Age of Bismarck and Competing Alliances
Overview
Nineteenth-Century European Diplomacy - An Overview
The title image for this lesson, an 1884 drawing of the 1884 Berlin Conference that Otto von Bismarck hosted to devise a system for the European colonization of Africa illustrates, among other aspects of late nineteenth-century European diplomacy, the struggle to maintain international order, fears about radical economic, political, and social change, and the leading role of Otto von Bismarck in these efforts. His location at the center of this painting reflects his central position in these efforts.
Learning Objectives
Explain the consolidation of national states in Europe during the 19th century.
Be able to identify and explain the diplomatic and military situation in Europe during the last third of the nineteenth century, including
the major European powers and their goals
the shifting rivalries and alliances among European powers
Bismark’s foreign policy goals and initiatives
Be able to explain and assess the impact of Bismark’s diplomatic and military policy initiatives.
Analyze and identify the role of the MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism) causes of World War I.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Kaiser Wilhelm II: the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from June 1888 to November 1918 (He dismissed the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose “New Course” in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914, which led in a matter of days to the First World War.)
Belle Époque: a period of Western European history conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I around 1914 (Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic (beginning 1870), it was characterized by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity and technological, scientific and cultural innovations. In the climate of the period, especially in Paris, the arts flourished.)
From the early 1860s until 1890 Otto von Bismarck was one of the dominant figures in European diplomacy, and, by extension, international relations. During the 1860s he forged the creation of the German empire, then successfully maneuvered the new German nation through a slew of foreign and domestic challenges, influencing the course of European diplomacy during the 1870s and 1880s, roughly the first half of a period in European history known as the Belle Epoque. During this period, 1871 – 1890, Bismarck was the German Chancellor and the German Minister of Foreign Affairs. In these roles he prevented France, among other German rivals, from forming any alliances antithetical to German imperial interests as he, among others, defined them. One of the key traits in his efforts was his flexibility, which allowed him to accept and work with various diplomatic, political, and social changes then occurring in Europe. In 1890 he lost his position as German chancellor, partly as a result of his disagreements with Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had ascended to the throne two years earlier. Wilhelm II’s more aggressive and assertive military and foreign policies, unchecked by Bismarck, or another foreign minister with his views, exacerbated the fears of France and Britain toward Germany, contributing to the formation of the Entente Cordiale between them in 1904, which was one of the bases of the alliance against Germany in the First World War.
European Diplomacy from the French Revolution to the Age of Bismarck
The Congress of Vienna established many of the diplomatic norms of the 19th century and created an informal system of diplomatic conflict resolution aimed at maintaining a balance of power among nations, which contributed to the relative peace of the century.
Learning Objectives
Explain the consolidation of national states in Europe during the 19th century.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Otto von Bismarck: a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890 (In the 1860s he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, significantly and deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871, he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germany’s position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, remained at peace.)
Concert of Europe: a system of dispute resolution adopted by the major conservative powers of Europe to maintain their power, oppose revolutionary movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold the balance of power (It is suggested that it operated in Europe from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) to the early 1820s, while some see it as lasting until the outbreak of the Crimean War, 1853-1856.)
Congress of Vienna: a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich and held in Vienna from November 1814 to June 1815, though the delegates had arrived and were already negotiating by late September 1814 (The objective was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace.)
Pax Britannica: the period of relative peace in Europe (1815 – 1914), during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a global police force
Development of Modern Diplomacy
In Europe, early modern diplomacy’s origins are often traced to the states of Northern Italy in the early Renaissance, where the first embassies were established in the 13th century. Milan played a leading role especially under Francesco Sforza, who established permanent embassies to the other city states of Northern Italy. Tuscany and Venice were also flourishing centers of diplomacy from the 14th century onward. It was in the Italian Peninsula that many of the traditions of modern diplomacy began, such as the presentation of an ambassador’s credentials to the head of state. From Italy, the practice spread across Europe. The elements of modern diplomacy arrived in Eastern Europe and Russia by the early 18th century.
The entire edifice would be greatly disrupted by the French Revolution and the subsequent years of warfare. The revolution would see commoners take over the diplomacy of the French state and of those conquered by revolutionary armies. Ranks of precedence were abolished. Napoleon also refused to acknowledge diplomatic immunity, imprisoning several British diplomats accused of scheming against France.
