in England were farsighted, keen on capturing the
awesome potential power of the worker movement before it
got out of hand--namely, before it ignited a powerful party of
its own.

• The year 1871 marked the beginning of the German
Empire under the Prussian crown.
• An empire in name, Germany was actually
administered by its chancellor Otto von Bismarck, a
landed aristocrat (or, Junker) from east Prussia.
• Though Germany maintained universal manhood
suffrage, the Reichstag, the house of Parliament in
the German Empire, held only very restricted
powers of legislation.
• Most power remained with Bismarck himself.

• Through the 1870s, Bismarck formed expedient
alliances with the German center- left parties that
had held the majority in German politics since the
inception of the empire.
• These alliances allowed Bismarck to maintain
power and thereby establish the main elements of
national administration: legal codes, railroad and
banking systems, a judicial apparatus, and the civil
service structure.
• In addition, the liberals called on Bismarck's
assistance for their anti-Papal campaign, a
movement Bismarck was only too happy to lead.

• Known as the Kulturkampf, or "struggle for
civilization", the anti-Church campaign aimed to
eliminate Catholics who, Bismarck thought, could never
maintain true loyalty to the state because of their
higher loyalty to Rome.
• The legislation of the Kulturkampf removed priests
from state service, restricted religious
education, elevated civil marriage, and arrested and
expelled defiant priests and bishops.
• Bismarck's attack on the Church was not altogether
successful, since it inspired widespread concern over
the social fabric of the new state, allowing the Catholic
Center party to rally the Catholic vote and other
supporters to oppose Bismarck's policies.

The Kulturkampf
• After his catholic adversaries gained scores of
seats in the Reichstag in 1878, Bismarck saw
defeat and reached out to the new Pope, Leo
XIII, to negotiate a settlement between
Germany and the Church.
• The Kulturkampf ended and Catholic
toleration became law.

• Kulturkampf - · Literally, "struggle for civilization";
the name given to Germany's campaign against
Catholics and the influence of Catholics in
government in the name of loyalty to the German
state; included barring priests from government
office, restricting religious education, and instituting
civil marriage.
• Eventually the policy caused such concern from the
general population that the Catholic Center party
gained a substantial showing in the Reichstag,
forcing the government to back down from its
repression.

• Without the opposition of the Kulturkampf the Catholic party
lost some of its steam, and the powerful Social Democratic
Party emerged as Bismarck's key enemy.
• Led by Eduard Bernstein, the Social Democrats were Marxists
who called for a gradual development of the capitalist system
into a state socialist system.
• Among other things, the Social Democrats advocated working
within the system to advance the needs of the workers
through welfare legislation, trade union power, economic
regulation, and nationalization or regulation of industry.
• Bismarck, recognizing the appeal to Germany's growing
working classes, initiated a "carrot and stick" approach of
simultaneous repression and an overt effort to acquire
popular support.

• To repress (the stick), Bismarck passed the Anti- Socialist
Law, expanding police powers and forbidding socialist
meetings, fundraising, and the distribution of printed materials.
• Police could now arrest any suspected socialist under only a
minimum of suspicion. To bring popular support to the state (the
carrot), Bismarck pushed extensive social welfare legislation
through the Reichstag.
• The state provided accident insurance, sickness benefits, old age
pensions, disability payments, etc.
• However, these moderate reforms did nothing to undermine the
growing popularity of the Marxist movement under the Social
Democrats.
• By 1890, the year Kaiser Wilhelm II fired Bismarck, the Social
Democrats controlled over twenty percent of the electorate and
thirty-five seats in the Reichstag; by 1914, the Social Democrats
were the largest single party in German politics.

• To keep the Social Democrats in the minority,
Wilhelm II required mass conservative support--
from the traditional aristocrats to the middle
classes and the agrarian poor.
• Wilhelm found that such a coalition could best be
built and maintained through the manipulation of
nationalist and militaristic sentiments in the name
of an aggressive foreign policy that called for
colonial expansion, military development, and
espoused German superiority in Europe.
• Such a system characterized German politics
through to the end of World War I.

• Social Democratic Party - · By 1914, the largest single
party in the German Reichstag; represented the left of
the political spectrum, held a Marxist political and
economic philosophy, and adapted to cooperation
within the democratic system.
• Socialist democrats advocated a state socialist system--
welfare state, union power, unemployment insurance,
worker protection, et cetera--within the government.
• Unlike the violent revolutionaries, this party supported
a gradual development from capitalism to socialism by
making changes beneficial to the worker within the
capitalist government.

Crises in the Balkans and the Road to
Destruction (1874-1912)
• The Balkan crises began in 1874.
• That year, Bosnia and Herzegovina rebelled against Ottoman rule, beginning
the First Balkan Crisis.
• When Turkey refused to reform its governing structure, Serbia declared war
on the Ottoman Empire on 30 June 1876.
• Russia, based on its foreign policy of pan-Slavism, or fraternal allegiance
between all Slavic peoples of eastern Europe, declared war on the
Ottomans in due course.
• Britain, interested in maintaining the balance of power and protecting its
Mediterranean holdings that depended upon the status quo, nominally
supported the Turkish sultan. On 31 January 1878, Sultan Hamid II of Turkey
sought peace.

• Britain, interested in maintaining the balance of power and
protecting its Mediterranean holdings that depended upon the
status quo, nominally supported the Turkish sultan.
• On 31 January 1878, Sultan Hamid II of Turkey sought peace.
• Otto von Bismarck hosted the peace conference, known as the
Congress of Berlin.
• Britain, concerned that growing Russian power at the expense of
the Ottoman Empire would tilt the balance of power in Russia's
favor, secured Constantinople and the Balkans away from
Moscow's dominion.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina were turned over to Austria-Hungary
and Russia pledged to abandon its support of Serbia nationalism-
-all in the name of the balance of power. However, with Serbian
claims disregarded, continued conflict lay in the future.

