Germany was one of those two powers, it was the power who openly stated it was going to challenge the British might in Europe and around the world. Germany was challenging Britain economically such as in iron/steel production. In 1880, the British was out producing the German’s by 100% but by 1913, Germany was out producing Britain in iron/steel production by producing 17.6 million tons compared to Britain’s 7.7 million tons of steel and iron. Germany was producing so much Iron/Steel because it needed these materials to manufacture guns and ammunition, build it’s rising cities and to build its navy. Germany was also challenging Britain in total industrial potential. In 1880, Britain had a total of 73.3 industrial potential and Germany’s industrial potential was at least 3 times smaller. Yet, by 1913, Germany had surpassed Britain’s industrial potential and had a very narrow lead over it by about 10.5 industrial potential units. Germany’s industrial potential increased because the city states that Germany once was divided into came together to form a country. It was under Von Bismarck’s leadership that Germany was able to be become a force to be reckoned with on the world stage.
When it came to the military, Germany had always dominated over Britain just because of its geography on the European continent. Germany is bordered by several different countries and to protect itself from outside aggression, it needed a strong military to fend off any attacks made by its neighbors. Just like the other countries in Europe it had a large army but when the dependent variable was how much time, energy and resources put into the military determined its might when it came to a period of struggle and aggression. Yet, because Britain was a group of islands; an archipelago, it had one natural barrier to opposing armies that the other nations in Europe did not enjoy. It was the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel. Because of that, an invading army would need a substantial navy first of all to invade but also to carry its armies across the channel. So at the beginning of the 1880’s, Germany’s army numbered 426,000 compared to the British 367,000 but by 1914, Germany was well ahead of Britain was a commanding 891,000 compared again to Britain’s 532,000. Germany also had more total population then Britain in 1914 with 65 million to 45 million plus national income in Germany was 1 billion higher then Britain’s 11 billion. Germany was the only nation that openly challenged Britain for her imperial might and colonial rule.
The United States indirectly challenged Britain in several departments, all which were in economic sectors. The important thing to keep in mind when examining the American position on the economic scale is that the Americans were isolationists; they weren’t interested in European politics. They had no concern for empires or armies because they were still in the process of building their nation, they had to catch up to the Europeans who had an extra 300-400 years to build their cities then the Americans had. Also because the United States enjoys having the same natural barriers that Britain has it happy to sit back and have a small navy and army. The United States is bordered by the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, so the only real attack against them would have to come by the sea.
The United States was the leader of iron/steel production, their total production of iron and steel in 1914, was twice that of their nearest competitor and was bigger then all the other countries put together. The explanation for this is that the United States was playing catch up with the rest of Europe in terms of their cities but also because the United States had the resources available to them and they took advantage of them. The United States led in energy consumption, by consuming more energy then all of the other world powers combined. The United States is using a lot of energy because it needs to power all of its cities and factories and also because wind, solar or water energy was not used extensively enough to be an alternative source of energy instead of coal. The United States also led in relative shares of world manufacturing and by 1913, about 1/3 of all manufactured goods were produced in the US. The United States was a major force economic wise but militarily wise, it was puny. By 1914, its military only numbered about 164,000 compared to other great powers of Western Europe this was just a portion of their armies. In warship tonnage, the Americans were simply content to maintain a small navy of about 700,000 tons because they weren’t experiencing any tensions with another nation and they isolated themselves from Europe so they really didn’t care for European politics.
So since America isolated itself from the rest of Europe it was in no way challenging its old colonial master’s rule over the seas and over control of its colonies.
There where some other countries that were playing distinct roles in Europe as well. France had the second largest army to that of Russia’s but its troops were poorly trained and no money was being sent to maintain and better equip and train its armed forces. So the question became how long could France keep this up and not have to pay the price for its lack of funding of its military. France was a strong European power in 1880 but by 1914 it started to decrease economically and could not keep up with the British, the Germans and the Russians. Russia was the biggest country in Western Europe and it bordered Germany. It had the largest army up to 1914 with 1,352,000 men and also had the greatest population of 175.1 million people. Yet, it lacked in economic areas and compared to Germany and Great Britain who were a lot smaller in size then Russia, Russia was still unable to become a dominant power in Europe. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was a union of city states from two countries and together they formed an empire. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire held an alliance with Germany for many years and many years to come. Austria-Hungary maintained a relative small army; it was 3 times the size of the American army at 1914. Economically it contributed to a relative small amount on the European stage and what it didn’t bring in economic wealth to Germany; it brought in land and resources to the bidding table.
Starting from 1880 to 1914 is the period of mistrust for the European states that were dotted across Continental Europe. There was an increasingly amount of tension and that can be seen by the sudden explosion of armies that countries raised. Great Britain was losing influence on the world stage and was losing ground in the areas that it had once dominated in. Germany had openly challenged Britain’s power and decides to challenge her at the place that was most dear, on the sea. The United States was indirectly challenging Britain just because of the relative size of the US and that at that time; it was still a developing country. It was putting all of its money into its economy and building its cities. The United States was content with having a small army and also a small navy because of its geography and by virtue had two enormous bodies of water bordering it on both sides. Other European countries were gaining some influence and losing some influence but when it really came down to it, Great Britain the old super power was faltering and Germany was trying to replace Britain as the super power in Europe and America was creeping behind both of them, waiting for its chance to become the world’s most dominant and influential power.
P.S. Statistics were taken from The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy.
