The Great Britain 's World Policy

Many historians believe that due to the Wilhelmine Era and the expansion of the German nation, led to the outbreak of World War One. During the Bismarck era, Bismarck 's main goal was to keep France isolated and stay in good relations with Austria and Russia so that it would prevent a war. Although Bismarck 's foreign policy was creating cooperation, it did not last very long. The spark of World War one came from the Wilhelmine era, which turned away from everything Bismarck’s foreign policy represented. The expansion of the military scared Europe, the industrialization of the railroad was a suspicion to other countries, and the expansion of domestic supporters led to the alliance of the France, Britain, and Russia known as the Triple Entente.

In order to understand how France freed itself from its isolation, it is first necessary to see how Bismarck’s web of alliances around it was constructed. Bismarck, determined to consolidate his power in the new German empire, sought to entice the other powers away from France. He immediately looked eastward to the two large empires near his borders: Austria-Hungary and Russia. Using promises of neutrality pledges and assistance in the case of aggression by other large powers, Bismarck was able to pull the two powers into his circle of foreign policy influence through the Dreikaiserbund (Three Emperors league) in 1873 and even further with Austria-Hungary in the Dual Alliance of 1879. The Dreikaiserbund was further reaffirmed in 1881 and Germany’s relationship with Russia deepened in 1887 with the Reinsurance treaty between the two countries. After securing friendship, or at least a semblance of it, to the East, Germany looked to isolate France even further with two other powers close to its borders: Italy

After this a period of reform happened that modernized the out-dated political and economic systems and to redefine the racial make up of the empire. Germany provided significant investment, and German diplomats became influential, despite Britain being the predominant power in the region, the Germans helped in retraining and re-equipping the army with weapons. Despite this support, the resources of the Ottomans were depleted by the cost of the Balkan wars of 1912&1913 and the French, British and Germans offered financial aid to the Ottomans.

Britain in the 1930s followed a policy of appeasement to retain peace between countries and stop the fascist powers of Italy and Germany causing disruption. There is a subsequent amount of evidence to suggest the policy of appeasement was a failure due to events including the Abyssinian Crisis, the Reoccupation of the Rhineland, The Anglo-German Naval Agreement, the Spanish Civil War and the Anschluss. Although it can also be argued that Britain had some success with preventing the fascist powers making appeasement successful.

Eastern Europe was in a state of constant conflict and strained relationships in the early 1900s. Austria had drawn the ire of Serbia through the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Balkans had just escaped from two wars, and major powers like Russia, Germany, and Britain sought to gain an influence in newly formed countries in the area formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire. During this time, relationships were extremely crucial. They limited or expanded each country’s abilities to achieve their goals and impacted the global reactions to a country’s actions. These alliances were established from the treaties made and broken between countries from as early as the 1800s. However, the reason to make these treaties was not solely based

In particular, after Russia and the Ottoman Empire ended the Russo-Turkish War with the Treaty of San Stefano, German Chancellor Bismarck successfully annulled the treaty. Although Germany was dissociated with the war strictly between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Bismarck claimed that the unbalance of power Russia caused was unfair. This being said, Germany took the land that Russia gained away; Russia left the League of the Three Emperors (an alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia). As a result, Germany and Austria formed the Dual Alliance of 1879 that stated, “Should, [...] one of the two Empires be attacked by Russia the High Contracting Parties are bound to come to the assistance one of the other with the whole war strength of their Empires (Article I). Basically, if one of the two countries were attacked, the other would equally defend them. Similarly, Russia allied with France when the Franco Russian Entente in 1894 which progressed into the Triple Entente when Britain became involved. Evidently, Germany caused the division of world powers with their alliances which led to World War I. More specifically, when Austria-Hungary went to war with Serbia after their archduke was assassinated, the two alliances clashed. Russia, who aided Serbia, had backup from France and Britain and Austria-Hungary had Germany who was also allied with the Ottoman Empire. Seeing this caused both parties to declare major war, Germany’s alliances did cause tension that resulted in World War

In January 1878 the Russians caught Sofia. At that point on 3 March the Treaty of Stefano finished the war. The bargain made an autonomous Bulgaria. However the British and Austro-Hungarians were worried about the possibility that this new Bulgaria may be a capable associate for Russia and they demanded the bargain be reconsidered. By the Treaty of Berlin, July 1878 Bulgaria was part in two. The northern half was not permitted to be absolutely free. Rather Bulgaria was to be a vassal condition of Turkey called a territory. It was to be ruled by a sovereign with a parliament called the

