European Powers and the Path to World War I: 1832-1918
Great Britain: A Victorian Powerhouse
Great Britain was a monarchy forged in the so-called liberal, Victorian era, which coincided with the long reign of Victoria I. During that period, it was the most powerful, most developed, most prosperous, and most influential of the first European powers. Its political system was based on the alternation in power of two major parties: the Tories and Whigs. The process of modernization of the English liberal state, based on the various laws of reforms that occurred between 1832 and 1885, expanded the electoral system, making it increasingly participatory.
France: The Third Republic
France became the only major European power whose political regime was a republic. The Third French Republic had two legislative chambers and an elected president with few powers. During this period, it prompted political democratization: civil liberties were restored, universal suffrage was introduced, the election of mayors was decreed, and labor unions were legalized. It also promoted a process of secularization of the state and a social decline in the influence of the Church. The international issue that most divided French public opinion was the relations with Germany, following the highly contentious conflict of Alsace and Lorraine, lost territories to Germany during the Franco-Prussian War.
The Second Reich: A Rising Power
The Second Reich: Once the process of political unification was complete, Germany began the construction of the new Germanic state, quickly becoming a major industrial power that aspired to lead European continental politics. Chancellor Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I organized a tight government with a tendency to impose the reason of state. The Reich had a federal territorial structure, but its political system showed a strong authoritarian streak. The Kaiser could appoint his ministers independently of parliament, and they were not responsible to the chamber but to the emperor himself. Pan-Germanism called for a territorial expansion that would give the German people the space they needed. The new chancellor, Guillermo II, in 1888, declared his desire to create a global policy, supported especially by naval development and the creation of a large fleet of war. It was one of the causes of German militarism.
The Old Empires: Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottomans
The old empires: European empires were absolute monarchies, and the liberal system never penetrated them. The Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied a central European position, the Russian Empire had expansion in Asia, and Turkey was mostly Asian.
The Russia of the Romanovs
Russia was an autocratic empire. The immensity of its territory and its demographic potential contrasted with the backwardness of its society. Although Tsar Alexander II had decreed the liberation of the serfs, the transformation of its economy was late, and industrialization was limited. The last of the Tsars, Nicholas II, had ascended the throne in 1894. His domestic politics were always based on the most absolute autocracy.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary was in a clear political impasse: devoid of democratic institutions, the emperor’s power was absolute, and there was a dominance of the landed aristocracy.
The Formation of International Alliances
Most European countries were part of a system of alliances between states. These alliances, which led to the First World War, began to forge at the request of Germany, at the time of Chancellor Bismarck. Between 1870 and 1890, Bismarck promoted systems of international alliances that were due to the following principles: the quest for German dominance in the political wing, creating a power bloc centered in the German empire, and the containment of Germany’s enemies. In 1882, he signed the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, which was one of the pillars of international politics until the start of the First World War in 1914. The Russian Empire was threatened by isolation and reoriented its foreign policy toward a defensive alliance with France. It was a Franco-Russian agreement with clauses setting out mutual aid in case of a German or Austrian military threat. Britain and France overcame their colonial rivalry and came to an agreement called the Entente Cordiale. Britain established, on the other hand, some agreements with the Russian Empire. Faced with an old Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, a Triple Entente between Britain, France, and Russia emerged in 1907.
The Colonial Encounters: The Moroccan Crisis
Hostilities between rival imperialist powers had then as their stage North Africa, specifically the area of Morocco, where German and French interests faced off. The first Moroccan crisis took place in 1905. The German government offered its support to the Sultan of Morocco to enable him to resist pressure to establish a French protectorate in the area.
The Balkan Crisis: A Powder Keg
The Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires sought to increase their influence in the region by exploiting the weakness of the Turkish Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was opposed to the Serbian desire to unite all South Slavs. Because of successive partnerships, all the European powers could find themselves involved in a Balkan conflict. The first flashpoint began in 1908 when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina. The First Balkan War broke out in 1912. The Russian Empire supported the creation of a Balkan League to attack Turkey, forcing the latter out of their European territories except Constantinople. In 1913, a Second Balkan War confronted the Serbs with the Bulgarians. The Peace of Bucharest confirmed Bulgaria as the big loser.
Rising Tensions: Franco-German Rivalry and Naval Race
Franco-German rivalry was revived with the arrears crisis, and German pressure was seen as a threat of expansionism and stirred Germanic nationalism in France. Naval competition between Germany and Britain, in the race for the construction of warships, was also increasing.
The Outbreak of the Conflict: Assassination in Sarajevo
On June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, along with his wife. The attack was made by a student related to Bosnian Serb nationalist groups. From that moment, the game of power and alliances started throughout Europe, and in a week, it went to war. The invasion of the German armies on neutral Belgium made Britain intervene in the conflict alongside their Russian and French allies, and it declared war on Austria and Germany.
War of Movements and Trench Warfare
At the time in which war was started in August 1914, Germany and Austria-Hungary enjoyed important advantages: powerful armies and easy communication. The war on two fronts required them to obtain a quick victory. In case of a prolonged conflict, the French and British naval blockade could be used to isolate them, and they expected to mobilize forces scattered in the large colonial empires. The German plan wanted a fast attack entering through Belgium and Luxembourg. The Germans advanced, and their armies invaded Belgium and France. In September 1914, the Germans were 40 km from Paris. The French armies managed to stop the German advance in the Battle of the Marne. The strategy of the German blitzkrieg had failed. With the help of their allies, the front was stabilized from the Swiss border to the North Sea. On the eastern front, progress in Germany was higher, but not decisive. The Russian forces developed a counterattack and invaded Austro-Hungarian territory. The trench warfare was hard and long. On the western front, the conflict reached its climax in the Battle of Verdun. The Germans wanted to break the Allied front. The French soldiers endured for more than four months the rush of the German troops.
Globalization of the Conflict
In 1915, Italy sided with the Allies and opened a new front. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Japan with the Allied side. The conflict dragged on, and there was the participation of colonial empires. The war also extended to the seas. The so-called submarine warfare spread the conflict to the oceans. Submarine warfare and attacking U.S. ships were decisive for the outcome of the contest. From an economic standpoint, governments instituted real war economies with strong state intervention.
The Crisis of 1917 to the End of the War
The outbreak, in 1917, of the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Bolsheviks to power caused a huge change in the situation. The new Soviet government called a truce, leaving the contest, and signed in 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In 1918, the definitive outcome of the conflict occurred. The Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary called an armistice, and the fighting stopped at all frontiers to the east. On November 3, the Austrian Empire surrendered, and the emperor abdicated. The Allies reorganized their armies under a single command and, bolstered by American aid, won a decisive victory in the Marne area. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated, a republic was declared, and the new government in the hands of the German Social Democratic Party signed the armistice. The First World War had ended.