International Relations

• France decleared war on Prussia (biggest german state because France was becoming concerned over her strength
• other German states were unifying with Prussia- Unified Germany
• Spanish Monarchy fell vacant- Bismarck pput forward a German candidate
• Outraged, France demanded Germany to withdraw and apologise
• When no apology came; France decleared war

Main fighting was over in just 6 weeks (Parris held out until 1871)- 150,000 french troops dead

Crucial because:

• humiliated France and showed their military weakness
• Led to the unification of Germany
• Could be argued that it led to the start of the alliance system (dual alliance)

1871 Treaty of Frankfurt

Peace treaty to end Franco-Prussian War.  Agreements;

• France pay 5 billion Francs to Germany (reparations)
• Alsace-Lorraine (1.5m inhabitants) transfered to Germany

Unified Germany

• Prussia forcibly re-united all German States
• German king crowned- Kaiser Wilhelm I in Hall of Mirrors, Versailles (humiliated france further)
• France and Russia made uneasy by the unification of Germany
• Preparations for war; France built forts on the French-German border to prevent Germany invading again

Start of Alliance System

• Germany concerned France may organise revenge attack
• Bismarck (foreign Minister) maked anti-French alliances with Austria-Hungary and Russia to protect Germany (Dreikaiserbund)

France's Political Structure

• Republic 1871- Napoleon captured in Battle of Sudan
• Many political parties; French governments rarely in power for long

  French Government unpopular; - very weak, divided unpopular French governments

• Signed Treaty of Frankfurt
• Too weak to push through strong measures against Germans- seemed unwilling to fight
• Political Instability- 26 different Prime Ministers 1889-1914

• Kaiser Wilhelm I 1871-1888 - appointed by God
• Bismark 1878-1890- Unified Germany through 'Blood and Iron'
• Germany began building alliances (1872 onwards) to prevent France seeking revenge (can be interpreted that the Unification of Germany led to the Alliance System?)
• Germany encouraged industrialisation with new production techniques and rapid expansion

Bismarckian Foreign Policy

  2 main aims: keep German empire together & isolate France (alliances)

• 1873: Dreikaiserbund (Three Emporors League)- Germany, Austria-Hungary & Russia        secure side if nedd to attack France
• 1879: Dual Alliance- Germany & Austria-Hungary (Russia dropped~ Germany responsible?)
• 1887: Reinsurance Treaty- Germany and Russia (after breakup of Dreikaiserbund)

Wilhelm II crowned Kaiser 1888

Wilhelm II Foreign Policy

• Radicalises/more agressive
• Determined to match economic power with military power
• Bismarck restrained Wilhelm II from being overly aggressive (sacked 1890)
• Foregin Policy- 'Weltpolitik'- "Germany wants its own place in the sun"
• Threatens Britain- "Sun never sets on Brittish Empire"

Alliances were defensive and were not binding

• 1882 Dreikaiser Bund (Germ, Aust-Hung, Russ) -->1879 Dual Alliance (Germ-Aust-Hung) -->1882 Triple Alliance (Germany, Aust-Hung & Italy)
• 1894 Dual Entente (Russia & France)~ Response to Dreikaiserbund
• 1904 Entente Cordiale (England & France)
• 1907 Anglo-Russian Entente (England & Russia)
• 1907 Triple Entente (Britain, France & Russia)

Dreikaiserbund 1872 (Germany, Austria-Hungary & Russia)

• Anti French "3 Emporors League"- aim to isolate France~ potential lead to war
• Germany anxious French would seek revenge (F-P War) and try to regain Alsace-Lorriane
• Sought alliances to defend herself

Dual Alliance 1879- Germany & Austria-Hungary

• 1876-1878 Bulgarian Crisis- Bulgaria wanted independence from the Balkans
• The response to the Balkans led to the break down of the Dreikaiserbund

Triple Alliance 1882- Germany, Austrain-Hungary & Italy

• Italy joined to improve relations with Austria-Hungary (shared boundaries)
• Italy angry France gained colonies in North America- close to Italy territory
• Italy never firm ally- later signed secret alliance with France & joned WWI on Britian's side

