Imperialist competition and the outbreak of World War I Introduction: Imperialist competition between European countries led to the outbreak of World War I. What are the manifestations of imperialist competition? What about the politics of alliances and the arms race? What is the role of international crises in the outbreak of World War I?
Imperial rivalry:
The emergence of new industrial countries, such as Germany, Italy, and the United States of America, contributed to the increasing conflict over markets and over the import of raw materials. England dominated the manufactured materials market until 1871 AD, with the emergence of a young bourgeois class ambitious to obtain raw materials from abroad.
Economic competition:
In the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the struggle intensified between European countries for control of foreign markets with the aim of disposing of surplus industrial production, bringing in raw materials, exporting capital, and encouraging their poor to migrate to the colonies to alleviate the severity of social problems and periodic economic crises.
Britain remained the first industrial and commercial power in the world until the end of the 19th century. But it became threatened by Germany, whose economy witnessed rapid development, the United States of America, which later assumed global economic leadership, and France, the fourth economic power in the world. In addition to other emerging countries such as Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Political competition:
European conflicts before 1914 were linked to the personal interests of each country, which can be defined as follows:
- Britain: It aimed to control global maritime navigation and was bothered by the growing German naval power. - Germany: It was interested in imperial expansion at the expense of the interests of the two colonial powers: England and France. - France: It aspired to recover Alsace and Lorraine, occupied by Germany, and to complete the construction of its colonial empire. - Italy: wanted to liberate its northern lands from Austrian occupation, and obtain its share of the colonies - Austria: opposed the liberation of the Slavic nationalities led by Serbia - Russia: worked to protect Serbia and the Slavic peoples in the Balkans.
The areas of colonial competition were distributed as follows:
- Tunisia: French-Italian-English competition.
- Morocco: French-Spanish-German-English competition.
-Egypt: Anglo-French rivalry.
- The Balkans: Russian-Austrian-Ottoman rivalry.
-Congo: Belgian-French-German rivalry.
Means of imperialist competition:
The most important alliances and agreements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries:
- The German-Austrian bilateral alliance (1879): A secret alliance aimed at ensuring Germany’s security from any possible French attack. - The German-Austrian-Italian Triple Alliance (1882): a defensive alliance against any external attack. - The French-Russian rapprochement (1892): aimed to defend the borders of the two countries against any possible attack by the countries of the Triple Alliance. - The French-English Friendly Agreement (1904): aimed to settle the bilateral colonial conflict over Morocco and Egypt. - The French-English-Russian Triple Entente (1907): a military alliance directed against the Triple Alliance, especially Germany. Note: These alliances and agreements resulted in the formation of two mutually exclusive alliances: the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.
- The arms race:
The European countries belonging to the aforementioned alliances worked to generalize compulsory military service, increase the size of their regular and reserve armies, and increase and develop their weapons. Competition in the field of naval armaments between Germany and England intensified. At the same time, the competition in the field of land armaments between Germany and France intensified
Conferences of imperialist countries to settle their differences over spheres of influence:
- The First Berlin Conference (in 1878): stipulated the sequestration of areas from the Ottoman Empire for the benefit of Austria and Russia, and England’s seizure of Cyprus.
- Madrid Conference (1880): It affirmed the right of European ambassadors to protect their Moroccan nationals, and granted the right of ownership to foreigners in Morocco.
- The Second Berlin Conference (1884-1885): Agreement on dividing the continent of Africa between competing European countries, and on regulating navigation in the Congo Basin.
- Algeciras Conference (1906): decided to establish a warehouse bank financed by European countries, and assigned France and Spain to form police in Moroccan ports. Note: Imperialist competition led to international crises.
International crises leading up to the outbreak of World War I:
Moroccan crises:
The first Moroccan question in 1905:
France paved the way for the occupation of Morocco by concluding agreements with Italy, England, and Spain, which angered Germany, which also had colonial ambitions. Within this framework, the German Emperor, Day 2, visited the city of Tangier in 1905 and delivered a speech in which he expressed the need to respect Moroccan sovereignty, and called for holding an international conference to study the Moroccan issue. Indeed Algeciras Conference was held in 1906 .
The second Moroccan question in 1908:
Germany made the threat after the arrest of some of its nationals in Casablanca by the French colonial authorities. France presented the case to the European Court, which ruled to expel the two consuls (German and French) from Morocco.
The third Moroccan question in 1911:
Germany's reaction to the French occupation of Fez was to send a warship to Agadir in preparation for the invasion of Morocco, so France was forced to cede the Congo to it under the agreement concluded in 1911.
Balkan crises:
– The First Balkan Crisis in 1908:
Austria annexed the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which angered Serbia, which was looking to establish Slavic unity in the Balkans with the support of Russia.
- The Second Balkan Crisis, May 1913:
The Balkan League countries (Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria) entered into a war against the Ottoman Empire. The latter was defeated and abandoned its European lands to the benefit of the victorious countries.
- The Third Balkan Crisis, June-August 1913: Following disputes over the spoils of war against the Ottoman Empire, a conflict arose between Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkan countries, ending with the victory of the latter party (Serbia, Romania, and Greece).
The outbreak of World War I and its stages:
Austria took advantage of the assassination of its Crown Prince, François Ferdinand, by a Serbian organization in June 1914, to declare war on Serbia a month later. The rest of the member states of the Triple Entente quickly declared war against the member states of the Triple Entente.
The World War went through two basic stages:
- The first stage (1914 - 1916): It was characterized by Germany’s victory over France and Tsarist Russia, Italy’s entry into the war on the side of the Entente powers, and the approach of trench warfare. - The second stage (1917 - 1918): It was characterized by the victory of the Allies (the Entente) after the United States of America entered the war on their side, in exchange for the withdrawal of socialist Russia from the war and its conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).
Imperial rivalry resulted in the creation of military alliances and the arms race. Consequently, the confrontation occurred between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) and the Entente Powers (France, England, Russia, America, Italy) during World War I (1914-1918), which ended with the victory of the latter party. What are the general results of this war?
