In contrast to this, many of the Great Powers did not have large empires, but held power due to other factors. America, for example, had no formal empire, but instead had ‘virtual colonies’ such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Panama and Cuba, in addition to a group of countries that it effectively ‘babysat’, such as Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In fact, America had previously been part of the British Empire. Japan controlled Korea, Taiwan and part of Manchuria after her war with China. She also benefited from Russia’s loss of Chinese territory and from Germany’s colonial losses in china following the Treaty of Versailles. Germany itself had a small empire, with land in Russia and therefore held some influence in that area until the end of World War one, when the Treaty of Versailles demanded that the land be returned to Russia, diminishing to a great extent Germany’s empire, and greatly reducing her power.
As shown by this, the Treaty of Versailles had a tremendously detrimental effect on Germany, causing a huge decline in her power following 1919. The terms outlined a massive reduction in Germany’s armed forces, to just 100,000 men, 6 ships, no air force and no submarines. This crushed Germany’s power as it no longer would have had any effect in another war, and would have been easily defeated, making it seem very unthreatening and weak. The treaty also demanded that reparations be given to pay for the damage caused by war to the other countries, and land to be returned to the countries it had been taken from. This single treaty destroyed Germany’s economy, empire, military and government thus having a disastrous effect on Germany’s success as a power. She lost over 13% of her European empire including Alsace-Lorraine and the Saar basin. The treaty nonetheless, had little effect on the USA, due to Wilson’s large involvement in the drawing up, with the exception of the reparations it was paid. The treaty even had a beneficial effect on many of the other powers. One such power was Japan, who gained many of the German colonies in China. Britain gained Egypt, Palestine, Tanzania and other German and Turkish territories in Africa, of course to the expense of an already struggling Turkey. Turkey’s main losses were due to treaties other than the Treaty of Versailles, for example the Treaty of San Stefano, and the Treaty of Turkey’s main losses were due to treaties other than the Treaty of Versailles, for example the Treaty of San Stefano, and the Treaty of Sevres. In the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, which brought an end to the Russio-Turkish war, Turkey endured huge territorial losses. Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria all became recognised as independent countries. In addition, Turkey was to surrender the Ardahan, Kars, Batum, and Bayazid areas to Russia and pay a large indemnity. These territorial gains by Russia caused alarm to other nations, and a congress was called later that year, at which the Treaty of Berlin replaced the Treaty of San Stefano.
The Treaty of Berlin was much less favorable for the Russians, who had benefited greatly from the harsh terms of the Treaty of San Stefano. Bulgaria was split into three parts, two of which were put under Turkish control, Bosnia and Herzegovina were mandated to Austria-Hungary, Russia received Kars, Batum and Ardahan, and Britain gained Cyprus. As a result of this Treaty, the Turks lost most of their European Empire, Britain and Austria-Hungary’s power was increased whilst Russian influence in the Middle East was reduced. This made Russia and the Balkans dissatisfied, causing tension, which ultimately led to World War 1. Turkey made small gains in the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913 for example Adrianopole, but this was barely significant in comparison to their huge losses that led to the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, and it’s complete loss of power.
The Last Treaty to ensure Turkey’s swift decline as a World power, was the Treaty of Sevres, in 1920, following World War 1. It limited Turkey to the city of Constantinople, and some surrounding territory. Although the Sultan and the Government accepted this agreement, the head of the Nationalist party refused to accept it and hence overthrew the government, establishing the Republic of Turkey, to gain a slightly more favourable agreement at the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
Despite these treaties being the cause of imperial and financial loss in many of the world powers, and therefore a decrease in their power and influence, they were drawn up as a result of conflict that had to be resolved. This of course means that they were a solution to wars, such as the Balkan League wars, the Russio-Turkish war, the three wars over Latin America, the Russio-Japanese war and of course World War 1.
Russia was especially involved in two wars in the lead up to World War 1. The first of these was the Russio-Turkish war, when Russian troops invaded to help the Christians who were being ill-treated in Turkey. Britain threatened war on Russia, which forced an end to the attack and the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano. As aforementioned this treaty had enormous impact on Turkeys status as a world power, with its size and influence plummeting as a result of this war. The Russians in stark contrast benefited, gaining Kars and Batum.