Dual Entente 1894- France & Russia

• 1888 Kaiser Wilhelm II became German emperor and wanted Germany to expand and dismissed Bismarck (1890)
• Alarmed France & Russia signed Dual Entente- response to Dual Alliance

Entente Cordialle 1904- Britain & France

• Britain & France clashed over Fashoda, Sudan both claiming its ownership
• Neraly came to war, instead Britain agreed France could have a free hand in north west Africa e.g. Morocco
• Avoided War over the Fashoda Crisis by dividing Europe between Britain & France

Anglo-Russian Entente 1907- Britain and Russia

• disagreement over middle east
• collectively formed the Triple Entente

Triple Entente

• didn't mean to be anti-German
• Wilhelm II saw it as a threat- can be seen as the cause of war as Wilhelm felt being circled

Scramble for Africa

• Gain political power over other European nations, find new materials to boost own economies
• Cause tensions such as the Fashoda Crisis

First Moroccan Crisis (Tangier Crisis) 1905-1906

• Began due to Germany's growing economic power and imperial rivalry (Wilhelm & Entente Cordialle)
• Wilhelm attempts to split the Entent Cordialle- by stopping France from having a free hand in Morocco but Briatin and Russia supported France and the public support belonged to France- Germany becoming isolated
• 1906 Algeciras Conference Jan 16- April 7- 13 Nations present.  Britain & France planned military action against Germany. Germany's only support was Austria-Hungary.  Wilhelm humiliated and it proved the strength of Entente Cordialle 

2nd Moroccan Crisis (Agadir Crisis) 1911

• Germany wanted to prove strength and didn't think that they would be humiliated a second time
• Wilhelm sent gunboat 'Panther' to Agadir (Moroccan Coast) to pressurise France and reduce its influence on the area
• Germany tried to intimidate france to ally with her
• Britain supported France as they thought Germany wanted Agadir as a naval base for the Atlantic but Austria-Hungary failed to support Germany- Germany increasingly becoming more isolated
• Lloyd george decleared a naval lead was necessary to put Germany back in its place.  1912 Anglo-French Naval Agreement- Entente Cordialle now a military alliance.
• Caused by Militarism but 2nd Moroccan Crisis led to further militarism.
• Led to the Arms Race

German Aims

• wanted to protect their economic interest in the area against France's growing control
• scare France to turn to Germany

but

• Britain and France stood fast- Wilhelm humiliated
• Created a bigger void between France, Britain and Germany

Arms Race

• Wilhelm announced he wants to expand his navy to be the best- threatens Britain who's navy is the worlds biggest- leads to Arms Race
• Tirpiz
• 1898 German Naval Law- 12 new battleships
• 1900 German Naval Law- 38 new battleships (big increase/significant)
• However 1906- Briain designed the Dreadnought- made all battleships insignificant meaning Germany was back to square one!
• Dreadnought- bigger calibre so could easily sink a battleship with one shot and battleships couldn't sink them
• 1914- UK had 20 dreadnaughts whereas Germany only had 13 dreadnaughts

Schlieffen Plan

• 1905- Count Alfred Van Schliffen
• Avoid 'war on two fronts' between France and Russia
• Aimed to defeat France in six weeks (proven possible by the Franco-Prussian War) by invading through neutral Belgium
• Army return through Germany to defeat Russia (thought it would take Russia 6 week to mobilise)
• Long term cause of war- without invading neutral Belgium, Britain would never have joined the war turning it into a World War

Army-preparations for war

• Germany had the largest land army- accepted as the biggest and the best in the world
• As well as standing armies, nations introduced conscription, so they also had large numbers of trained reserves. 
• All the nations except Britain had huge armies

