...the nations, and the establishment and maintenance in Europe after 1871 of large armaments and of to hostile military alliances.ANationalism The French Revolution and the Napoleonic ars had spread throughout most of Europe the idea of political democracy, ith the resulting idea that people of the same ethnic origin, language, and political ideals had the right to independent states. The principle of national self-determination, hoever, as largely ignored by the dynastic and reactionary forces that dominated in the settlement of European affairs at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Several peoples ho desired national autonomy ere made subject to local dynasts or to other nations. Notable examples ere the German people, hom the Congress of Vienna left divided into numerous duchies, principalities, and kingdoms Italy, also left divided into many parts, some of hich ere under foreign control and the Flemish- and French-speaking Belgians of the Austrian Netherlands, hom the congress placed under Dutch rule. Revolutions and strong nationalistic movements during the 19th century succeeded in nullifying much of the reactionary and anti-nationalist ork of the congress. Belgium on its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the unification of Italy as accomplished in 1861, and that of Germany in 1871. At the close of the century, hoever, the problem of nationalism as still unresolved in other areas of Europe, resulting in tensions both ithin the regions involved and beteen various European nations. One particularly prominent nationalistic movement, Pan-Slavism, figured heavily in the events preceding the ar.BImperialism The spirit of nationalism as also manifest in economic conflict. The Industrial Revolution, hich took place in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, folloed in France in the early 19th century, and then in Germany after 1870, caused an immense increase in the manufactures of each country and a consequent need for foreign markets. The principal field for the European policies of economic expansion as Africa, and on that continent colonial interests frequently clashed. Several times beteen 1898 and 1914 the economic rivalry in Africa beteen France and Great Britain, and beteen Germany on one side and France and Great Britain on the other, almost precipitated a European ar.CMilitary Expansion As a result of such tensions, beteen 1871 and 1914 the nations of Europe adopted domestic measures and foreign policies that in turn steadily increased the danger of ar. Convinced that their interests ere threatened, they maintained large standing armies, hich they constantly replenished and augmented by peacetime conscription. At the same time, they increased the size of their navies. The naval expansion as intensely competitive. Great Britain, influenced by the expansion of the German navy begun in 1900 and by the events of the Russo-Japanese ar, developed its fleet under the direction of Admiral Sir John Fisher. The ar beteen Russia and Japan had proved the efficacy of long-range naval guns, and the British accordingly developed the idely copied dreadnought battleship, notable for its heavy armament. Developments in other areas of military technology and organization led to the dominance of general staffs ith precisely formulated plans for mobilization and attack, often in programmes that could not be reversed once begun.Statesmen everyhere realized that the tremendous and ever-groing expenditures for armament ould in time lead either to national bankruptcy or to ar, and they made several efforts for orldide disarmament, notably at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907. International rivalry as, hoever, too far advanced to permit any progress toards disarmament at these conferences.The European nations not only armed themselves for purposes of self-defence, but also, in order not to find themselves standing alone if ar did break out, sought alliances ith other poers. The result as a phenomenon that in itself greatly increased the chances for generalized ar the grouping of the great European poers into to hostile military alliances, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France, and Russia. Shifts ithin these alliances added to the building sense of crisis.D1905-1914 Crises Foreshadoing the ar ith Europe divided into to hostile camps, any disturbance of the existing political or military situation in Europe, Africa, or elsehere provoked an international incident. Beteen 1905 and 1914 several international crises and to local ars occurred, all of hich threatened to bring about a general European ar. The first crisis occurred over Morocco, here Germany intervened in 1905-1906 to support Moroccan independence against French encroachment. France threatened ar against Germany, but the crisis as finally settled by an international conference at Algeciras, Spain, in 1906. Another crisis took place in the Balkans in 1908 over the annexation by Austria-Hungary of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because one form of pan-Slavism as a Pan-Serbian or Greater Serbia movement in Serbia, hich had as one of its objects the acquisition by Serbia of the southern part of Bosnia, the Serbs threatened ar against Austria. ar as avoided only because Serbia could not fight ithout Russian support, and Russia at the time as unprepared for ar. A third crisis, again in Morocco, occurred in 1911 hen the German government sent a arship to Agadir in protest against French efforts to secure supremacy in Morocco. After threats of ar on both sides, the matter as settled by a colonial compromise beteen France and Germany in November 1911. Taking advantage of the preoccupation of the Great Poers ith the Moroccan question, Italy declared ar on Turkey in 1911, hoping to annex the Tripoli region of northern Africa. Because Germanys policy of Drang nach Osten drive toards the East obliged it to cultivate friendship ith Turkey, the Italian attack had the effect of eakening the Triple Alliance and encouraging its enemies. The Balkan ars of 1912-1913 resulted in an increased desire on the part of Serbia to obtain the parts of Austria-Hungary inhabited by Slavic peoples, strengthened Austro-Hungarian suspicion of Serbia, and left Bulgaria and Turkey, both defeated in the ars, ith a desire for revenge. Germany, disappointed because Turkey had been deprived of its European territory by the Balkan ars, increased the size of its army. France responded by increasing peacetime military service from to to three years. Folloing the example of these nations, all the others of Europe in 1913 and 1914 spent huge sums for military preparedness.MILITARY OPERATIONS On a Europe thus heavily armed and torn by national rivalries, the assassination of the Austrian archduke had a catastrophic effect.ADiplomatic Moves The Austro-Hungarian government, considering the assassination the ork of the Greater Serbian movement, concluded that the movement must be suppressed by a milit...
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