• As a result of Russia's obvious political losses at the
Congress of Berlin, Russia abandoned its alliance
with Germany in the Three Emperors' League.
• Bismarck, in turn, recommitted Germany and
Austria-Hungary together in a Dual Alliance in 1879.
• In 1882, Italy was asked to join the Dual
Alliance, thus converting it into a Triple Alliance that
lasted until the beginning of World War I in 1914.
• The balance of power seemed to be working.

• When, in 1885, the Second Balkan Crisis erupted
between Bulgaria and Serbia, Russia threatened to
occupy Bulgaria, but Austria stepped in to prevent
Russian dominance of the Balkans.
• When Germany supported Austria instead of Russia,
the latter removed itself from all treaty obligations with
Germany and allied itself with France in 1894.
• France, previously allied with Great Britain, cemented
the Triple Entente when it encouraged the signing of an
Anglo-Russian understanding in 1907.
• The balance of power now pitted Britain, France, and
Russia against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

• In 1908, however, despite Russian objections, Austria-
Hungary annexed Bosnia- Herzegovina outright.
• Serbia, along with Russia, believed that these Slavic
lands should have been incorporated into a greater
Serbian state.
• Eventually, Russia was forced to back down in the face
of German pressure.
• Undaunted, Serbia took advantage of a weakened
Turkey after a 1912 conflict with Italy to increase its
Balkan holdings, causing the eruption of a war between
Serbia and Bulgaria in 1913, known as the Third Balkan
Crisis.

• Russia backed Serbia; Austria-Hungary backed
Bulgaria.
• Though Britain nominally supported Russia and
Germany tacitly supported Austria, both urged a
peaceful resolution of the conflict.
• Regardless, Serbia was livid over both Austro-
Hungarian support of Bulgaria and its continued
dominance in Bosnia-Herzegovina, setting the stage
for the spark that ignited World War I.

• Consider two elements of European politics at the
beginning of the twentieth century that made the
balance of power so dangerous.
• The first is an unlikely culprit, but nevertheless
important--namely, liberalism.
• If we define liberalism as Europe did in the
nineteenth century, this political, economic, and
philosophical doctrine referred to national self-
betterment, the perfectibility of man, and the
discoverability of natural rules of conduct that all
men could understand and follow.

• Liberalism served to justify imperial conquest with the
latter's potential to "civilize" the native populations;
liberalism also recognized war, limited and quick, as a
legitimate form of foreign policy.
• Throughout the nineteenth century, wars were
localized, had spanned mere weeks, and were fought to
preserve the balance of power.
• If that could be true of all war, the argument continued,
war could serve both national and international good
when fought properly.
• That is, when it was based on discoverable rules of
conduct.

The Balance of Power Before WWI
• The balance that immediately preceded World War I was a balance of two
armed camps--Great Britain, France, and Russia on one side and
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and (nominally) Italy on the other side.
• These permanent partnerships locked policymakers into "blank- checks" of
support for their allies in the name of preserving the precarious balance of
power.
• This, in turn, permitted weak nations to act irresponsibly, with the certainty
that they would be defended by their more powerful partners.
• This moral hazard problem explains the Balkan crises of 1874-1913.
• Combine the belligerent and arrogance of the smaller states with a
philosophy of conduct that accepted war and the periphery could easily
drag the center into war.

• As the imperial game raged throughout the world, the
map of Europe was changing as well.
• The European power developed a system of military
and political balance.
• The aptly-named balance of power in Europe was a
system that aimed to maintain international order and
peace by following any increase in strength of one
nation-state with an increase in strength of his
geographic or political enemy.
• By upholding this precarious system, the argument
continued, no country would be willing to embark on a
course of military expansion for fear of reprisal by an
equally powerful force.

• The years 1870 and 1871 marked the consolidation of Italy
and Germany, respectively, into viable and strong nation-
states in the heart of Europe, changing the structure of the
balance of power.
• With the creation of Germany in 1871, the old balance of
power involving France, a rump Brandenburg-Prussia, Austria-
Hungary, and Russia was replaced by a new system.
• Under the leadership of Chancellor Otto von
Bismarck, Germany forged ahead in 1873 by joining the two
most conservative powers in Europe--Austria-Hungary and
Russia-to form the Three Emperors' League.
• The three empires pledged to consult one another on mutual
interests in Europe and to remain neutral when any one
member state took military action against a non-
member, particularly France or the Balkan nations.

• This balance of power program is best illustrated in Europe's
relations with the so-called "sick man of Europe", or the
Ottoman Empire.
• At its height, the Ottomans controlled the Middle East, parts
of northern Africa, and territories as far north as Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
• Since the Ottomans held dominion over the Balkans, most of
Europe preferred to maintain the Ottoman Empire, no matter
how weak, in order to prevent any one European state from
imposing its own dominion over the Balkan peninsula.
• By keeping Constantinople intact, the balance of power in
Europe proper could be maintained.
• However, it was the volatile Balkan Peninsula that threatened
the very foundation of the European balance of power.

• The logic behind a system of power balance dates
back to Europe's reaction to the near complete
domination of Europe by Napoleon's France.
• (The following explains its origins and seeks to
address the validity of the logic, but digresses from
the strong focus on World War I.)
• In September 1814, the great powers of Europe--
then, Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, and Great
Britain--met at the Congress of Vienna to redraw
the map of Europe after Napoleon's defeat.

• The main goal:
– to prevent another instance of French aggression.
– To accomplish their goal, Austrian Foreign Minister
Prince Klemens von Metternich and British Foreign
Secretary Viscount Castlereagh probably developed the
theory of balance of power.
• The manifestation of this theory was the
strengthening of all of France's neighbors in an
attempt to plug up a previously porous border.

• The Congress united the Austrian Netherlands and the
Dutch Republic in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and
Great Britain gave William I, the Netherland's new king,
£2 million to fortify his frontier with France.
• The Italian province of Piedmont--bordering
Switzerland and France--was joined with Sardinia into
the Kingdom of Sardinia under a new monarchy to
contain France to the southeast.
• The bourbon royal family was re-established in Spain to
secure France's southern border, and Prussia was given
control over the left bank of the River Rhine, containing
France on the east.

