European Diplomacy

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European Diplomacy

• Warm Up
• Define Balance of Power.
• Then, define 5 of the Great Powers

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DURING THE PERIOD 1871-1914 WHICH WERE THE MAJOR
POWERS  IN EUROPE AND WHY?

• Germany, England, France, Russia and the Austrian
  Empire were the major powers in Europe.
• Germany, in particular, once united, had the
  resources and population to become the greatest
  European power.

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Europe before 1871
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Franco- Prussian War 1870-71

• France defeated and had to sign the Treaty of
  Frankfurt
• Terms
• Alsace and Lorraine rich iron ore deposits,
  textile industries, good agricultural land
• Indemnity-5000 million francs, german troops
  occupied parts of France till it was paid.
• German victory march through France

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Consequences of the War

• Led to unification of Germany
• King of Prussia declared German Emperor
• Conscription was necessary to pprovide adequate
  trained reserves.

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Europe 1871-1914
Parliamentary monarchy Trade Industry Sea-power Em
pire
Authoritarian state, Kaiser and Chancellor
Military power, industrialisation and population
growth, Battle Fleet 1900
Autocratic Tsar, Duma 1905, Rapid
industrialisation (1890s) and population
growth Foreign loans, pan-Slavism
Dual monarchy Separate Govt. and parliaments
nationalities Conflicts Balkan interests
Democratic republic slow economic and population
growth colonial expansion
Sultan rules 1876-1909, Balkan unrest decline
young Turks 1909
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Otto van Bismarck
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   BISMARCK'S FOREIGN POLICY AFTER GERMAN
UNIFICATION

• The Prussian military influence caused Germany to
  emphasize military power and military readiness.
• Bismarck served as the chancellor of Germany for
  two decades after unification.
• He directed policy towards the goal of
  maintaining what had been achieved. Germany had
  no further expansionist designs in Europe.

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• France was seen as the most likely threat.
• military build-up that would always exceed the
  French for Defensive purposes.
• French were fearful that Germany was planning
  further military aggression.
• France, therefore, built its military
  capabilities.

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• An armaments race went on for more than forty
  years.
• largest standing armies in history with
  conscription and millions of men under arms.
• resources of industrialized nation-states made
  this possible.
• The new technology added to the potential of
  military power.

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• Bismarck also sought to keep France
  diplomatically isolated
• Prevent a war to recoup their losses.
• Negotiated a series of alliances with other
  European powers.
• These efforts were complicated and eventually
  frustrated by the unstable situation in the
  Balkans.

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• Warm up
• T/F Bismarck was interested in expansion in
  Europe and imperialism abroad.
• Review what was the main purpose of Germanys
  foreign policy?
• How did the Franco Prussian War affect Germanys
  foreign diplomacy?
• Preview
• What was Britains foreign policy?
• What was Frances?

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England Foreign Policy

• England continued to enjoy a significant position
  of power
• leadership in industrialization and the benefits
  of overseas trade.
• English foreign policy was described as "splendid
  isolationism
• Refraining from alliances with other powers
• exercising its influence to encourage a balance
  of power on the continent.
• So long as the continental powers checked each
  other, England was secure on the other side of
  the Channel.

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• Britain feared Russias design on Istanbul and
  the Near East
• British Ministers supported the decline of the
  Ottoman empire.
• Crimean War
• 1870-1914- Britain became the greatest imperial
  power in the world
• the empire on which the sun never set.

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•     England had a small volunteer, professional
  army, well-trained and disciplined,
• Naval Power was the backbone
• protected the island nation and its far-flung
  overseas network of trade.

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• Biggest Threat to Britain?
• The Balkans
• Straits of the Dardanelles (the Ottoman Empire)
• English trade route to India.
• Other Reasons
• English and Russian imperial interests also
  clashed in Persia, in Afghanistan and in northern
  China. There were also conflicting imperialistic
  goals between England and France in Africa.

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• Immense importance was given to safeguarding the
  routes to India
• Suez Canal and southern Africa were regarded as
  areas of strategic importance
• Summary
• 1860-1900 it was a period of Splendid
  isolation when Britain stood aside from
  alliances but later British statesmen realized
  that Britain's resources were overstretched and
  she needed allies.

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France
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• Napoleon Bonapartes Legacy
• France was regarded as a threat to peace due to
  her size of population
• Home of revolutionary ideas
• 1815-52- Relatively peaceful foreign policy
• Algeria 1st African Colony 1830
• Assistance to Muhammad Ali 1810-1830s
• She made a rapid recovery from Franco Prussian
  War
• regained her status as a Great power.

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How did she do that

• Reorganized army
• Developed a powerful navy
• 1914- industrialization slower than Germany
• Missing what valuable piece of land?
• A wealthy nation as vast amounts of capital
  invested abroad, especially in Russia.
• 1900s- French Left (Socialist and radicals)
  largely pacifist and French Right very
  nationalistic and committed to take revenge.