After the fall of Napoleon, the 1815 Congress of Vienna established an international system of diplomatic rank with ambassadors at the top, as they were considered personal representatives of their sovereign. Disputes on precedence among nations (and therefore the appropriate diplomatic ranks used) were first addressed at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, but they persisted for over a century until after World War II, when the rank of ambassador became the norm. In between, figures such as the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were renowned for international diplomacy.
Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe
The objective of the Congress of Vienna was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace. The Concert of Europe, also known as the Congress System or the Vienna System after the Congress of Vienna, was a system of dispute resolution adopted by the major conservative powers of Europe to maintain their power, oppose revolutionary movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold the balance of power. It is suggested that it operated in Europe from the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) to the early 1820s, while some see it as lasting until the outbreak of the Crimean War, 1853-1856.
At first, the leading personalities of the system were British foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh, Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich, and Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord played a major role at the Congress of Vienna in 1814 – 1815, where he negotiated a favorable settlement for France while undoing Napoleon’s conquests.
Talleyrand polarizes scholarly opinion. Some regard him as one of the most versatile, skilled, and influential diplomats in European history, and some believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, Napoleon, and the Restoration. Talleyrand worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, and Louis-Philippe. Those he served often distrusted Talleyrand but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name “Talleyrand” has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy.
The Concert of Europe had no written rules or permanent institutions, but at times of crisis any of the member countries could propose a conference. Diplomatic meetings of the Great Powers during this period included: Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), Carlsbad (1819), Troppau (1820), Laibach (1821), Verona (1822), London (1832), and Berlin (1878).
The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) resolved the issues of Allied occupation of France and restored that country to equal status with Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The congress, which broke up at the end of November, is of historical importance, mainly as marking the highest point reached during the 19th century in the attempt to govern Europe by an international committee of the powers. The detailed study of its proceedings is highly instructive in revealing the almost insurmountable obstacles to any truly effective international diplomatic system prior to the creation of the League of Nations after the First World War.
The Concert system fell apart as the common goals of the Great Powers diverged with the growing political and economic rivalries among them. The territorial boundaries laid down at the Congress of Vienna were maintained, and there was an acceptance of the theme of balance with no major aggression. Otherwise, the Congress system, says historian Roy Bridge, “failed” by 1823. In 1818, the British decided not to become involved in continental issues that did not directly affect them, and they rejected the plan of Alexander I to suppress future revolutions. There was no Congress called to restore the old system during the great revolutionary upheavals of 1848 with their demands for revision of the Congress of Vienna’s frontiers along national lines.
The Congress of Vienna was frequently criticized by nineteenth-century and by more recent historians for ignoring national and liberal impulses and imposing a stifling reaction on the Continent. It was an integral part of what became known as the Conservative Order, in which the liberties and civil rights associated with the American and French Revolutions were de-emphasized so that a fair balance of power, peace and stability might be achieved.
Despite having failed to achieve its reactionary goals past the early 1820s, it served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945. Prior to the opening of the Paris peace conference of 1918, the British Foreign Office commissioned a history of the Congress of Vienna to serve as an example to its own delegates of how to achieve an equally successful peace.
The European Continent After Vienna
Post-Napoleonic Europe was characterized by a general lack of major conflict between the great powers, with Great Britain as the major hegemonic power bringing relative balance to European politics. The nineteenth century was marked by relative stability, with no wars involving all the major powers occurred between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the beginning of the First World War. Otto von Bismarck contributed as much as any other single European leader to this stability through his role as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1871 to 1890. In this role he pursued policies and initiatives to protect the new German empire from alliances that could threaten it. His policies and initiatives also buttressed the diplomatic and military stability in Europe during the late nineteenth century. Bismarck’s efforts to keep other European powers from perceiving the German empire as an existential threat to them. When Kaiser Wilhelm II forced Bismarck to resign as Chancellor and began pursuing a much more assertive and aggressive posture for the German Empire, without regard to the insecurities of other European states, Europe entered a new period of instability culminating in the outbreak of World War I.
This quiet period was shattered by World War I (1914 – 18), which was unexpected in its timing, duration, casualties, and long-term impact. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the European powers came together at the Congress of Vienna to reorganize the political map of Europe to preserve peace and balance of power; this meeting was termed the Concert of Europe.