The logic was quite simple: if the countries around France are strong enough,
their strength will balance out the potential military might of Paris and
prevent further French aggression.
This doctrine held sway for almost a century.
Yet it eventually collapsed into World War One for three main reasons.
– 1. With all of Europe united against France, the creation of a balance against
one enemy was quite simple; however, as time passed and French aggression
seemed less and less likely, a more complex Europe emerged in place of the
simple All versus France.
– 2. The consolidation of Germany and Italy as strong nation-states upset the
balance completely. With new players in the game of European geopolitics, the
old logic did not hold: though Europe failed to react.
– 3. The advancement of technology in warfare changed the criteria of power.
Whereas in Napoleonic times population and infantry forces made a great
power, the dawn of the twentieth century saw the increased importance of
battleships, submarines, troop mobility via trains, et cetera, that could not be
balanced by the fortification of a neighbor, but rather only by a dangerous arms
race.

ANIMAL
• http://www.johndclare.net/causes_WWI2_IDG_Long-
term_egs.html
• http://prezi.com/jovsf2g6jtje/the-start-of-wwi/
• Historians have used the acronym ANIMAL to explain
the reasons leading up to WWI

Alliances
• Three Emperors' League - 1873; an alliance
coordinated by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
between the three most conservative powers in
Europe--Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.
• Each nation pledged to consult the others on matters
of mutual interest and guaranteed that in case one
went to war with a nation in western Europe, the other
two would remain neutral.
• The league showed Bismarck's plan to eliminate the
threat of a two-front war for Germany; also suggests
the prevalence of the balance of power

• Triple Alliance - · 1882; the alliance as it stood
after Italy was asked to join; this maintained the
balance of power in Europe in the face of the
Triple Entente.
• Triple Entente - · 1907; informal alliance
between France, Russia, and Great Britain;
France and Russia had maintained an alliance
since 1895.
• Great Britain joined in reaction to ominous
developments on the Continent, especially the
formation of the Triple Alliance.

Alliances
• As well as seeking protection in the size of their armies, the countries of Europe sought
protection by forming alliances.
•
• At first, Bismarck had kept Germany friendly with Russia. Kaiser Wilhelm overturned this,
and concentrated instead on the Dual Alliance of 1879 between Germany and Austria-
Hungary - which became the Triple Alliance (or Central Powers Alliance) when Italy joined in
1882.
• Alarmed by this strong central bloc:
• a. France in 1894 made an alliance with Russia, and
• b. In 1904 France made an agreement with Britain called the Entente Cordiale(= ‘Friendly
Relationship’ – not a formal alliance, but a promise to work together).
• c. In 1907, Britain made an entente with Russia, thus forming the Triple Entente (France,
Russia, Great Britain).
• d. In 1902 Britain made a naval treaty with Japan.
• The Triple Entente alarmed Germany, which felt itself surrounded by the France-Russia
alliance.
• The countries of Europe thought that the alliance system would act as a deterrent to war; in
fact it tied the countries together so that, when one country went to war, the others felt
themselves obliged to follow.

A map showing the alliances in Europe in 1914.

• Bismarck and Alliances
World War I was caused in part by the two opposing alliances developed by
Bismarckian diplomacy after the Franco-Prussian War.
• In order to diplomatically isolate France, Bismarck formed the Three
Emperor's League in 1872, an alliance between Germany, Russia and
Austria-Hungary.
• When the French occupied Tunisia, Bismarck took advantage of Italian
resentment towards France and created the Triple Alliance between
Germany, Italy and Austria- Hungary in 1882.
• In exchange for Italy's agreement to stay neutral if war broke out between
Austria-Hungary and Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary would protect
Italy from France.
• Russia and Austria-Hungary grew suspicious of each other over conflicts in
the Balkans in 1887, but Bismarck repaired the damage to his alliances with
a Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, allowing both powers to stay neutral if the
other was at war.

• Collapse of Bismarckian Alliances
However, after Bismarck was fired by Kaiser William II in
1890, the traditional dislike of Slavs kept Bismarck's
successors from renewing the understanding with Russia.
• France took advantage of this opportunity to get an ally, and
the Franco- Russian Entente was formed in 1891, which
became a formal alliance in 1894.
• The Kruger telegram William II sent to congratulate the
leader of the Boers for defeating the British in 1896, his
instructions to the German soldiers to behave like Huns in
China during the Boxer Rebellion, and particularly the large-
scale navy he was building all contributed to British distrust
of Germany.

• As a result, Britain and France overlooked all major
imperialistic conflict between them and formed the
Entente Cordiale in 1904.
• Russia formed an Entente with Britain in 1907 after
they had reached an understanding with Britain's ally
Japan and William II had further alienated Russia by
supporting Austrian ambitions in the Balkans.
• The Triple Entente, an informal coalition between
Great Britain, France and Russia, now countered the
Triple Alliance.
• International tension was greatly increased by the
division of Europe into two armed camps.

Nationalism
EVERYONE was nationalist in those days, and this helped cause war in two
ways:
• a. It made the people of countries like Britain, Germany and France more
bellicose (warlike) – the British sang: ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and
Glory’, and the Germans sang: ‘Deutschland uber alles’. French politicians
like Clemenceau and Poincare (who had been around in 1870) HATED the
Germans. People were enraged when someone insulted their country.
• b. It made the races ruled by Turkey (such as the Romanians and the
Bulgarians) and by Austria-Hungary (such as the Serbs) want to be free to
rule themselves. In the Balkans this was called ‘Panslavism’ because the
people who wanted to be free were all Slav races. The most nationalistic of
all were the Serbs – Serbia had became an independent country by the
Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, but in 1900 many Serbs were still ruled by
Turkey and Austria-Hungary, and Serbia was determined to rule over them
all. This led to rebellions and terrorism which destabilized the Balkans.

