European Great Powers and the Road to Conflict, 1870–1914
European Great Powers: Democratic Politics
Great Britain: During Queen Victoria's reign, Britain was the most powerful, developed and prosperous country in Europe, and its influence extended throughout the European communities. The liberal politics of the Victorian era was dominated by the alternation of two major parties:
- - Tories: conservatives
- - Whigs: liberals
However, by the late 1890s the Whigs had been replaced by the Labour Party, changing the political landscape. This was part of the early modernization process of the British liberal system. The electoral system was gradually expanded, bringing the vote to universal male suffrage. Democratization advanced, and education became compulsory and free for children aged 6 to 13.
2 France:
France was a unique case among the great powers, as it was a republic. The French Third Republic had a legislature (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate) and an elected president with few powers. To promote democratization, universal male suffrage was introduced, legalizing workers' parties. The momentum of secularization separated the state from the Church, introducing free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 13 in the 19th century.
By the late 19th century, the republican parties were consolidated into two tendencies: a more radical one and a more moderate one. In 1905 the SFIO (French Section of the Workers' International) was founded, whose influence reached the working class.
The international question divided French public opinion, particularly regarding relations with Germany. A very conflictive issue was the dispute over Alsace-Lorraine, a territory lost by France to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. German unification had been completed, and agreement with Germany seemed impossible. France sought to build alliances with other powers to face Germany and recover the lost regions.
II. The German Empire:
The German Empire completed its political unification and became a new German state. It quickly became a great industrial power, directed by Chancellor Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I, who organized a tightly controlled government. The Reich had a federal territorial structure, but its political regime had a strong authoritarian component and was not truly democratic.
There were two chambers: the Bundesrat, or upper house, a federal council, and the Reichstag, or lower house, whose members were elected by census suffrage. The Kaiser could appoint ministers independent of parliament, and they were responsible not to the chamber but to the same dominant emperor. The dominant political forces were conservatives.
Pangermanism, a political ideology aimed at unifying all peoples of German origin, rapidly gained prominence, and in 1891 the Pan-German League was founded, calling for territorial expansion to give the German people the living space they needed. The new Kaiser, Wilhelm II, declared his willingness to pursue a global policy, supported especially by naval development and the creation of a large war fleet. Thus the militarist influence within the German state was a warmongering force and one of the causes of the war.
The old empires
The old European empires conserved their absolutist monarchies and resisted the penetration of liberal sentiment.
- - The Russian Romanov Empire: The Russian Empire was a clear example of autocratic government. Despite its immense territory and demographic potential, it showed backwardness, contrasting with its society due to the persistence of the late feudal regime. As a consequence, its industrialization was late and limited to certain regions.
- - The Austro-Hungarian Empire: The emperor Francis Joseph exercised practically absolute power, and there was a dominance of the territorial aristocracy. After the reforms of 1868, the empire became a dual monarchy (Austria-Hungary), dominated by a German-speaking minority. The key internal problem was the claims of the various subjugated nationalities (Slavs, Serbs, etc.).
- - The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire: Throughout the long nineteenth century, the empire faced nationalist movements in its territories. Rivalry among the Western powers, who wanted to control territories and support the dismembered Balkan nations in their independence from European territories under Ottoman rule, was a sentiment that provoked the national awakening and imperial decline.
Causes of War: Formation of Alliances
Between 1870 and 1890, Chancellor Bismarck promoted a system of international alliances that followed these principles:
- - German predominance in European continental politics
- - The creation of a bloc of powers centered on the German Empire
- - The containment of Germany's enemies
- - The isolation of France, to avoid a possible revenge for the loss of the Alsace and Lorraine regions
With these objectives, Bismarck's diplomacy included:
- - 1873: League of the Three Emperors, among the conservative great emperors (Austria, Russia and Germany)
- - 1879: Dual Alliance, between Germany and Austria, whose ratification was also accompanied by a secret agreement with Russia, maintained without disclosure
- - 1882: Triple Alliance, among Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, one of the key international political agreements of the time
The Russian Empire, having been left out of the German alliances, was isolated and threatened by Austria-Hungary. It refocused its foreign policy and sought an alliance with France, which also wanted a defensive pact against the possible threats of the Triple Alliance. The Franco-Russian Agreement established mutual assistance in case of military threat from Austria.
Britain and Germany, as colonial and maritime rivals, reached an agreement in 1904, the Entente Cordiale. Three years later, Britain settled its differences with Russia, ending rivalries in Asia. As a consequence of these diplomatic developments, Bismarck's idea of isolating France was defeated. Thus the old Triple Alliance of Austria, Hungary and Italy was joined in 1907 by the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia.
Colonial Confrontations
At the beginning of the twentieth century, hostilities among imperialist rivals intensified in the scenario of Africa, specifically in the Moroccan zone, one of the last points of dispute on the continent, especially confronting Germans and French.
- The first crisis (1905): The German government offered its support to the Sultan of Morocco so he could resist French pressure and avoid a French protectorate over the region. To resolve the conflict, the Algeciras Conference was convened, but German aspirations were frustrated by the establishment of a Franco-Spanish protectorate over Morocco.
- The second Moroccan crisis (1911): Following an insurrection in southern Morocco, the German government sent the gunboat Panther to the port of Agadir under the pretext of protecting German subjects. Under German pressure, France accepted the German expansion in the colony of Cameroon in exchange for Germany abandoning its claims on Morocco.
The Balkan Crises
The Austro-Hungarian Empire and its influence, along with the Russian Empire, competed for power in the Balkan area, taking advantage of the weaknesses of the Ottoman Empire. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires opposed Serbian ambitions to unify all the South Slavs, since the territories involved would significantly weaken their empires. The Russian Empire aspired to increase its international influence, becoming the protector of the Slavs, especially its ally Serbia.
Between 1908 and 1913, three successive Balkan crises took place:
- The Balkan War (1912): Russian support led to the creation of a league bringing together Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Turkey, which attacked Turkey in the First Balkan War.
- The Second Balkan War (1913): Bulgaria, faced with Serbs and Greeks, lost the peace of Bucharest. Bulgaria became the big loser and had to cede different countries and territories to Serbia and Greece, which obtained important territorial compensations.