As well as the rise of nationalism in the Balkan states, Russia faced its own internal problems. As other Tsars before him, Alexander II, believed strongly in the principles of conservatism and autocracy, however his country’s emphatic defeat in the Crimean war led him to institute changes in Russia that would put his country on a par with other European states. The peasants in Russia were still the property of their landowner, this lead to the emancipation of the serfs. The result was disastrous, the serfs who were freed were disappointed and enraged as they had to pay compensation to the landowners for their freedom, whilst loosing on average around half of the land farmed by their families for centuries, as well as loosing traditional privileges such as grazing rights on the land of their landowner. However, not only were the serfs disappointed with the reforms, the reforms also disappointed many of the landowning class. At this time up to 60% of the serfs were mortgaged, so many of the redemption payments went towards repaying these debts, consequently, many of the landowners did not do very well out of these lavish repayments. Also, the bonds issued by the government devalued and therefore, the landowners lost more money. This led to Alexander, not only becoming unpopular with the peasants, and achieving few of the aims he set out to achieve, but also isolating his traditional conservative support. After his assassination and the death by natural causes of Alexander III, Nicholas II was next in line for the throne. Many Russians believed that the decades of mismanagement of the countries affairs would be over but Nicholas confounded this belief by announcing, a year before his coronation in 1895, to delegates from the Zemstva that he intended to rule once again through an autocratic system. In 1897, he further alienated himself from the people by allowing Sergei Witte’s Factory Act to be passed. This called for the working week to be set at 6 days, with 11.5 hours worked per day. A direct result of this act was the formation of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party, a group who would have a large part to play in Russia history at start of the 20th Century.
The proclamation of the German Empire in 1871 was the climax of a long process, to which several factors contributed. The growth of nationalism brought about the demand for a united country. In the form of the Zollverein, Prussia had extended trading links with virtually all of Germany by 1834, Prussian economic development, aided by the Zollverein, allowed the build up of its military power and strengthened its influence. Nationalism encouraged public support for military build-ups and for a country's use of force to achieve its goals. Germany, under Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, had an expansionalist foreign policy. Nationalism stretched to its supreme end required a nation to be bigger and stronger than its neighbours, Germany was hemmed in by France to the west, Russia on its eastern border and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the south. In 1898, Germany began developing a naval force that was big enough to challenge the British navy. This heralded an arms race and by the end of the 1800's, technology enabled countries to fight longer and bear greater losses than ever before. A system of military alliances gave European powers a sense of security before World War 1. They formed these alliances with each other for protection and guarantee that other members of the alliance would come to the country's aid if attacked. Although alliances provided protection, the system also created certain dangers. If war came, the alliance system meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. Alliances could force a country to go to war against a nation it had no quarrel with. In addition, the terms of many alliances were kept secret. The secrecy also increased the chances that a county might guess wrong about the consequences of its actions. The Triple Alliance was made up of three countries, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. They all agreed to go to war if attacked by Russia. Bismarck also brought Austria-Hungary and Germany into alliance with Russia. They all agreed to remain neutral if any of them went to war with another country. In 1890 when Bismarck left office it gave a chance for Russia and France to form an alliance. In 1894, France and Russia agreed to call up troops if any nation in the Triple Alliance mobilized. Russia and France also agreed to help each other if either were attacked be Germany.
The two main factors of European change at the turn of the century were nationalism particularly in Prussia and German peoples in central Europe, and in Russia the failure of the Tsars’ autocratic style of rule with regards to providing for Russian men and women. Just as the rise of nationalism at this time was undermining the rule of empire so too, the foundation of the Tsars Empire began to be chipped away as more and more people organized themselves into groups so to have a better ability to voice their discontent. The rapid expansion of Germany, under the Prussian model of military and economic strength sent shockwaves around Europe and resulted in countries forming an alliance system that was ultimately unworkable, and placed an incredible amount of tension upon European countries.
Sources
Marc Ferro, The Great War, 2002, Routledge
Peter Calvocoressi, Resilient Europe 1870 – 2000, 1992, Longman