• Nationalism
At the settlement of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the principle of
nationalism was ignored in favor of preserving the peace.
• Germany and Italy were left as divided states, but strong nationalist
movements and revolutions led to the unification of Italy in 1861 and
that of Germany in 1871.
• Another result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was that France
was left seething over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and
Revanche was a major goal of the French.
• Nationalism posed a problem for Austria-Hungary and the
Balkans, areas comprised of many conflicting national groups.
• The ardent Panslavism of Serbia and Russia's willingness to support its
Slavic brother conflicted with Austria-Hungary's Pan-Germanism.

Imperialism
Countries who believed that they were superior thought it was
alright to conquer and rule others – particularly if they were
inhabited by races they thought were inferior.
This is why countries like Britain, France, Belgium and Italy thought it
was OK to colonize vast areas of Africa in the 19
th
century.
In 1900, the British Empire covered a fifth of land-area of the earth.
– a. This led to clashes between imperialist powers. Britain was trying
to conquer Africa from Cairo (in the north) to Cape Town (in South
Africa). France was trying to conquer Africa from the Atlantic to the
Red Sea. In 1898 their two armies met, at Fashoda in the
Sudan, almost causing a war.
– b. Most of all, it led to HUGE tension when Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany
decided that HE wanted some colonies too!

• Imperialism
Another factor which contributed to the increase in rivalry in
Europe was imperialism.
• Great Britain, Germany and France needed foreign markets after
the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution.
• These countries competed for economic expansion in Africa.
• Although Britain and France resolved their differences in Africa,
several crises foreshadowing the war involved the clash of
Germany against Britain and France in North Africa.
• In the Middle East, the crumbling Ottoman Empire was alluring to
Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia.

What Was the Scramble For Africa?
• The Scramble for Africa (1880-1900) was a period of rapid colonization of the African continent by European
powers. But it wouldn't have happened except for the particular economic, social, and military evolution
Europe was going through.
• Before the Scramble for Africa -- Europeans in Africa up to the 1880s
By the beginning of the 1880s only a small part of Africa was under European rule, and that area was largely
restricted to the coast and a short distance inland along major rivers such as the Niger and the Congo.
• Britain had Freetown in Sierra Leone, forts along the coast of The Gambia, a presence at Lagos, the Gold Coast
protectorate, and a fairly major set of colonies in Southern Africa (Cape Colony, Natal, and the Transvaal which
it had annexed in 1877).
• Southern Africa also had the independent Boer Oranje-Vrystaat (Orange Free State).
• France had settlements at Dakar and St Louis in Senegal and had penetrated a fair distance up the river
Senegal, the Assinie and Grand Bassam regions of Cote d'Ivoire, a protectorate over the coastal region of
Dahomey (now Benin), and had begun colonization of Algeria as early as 1830.
• Portugal had long established bases in Angola (first arriving in 1482, and subsequently retaking the port of
Luanda from the Dutch in 1648) and Mozambique (first arriving in 1498 and creating trading posts by 1505).
• Spain had small enclaves in north west Africa at Ceuta and Melilla (Africa Septentrional Española or Spanish
North Africa).
• And the Ottoman Turks controlled Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia (the strength of Ottoman rule varied greatly).

• France had settlements at Dakar and St Louis in Senegal and
had penetrated a fair distance up the river Senegal, the
Assinie and Grand Bassam regions of Cote d'Ivoire, a
protectorate over the coastal region of Dahomey (now
Benin), and had begun colonization of Algeria as early as
1830.
• Portugal had long established bases in Angola (first arriving in
1482, and subsequently retaking the port of Luanda from the
Dutch in 1648) and Mozambique (first arriving in 1498 and
creating trading posts by 1505).
• Spain had small enclaves in north west Africa at Ceuta and
Melilla (Africa Septentrional Española or Spanish North
Africa).
• And the Ottoman Turks controlled Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia
(the strength of Ottoman rule varied greatly).

• What Caused the Scramble to Happen?
There were several factors which created the impetus for the Scramble for
Africa, most of these were to do with events in Europe rather than in Africa.
• At the end of the 18th century colonialism seemed to have become a thing
of the past. Britain had lost its Thirteen Colonies in America, Spain and
Portugal had lost most of South America and Holland was having difficulties
holding onto the East Indies.
• A hundred years later, however, a second wave of colonization took place.
Within twenty years, from 1880 to 1900, every corner of the Earth, from
the highest mountains in the Himalayas to the most remote Pacific island
and Antarctica, came to be claimed by one or other European power. Africa
saw the most dramatic colonization. It was divided up as if it had been a
cake split between greedy European leaders.
• This was called the "Scramble for Africa".
• Historians still debate the reasons for this "New Imperialism" and find it
difficult to agree on any single cause.

• Historians generally agree that the Scramble for
Africa, the rushed imperial conquest of the Africa by
the major powers of Europe, began with King
Leopold II of Belgium.
• After reading a report in early 1876 that the rich
mineral resources of the Congo Basin (the modern-
day Republic of the Congo) could return an
entrepreneurial capitalist a substantial profit, the
Belgian king ordered the creation of the
International African Association, under his
personal direction, to assume control over the
Congo Basin region.

• When Leopold asked for international recognition of his
personal property in the Congo, Europe gathered at the Berlin
Conference, called to create policy on imperial claims.
• The conference, after much political wrangling, gave the
territory to Leopold as the Congo Free State.
• The conference further decreed that for future imperialist
claims to garner international recognition, "effective
occupation" would be required.
• In other words, no longer did plunging a flag into the ground
mean that land was occupied.
• The conference also created some definition for "effective
occupation," noting that significant "economic development"
was required.

• End of the Slave Trade -- Britain had had some
success in halting the slave trade around the shores
of Africa.
• But inland the story was different -- Muslim traders
from north of the Sahara and on the East Coast still
traded inland, and many local chiefs were reluctant
to give up the use of slaves.
• Reports of slaving trips and markets were brought
back to Europe by various explorers, such as
Livingstone, and abolitionists in Britain and Europe
were calling for more to be done.