Of the four major powers represented at the Vienna Congress (the Austrian, British, Prussian, and Russian empires), all but the Austrian empire rose to become major world powers. The British and Russian empires, in particular, expanded significantly after the Napoleonic Wars and became the world’s leading powers. The Russian Empire expanded in central and far eastern Asia. The British Empire grew rapidly in the first half of the century, especially with the expansion of vast territories in Canada, Australia, South Africa, and heavily populated India, and in the last two decades of the century in Africa. By the end of the century, the British Empire controlled a fifth of the world’s land and one-quarter of the world’s population. During the post-Napoleonic era, it enforced what became known as the Pax Britannica, which had ushered in unprecedented globalization, industrialization, and economic integration on a massive scale.
Along with the British and Russian empires, the French empire regained its position as a great power during the nineteenth century. Added to the list of great powers during the latter half of the nineteenth century were the newly unified Italian and German empires, the United States, and Japan.
Pax Britannica
Pax Britannica (Latin for “British Peace,” modeled after Pax Romana) was the period of relative peace in Europe (1815 – 1914) during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a global police force. Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain’s “imperial century,” around 10 million square miles of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire. Victory over Napoleonic France left the British without any serious international rival, other than perhaps Russia in central Asia. When Russia tried expanding its influence in the Balkans, the British and French defeated it in the Crimean War (1854 – 56), thereby protecting the Ottoman Empire and their interests in the areas south of that region.
Learning Objectives
Explain the consolidation of national states in Europe during the 19th century.
Be able to identify and explain the diplomatic and military situation in Europe during the last third of the nineteenth century, including.
the major European powers and their goals
the shifting rivalries and alliances among European powers
Bismark’s foreign policy goals and initiatives
Be able to explain and assess the impact of Bismark’s diplomatic and military policy initiatives.
Analyze and identify the role of the MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism) causes of World War I.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Franco-Prussian War - third and concluding war of German unification, between the French and Prussian empires, paving the way for German unification, in the form of the German empire, also known as the Second Reich
Congress of Vienna: a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich and held in Vienna from November 1814 to June 1815, though the delegates had arrived and were already negotiating by late September 1814 (The objective was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace.)
Pax Britannica: the period of relative peace in Europe (1815 – 1914), during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a global police force
The British Navy controlled most of the key maritime trade routes and enjoyed unchallenged sea power. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain’s dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled access to many regions, such as Asia and Latin America. British merchants, shippers, and bankers had such an overwhelming advantage over everyone else that, in addition to its official colonies, it essentially had an informal empire.
The global superiority of British military and commerce was aided by a divided and relatively weak continental Europe and the presence of the Royal Navy on all of the world’s oceans and seas. Even outside its formal empire, Britain controlled trade with countries such as China, Siam, and Argentina. Following the Congress of Vienna, the British Empire’s economic strength continued to develop through naval dominance and diplomatic efforts to maintain a balance of power in continental Europe.
In this era, the Royal Navy provided services around the world that benefited other nations, such as the suppression of piracy and blocking the slave trade. The Slave Trade Act 1807 banned the trade across the British Empire, after which the Royal Navy established the West Africa Squadron and the government negotiated international treaties under which they could enforce the ban. The Royal Navy fought the First Opium War (1839 – 1842) and Second Opium War (1856 – 1860) against Imperial China. The Royal Navy was superior to any other two navies in the world, combined. Between 1815 and the passage of the German naval laws of 1890 and 1898, only France was a potential naval threat.
However, British sea power, imperial holdings, and economic base were insufficient to maintain unchallenged British hegemony during the second half of the nineteenth century. The industrialization and growth of the German, the Japanese, and the U.S. empires marked the relative decline of British supremacy by the early twentieth century. Sea power did not project on land. Land wars fought between the major powers include the Crimean War, the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War, as well as numerous conflicts between lesser powers.
Pax Britannica was weakened by the breakdown of the continental order established by the Congress of Vienna. Relations between the Great Powers of Europe were strained to breaking by issues, such as the decline of the Ottoman Empire that led to the Crimean War, and later the emergence of new nation states of Italy and Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. Both wars involved Europe’s largest states and armies.