Russia did not however, benefit from the 1905 Russio-Japanese war, which it lost. This failure led promptly to a revolution, where the Tsar (King) was forced to give up power to the Duma (parliament). This unrest, in conjunction with it’s poor economy, flailing reputation due to its defeat, and the fact that it had to give land to Germany as a result, lost a great deal of Russia’s power. She barely managed to maintain her empire, and her status as a world power plummeted. Japan meanwhile gained all of Russia’s Chinese territory, which, in addition to their own, gave her and emormous influence in that area thus rapidly increasing her power.
Completely independently to this unrest, the USA had captured Hawaii in 1877 and built Pearl Harbour, a major naval base giving her an even greater military standing. In 1899, the USZ defeated Spain in a war over the ownership of Cuba. The USA won easily, and thus regarded Cuba as part of its own ‘Backyard’ in spite of its lack of a formal empire. This war originated from the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that only America should be in charge of Latin America, and any other countries would be defeated if they got in the way. This same doctrine led to war with Britain previously in 1830 and France in 1870. These successes influenced the USA’s power, making it strong despite owning only ‘virtual’ colonies.
The Balkan League wars were the last wars before World War 1, and had the most extensive impact on Turkey, between 1912 and 1913. The Balkan League was set up in 1912 as a result of a counter-revolution, which brought back the old repressive system after the introduction of democracy. A Greek statesman realised that the reintroduction of this system would cause much suffering for the Christians in Turkey such as they had previously endured. He persuaded Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria to join Greece in the league, hoping to persuade the Turks to deal with the Christians fairly. Later that year the league declared war on Turkey and within 6 weeks overran it. This success worried the major powers, as Russia feared that Bulgaria would seize Constantinople and Austria feared Serbia gaining an outlet to the Adriatic. The major powers therefore forced the league to end the fighting and organised the Treaty of London to settle affairs. As a result of this Treaty, Turkey was allowed only to retain Eastern Thrace, while the League members tried to decide on how to split the remainder of the region. Despite the talks, they could not agree and so went to war with each other. This was known as the second Balkan League War. Bulgaria wanted the largest share of Macedonia, as she claimed that she had supplied most of the army in the first Balkan League war. Consequently when Serbia occupied Macedonia, Bulgaria attacked. Serbia was joined by Rumania, Montenegro, Greece and Turkey, which wanted the chance to regain some of its lost territory. Bulgaria was easily defeated and forced to agree to the terms set out by the other countries. As an effect of the wars, Serbia grew in size, which alarmed Austria. Germany and Turkey agreed to support Austria should she decide to go to war with Serbia, where Russia and France agreed to support Serbia. This system of alliances led directly to conflict between Austria and Serbia escalating into World War 1.
World War 1 was undoubtedly the largest influence on the rises and declines of the great powers in this time period. Where the previously mentioned wars affected only a few countries at a time, World War 1 had an enormous impact on all of the powers simultaneously, and also influenced every other aspect that determined them. In Britain the War prompted massive change. Imperially, Britain gained land from Germany and Turkey after the Treaty of Versailles, in Africa. She also gained ‘mandates’ of Iraq, Iran, Transjordan, Egypt and Palestine and seemed to be imperially at her peak. Britain was given Germany’s merchant navy as well, making her more powerful in the military sense. In economy as the surge of optimism about ‘building a new country – fit for heroes’ swept Britain, there was a drop in unemployment which caused trade to pick up again until 1921, however despite this, and the reparations paid by Germany, Britain was war broke after the costs imposed on her, and thus the USA had overtaken her economically.
The USA gained enormously from the war, receiving most of the reparations paid by Germany and gaining much power from her involvement. In the Treaty of Versailles, Woodrow Wilson proposed the 14-point plan, which proposed that the world should be run according to his new, fair principles. This included a league of Nations, where nations would discuss problems instead of fighting, the league would punish any country that did not obey this. As the only country to outline ideas for peace after the war, Wilson quickly got his way, gaining large influence over the affairs of the other countries and thus gaining power quickly.