• Exploration -- During the nineteenth century barely a
year went by without a European expedition into
Africa.
• The boom in exploration was triggered to a great extent
by the creation of the African Association by wealthy
Englishmen in 1788 (who wanted someone to 'find' the
fabled city of Timbuktu and the course of the Niger
River).
• As the century moved on, the goal of the European
explorer changed, and rather than traveling out of pure
curiosity they started to record details of
markets, goods, and resources for the wealthy
philanthropists who financed their trips.

• Henry Morton Stanley -- A naturalized American (born in
Wales) who of all the explorers of Africa is the one most
closely connected to the start of the Scramble for Africa.
• Stanley had crossed the continent and located the 'missing'
Livingstone, but he is more infamously known for his
explorations on behalf of King Leopold II of Belgium.
• Leopold hired Stanley to obtain treaties with local chieftains
along the course of the River Congo with an eye to creating
his own colony (Belgium was not in a financial position to
fund a colony at that time).
• Stanley's work triggered a rush of European explorers, such as
Carl Peters, to do the same for various European countries.

• Capitalism -- The end of European trading in slaves left a
need for commerce between Europe and Africa.
• Capitalists may have seen the light over slavery, but they still
wanted to exploit the continent - new 'legitimate' trade
would be encouraged.
• Explorers located vast reserves of raw materials, they plotted
the course of trade routes, navigated rivers, and identified
population centers which could be a market for manufactured
goods from Europe.
• It was a time of plantations and cash crops, dedicating the
region's workforce to producing rubber, coffee, sugar, palm
oil, timber, etc for Europe.
• And all the more enticing if a colony could be set up which
gave the European nation a monopoly.

What Other Factors Played a Role in the Scramble to Happen?
• Steam Engines and Iron Hulled Boats
• Medical Advances -- Africa, especially the western
regions, was known as the 'White Man's Grave'
because of the danger of two diseases: malaria and
yellow fever. In 1817 two French scientists, Pierre-
Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé
Caventou, extracted quinine from the bark of the
South American cinchona tree.
• It proved to be the solution to malaria;
unfortunately yellow fever has no cure.

• Politics -- After the creation of a unified Germany (1871) and
Italy (a longer process, but its capital relocated to Rome also
in 1871) there was no room left in Europe for expansion.
• Britain, France and Germany were in an intricate political
dance, trying to maintain their dominance, and an empire
would secure it.
• France, which had lost two provinces to Germany in 1870
looked to Africa to gain more territory.
• Britain looked towards Egypt and the control of the Suez
canal as well as pursuing territory in gold rich southern Africa.
• Germany, under the expert management of Chancellor
Bismarck, had come late to the idea of overseas colonies, but
was now fully convinced of their worth.

The Mad Rush Into Africa in the Early 1880s:
* Within just 20 years the political face of Africa had
changed - with only Liberia (a colony run by ex- African-
American slaves) and Ethiopia remaining free of
European control. The start of the 1880s saw a rapid
increase in European nations claiming territory in
Africa:
– In 1880 the region to the north of the river Congo became a
French protectorate following a treaty between the King of
the Bateke, Makoko, and the explorer Pierre Savorgnan de
Brazza.
– In 1881 Tunisia became a French protectorate and the
Transvaal regained its independence.
– In 1882 Britain occupied Egypt (France pulled out of joint
occupation), Italy begins colonization of Eritrea.
– In 1884 British and French Somaliland created.
– In 1884 German South West Africa, Cameroon, German East
Africa, and Togo created, Río de Oro claimed by Spain.

• Europeans Set the Rules for Dividing Up the
Continent:
The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 -and the resultant
General Act of the Conference at Berlin -laid down
ground rules for the further partitioning of Africa.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/l/bl-
BerlinAct1885.htm
Navigation on the Niger and Congo rivers was to be free
to all, and to declare a protectorate over a region the
European colonizer must show effective occupancy and
develop a 'sphere of influence'.
• The floodgates of European colonization had opened.

• Berlin Conference - 1884; conference held to
legitimize the Belgian King Leopold II's claim
to control the Congo Basin.
• The conference granted him recognition and
set out formal requirements for future
international recognition:
– "effective occupation" designed for economic
development would be required, meaning that no
longer did plunging a flag into the ground mean it
was occupied.

MILITARISM
This is not just an arms race, but also a government's attitude of mind, seeing war as a valid means of foreign
policy. (This often includes the influence of government by the generals.)
All the nations of Europe were militaristic, but the governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary were especially
so.
All the countries of Europe built up their armies and navies. In 1914, their armed forces stood like this:
• • Germany: 2,200,000 soldiers, 97 warships
• • Austria-Hungary: 810,000 soldiers, 28 warships.
• • Italy: 750,000 soldiers, 36 warships
• • France: 1,125,000 soldiers, 62 warships
• • Russia: 1,200,000 soldiers, 30 warships
• • Great Britain: 711,000 soldiers, 185 warships
As one country increased its armies, so all the others felt obliged to increase their armed forces to keep the
‘balance of power’.
•
• Germany and Britain clashed over the size of their navies -
• in 1900 Kaiser Wilhelm began to build up the German navy (Tirpiz's Navy Law), announcing that he wanted
Germans to sail all over the world and take for Germany 'a place in the sun'. After 1906, he began to build
numbers of the new, large 'Dreadnought' battleships, which were more powerful than any other ship.

Militarism
• Germany and Britain clashed over the size of their
navies –
• in 1900 Kaiser Wilhelm began to build up the German
navy (Tirpiz's Navy Law), announcing that he wanted
Germans to sail all over the world and take for
Germany 'a place in the sun'.
• After 1906, he began to build numbers of the new,
large 'Dreadnought' battleships, which were more
powerful than any other ship.

