In what ways did the balance of power change in Europe between 1870 and 1914? Discuss.

There were 6 big powers in Europe; there status as a powerful country depended on factors such as the size of its overseas empire, its economy, its government structure, its leaders and its political situation. The size main powers were Germany, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Ottoman Empire.

Germany

Germany was had a huge effect on the balance of power in Europe between 1870 and 1914 in everyway. Until 1870 Germany was made up of many different states, Germany was seen as one of the weak countries within Europe and was formally known as Prussia (Prussia being its biggest state). Germany was made up of 39 states, including Prussia and Austria but in 1870 Otto von Bismarck united all 39 states to form a unified Germany. Germany as a unified country was a much more strong country. Germany was controlled by the Kaiser Wilhelm the 2nd who held most of the power in a monarchy style government structure, with the chancellor and parliament below Kaiser. Kaiser was very authoritarian and was quite an unusual leader, he was quite insecure. Germany had only a small overseas country and was very jealous of Britain’s overseas empire which was much larger; because Germany had such a small overseas empire it was very hostile towards France. Germany had a rapid growth in its economy after the unification Germany’s economy got better and better although low wages made people living in Germany very unhappy. There was a trade union in place in Germany. Germany believed that its biggest threat was the socialists.

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There was a big jump in Germanys power status within Europe, this reached an all time high in 1914 when it was thought that Germany had one of the most powerful countries in Europe. It had the biggest industrial power, many countries did not realise this, one of these being France who entered a war with Germany in 1870 (The Franco-Prussian war), Germany thrashed France with a land slide victory, much to the surprise of France. Although Germany had a lot of power in Europe, it still had one huge problem which was both sides of Germany had opposition countries, making Germany surrounded, Germany had to be careful not to make any enemies in this important time. During this period of time Germany had gone from being a weak country, looked down upon by the rest of Europe to being one of, if not the strongest countries in Europe.

Britain

Britain was primarily run as an Aristocracy which worked well and was very strong. Britain had a key role within Europe between 1870 and 1914, although its economy got worse, unlike Germany. The industrial growth in Britain fell, its manufacturing output fell from 23% to 13% and its unemployment figures also rose. Britain’s economy was loosing strength and was being taken over by Germany and the USA. Although Britain was seen as a very powerful country it was getting less powerful and much less economically well off as time went by. But Britain did have the biggest empire in the world ‘an empire where the sun never set’. Many countries were jealous of Britain’s empire; the British population was very widely spread over the world. Another problem that Britain faced was the military system which was also loosing strength; Britain was losing its image as a very powerful military nation. Britain was the only nation not to introduce military conscription after 1871, possibly why it’s the military in Britain got weaker.

Britain was becoming less powerful but was still had major power in Europe. But Britain decided to enter into isolation and stayed out of everything going on within Europe.

France

France was once a very powerful country and was thought of as a threat to the peace in Europe up until 1870. The government structure in France was very inconsistent which made it hard to maintain its foreign policy, it was Democratic but unstable. The economy in France between 1870 and 1914 was quite poor especially in comparison with Germany, France had a slow population rise and had a much lower production of steel and coal than Germany, and its income was also much lower than Germanys because of poor exports. Another big weakness in France was the military force which was not strong at all because it was untrained and disorganised. Although France was not very strong individually, it thought it was close with Italy, Britain and Russia and would therefore unlikely to be challenged. The main fall of Frances balance of power in Europe was in 1871 when they fought in the Franco-Prussian war and were defeated badly by Germany, Germany was considered to be very weak and this defeat therefore made France look even weaker.

Frances power in Europe was also decreasing, with the economy and military force doing badly and then the Franco-Prussian war defeat in 1871. Although similarly to Britain it also had a huge overseas empire in Africa and the Far East.

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary was not considered a threat by any country and was a weak country in comparison to other European countries; it had a poor economy and an unstable government structure. Austria-Hungary had 2 monarchies (Austria and Hungary), there were 11 nationalities in Austria –Hungary, 15 different languages and 24% of the people living in Austria-Hungary were German, it was said to have a ‘cultural patchwork. Economic progress in Austria-Hungary was slow and overshadowed by other countries in Europe. The leader in Austria-Hungary was Emperor Franz Joseph the 2nd, he was well intentioned. It also had a poor military force but had backing from countries such as Britain and France so it was not completely powerless. Austria-Hungary’s biggest threat was from the Balkans and Russia and when you compare Russia and Austria-Hungary, Russia is much stronger.

Austria-Hungary was considered a very weak country during this period and did not really pose as a threat to many countries.

Russia

Russia was a very strong country during this period, much stronger than Germany. The leader of Russia at this time was Tsar Alexander the 2nd, he ruled in an autocratic monarchy, there were also local governments and ‘Duma’ (parliament) was introduced but it did very little. There were many weaknesses in the Russian nation though. The first weakness that Russia had was the economy, Russia’s economy was quite poor with labourers working 14 hour days for very low wages, 8 out of 10 Russians were peasants, when the harvest was bad many people died and Russia had a considerable amount of foreign debt. The second weakness of Russia was the unstable government; Tsar the Russian leader was over thrown. Russia’s main threat was from Austria-Hungary, this was because they were constantly fighting over the Balkans.

Russia’s balance of power in Europe was quite strong and Russia was considered a strong nation even though it had many potential weaknesses, demonstrated in 1904 when Russia lost to Japan, the over throwing of Tsar and the weak Russian economy.

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire had a great military government during this period although the economy was very poor and was subjected to commercial exploitation by Europeans. The Ottoman Empire became very bankrupt and special agencies were set up to prevent the empire from bankruptcy. The Sultan had the most power but he lacked support and was later overthrown in 1908 then replaced by a younger sultan. Within the Ottoman Empire there were many races so there was no agreement and no single army.

The Ottoman Empire had a strong military force but as a country it was very weak and had little power because of the division of people within the empire.

In conclusion I would say that the most powerful countries in Europe between 1870 and 1914 were Germany, once unified, Russia and Britain.

CKY!!!