During the time period of 1870 to 1914, France was allied with Great Britain and Russia, and the three countries were known as the Allied Powers, or Allies. The Central Powers, France’s enemies, consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. In 1894, France secured an alliance with Russia, known as the Franco-Russian Alliance. The agreement between France and Russia declared that if Germany attacked France, then Russia would send France around 700,000 to 800,000 troops. Similarly, if Russia was attacked by Austria-Hungary, then France would send 1,300,000 troops in order to aid Russia. However, it is important to note that this agreement was kept secret. (Yale Law). The alliance was formed as both countries wanted to protect themselves from Germany and Austria-Hungary, therefore sharing mutual interests. Thus, France ultimately entered World War I as allies with Russia in order to protect themselves against German invasion. At this time, France was enemies with Germany, due to France’s defeat against Germany in the Franco-Prussian War. More specifically, France was enemies with Germany as Otto Von Bismarck, the chancellor of Germany, considered France as a threat to the newly founded country of Germany. Thus, in order to create his own alliances. Bismarck wanted to ensure that France was completely isolated from other countries (WHKLMA). In 1904, the Entente Cordiale was created, and France gained the

As harmony still permeated throughout Europe this goodwill would eventually falter given the underlying crises that were about to occur when in 1908 Austria proclaimed the annexation of the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied militarily since 1878. This sudden appropriation caused a state of severe international tension among the other countries, especially Serbia in view of the fact that these provinces were mostly Serbian in population. Regrettable this abrupt annexation triggered a tremendous upheaval and outrage from Serbia whose reaction was of pure exasperation since they always looked at Bosnia and Herzegovina as an eventual legacy. Accordingly, because Serbia was for most part a client state of Russia they looked to Russia their ally for help in the matter despite the reality that Russian Foreign Minister had stealthily consented to the Austrian move in return for concessions, but they now decided they must protect. In the summer of

France agreed to fund the Russian military programme and subsequently, France and Russia joined together in mutual fear of Germany. This reinforces the claim that Alliances escalated small conflicts into world-wide competition.

On August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany because the Germans attacked France through neutral Belgium. When Kaiser Wilhelm II took control of Germany, relations between Germany and Britain began to change because Wilhelm II wanted Germany to be a great power. Britain recognized Wilhelm’s II strong economy, large population, and powerful armed forces as a threat capable of dominating Europe, therefore, Britain began to support Russia and France, joining the Triple Entente. Under the Treaty of London of 1839, Britain had promised to defend Belgium, bringing Britain into war once Germany invaded Belgium. When Germany invaded Belgium, they relied on the idea that Britain would remain neutral. Since Germany threatened Britain with their growing forces, Britain honored the Treaty of London with Belgium and entered World War I. Britain had no formal treaty with France there was an understanding that, in the event of a war with Germany, a British Expeditionary Force would cross to France and take up a position alongside the French Army. Entering World War I, the British army was outnumbered and unprepared.

German historian Fritz Fischer argues that Germany 's desire for world power was the reason that for the outbreak of WWI. Germany had plans for a war before the crisis that occurred during 1914 and used the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as an excuse to put the plans into effect. Germany also encouraged Austria and its war plans to provoke a crisis in which it can solve the problem that Germany would face if they went to war. This problem is called "encirclement" and Germany would face this problem if it went to war with France and Russia. By having Austria doing so it would allow Germany to dominate and expand its territories. France and Russia signed a full military defensive alliance in 1892-1895 which allowed the possibility of a two-front war. With Germany 's geographical position being between these two great powers, it would cause Germany to lose the war at an instant. In addition to this, France felt bitterness towards the defeat of 1870-1871 and the taking

As a result of their aggressive foreign policy and expansionism plans, by 1912 Germany found herself surrounded by hostile countries. The Kaiser and leading military leaders held a war cabinet meeting to discuss “how to get out of this mess”. It was decided that as they were surrounded by hostile countries that they would need an ally to help fight their way out. The decision to ally with Austria rather than Russia is what led to the signing of the “Blank Cheque” of support for Austria[6]. It was also decided that if a war happened that it would most likely be in the Balkans, and that the sooner it happened the better because if Russia had more time they could become too strong to defeat, and as their

In the early nineteen hundreds relation between Bosnia and Austria-Hungary where high and tense. Bosnia was part of Austria-Hungary but many Serbs in Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia) believed that they should be ruled by Bosnia. On top of that the serbs in Sarajevo wanted Bosnia to become their own country and separate from Austria-Hungary.

23 July 1905, Tsar Nicholas of Russia had come close to forming an alliance with Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, but a prior agreement with France and Russian desire to avoid upsetting their ally led to denial of the treaty by officials in St. Petersburg. Convinced that Germany could drive a wedge between the Entente powers, Berlin demanded an international conference in Algeciras, as promised by the treaty of 1881. Initially, the Germans were sure that Britain would not intervene in a dispute regarding Morocco, but France gave compensation deals to Britain, Italy, and Spain, and promised more money to Russia for support in the Algeciras conference held January 1906. Not only was the Entente proven stronger than Germany had initially thought, historian Christopher Clark also argues that ‘the uselessness of the Triple Alliance [between Austria, Italy, and Germany] was revealed for all to see.’ Not only did actions taken by Kaiser Wilhelm II in the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905 not have the desired effect of pushing apart the Entente powers, they led to a stronger connection between France and Britain, Italy, Spain, and Russia, impacted the European view of Germany negatively, and isolated Germany and Austria