Effects of Militarism
– The British developed the idea that Germany wanted to challenge British sea power - the basis of Britain's
greatness (Britannia rules the waves'.
– A strong navy would also allow Germany to threaten British colonies overseas.
– Britain made an alliance with Japan in 1902, so as not to have to worry so much about the Pacific.
– Britain also began to build Dreadnoughts. The British government had planned to build four
Dreadnoughts in 1909, but when Germany refused to limit the number of ships it was building, the British
public protested, demanding: 'We want eight and we won't wait'. Britain and Germany thus had a naval
arms race.
– By 1914, Britain had won this naval arms race and the British navy was much larger than the German navy,
so it is arguable that this was NOT a major cause of World War One.
• Another thing that the countries of Europe did was to train all their young men so that if
there was a war they could call, not only on the standing army, but on huge numbers of
trained reservists. One historians has estimated the total number of men (including
reservists) that the countries could thus call upon as:
• • Germany: 8.5 million men
• • Russia: 4.4 million
• • France: 3.5 million
• • Austria-Hungary: 3 million
• It is important to realize that - although in 1914 the German army was the biggest and best
in the world - the Russian army was growing the fastest, and German generals were worried

• Military Innovation -- at the beginning of the nineteenth century Europe
was only marginally ahead of Africa in terms of available weapons as
traders had long supplied them to local chiefs and many had stockpiles of
guns and gunpowder.
• But two innovations gave Europe a massive advantage.
• In the late 1860s percussion caps were being incorporated into cartridges -
what previously came as a separate bullet, powder and wadding, was now a
single entity, easily transported and relatively weather proof.
• The second innovation was the breach loading rifle.
• Older model muskets, held by most Africans, were front loaders, slow to
use (maximum of three rounds per minute) and had to be loaded whilst
standing.
• Breach loading guns, in comparison, had between two to four times the
rate of fire, and could be loaded even in a prone position.
• Europeans, with an eye to colonization and conquest, restricted the sale of
the new weaponry to Africa maintaining military superiority.

Arms/Armament
• Arms Race
The menace of the hostile division led to an arms race, another cause of World War I.
• Acknowledging that Germany was the leader in military organization and efficiency, the great powers of Europe
copied the universal conscription, large reserves and detailed planning of the Prussian system.
• Technological and organizational developments led to the formation of general staffs with precise plans for
mobilization and attack that often could not be reversed once they were begun.
– The German von Schlieffen Plan to attack France before Russia in the event of war with Russia was one such complicated
plan that drew more countries into war than necessary.
• Armies and navies were greatly expanded.
– The standing armies of France and Germany doubled in size between 1870 and 1914.
– Naval expansion was also extremely competitive, particularly between Germany and Great Britain.
– By 1889, the British had established the principle that in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of war they
would have to have a navy two and a half times as large as the second-largest navy.
– This motivated the British to launch the Dreadnought, invented by Admiral Sir John Fisher, in 1906.
– The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 had demonstrated how effective these battleships were.
– As Britain increased their output of battleships, Germany correspondingly stepped up their naval production, including
the Dreadnought.
– Although efforts for worldwide disarmament were made at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, international rivalry
caused the arms race to continue to feed on itself.

• Armies and navies were greatly expanded.
• The standing armies of France and Germany doubled in
size between 1870 and 1914. Naval expansion was also
extremely competitive, particularly between Germany
and Great Britain.
• By 1889, the British had established the principle that
in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of
war they would have to have a navy two and a half
times as large as the second-largest navy.
• This motivated the British to launch the Dreadnought,
invented by Admiral Sir John Fisher, in 1906.

• The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 had
demonstrated how effective these battleships
were.
• As Britain increased their output of
battleships, Germany correspondingly stepped up
their naval production, including the
Dreadnought.
• Although efforts for worldwide disarmament
were made at the Hague Conferences of 1899
and 1907, international rivalry caused the arms
race to continue to feed on itself.

Or….Awful Governments
Not only were many of the governments of Europe autocracies (ruled
by one man), many countries had stupid and corrupt governments
• Note that very few of the countries of Europe were democracies -
it is hard for a democracy to go to war because the people (not just
an individual ruler or small group of ministers) need to agree to go
to war.
• Remember also that in these days there was no idea of going to
war for the 'right' reasons - many people in those days thought it
was alright to go to war simply to win more power and territory
for the ruler.
• In such a Europe, outbreak of war was less of an issue than - say
- the recent war in Iraq.
•

Awful / Corrupt Governments
Germany
• Germany was massively powerful, with the most up-to-date industry in the
world. Germany had become a united country for the first time in 1870-1. At
first, the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was careful not to annoy other
countries, but after 1890 the slightly-mad Kaiser Wilhelm II took over the
government.
Turkey
• A very weak despotism, ruled by a corrupt government. Turkey was known as ‘the
sick man of Europe’. Once, Turkey had ruled all of the Balkans, but now the
peoples of that area were rebelling and driving the Turks out – this created a
significant area of instability in Europe: ‘the Balkan pressure-cooker’.
Austria Hungary
• Had once been a strong empire, but now the government was weak and divided
(the Austrians and the Hungarians hated each other). Austria-Hungary had been
built up by marriage and diplomacy during the Middle Ages, and was known as the
‘polyglot (many languages) empire’ because of all the different races in it. The
Habsburg rulers were stupid and inbred, and Emperor Franz Josef was old and
autocratic.

Italy
• A new country formed in 1866. A weak ruler, chaotic governments and a pathetic
army. The Mafia and corruption everywhere.
Russia
• Russia was huge but backward. Nicholas II was a weak and ineffectual ruler, dominated by
his wife and the ‘mad monk’ Rasputin. He kept power by setting the Cossacks on the mob,
and by his Okhrana (secret police). Russia lost a war to Japan disastrously in 1904.
France
• France was a democracy, but the French government was weak. In 1870-1, when Germany
was trying to become a united country, France had gone to war to try to stop it. The
Germans won the war easily, and took the area of Alsace Lorraine from France. The French
were desperate for revenge.
Britain
• Britain was a democracy with a huge empire, but until 1900 Britain believed in ‘splendid
isolation’ – keeping out of affairs in Europe. Neither do you want to go running away with
the idea that Britain had an efficient or modern government. The army was still dominated
by the aristocracy, Britain in 1900 did not have state unemployment pay, sick pay or old age
pensions, and women were not given the vote until 1918.
Kaiser Wilhelm had a withered arm and suffered a slight paralysis which made him unsteady on
his feet. To overcome this, his teachers bullied him; historians think that this caused his
unstable and aggressive character - and may have been a contributory factor to the outbreak
of war.