1875-1878 Balkan Crisis

• Bulgaria wanted independence from the Balkans (Ottoman Empire)
• Austria-Hungary (close neighbour) against this and feared a knock-on-effect where members in Austria-Hungary Empire would also want nationalistic ideas
• Austria-Hungary anxious Russia would gain too much influence in the area~ Pan-Slavism
• Russia wanted Bulgaria to have access to the Dardenelle Straights so the Navy can have access from the Black Sea to the Mediterainean Sea
• Treaty of San Stefano (1878): Balkan states gained their independence.  New stste of 'Greater Bulgaria' created
• Austria-Hungary alarmed and called on Germany (wanted to surpress Russian Control)
• Treaty of Berlin (1878): Bulgaria reduced in size
• Russia felt Austria-Hungary sided against them- Dreikaiserbund (no shared interests over the Balkans

Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina 1908

• 1908- Austrian Foreign Minister Austrian Foreign Minister met Russian Foreign Minister
• Agreed Austria would support Russian control of the Dardanelles Straits
• However, Austraia-Hungary unerlateraly anexed Bosnia-Herzegovina without support or agreement October 1908

Bosnia Crisis (Annexation Crisis) 1908

• 1908 revolution in Turkey, Austria-Hungary took advantage to annex Turkish State of Bosnia
• Serbia furious (borders Boznia-Herzegovinia and wanted to annex Slavic part of Bosnia because Bosnia included many Serbs whom it had hoped to rule.  Serbia threatened War on Austria-Hungary
• Russia pledgeded support to Serbia (Russia & Serbia alliance 1908), and began to mobilise, causing Germany, allied with Austria-hungary to threaten war on Russia.
• Russia expected support from France and Britain however, Britain and France didn't support Russia.

Bosnia Crisis (Annexation Crisis) 1908

• Beginning of WWI postponed when Russia backed down, but relations between Austrai-Hungary and Serbia were greatly strained.  Russia vowed not to back down again (important after assination)

First Balkan War

• May 1912, Greece and Bulgaria signed alliance- The Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece & Montenegro)- gang together to take more territory from Ottoman Epire
• Troops mobilised September 1912 and October 1912 decleared war, Ottoman no state to fight and Balkan League was very successful
• Main powers kept out of fighting but tried to influence peace negotiations.

Second Balkan War

• June 1913, Bulgaria went to war with members of the Balkan League
• Bulgarian commander ordered attack without recieveing governemt authorisation
• Turkey and Romania joined war on Serbia's side

August 19194

• June 28- Ferdinand (air to throne) Shot
• July- Austria-Hungary asked for German support- blank cheque (support no matter what)
• July- Austria-Hungary ultimatum to Serbia- Serbia followed all of the ultimatum except an      invesigation into the goverment as Black hand gang (blamed for assassination) is linked to the government.  Austria-Hungary shellled Serbian Capital
• July- Russia mobilised, in support of Serbia, at Austrian border
• July- Austria-Hungary decleared war on Serbia
• July- Russia ordered general mobilisation
• July- Germany ordered Russia to demobilise.  Russia refused- won't back down again (annexation crisis 1908)
• August- Germany decleared war on Russia- France mobilised
• August- Germany demanded passage through Belgium (Schlieffen Plan)
• August- Germany decleared war on Belgium and France
• August 4- Britain decleared war on Germany (Britain defending neutral Belgium)

• Can be interpreted that the key cause of WWI is nationalisation
• Britain had the world's largest navy- Britain more confident to assert power & determined to keep their navy the best (2nd Moroccan Crisis~ Agadir Crisis & Arms Race)
• France sought revenge on Germany~ humiliation of Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871) defeat
• France and Germany became more nationalistic (Franco-Prussian War)- many competitions (alliance systems & Moroccan Crises)
• German Policy- Sammlungspolitik: Wilhelm II believed this would bring social classes together (abolishing titles~ replaced with Comerade)
• 2nd Moroccan Crisis/Agadir Crisis- due to German nationalism- prove strength after humiliation at Algeciras Conference
• Arms Race-  Nationalism conflict of Germany and Britain- leading navy
• Russia- cannot back down after Annexation Crisis- doesnt want to show weakness- vital in the assassination~ refuses Germany's demand to demobilise