Otto von Bismarck: Balance of Power Diplomacy
Otto von Bismarck was a conservative Prussian statesman and diplomat who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. He skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germany’s position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, remained at peace. For historian Eric Hobsbawm, it was Bismarck who “remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [and] devoted himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between the powers.”
Learning Objectives
Explain the consolidation of national states in Europe during the 19th century.
Be able to identify and explain the diplomatic and military situation in Europe during the last third of the nineteenth century, including
the major European powers and their goals
the shifting rivalries and alliances among European powers
Bismark’s foreign policy goals and initiatives
Be able to explain and assess the impact of Bismark’s diplomatic and military policy initiatives.
Analyze and identify the role of the MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism) causes of World War I.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Otto von Bismarck: a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890 (In the 1860s he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, significantly and deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871, he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germany’s position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, remained at peace.)
Franco-Prussian War - third and concluding war of German unification, between the French and Prussian empires, paving the way for German unification, in the form of the German empire, also known as the Second Reich
In 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia, a position he would hold until 1890 (except for a short break in 1873). He provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in its defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War. In 1871, he formed the German Empire with himself as Chancellor while retaining control of Prussia. His diplomacy of pragmatic realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname the “Iron Chancellor.” German unification and its rapid economic growth were the foundations of his foreign policy. Bismarck disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an overseas empire when demanded by both elite and mass opinion. Juggling a very complex interlocking series of conferences, negotiations, and alliances, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain Germany’s position and used the balance of power to keep Europe at peace in the 1870s and 1880s.
Belle Époque
Belle Époque (French for “Beautiful Era”) was a period of Western European history conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I in around 1914. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic (beginning 1870), it was a period characterized by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity, and innovations in technology, science, and culture. In the climate of the period, especially in Paris, the arts flourished. Many masterpieces of literature, music, theater, and visual art gained recognition. The Belle Époque was named, in retrospect, when it began to be considered a “Golden Age” in contrast to the horrors of World War I.
Learning Objectives
Explain the consolidation of national states in Europe during the 19th century.
Be able to identify and explain the diplomatic and military situation in Europe during the last third of the nineteenth century, including
the major European powers and their goals
the shifting rivalries and alliances among European powers
Bismark’s foreign policy goals and initiatives
Analyze and identify the role of the MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism) causes of World War I.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Franco-Prussian War - third and concluding war of German unification, between the French and Prussian empires, paving the way for German unification, in the form of the German empire, also known as the Second Reich
Belle Époque: a period of Western European history conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I around 1914 (Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic (beginning 1870), it was characterized by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity and technological, scientific and cultural innovations. In the climate of the period, especially in Paris, the arts flourished.)
The Belle Époque coincided with similar periods of optimism in other European and American nations. The Belle Époque overlapped in the United Kingdom with the late Victorian era and the Edwardian era. In Germany, the Belle Époque coincided with the Wilhelminism; in Russia with the reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas II. In the newly rich United States emerging from the Panic of 1873, the comparable epoch was dubbed the Gilded Age. In Brazil it started with the end of the Paraguayan War, and in Mexico the period was known as the Porfiriato.
The years between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I were characterized by unusual political stability in western and central Europe. Although tensions between the French and German governments persisted as a result of the French loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in 1871, diplomatic conferences mediated disputes that threatened the general European peace, including the Congress of Berlin in 1878, the Berlin Congo Conference in 1884, and the Algeciras Conference in 1906. For many Europeans in the Belle Époque period, transnational, class-based affiliations were as important as national identities, particularly among aristocrats. An upper-class gentleman could travel through much of Western Europe without a passport and even reside abroad with minimal bureaucratic regulation. World War I, mass transportation, the spread of literacy, and various citizenship concerns changed this.
European politics saw very few regime changes, the major exception being Portugal, which experienced a republican revolution in 1910. However, tensions between working-class socialist parties, bourgeois liberal parties, and landed or aristocratic conservative parties increased in many countries, and some historians claim that profound political instability belied the calm surface of European politics in the era. In fact, militarism and international tensions grew considerably between 1897 and 1914, and the immediate prewar years were marked by a general armaments competition in Europe. Additionally, this era was one of massive overseas colonialism known as the New Imperialism. The most famous portion of this imperial expansion was the Scramble for Africa.
