From the turn of the Twentieth-Century to the beginning of the First World War in the summer of 1914, European civilization was at its apex. Its position in the world during this period was one of dominance and a sense of superiority; brought on by the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution, all of which gave them a tremendous advantage over what they considered to be "uncivilized peoples." In fact, the only non-western nation during this period considered "civilized" by Europeans was Japan, only because of their westernization policies beginning in 1871 (pg.1). Europeans benefited considerably due to these advantages including a higher standard of living and greater gender equality. These advantages also allowed Europeans to conquer these "uncivilized" peoples, and by the onset of the Great War, Europe controlled 84 percent of the world's land surface (pg. 1). To Europeans during this time it would have seemed, "that Europe was the world and the world was Europe's" (pg. 1). …show more content…
Each experienced elements of stability and instability in the years before the war. In the case of Austria-Hungary the only stability seemed to come from the Emperor himself as political disunity and the rise of nationalism within the empire grew more unstable, coming to a head in the summer of 1914. Russia, like Austria-Hungary, had little if any sources of stability during this time. The instability within Russia stemmed from conflicts between the government i.e. the Tsar and the peasantry. Although reforms were attempted, such as the October Manifesto and the Stoypin land reforms, instability remained, and the collapse of the Russian Empire would soon begin, even before the war was
In the early twentieth century, Europe as a whole possessed great power and influence across the globe. Imperialism brought many European countries more territory and capital, making it easier for competition to thrive amongst these nations over influence and money. While the growth and mass advancement of technology made it easy to assume peace and prosperity ran rampant across Europe, the opposite was true under the façade of a wealthy, powerful continent. Complicated alliances, advanced weaponry, and misleading accusations throughout Europe led to the First World War, the greatest war the world had yet seen.
The non-Western societies responded to the West’s power differently, during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s.When the industrialization train rolled into other societies, they greeted it with open arms. They would try to preserve the old ways, or sought out to modernize on their own. Some were too weak to adjust on their own terms.
I do not think World War I came completely by surprise. The nations of Europe were forming alliances, mainly two camps, allied powers and triple alliances, were challenging each other for economic, military and imperial gains before the shots were fired of First World War. European states of the time and even the population and their politicians filled with nationalist pride and wanted to show off how far they have improved their armies and modern technologies that came with the second industrial revolution. I think the military leaders of the time wanted to test these new revolutionary machines and modern weapons in the battle field. It changed our world radically. These mechanized war machines were so effective; twenty-one thousand British soldiers died on the first day of the battle of the Somme.
Throughout most of the 1000’s, Europe was the creator of science and art movements, and the pioneer of the industrial revolution, leading the world into a new modern age. Europe's advancements in the past centuries certainly had great benefits for the world, but Europe was not perfect; in fact, it was far from it. Although Europe was one of the worlds greatest advancers, It was also one of the worlds greatest aggressors. Europe was responsible for the transatlantic slave trade, colonizing nearly the entirety of Africa, and the two World Wars.
For years, Christian Theism was the most prominent worldview. Christian Theist believed that God was the creator of all, and that he had laid out a plan for humanity. In the Seventeenth Century, as theist started to question their worldviews, a new view began to rise. Deism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is, “Movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe.”(2017)
The Great Divergence is term used to portray the gradual shift of dominance that Europe gained by establishing itself as the most powerful world civilization by the 19th century. While a case could be made that the Great Divergence occurred because of the pre-eminence of Europe and Britain, as well as their supposed superiority in invention and innovation above anywhere else in the world, this argument is flawed. A more compelling argument would be to state that it was rather through the geographical advantages that Europe obtained that lead it into eventually becoming the most powerful civilization after 1500 A.D., as this essay will strive to demonstrate.
In the period from 1906-1914 Russia had appeared to have stabilised due to the social reforms brought in by Stolypin. However this only really created the illusion of stability due to many underlying problems that led to the 1905 revolution not being dealt with, therefore Russia had stabilised very little in this period which in turn would lead to further unrest in the future.
The fact that the European influence was largely reflected upon world’s culture and economy is indubitably true. Such an impact, that has been deeply rooted inside the world for past several decades, acknowledged part of its people to notice its clear interference that has been covertly embedded over time within world’s evolution. Blaut reveals the secret of the phenomenon also known as “Eurocentrism”¹ in his article. Blaut proposes that “Eurocentrism is quite simply the colonizer’s model of the world.”². This statement beholds the dominant evidences behind inequal history between Europeans and the non-Europeans that will correspond and clarify colonial events.
Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six “killer applications” the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work.
The rise of the West refers to a period of time when Western Europe rose to power due to many environmental, political, and social factors. Many historians attribute the Rise of the West to the time period of 1450 to 1850. This power surge of Western Europe has been attributed to the global dominance of Western Europe and America in the 21 century. The interesting aspect regarding the Rise of the West is how Western Europe developed so differently from other parts of the world, leading it to be the superpower of the world. Over the past 50 years, the idea of the rise of the West has been closely re-examined. Prior to the 1950s, historians believed that the rise of the West occurred because it was destined to; because Europe is the best and
Western culture and policies have shaped the modern world, especially the Middle East, in many ways. Since the sixteenth century, the nations of Western civilization have been the driving wheels of modernization. Globalization is simply the spread of modern institutions and ideas from one high power to the wider world. Technological innovation and economic growth along with such concepts as democracy, individualism, and the rule of law administered by an impartial judiciary, set Western societies above and beyond any possible rival. Other cultures looked to the West as a model, a threat, or some combination of both. One country that was most successful in their confrontations with Western states was Japan, who incorporated Western
The Economic, Social, and Political Impact of the First World War on Europe At the end of the First World War in 1918, the economic, social and political state of Europe was such that the potential rebuilding of the continent seemed a distant and unrealistic vision. The war had affected much of Western Europe, in particular France and Germany, not to mention Belgium, Italy and Austria. In addition vast regions of Eastern Europe also suffered dearly as Russia’s bloody involvement in the war took its toll.
The Stability of Russia in 1914 In 1914 Russia's stability was questionable; the Tsar's regime had been under considerable strain due to the unsuccessful uprising in 1905. The Tsar still had the support of the army, which helped to put down many attempts at revolution. However, there was still brewing resentments about the harsh conditions of the Tsar's government that threatened to explode at any time.
Looking back at the world in the past few hundred years, it would have been difficult to imagine that one day, majority of Western Europe would come to dominate the world in global economy (Landes, European Exceptionalism: A Different Path, 1998). Frank (2001) described the process of which the western society
World War I was rising Nazi feeling across Europe, colonial and economic rivalries, which contributed to growing international tension. The main spark that started World War I was the assassination of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June 1914. The heart of the conflict were the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the Allied Powers, Britain, France, and Russia; Italy joined later in 1915, and then United States joined in 1917. World War I was the first war to be fought on land, at sea, and in the air. World War I brought more technological innovations than any conflict in history. Machine guns, battleships, land mines, barbed wire, engine-driven transport vehicles, and other