• Social Democratic Party - · By 1914, the largest single
party in the German Reichstag; represented the left of
the political spectrum, held a Marxist political and
economic philosophy, and adapted to cooperation
within the democratic system.
• Socialist democrats advocated a state socialist system--
welfare state, union power, unemployment insurance,
worker protection, et cetera--within the government.
• Unlike the violent revolutionaries, this party supported
a gradual development from capitalism to socialism by
making changes beneficial to the worker within the
capitalist government

• Germany and Austria-Hungary (the Central
Powers) are seen, at the very least, as creating
the conditions for conflict.
• Some go much further, blaming Germany for
planning and waging a deliberate war of
aggression.

Lists
World War 1 is actually much more complicated than a simple list of causes.
While there was a chain of events that directly led to the fighting, the actual
root causes are much deeper and part of continued debate and discussion.
This list is an overview of the most popular reasons that are cited as the root
causes of World War 1.
– 1. Mutual Defense Alliances
• Over time, countries throughout Europe made mutual defense agreements that would
pull them into battle. Thus, if one country was attacked, allied countries were bound to
defend them.
• Before World War 1, the following alliances existed:
• Russia and Serbia
• Germany and Austria-Hungary
• France and Russia
• Britain and France and Belgium
• Japan and Britain
• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved to defend Serbia. Germany
seeing Russia mobilizing, declared war on Russia. France was then drawn in against
Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling Britain
into war. Then Japan entered the war. Later, Italy and the United States would enter on
the side of the allies.

• Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia got involved
to defend Serbia. Germany seeing Russia mobilizing, declared
war on Russia.
• France was then drawn in against Germany and Austria-
Hungary. Germany attacked France through Belgium pulling
Britain into war.
• Then Japan entered the war. Later, Italy and the United States
would enter on the side of the allies.

Immediate Causes, cont.
• 2. Imperialism
• Imperialism is when a country increases their power and
wealth by bringing additional territories under their control.
• Before World War 1, Africa and parts of Asia were points of
contention amongst the European countries.
• This was especially true because of the raw materials these
areas could provide.
• The increasing competition and desire for greater empires led
to an increase in confrontation that helped push the world
into World War I.

• 3. Militarism
• As the world entered the 20th century, an arms race
had begun.
• By 1914, Germany had the greatest increase in
military buildup.
• Great Britain and Germany both greatly increased
their navies in this time period.
• Further, in Germany and Russia particularly, the
military establishment began to have a greater
influence on public policy.
• This increase in militarism helped push the
countries involved to war.

• 4. Nationalism
– Much of the origin of the war was based on the desire of the Slavic peoples in
Bosnia and Herzegovina to no longer be part of Austria Hungary but instead be
part of Serbia. In this way, nationalism led directly to the War.
– But in a more general way, the nationalism of the various countries throughout
Europe contributed not only to the beginning but the extension of the war in
Europe.
– Each country tried to prove their dominance and power.
• 5. Immediate Cause: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
– The immediate cause of World War I that made all the aforementioned items
come into play (alliances, imperialism, militarism, nationalism) was the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferinand of Austria-Hungary.
– In June 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated him and his wife while they
were in Sarajevo, Bosnia which was part of Austria-Hungary.
– This was in protest to Austria-Hungary having control of this region. Serbia
wanted to take over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
– This assassination led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. When Russia
began to mobilize due to its alliance with Serbia, Germany declared war on
Russia.
– Thus began the expansion of the war to include all those involved in the mutual
defense alliances.

Lists
• Crises in Africa
The friction of an armed and divided Europe escalated into several crises in Morocco and the
Balkans which nearly ended in war.
• In 1905, Germany announced its support of independence for Morocco, the African colony
which Britain had given France in 1904.
• The British defended the French, and war was avoided by a international conference in
Algeciras in 1906 which allowed France to make Morocco a French protectorate.
Bosnian Crisis of 1908
Another conflict was incited by the Austria-Hungarian annexation of the former Turkish
province of Bosnia in 1908.
• The Greater Serbian movement had as an object the acquisition of Slavic Bosnia, so Serbia
threatened war on Austria-Hungary.
• Russia had pledged their support to Serbia, so they began to mobilize, which caused
Germany, allied with Austria-Hungary, to threaten war on Russia.
• The beginning of World War I was postponed when Russia backed down, but relations
between Austria- Hungary and Serbia were greatly strained.

• Morocco II
A second Moroccan crisis occurred in 1911 when Germany sent a warship to Agadir in
protest of French supremacy in Morocco, claiming the French had violated the agreement at
Algeciras. Britain again rose to France's defense and gave the Germans stern warnings.
Germany agreed to allow France a free hand in Morocco in exchange for part of the French
Congo.
• In the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the Balkan States drove the Turks back to Constantinople
and fought among themselves over territory.
• Tensions between Serbia and Austria-Hungary increased when Austria-Hungary forced
Serbia to abandon some of its gains.
Assassination in Sarajevo
Europe had reached its breaking point when on June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand,
heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serbian
nationalist belonging to an organization known as the Black Hand (Narodna Obrana).
• Immediately following the assassination Germany pledged its full support (blank check) to
Austria-Hungary, pressuring them to declare war on Serbia, while France strengthened its
backing of Russia.
• Convinced that the Serbian government had conspired against them, Austria-Hungary issued
Serbia an unacceptable ultimatum, to which Serbia consented almost entirely.

