Tension between the counties of Europe increased in Between 1878 and 1887 in Austro-Hungary and Russian clash over the Balkans threatened to bring Europe to the brink of war. The massacre of 10,000 Bulgarians outraged Russia who sent her army to protect the Bulgarians. Although Russia promised Austria not to create a large Bulgarian state, they ignored it and went ahead with the creation f one. This enraged Austria who felt they had been lie to by Russia. Resulting from this Britain and Austria threatened war on Russia. To sort out the problem, Bismarck invited all of the Great Powers to a conference in Berlin, as he was very keen for war to be avoided. The Treaty of Berlin dismantled the big Bulgaria, and the main powers had worked together to avoid war. By the mid 1880’s the Great Powers position had been completely reversed. By the spring of 1887it was apparent that Russia wouldn’t renew the Three Emperors’ League. However Bismarck was determined to keep the peace and remain friendly with both Russia and Austria, and so in June 1887 he signed the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia while at the same time renewed the Dual Alliance with Austria. Once again Bismarck working with the other Great Powers had avoided war.
“The Kruger Telegram” (which happened in 1895) contributed to the tension in Europe at the time because it made Britain and Germany hate each other more. Before this, however, Germany had tried to get France and Russia to take action against the British after they had attacked the Transvval State in South Africa. This was to try and break the “Entente Cordial”, but it didn’t work so Wilhelm decided to send “The Kruger Telegram”. This telegram was sent to the Boer leader after he successfully beat the British when they attacked (This attack was called “The Jameson Raid”). When the British found out, they were outraged and believed that Germany was just meddling in their affaires. This created tension as it made two very powerful countries hate each other. This disagrees with the statement, as the Great Powers didn’t come together to help in this dispute, but left Germany and Britain to argue this out. (Also, it wasn’t any thing to do with the Navel Race). War didn’t happen, however, as the British were unprepared and Germany didn’t want to go to War.
Tension between countries in Europe increased in the years before 1914 as a result of Weltpolik. Weltpolitik involved Germany’s expansion of an empire and the creation of a large navy. Countries such as France and Britain were particularly at the heart of tension because Germany would be competing for land. Furthermore Britain had to have the largest navy as security to the country. The Navy laws of 1898 and 1900 meant that conflict would soon arise. This was due to the policy of Weltpolitik promoted by Kaiser Wilhelm, Von Tirpitz and Von Bulow. Weltpolitik led to a number of crisis due to the arms race. An example is the 2nd Moroccan Crisis in 1911. Germany intervened in French expansion by sending the gunboat “Panther” to Morocco to put pressure on France and Germany demanded the French Congo as compensation for France’s occupation of Morocco. However, the policy of Weltpolitik increased tension, but wouldn’t have led to war unless the other great powers felt violated or threatened. Weltpolitk had failed by the end of the 2nd Moroccan Crisis in 1911 and Germany were more isolated than ever
In the 19th Century, there was great tension between Russia and Britain. Britain was concerned that European countries may get too strong and become a threat to their empire. The two main countries Britain feared in this respect were France and Russia. This tension mounted in the Crimean War in the 1850’s as Britain wanted to stop Russia’s expansion into the Eastern Mediterranean where they could interfere with British trade in India. Russia lost the Crimean War, and so had reason to dislike and distrust Britain. This resulted in Russian alliance with Germany, in the Dreikaiserbund and the Reinsurance Treaty. Britain felt that Russian interference in Asia was a deliberate attempt to threaten British control in India, and therefore they were encouraged to sign the Mediterranean Agreements, 1887. The Agreements stated that Britain would help restrain French and Russian naval activity in the Mediterranean. Therefore Anglo-Russian antagonism did not directly lead to war but it was clear that the tension in Europe was increasing.
The Anglo – French colonial rivalry: Fashoda created tension between Britain and France as they both were determined to expand their empire by taking over the Suez Canal in Egypt which they both desired to possess.
France were determined to dominate North Africa and especially Egypt as they had built and paid for the Suez Canal so they could trade with Asia, they would not leave Egypt even though they were pressured by the French.
The French attempted to force Britain out of Egypt by seizing the headwaters of the River Nile at Fashoda; the British were prepared to go to war with France so they can obtain the Suez Canal however the French were forced to back down, at this point Anglo – French relations were very low. This incident had caused great tension between the two countries and both of them could not trust each other, as Germany was uninterested in gaining foreign colonies so they was not a threat to Britain. Britain had agreed with Italy and Austria to restrain French and Russian naval activity, they had a signed a treaty called the Mediterranean Agreements. The reason why war did not break out is that they both agreed on the areas in North Africa they would control and both France and Britain shared hatred for Germany.
Before 1871, there had been no Germany. In 1800 the area that had became Germany was made up of 309 separate independent kingdoms. There was agreement on the other Great Powers that Germany was the nation most likely to upset the balance of powers in Europe. In 1862 King Wilhelm I of Prussia was determined that Prussia would take from Austria as the main German Power. In a series of short successful wars Prussia defeated Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866 and then France in 1871. So France who was meant to be the dominant European power, was beaten in just seven weeks. France had been defeated in war and humiliated.
Bismarck new it would have been impossible to make France friendly so he forced France into signing a peace treaty. This was called the treaty of Frankfurt; it embarked on making it difficult for France attacking the Germans. It also included reparations of £200 million and was made to throw French economy into chaos for years, also they wouldn’t be able to buy extra weapons and expand their army. Germany had taken Alsace – Lorraine, which contained rich industrial land.
