France was motivated to expand due to economic and religious as well as it was a prestige issue. France’s first step to colonialism was the invasion of Tunisia in 1881. In the later years, France held colonies like Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Madagascar and large parts of Africa. By the year 1914, France was the second colonial power in the world and the largest in Africa. France had managed to survive the imperialism because it yielded to Britain’s demands and they became inseparable. They managed to sort out their differences and discuss the division of colonies in their overseas empire.
The British began their imperialism in the year 1815. Their imperial strength was the telegraph and the improvised technology. In the 19th century, British had rivalry with the Russians, where the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Persian and Chinese empire. This rivalry between Europe and Russia was known as ‘Great Game’, which refers to the territorial and political control over Central Asia between Russia and Britain. Britain feared Russia’s expansion in Asia, namely near borders of India i.e. Tibet.
As Russia took over Turkish Balkans in 1853, the fear of Russian dominance in Middle East struck Britain. In 1907, when Russian navy was totally destroyed, Anglo – Russo Entente was formed. These negotiations were assumed to be done from the British fear of growing Germany. By 1890, German economic and political power had grown immensely, that they started up their own navy, competing with British Royal Navy.
The reason for British imperialism was for power and building a strong economy. The imperial rivalry in Europe commenced with the British and French. The Fashoda incident in 1898, where France and Britain quarreled over its colonies in Africa, proved that countries would go up to any extent for colonization and imperialism. The invasion of Egypt by the British led to further chillness with its relationship with France.
Germany’s intention to invade is either mercantile or economic. Togoland and General Samoa were quite profitable to Germany, and Togoland was the first country that the French and British troops attacked, and this gave rise to the First World War as it was Germany’s one of the most important colony. Britain had formed ally with France and Russia, which was better known as ‘Entente’. Germany didn’t lose the opportunity to break the Entente and had set its target on Morocco that led to two crises, Tangier and Agadir. Germany called upon USA in favor of Moroccan independence, which was solved smoothly as placing international police control at major ports of Morocco. The Agadir crisis in 1911 was a period where the relationship between Britain and Germany was terribly sour. The Agadir Crisis was a test of how close were France and Britain. Germany wanted to break their alliance, but instead, the result was France was drawn closer to Britain by this attempt. Germany’s only support was from Austria – Hungary. Germany was forced to compromise. As a result of the Agadir crisis, France gained the support of British Royal Navy, where they promised to protect France from possible attack from Germany.
The race had begun between the British and Germany. Not only the building of ships, but also the expansion of arms and military forces in these two countries caused waves in the rest of Europe. Other European countries followed the same suite, just to keep themselves protected from invasion. Fifty percent of the money was spent on strengthening the military forces, by the Europeans between the years 1908 – 1913. This shows that these countries already had predicted a war in the near future. France was very careful at its every move to against Germany. The first move was made in 1890, when the French managed to convince Russians to join them in military alliance against Germany.
The French and British had bitterness amongst them during 1890’s, when French had ordered British vessels to be removed from Gulf of Siam. As these two superpowers were battling for power, Italy signed treaties with Germany. The enmity of Italy with the allies i.e. ‘The Big Three’ started in 1896, when Italy was defeated and couldn’t get aid from the British. Anglo – German treaty was made over Portuguese colonies as well as over China; and Anglo – French treaty was made over the Mediterranean occupation.
Due to imperialism, the foreign commerce and economies flourished in the imperialist countries but, it created sour international relations with other European countries. The Japanese and European countries managed to become foes once Russia withdrew its troops from China in the early 1900’s. Slowly, the international relations become bitter, and the Anglo – German alliance broke. As the years progressed, Germans signed alliance pact with the Russians and the allies became alert. Despite the fact that colonies were shared between countries i.e. Morocco was ruled politically by the French and economically by the Germans; yet there were suspicions attacking everybody.
In 1909, British General Wilson surreptiously visited Germany to listen to their lectures and gathered the information that Germans were planning to invade France through Belgium. France has animosity towards Germany ever since Alsace – Lorraine was invaded. On the other hand, Austria – Hungary managed to take over the Ottoman Empire by the year 1909. They wanted to eliminate the Russian influence over the Balkans. Austria – Hungary expected support from Germany. However, majority of the Austria – Hungary troops were directed to Russia while Germany had its target focused over France. This miscommunication between countries caused more rifts between the countries. Austria - Hungarian armies were divided between Serbian and Russian borders.
France, Germany and Britain shared colonies in Africa and this gave way to multiple conflicts. The French and British invaded the German colony, and within three days, German troops entered South Africa and managed to acquire the colonies. France and the British became close allies after 1910. England assured France that they would provide the required aid if France were to be attacked by Germany. Morocco was completely taken over by France, and Germany was contemplating what step to take next.
As the Germans had strong relationships with Ottoman Empire, they wanted to invade countries across the Middle East. The Baghdad Railway was successfully built by 1911, yet it was contributed by Germany as well as the British. Here, the rivalry emerged slowly between Britain and Germany. The British had no intention of leaving the Baghdad Railway, since Britain was keen on dominating the Middle East and Germany was not willing to give. Alas, tension rose between the two countries.
From 1870 to 1914, several naval bases were set up and armies were trained to be stronger. Although it was mentioned clearly in the treaties that submarines were prohibited to be set up, Germany had set up military submarines secretly. But, the British knew beforehand and were well prepared by setting up their own naval bases and submarines. These actions clearly reveal that the countries lacked unity and that the war was inevitable under these circumstances.
As Germany declared war on Russia, U.K soon declared war on Germany in the year 1914; since Germany had invaded Belgium and Luxembourg. The mistrust and jealousy between the countries led to hatred and tension that eventually war broke out to stop the expansion. The war was to show who should eventually be powerful and be the leader.
