Politics Pre World War 1
England
In 1901 Britain had a constitutional government instead of fully-fledged democracy. During the decade after 1886 the Conservative Party controlled the majority of the government, but this quickly changed as Britain entered the 20th century. 1905 saw the return of the Liberal Party to power, with the political party winning consecutive votes in the 1906 and 1910 elections. A major reason for Liberals return to power was their readiness to accept social reforms. However, they still worried about competition from the Labor Party in gaining support from the working class. A deal was struck between both parties in 1903, in order to avoid clashes for political seats. The early 1900's also led to the weakening of the House of Lords. Due to the Lords not being able to come to an agreement and vetoing the budget of the nation on multiple occasion, the power to veto was taken from them making them a revising chamber only. A major political event during the early years before world war 1, was England's decision in joining the Triple Entente. Due to fear out of Germany trying to better their national navy in order to compete with the great British Fleet, England joined an alliance with France and Russia. This helped spark the beginnings of the war as the powerful empires of Europe were now split into two rival camps.
France
After their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, France established the new French parliament, an indirect Senate, and an elected Chamber of Deputies. The French government feared that the creation of the Triple Alliance could pose a threat to them and therefore signed the Entente Cordiale with Britain in 1904. Russia soon joined them in fear of the growing German Army, completing the Triple Entente. During this time, France was one of the world's leading trade nations, but lacked behind in industrial production. In 1910 the French government created the French Army Air Service. By 1912 France now led the war in aircraft design and in 1914 had already constructed hundreds of war machines and readied their troops in preparation for a war with Germany.
Russia
In 1881 Alexander III came into power as the czar of Russia. He halted all reforms in Russia and changed the government to one of an autocracy. Under his rule, many Russians who didn't agree with his ideas or beliefs were either killed or exiled to a remote region of eastern Russia, Siberia. When Nicholas II took over in 1894, he continued the tradition of Russian autocracy. Nicholas aimed to further industrialize Russian in order to catch up with the other European nations and by 1900 had more than doubled the number of factories since 1863. Russia however, still lagged far behind the other industrialized countries of Europe. Rapid industrialization in Russia, led to poor working and living conditions for the populace, with the government hardly doing anything to help. Riots and protests soon spread across the nation. On January 22, 1905, Nicholas ordered his generals to shoot on a crowd of protesters outside his Winter Palace. This event, known as Blood Sunday, sparked revolts across Russia. In order to quell the riots, Nicholas agreed to the creation of the Duma, Russia's first parliament. However he disbanded the Duma after ten weeks, as he did not like sharing his power. Russia fearing Germany's growing army joined France and Britain in the Triple Entente, splitting Europe into two rival camps. Nicholas' mistake in entering Russia in World War 1, was his downfall as it showed the weakness of the Russian government, which eventually led to his downfall, overthrowing and death in the March Revolution.
Germany
Between 1864 and 1871 Prussia's chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, enacted many changes in order to prepare Germany for an upcoming war that he feared might happen soon. Believing that France still wanted revenge for their defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, tried to lower the potentiality of France as a threat. Bismarck tried to achieve this by forming alliances with countries in order to leave France with no foreign aid, In 1879 Bismarck formed the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary. Bismarck made sure to try and ally himself with Russia so Germany wouldn't have to fight a war on two fronts with France in the west and Russia in the east. In 1881, Bismarck succeeded in obtaining Russia as an ally. In 1890, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had become ruler of Germany and not wanting to share his power, forced Bismarck to resign. Wilhelm believed that the German army was the best and could handle itself against anything. His egocentrics caused him to let the treaty with Russia overlap. In retaliation Russia abandoned Germany and went on to join the Triple Entente. Due to his mistake, Germany now had to fight a war on two fronts which was a major problem and reason for the Germans not being able to be successful in the beginning of World War 1.
Austria-Hungary
The Austrian-Hungarian was formed in 1867 by an agreement between Vienna and Budapest. The new nation was a dual monarchy as the two kings of once separate countries continued to rule. However, Franz Josef was still crowned emperor of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. Under Josef's rule, the government became a autocratic, being dominated by aristocrats and militarist. Though the empire had a strong military force, reforms in government were slow as the combination of countries incorporated a diversity of ethnic groups into the government. These groups constantly argued and couldn't agree on many situations. The different languages in the empire also caused many problems as soldiers or political workers sometimes couldn't understand their superiors and therefore couldn't do their work right. Progress both politically and in military was hampered because of this. In the early 1900's tensions rose between Serbia and Austria as both wanted control over the Slavic countries in the Balkan regions.Tensions reached an all time high between the two countries when a Serbian member an anti-Austrian organization, know as the Black Hand, murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. Outraged the Austrian government sent an ultimatum with numerous demands to the Siberian government in order to avoid war. Though willing to agree many of the demands, the Siberian government wanted to negotiate some of the more drastic one. Austria however would not hear of it and in July 28, 1914 waged war against Siberia. Russia soon joined their ally Siberia against Austria and Germany joined Austria. France and England then entered on the side of Russia with all the European superpowers now at war. World War 1 had now began.
United States
Before had even started the United States government tried to stay out of the affairs of the European nations. Citizens believed in the countries idea of isolation from the European nations and were completely content with letting them destroy themselves. Know not involved in the war, the U.S. government sold weapons and other goods to Britain before and during the war. This led to an economic boom in the nation as ammunition factories opened across the country, providing jobs for hundreds of people. When the war began in 1914, the government still believed that they should stay out of eastern affairs, but also realized that if the Allies lost it would mean devastating consequences for the U.S. Therefore the government aided them in sending them goods hidden in supply and passenger ships. Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare took many U.S. victim by shooting down American supply boats. This combined with Germany's promise to help Mexico regain lost U.S. land prompted Congress to declare war on Germany in April 2, 1917 and join the Allies pulling the United States into the war.
Sources
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/overview_britain_ww1_01.shtml
- Beck, Roger B. Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005. Print.
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWinFrance.htm
- http://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/austria-hungary/
- http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-enters-world-war-i