Now Bismarck wanted to isolate France from potential allies, but he failed because France became allies with Russia, which was bad for the Germans because if war came along they would have to fight on two fronts. So Germany was afraid to attack the French because if they did then Russia may attack Germany.
The French wanted revenge because of the humiliating defeat and the loss of Alsace – Lorraine. The treaty of Frankfurt had changed the people’s views on France and their defenses. France had consistently spent more on her army than Germany, so people thought that this might have made France stronger than the Germans. France didn’t like the way Bismarck had treated them and eventually war was ready to break out.
I agree with this statement that tension increased between the countries before 1914 however it was not directly because of the armed race. There were key facts behind all this, which created tension between the countries, which then lead to countries, increasing their armed forces to be on the safe side. There was tension such as countries did not have trust on one another so signed treaties with one another to help each other if war was to occur. In the Dual Alliance ion 1879 it shows that there was tension between countries and other nations wanted to have a team of nations i.e. Germany agreed to Austria against Russia if Austria would help Germany against France so that emphasizes that there was tension between countries. The countries themselves worked together to avoid war, Bismarck for Germany tries a lot to create peace between countries like in the reinsurance Treaty.
Another example of how tension was caused in the years before 1914 was the First Moroccan Crisis in 1906. In 1904 Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale, which solved tensions of who was to dominate different areas of Africa. This alliance agreed that France would be the dominating power in Morocco and Britain would be the rulers of Egypt. Germany didn’t like the fact that Britain and France’s relationship was strengthening so he decided to intervene in the Moroccan issue by visiting the Moroccan Sultan in person. He tried to assure the Sultan that they were friends and was persuading him not to let the French walk over them. The real reason behind this visit was to try and break off the relations between France and Britain. The plan failed. In 1906, a conference (Algeciras conference) was held between all of the major powers to decide what to do about the Moroccan crisis. It proved to be a bitter disappointment for Germany as they were humiliated and only just secured their agreement that she could still trade with Morocco. France were given control of the Moroccan State Bank and police and the Entente Cordiale strengthened even more – Britain and France were now making joint military plans together.
The reason why war was avoided was Britain, Germany, France and Morocco discussed the Moroccan crisis in the Algeciras conference. This avoided a war because these powers were able to come together and sort out the disagreement over Russia.
Tension was caused through the Second Moroccan Crisis in 1911. This was yet another attempt by Kaiser Wilhelm II to break the Entente Cordiale. The issue was started in July 1911 when another Moroccan Crisis had occurred. Germany had suggested that France had acted against the agreement made at Algeciras after the First Crisis. Germany demanded the French Congo as compensation, which France acted strongly against. Britain remained supportive of France and made no suggestion of discontinuing the alliance, as referred to in David Lloyd George’s Mansion House Speech. After realizing they couldn’t break the Entente, Germany backed down. Consequently Weltpolitik had failed, resulting in the end of the naval race. Therefore, war was avoided as the Great Powers Britain and France had acted together against German aggression forcing them to back down. Peace for the time being was sustained.
I agree with the statement slightly because in 1912 the Turkish empire was attacked by Italy who were keen to expand their own empire. While they were distracted by this attack Balkan nationalists formed the Balkan league and declared war on turkey forcing them out of Europe for good. The members of the league were Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro. By November 1912 turkey had been forced from Europe. All the independent Slav states had grown in size and strength. War broke out in 1913 between Bulgaria and Serbia. The result of this war was Serbia doubling in size. The reason was because Britain placed there fleet on full alert in the North Sea. When Germany found out the Kaiser was furious and a war council was held in Potsdam. The war would not be ready for another 18 months.
Tension increased amongst the European countries before 1914 and of the reasons for this was the arms races. Britain dominated the seas, and there navy was described as the ‘most powerful and far reaching weapon the world has ever seen’, this symbolized Britain’s great power and the pride that they had for the navy which, due to the ‘two power standard’ was equal to the size of the combination of the two largest navies in Europe. It was important that Britain had such a large navy because water and a key for attacking nations surrounded it. Kaiser Wilhelm II came into power in 1898, after the dismissal of Bismarck. Wilhelm was quick to industrialize but still feared a evolution breaking out in Germany, to eliminate his insecurity he increased his armed forces and hoped to gain an empire, similar to the actions taken by Mussolini in 1922. Tension was created between mainly, Britain and Germany due to the arms race, the policy of Weltpolitik unsettled Britain as the naval chief of Germany, Von Tirpitz, drew up a naval plan. Before 1905, Tirpitz proposed 17 new battleships; this was later increased to 38 battleships as a result of the 2nd naval plan. Greater tension was caused for Anglo-German relations. The Tirpitz Plan wanted to challenge Britain’s navy, the policy of Weltpolitik created this, but his 2nd stage was known as the danger zone and he wanted to allay British fears, but also to make Britain think twice about challenging her in the sea. The final stage was the ‘risk theory’, Germany believed that Britain wouldn’t want to risk her forces against Germany incase they were damaged. The naval race ended in December 1912 after Germany feared war with France and Russia and no longer wanted to neglect her army. War was avoided but not because the great powers got together and sorted it out, it was avoided because Wilhelm had back out of the naval race and Weltpolitik all together and concentrate on building a continental army.
In conclusion their were many event that could have made war break out but their was always Bismarck their to stop but when he was dismissed the kasier got involved their was no way the war could have been stop.
