19th Century European Powers: Germany, Russia, England, France

19th Century European Powers

Germany

• Economy: A nation with great demographic, economic, educational, and scientific potential. After unification, Germany was poised to become the most potent industrial power in Europe and second in the world. However, it lagged commercially and financially behind England and France.
• Politics: Adopted a liberal system weakened by authoritarian elements, including the Kaiser and a strong parliamentary government. The parliament was weakened by its subordination to the executive branch. Germany was a strong state led by the Emperor, with a bicameral parliament and a federal territorial organization. It had a two-party system, but with the supremacy of conservatives who could barely tolerate progressives. The German Social Democratic Labor Party and the Zentrum also emerged. Progressivism expanded, resulting in racism and antisemitism. Germany eventually adopted a policy of warmongering and arms buildup after the fall of Bismarck.

Russia

• Economy: Primarily agrarian and stagnant, with land owned by the nobility and clergy in a feudal model. Industrialization was late and weak.
• Situation: Remained an autocratic empire with absolute power. Only timid reforms were implemented, achieving little. Russia displayed a Pan-Slavic expansionist character towards the Balkans and the Far East, leading to conflict with Japan. Manorial rule continued, with landlords wielding economic and political power. Serfdom was abolished in 1861.

England

• Economy: From the second half of the 19th century until 1914, England was the most powerful and prosperous nation, based on advanced industry, trade, and capital. England adopted free trade as its economic doctrine, promoting competition.
• Politics: A bourgeois liberal system with a parliamentary monarchy in a continuous process of modernization and democratization. Universal suffrage was gradually expanded, albeit initially only for men. The suffragette movement emerged. The party system was based on conservatives and liberals, with the liberals later replaced by the Labour Party. Education was reformed by establishing free compulsory education between the ages of 6 and 13. England faced the Irish nationalist movement during this era.

France

• Economy: Underwent a later and slower process of change but became a powerful financial, commercial, and industrial nation. Paris became the second economic center of the world. France invested capital in many countries, including Russia and Spain, and possessed the second-largest colonial empire.
• Politics: A liberal, republican, and secular system. The political culture was based on a compulsory, free, and secular educational system. France experienced a gradual process of democratization through the growing extension of the franchise. The political landscape was dominated by moderate and radical parties, although workers' parties and vengeful nationalist sentiments also emerged.