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   FRANCE'S FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVES

•     Third Republic was established after the
  Franco-Prussian War.
• multi-party  democracy which endured
• frequent elections and changes in leadership,
  until the Nazi conquest in 1940.
• French foreign policy focus on the potential
  threat of Germany
• A minority faction in France agitated to regain
  Alsace-Lorraine from Germany, but the French were
  always outpaced by German power and this was not
  a realistic hope until after World War I.

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Russia
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• Aim- to defend monarchial authority
• Defeated in the Crimean War- forbidden to
  maintain a navy in the Black Sea
• Internally- modernize local government, the army
  and educational system
• abolished serfdom

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• 1904-5
• Russian economy did not generate enough taxable
  wealth
• increasing needs of the state not met
• Russian agriculture- underutilized
• grains from richer regions were exported to pay
  for imported machinery for her industries
• Industrialization was financed by massive foreign
  loans
• Who was supporting this?

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• Pan- Slavists believed in solidarity of all
  Slavs whether in Russia or Balkans
• Russias mission was to liberate the Balkan
  Christians from Turkish oppression
• create independent Slav states under the
  protection of Mother Russia and the orthodox
  church.
• 1890s- growth of German influence in Turkey-
  Balkans tinderbox or powder-keg

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RUSSIA'S FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVES?

• warm water access to the Mediterranean and the
  high seas through the Straits of the Dardanelles.
  
• Pan-Slavic drive to expand Russian interest into
  the Balkans
• self-appointed protectors of Slavic nationalities
  

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•     There was also a Russian expansion across the
  sparsely-populated Siberian land mass.
• This brought the Russians into Manchuria
  (northeastern China), where they gained access to
  the Pacific. 
• There was also a significant migration of
  Russians into Siberia.
• The Balkans was the greatest area of instability.
  
• interests of Austria and Russia clashed and
  threatened the peace of Europe.

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Austria - Hungary
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Austria-Hungary Foreign Policy

• 1815-48- the Austrian Chancellor Metternich had
  exercised great influence in Europe,
• Russia and Prussia opposing revolutionary
  movements.
• Foreign Policy- gave diplomatic support to
  Britain and France in the Crimean Wars
• She was a property of the Habsburg dynasty and
  contained many different national groups.
• 1867- Habsburgs compromised with the Hungarians
  (Magyars) by granting them self-govt.

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Austro-Hungarian Empire

• Austria became Austria-Hungary called Dual
  monarchy
• Austrias capital- Vienna
• Hungary- government and parliament at Budapest
• A common foreign policy, uniform army
• Two master races- Germans in the West and the
  Magyars in the East
• Other races- Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Italians,
  Serbs, Croats and others which were discriminated
  by the master races.

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Austrian Foreign Policy

• To check Russian influence, Austrian policy was
  directed towards creating client states in the
  Balkans
• 1900- Serbia posed a threat as it was backed by
  Russia

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WHAT WERE THE REASONS FOR INSTABILITY IN
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE?

•  The Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire ruled
  over six Slavic nationalities as well as the
  Hungarians, the Romanians, the Albanians, and the
  Macedonians. There were also Greek and Italian
  minorities.
• Three major religions, Roman Catholic, Christian
  Orthodox, and Muslim also divided the people of
  the Balkans.

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•     War erupted in 1877 when the Bulgars rose up
  against their Turkish rulers and Russia
  intervened on their side. The Russians defeated
  the Turks,
• Would have driven them almost entirely out of
  Europe had the other great powers not intervened.
  
• England threatened war against Russia
• Bismarck, concerned that Austria and Germany
  might be drawn in, convened a peace conference.

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Ottoman Empire

• Sultan rule
• Balkan unrest
• Decline

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Research

• The Congress of Berlin
• The Dual Alliance 1879, the Three Emperors
  Alliance 1881
• The Reinsurance Treaty 1887
• The Mediterranean Agreements, 1887

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Part II
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• In 1878, at the Congress of Berlin, the Russians
  were coerced into relinquishing their gains in
  the recent war with Turkey. Bulgaria's
  independence was recognized and the Austrian
  government made a claim for Bosnia.      
  Bosnia was a source of concern for the Austrian
  Empire. Slavic minorities, agitating for
  independence from Austria, found refuge among
  their compatriots across the border in Bosnia.

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• The Austrians demanded to annex Bosnia, but the
  Russians  rallied to their Serbian (Slavic)
  allies there and refused to accept the
  annexation. A compromise arranged that Austria
  should occupy Bosnia but not be allowed to annex
  it. This was an unsatisfactory agreement imposed
  upon the parties at the insistence of Germany.

