Pre-WWI Europe
A tenuous balance of power
Several underlying causes
lead to WWI…
Domestic Issues of political & social
unrest
 Colonial conflicts (new imperialism)
 Nationalistic Motives
 Power Alignments (alliances)
 Armaments (militarism)
 International Crises (Morocco and the
Balkans)

Domestic Uncertainty
In general many countries were facing political
divisions between Left Wing socialists and
anarchists vs. an emerging Right that tended
towards nationalism and anti-Semitism
Both opposed the liberalism of the late 19th
century
Encouraged growth of a new Zionist movement
and desire for a native Jewish homeland
The Democratic Countries

GB
• Tensions with Ireland
• Hostilities in House of Lords over social
reform programs like Old Age Pensions
• Women’s suffrage movement becoming
militant

France
• The 3rd Republic facing fight from Left and
Right to take down democracy
• Lacked effective leadership
• The Dreyfuss Affair had the Assembly
divided
• 1905 – Separation of Church and State =
violent uprisings
• Labour problems

Italy
• Though unified in 1860 was still quite divided
• Only 3% of population had suffrage rights
• The 50 years since unification had included
massive population growth and the country
couldn’t manage
• Martial law used to violently repress peasant and
industry uprisings
• June 1914 – a national strike. It took 100,000
soldiers and 10 days to restore order
The Autocratic Countries
-- faced even more uncertainty than the democracies

Ottoman Empire
• Advanced state of dissolution – internal
secession, violent despot, coup by Young
Turks in July 1908 – lead to “Turkification”
• Ongoing unrest created a weak nation; by
1911 Italy occupied Libya; Greece, Bulgaria
and Serbia formed the Balkan League; Albania
was independent; Macedonia was partitioned
… The Ottoman Empire is essentially eliminated

Russia - you know the story
• Tsar is struggling to maintain order
• Challenges of modernity
• Young intellectuals questioning the
autocratic system
• Revolutionary groups mounting
• 1905 – Bloody Sunday
• October Manifesto to Fundamental Laws
• Suspended Dumas

Austria-Hungary
• Intense nationalism fraught with ethnic
tension
• Challenges and lack of unity in combined
Austrian and Hungarian armies
• Hungary wants out of dual monarchy
• Austrian side had 30 ethnically based
political parties → parliament at a
standstill

Germany
• Had a parliament but it was answerable to
the Kaiser
• Prussia, the most reactionary region of
country had a dominant influence
• Even under Bismarck’s reforms, there
was growing dissent and strengthening of
Socialist and Catholic Center parties
• Intense labour militancy
• Increased calls for parliamentary system

Germany cont’d
• When Bismarck was dismissed as
Chancellor by Kaiser Wilhelm II, both
domestic and international deterioration
increased
• Weltpolitik – increase navy, acquire
colonies, gain power amongst the Great
Powers – created international tensions
and impacted alliances
New Imperialism

By mid 18th Century empire building had
slowed but 1880-1905 there was
unprecedented imperialism (European powers
subjugated 50% of the world’s non-European
population)
Massive migration – b/w 1840 and 1914 3035 million Europeans moved overseas
 Search was for new wealth and potential
markets in Asia and Africa


Refer to New Imperialism sheet for additional motives
Nationalistic Motives

Empire building (via imperialism) was
largely motivated by nationalist
desires. Prove your power and worth,
and therefore, superiority.

Bitter rivalries formed b/w the Great
Powers.
Power Alignments

Refer to Bismarck summary sheet for
much more detail
• 1882 – Triple Alliance; Ger, A-H, Italy
• 1904 – Br and Fr, Entente
• 1907 – Anglo-Russian Entente
Militarism / Armaments
Hague disarmament conferences of
1899 and 1907 fail
 Between 1875 and 1914 Germany
increased arms spending by 230%,
Britain by 189% and France by 109%
 GB and Germany in naval race from
1890 (Dreadnoughts)

Nation
# of aircraft in
1914
Size of Army in
1914
# of soldiers
who fought in
war
Austria-Hungary
34
3 million
7.8 million
Britain
110
975 000
8.9 million
France
160
4 million
8.4 million
Germany
246
4.5 million
11 million
Russia
300
6 million
12 million
200 000
4.4 million
United States
International Crises

Moroccan Crises
• 1905 and 1911

Balkan Crises
• 1908 and 1914
Which leads us to Franz Ferdinand …