-
- Arms race in Europe - Britain, France, Germany, Russia, build weapons of mass destruction
- Historical hatred and suspicion divide Europe onto two armed camps
*Central powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turkish Empire
*Allied powers: Great Britain, France, Russia
Cause of World War I
-
Industrialization and technologyVast colonial empires
All Western countries democratic
Medical science—vaccines
Air flight, automobiles, radio, Telephone
1871-1914 An Age of Progress for Europe
-
Domestic politics begins to influence/dictate domestic and foreign policy
Middle classes embrace liberalism, nationalism
Working classes (by far the largest) embrace socialism
Impact on Masses of New Ideologies
-
Britain (Hanoverians/Windsors)
France (a republic)
Germany (Hohenzollerns)
Austria-Hungary (Hapsburgs)
Russia (Romanovs)
The Great Powers
-
German unification in 1871 upset balance of power in Europe
Germany—conservative, authoritarian, militaristic Prussian monarchy
Bismarck’s system of alliances to isolate France
*1879 alliance with Austria
*1882 alliance with Italy
*1887 treaty with Russia
International Diplomacy 1871-1914
-
Russia wanted access to the Bosporus and Dardenelles, a warm water port
Russia and the pan-Slavic movement
Austria wanted to expand into the Balkans to squelch Serbian expansion
Russian-Austrian Rivalry in Balkans
-
1890 Dismisses Bismarck as Chancellor, assumes control of foreign policy
English mother, Queen Victory his grandmother
First cousin of Czar Nicholas of Russia
Young and arrogant
1890 Kaiser Wilhelm II Becomes German Emperor
-
Weltpolitik “world policy”
Not clearly defined—Germany’s desire to play a role equal with other great powers, domination of European mainland
Global view, aggressive, aggressive foreign policy, establish coloniesMassive naval buildup worries Britain
Berlin to Baghdad railroad
Grew partly out of Social Darwinism
Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Foreign Policy
|
|