Factors in the Road to World War I
The main causes of World War I, which broke out unexpectedly in central Europe in summer 1914, comprised the conflicts and hostility of the four decades leading up to the war. These causes included militarism, jingoism, imperialism, nationalism, and the emergence of opposing alliances. Such conflicts and hosMilitarism, alliances, imperialism, ethnic nationalis. From the 1870s and 1880s, the major powers of Europe had been preparing for a large-scale war by increasing the sizes of their armies and navies. This led to increased political tensions that exacerbated the worsening relations among the European powers. This complex of factors, developments, and events paved the way for the First World War, the first general war in Europe since the Napoleonic Wars.
Learning Objectives
Be able to identify and explain the diplomatic and military situation in Europe during the last third of the nineteenth century, including
the major European powers and their goals
the shifting rivalries and alliances among European powers
Bismark’s foreign policy goals and initiatives
Be able to explain and assess the impact of Bismark’s diplomatic and military policy initiatives.
Analyze and identify the role of the MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism) causes of World War I.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Kaiser Wilhelm II: the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from June 1888 to November 1918 (He dismissed the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose “New Course” in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914, which led in a matter of days to the First World War.)
jingoism: a form of nationalism characterized by aggressive foreign policy; a country’s advocacy for the use of threats or actual force as opposed to peaceful relations to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests
militarism: the belief or the desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests; the glorification of the military; the ideals of a professional military class; the “predominance of the armed forces in the administration or policy of the state”
imperialism: practice of claiming territory and then spreading the parent country’s beliefs and culture into the territory
nationalism: a belief, creed, or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one’s country of origin
Pax Britannica: the period of relative peace in Europe (1815 – 1914), during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a global police force
Rise of Militarism Prior to World War I
During the 1870s and 1880s, all major world powers were preparing for a large-scale war, although none expected one. Britain focused on building up its Royal Navy, already stronger than the next two navies combined,as part of Pax Britannica. Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Russia, and some smaller countries set up conscription systems whereby young men would serve from one to three years in the army, then spend the next 20 years or so in the reserves with annual summer training. Men from higher social classes became officers.
Each country devised a mobilization system so the reserves could be called up quickly and sent to key points by rail. Every year the plans were updated and expanded in terms of complexity. Each country stockpiled arms and supplies for an army that ran into the millions. Germany in 1874 had a regular professional army of 420,000 with an additional 1.3 million reserves. By 1897 the regular army was 545,000 strong and the reserves 3.4 million. The French in 1897 had 3.4 million reservists, Austria 2.6 million, and Russia 4.0 million. The various national war plans had been perfected by 1914, albeit with Russia and Austria trailing in effectiveness. However, recent wars (since 1865) had typically been short—lasting only a matter of months. So, all the war plans called for a decisive opening and assumed victory would come after a short war, and no one planned for or was ready for the food and munitions needs of a long stalemate as actually happened in 1914 – 18.
As David Stevenson has put it, “A self-reinforcing cycle of heightened military preparedness… was an essential element in the conjuncture that led to disaster… The armaments race… was a necessary precondition for the outbreak of hostilities.” If Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated in 1904 or even in 1911, Herrmann speculates, there might have been no war. It was “… the armaments race… and the speculation about imminent or preventive wars” that made his death in 1914 the trigger for war.
One of the aims of the First Hague Conference of 1899, held at the suggestion of Emperor Nicholas II, was to discuss disarmament. The Second Hague Conference was held in 1907. All signatories except for Germany supported disarmament. Germany also did not want to agree to binding arbitration and mediation. Kaiser Wilhelm II was concerned that the United States would propose disarmament measures, which he opposed. All parties tried to revise international law to their own advantage.
Militarism and jingoism contributed to an atmosphere in Europe open to the possibility of a general European war among the major European powers. The development of rivalries, along with Kaiser Wilhelm II’s ambitions, provided the fuel for the fire that would be the First World War. Nationalism in the Balkans provided the catalyst.
Attributions
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Title Image - 1884 Berlin Conference meeting drawing Attribution: Adalbert von Rößler (†1922), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Provided by: Wikipedia. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kongokonferenz.jpg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Boundless World History
"The Century of Peace"
Adapted from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-century-of-peace/
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