This gain of power was at the cost of Germany, although Wilson was the most sympathetic towards Germany of the Big 3. After the war Germany suffered incredibly, her power plummeting due to the expense of rearmament, cost of war and then following it, the reparations and other losses inflicted by the Treaty of Versailles. Economically, Germany had to pay enormous sums in reparations, which bankrupted her making her powerless and weak. This weakness was increased by her demilitarisation, reducing her military to 100,000 men, with a tiny naval force, which could not defend itself under attack let alone attack any other country. This coupled with her defeat made her an easy target for attack, with only a small empire left as support as the treaty had taken most away. She had to give land to her neighbouring countries, and in addition was banned from uniting with Austria. The treaty was far harsher than anyone had expected causing the government to resign, making Germany volatile and susceptible to extremism as a solution to the many problems she was facing. In this way, World War 1 led to the dramatic decline of Germany’s power and in addition to the rise of Hitler, thus to the Second World War.
The war was also the final straw for the Ottoman empire, which collapsed completely after the Treaty of Sevres that took away nearly all Turkey’s land in Europe, and British attack which led to the final dismemberment of the empire. The British therefore were guaranteed the Suez Canal and Egypt, and the League of Nations gained power over the Turkish straits. Arabia was given independence also as a result of the war, and the Arab lands were made into mandates, leaving Turkey powerless, poor and in turmoil. The empire never recovered from this, and nowadays exists as a small country that in no way could be considered a power.
The fate of Russia looked to be remarkably similar, but its astonishing recovery led to it becoming one of the superpowers following World War 2. In 1919 however, Russia’s power fell disastrously low she collapsed into war and revolution. The 1905 Russio-Japanese war had left her weak, she was poor, poorly equipped military. When she entered the war on the side of Serbia in 1914 she stood no chance of victory against the better equipped and organised German troops. Many of the Russian troops deserted, and the Government began to run out of money. As a result of this taxes were put up, a move which angered the Russian people. In 1917, the already unpopular Tsar Nicholas took over the running of the war. This was a huge mistake as when Russia failed, he was blamed. The Russians were poor, overtaxed and weak, and blamed their royal family. In February 1917, there was a revolution, which removed the Tsar from power, instead putting in place a democratic government. At this point it looked as if change was over for Russia, but this was not the case. She was still losing the war, and there was great unrest amongst the peasants, who the government were slow to help. The result of this was yet another revolution led by Lenin, leader of the communist (Bolshevik) party, who promised to end the war, and help the peasants with communism, and took power by force. As in Germany, extremism was taking hold. Therefore it was primarily because of the country’s weakened state, economic decline, unstable government, and poor military caused by World War 1, that the country entered into Communism as a solution to its problems. In this way, World War 1 led to Russia’s decline as a power, as well as its recovery in the later years and the onset of many of the world’s problems in the latter part of the century in the fight to contain and destroy communism.
Paradoxically, Japan benefited enormously from the War joining the USA as the main powers in 1919. After gaining land in China from her victory over Russia in 1905, Japan entered World War 1 with a thriving economy, a strong military, a large empire and a stable government. She emerged from the war with all of these advantages intact, and then gained German colonies in China as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, despite the fact that according to Wilson’s 14 point plan, China should have been allowed ‘self-determination’. In the following inter-war years, naval rivalry between the USA and Japan grew as both countries fought for power in the Pacific. In this way, World War 1 gained Japan power, until she was powerful enough to defeat Manchuria in China, and finally attack Pearl Harbour in 1941.
Therefore, in conclusion, although economic change was important in determining the rise and decline of the great powers, it is clear that the key factor was World War 1, as it affected every other aspect that determined the countries relative powers. The War affected every Power’s economy greatly, bankrupting Turkey, Russia and Germany, causing economic problems in Britain whilst improving the economy of the USA and Japan. This was mostly due to the effects of the Treaty of Versailles, which in turn was put in place because of the war. The treaty also reduced Germany’s military and empire, and Turkey’s empire to the benefit of its neighbouring countries, to Britain, the USA and Japan. There were also other treaties that came as a result of the war, such as the Treaty of Sevres, which led to the final reduction in the Ottoman Empire, limiting Turkey to Constantinople and some surrounding areas. The Ottoman Empire collapsed as a consequence and never recovered. The war caused much of the unrest in Russia, allowing political extremism to take hold as in Germany, setting the scene for much of the conflict that was to follow in the following years. Where previous wars affected only one or two countries at a time, World War 1 had enormous impact on over 30 countries including every one of the great powers. It led to either a rise or decline in power in each of them, hence it was the greatest single cause of changes in power in the early 1900’s, and set the pattern the arrangement of power that was to follow in the years succeeding it.