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WHAT CHANGES IN EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY OCCURRED AFTER
THE RETIREMENT OF BISMARCK IN 1890?

•     Bismarck's policy was designed to prevent war
  . The first alliance he had formed was the Three
  Emperor's League, an agreement between the 3
  monarchs of Germany, Russia and Austria to stand
  against threats to the status quo. This agreement
  had been annulled by the Balkan conflict.

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•     In 1879, Bismarck formed an alliance with the
  Austrians in order to restrain the Russians who
  were furious over the outcome of the Congress of
  Berlin. In 1882, Bismarck persuaded the Italians
  to join in a Triple Alliance. At the same time,
  working to contain Russo-Austrian hostility, he
  constructed a second alliance of the Three
  Emperors (1881-1887), which involved a pledge of
  friendly neutrality in the event that any of the
  three powers became involved in war with a
  fourth power.

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• Tension in the Balkans led the Russians to
  withdraw from the agreement in 1887. Bismarck
  continued his efforts by negotiating a
  Russian-German Reinsurance Treaty, again pledging
  neutrality if the other were attacked.

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•     The circumstances changed dramatically in the
  1890's. Bismarck was forcibly retired by the new
  and young emperor, William II, and German foreign
  policy became less cautious and more bellicose.
  The Reinsurance Treaty was allowed to lapse.
•     The Russians, looking for western investment,
  and the French, seeking to break out of their
  diplomatic isolation, began negotiations which
  led by 1894 to the Franco-Russian alliance.

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• Germany commenced a naval build-up which
  threatened England's primacy on the high seas. A
  naval armaments race between England and Germany
  began.

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•        England shifted its foreign policy from
  avoiding alliances to actively seeking ways to
  protect themselves from the rising power of
  Germany.
•     The English improved their relationship with
  the United States by consenting to accept
  settlement of a number of differences through
  arbitration. Upon demand by the United States,
  they withdrew a naval squadron from the waters of
  Venezuela where there had been a dispute
  concerning debt payments to English creditors.

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•  
•     They resolved a potential colonial conflict
  with the French (the Fashoda Crisis) by agreeing
  to support each others claims to Egypt and to
  Morocco. England was given support in Egypt by
  the French, and France was given support in
  Morocco by the English.
•     A difficult war to repress a rebellion in
  South Africa (the Boer War, 1899-1902) had
  awakened the English to their over-extended
  imperial commitments.

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•     In 1902, England signed the Anglo-Japanese
  naval agreement which gave the British
  reassurance that Japan would check Russian
  expansion in Asia so that the British felt secure
  in withdrawing some of their Pacific fleet to the
  Atlantic to face the German threat. For the
  Japanese, it meant reassurance that England would
  not intervene against them if conflict developed
  with Russia.

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•     In 1904, England and France signed the
  Entente Cordiale  (friendly agreement) which
  settled remaining colonial differences between
  the two powers. It was accompanied by a secret
  military protocol to coordinate their navies to
  meet a potential threat from Germany.

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•     In 1905, the Germans created a crisis by
  challenging French claims to Morroco. Tensions
  there led to the Algeciras Conference, presided
  over by Theodore Roosevelt, an activist President
  in the United States. Germany had tested the
  newly signed Entente, and failed to divide the
  two allies.

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•     In 1907, the Russians, after suffering a
  defeat at the hands of Japan (the Russo-Japanese
  War, 1904-5), settled some outstanding
  differences with the British, setting the stage
  for the Triple Entente, a "friendly agreement"
  between England, France and Russia.

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•     Now, it was Germany that was isolated, except
  for its alliance with Austria-Hungary.  Because
  of the weakness of Austria-Hungary, this was more
  of a burden than an asset.

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•     The Germans responded to the potential of a
  two-front war (with France and Russia) with the
  Schlieffen Plan. This involved the strategy of
  attacking France first, defeating it quickly in
  four weeks), and then turning to fight the
  Russians. It was considered highly likely that
  the German army could defeat the French quickly,
  as they had in 1870, while the Russians, with
  their inadequate industrial base, would take time
  to be a threat to Germany in the east. The plan
  hinged upon time. The Germany military had to
  attack France the moment the Russians ordered
  mobilization of their army. Furthermore, to
  defeat France quickly, the best way to do it,
  from a military point-of-view was to attack
  through neutral Belgium. The diplomatic costs of
  violating the 1839 treaty,  which guaranteed the
  neutrality of Belgium, were discounted in the
  interest of military expediency.

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•  
•     Thus, Europe had become divided into two
  armed camps with the great military and economic
  power of Germany arrayed against the Triple
  Entente. However, none of the great powers wanted
  war. Their preparations for war, their armaments
  build-up, their system of alliances had all been
  defensive in purpose.

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