• Falling Dominoes
Unsatisfied, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July
28, 1914. On July 29, Russia ordered a partial mobilization only
against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia, which escalated into
a general mobilization.
• The Germans threatened war on July 31 if the Russians did not
demobilize.
• Upon being asked by Germany what it would do in the event of a
Russo-German War, France responded that it would act in its own
interests and mobilized.
• On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, and two days
later, on France.
• The German invasion of Belgium to attack France, which violated
Belgium's official neutrality, prompted Britain to declare war on
Germany. World War I had begun.

Alliances
• Under Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany moved from a policy of maintaining the
status quo to a more aggressive stance.
• He decided against renewing a treaty with Russia, effectively opting for the
Austrian alliance. Germany's western and eastern neighbours, France and
Russia, signed an alliance in 1894 united by fear and resentment of Berlin.
• In 1898, Germany began to build up its navy, although this could only alarm
the world's most powerful maritime nation, Britain.
• Recognising a major threat to her security, Britain abandoned the policy of
holding aloof from entanglements with continental powers.
• Within ten years, Britain had concluded agreements, albeit limited, with her
two major colonial rivals, France and Russia.
• Europe was divided into two armed camps:
– the Entente Powers and the Central Powers, and their populations began to see
war not merely as inevitable but even welcome.

Questions…
• 1. What changes occurred in Europe's
relationships with the rest of the world between
the early 19th and early 20th centuries?
• 2. What social changes were transforming Europe
at the start of the century?
• 3. What changes inn intellectual life disrupted
accepted cultural standards at the start of the
20th century?
• 4. What were the major changes in political life
between 1880-1914?
• 5. What major factors made Europe prone to war
by 1914?

Did you Know?
• During the summer and fall of 1914, France lost as many men on the battlefield as the
U.S.Army would lose in all of the 20th century!
Russia's losses were never actually counted. It is estimated that over 6 million Russian
soldiers were killed in WWI.
During World War One, 230 soldiers perished for each hour of the four and a quarter years it
continued.
The world's worst train accident occurred in France, in December 1917 with the deaths of
over 600 soldiers.
There were 70,000,000 men and women in uniform of that number one-half were either
killed, wounded or became prisoners of war.
In Great Britain at the end of the war there were 250,000 wounded soldiers who suffered
total or partial amputation.
The Spanish Influenza of 1918 killed 51 million people worldwide!
The U.S. was in the war in actual combat for only seven and a half months. During this time
116,000 were killed and 204,000 were wounded.
In 1916 in the Italian Alps a winter avalanche killed 10,000 men. In four years of conflict on
the Italian Alpine Front 50,000 soldiers killed by avalanches.

• The Italian Front 1915-1918 was the site of the largest scale mountain warfare in
history.
During the course of the Great War 11% of Frances's entire population was killed or
wounded.
The site of the Battle of Verdun is remembered as the battlefield with the highest
density of dead per square yard.
The biggest naval battle in history occurred off the coast of Jutland in the afternoon
of May 31, 1916. More than 200 warships and 100,000 men of the rival navies were
involved. The British "Grand Fleet" lost 14 ships. The German "High Seas Fleet" lost
11 ships.
• Half of the dead of Great War have no known grave.
The largest man made explosion occurred at Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, Canada
1917 with the collision of 2 ammo ships.
The 10 month Battle of Verdun, 1916 caused over a million casualties.
At the end of the war in France the 650,000 war widows became a powerful voting
block .
Italian Front
60,000 Alpine troops would freeze to death in the "high mountains" (Dolomiti
Adamello ranges) during 3 years of war.

WORLD WAR ONE FIRSTS
• First war to be fought on 3 continents.
First industrialized conflict.
First use of chlorine & mustard gas.
First use of the flame thrower.
First tank battle.
First use of mass airplanes.
First use of x-ray in the military.
First use of a blood bank.
First use of guide dogs by blinded soldiers.
First four-star general, General John J. Pershing
First use of trillion in estimating war costs.
First commissioning of war art for propaganda.
First use of the IQ Test given to Doughboys of 1917.
First U.S. president to visit a European country
while in office was Woodrow Wilson on 12/04/18.

Describe at least four general motives for empire that inspired Europe
to its great imperial successes at the end of the nineteenth century.
• Motives for imperial conquest ranged from reasons of economics,
geopolitics, nationalism, and liberal philosophy. In the economic
arena, empires can provide markets for goods, opportunities for
profitable investment, protection from the boom and bust cycle of
capitalism, and sources of cheap labor for industrial development.
• Geopolitics made certain territories important for its location, such as
the Suez Canal, while some countries seized regions to prevent other
European states from seizing them.
• Nationalist concerns translated into the national prestige that came
as a result of gaining large expanses of territory and seeing the color
of your country painting regions throughout Africa and Asia.
• Liberalism, defined as a dedication to self-improvement and the belief
that there were discoverable rules of general conduct everyone could
follow, contributed to paternalism and arguments of racial and
cultural superiority that pushed Europeans into Africa to "civilize"
local populations.

Why do you think Great Britain was able to survive
throughout the nineteenth century without the eruption
of serious social upheavals and worker revolt?
• The political system in Britain was malleable and (relatively)
easily adaptable to changing mores in society.
• Britain's politicians maintained a generally farsighted view
and a keen understanding of political change and, therefore,
was able to realize that the currents of change toward the
end of the nineteenth century was moving toward the worker.
• Change was able to come to Britain even without a Labour
majority in Parliament, suggesting that social upheaval may
have been prevented due to the relatively responsive nature
of the British political system.

Now that we have discussed the domestic political developments in
Great Britain, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, can you identify
a general similarity between the societal changes that took place in
those states?
• It is easy to see that change in all the major state of
Europe, save Russia, took place due to the emergence
of the masses as a serious force in national politics.
• In Britain and Germany, the worker began to wield
popular and legislative power; in France, the mass
media allowed national figures to appeal to the
agrarian poor and the workers of Paris; in Austria, every
ethnic minority, student groups, radical right
leagues, etc became a force as the dominance of the
bourgeoisie began to fade.

Lecture hst 102 the path to wwi spring 2013 1

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