Europe Before 1914

The leadng international political institution and the concert of Europe were too weak to prevent war.

The Powers tried to solve their differences peacefully through a conference of ambassadors.

Germany encouraged Austria-Hungary to refuse the peace

Between 1855 and 1914 investment flows grew 20 times

Europe accounted for nearly two thirds of the global trade and global investment.

Most of the people worked in the heavy industries of French Lorraine and Germany's Ruhr.

In 1870 and 1880 the German Secon Empire was not the strngets Continental military power, but it spun a web of alliances that left France resentful of its defeat.

The Austro-German alliance of 1879 developed into a Triple Allience including italy in 1882.

Germany challenged Britain through a major programme of North Sea battleship building in 1898.

Russia was weakened for several years after itrs defeat by Japan.

Germany tried to form a German-Franco-Russian bloc excluding Britain, but they failed.

After 1905 Europe experienced a succession of diplomatic crises that heightened entagonism between the two blocs.

In 1912 the Anglo-German naval race lost impetus.

In 1906 Britain lunched the HMS Dreadnought, it was a battleship with 10 12-inch guns.

Prussia used trains for mobilization and that helped them to win wars of German unificacion.

military planners concluded from the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War that offensive tactics could still prevail.

All European Powers had elected lower houses of parliament.

Most of the adult male population was enfranchised.

All the people was free, the press was free, and citizens could form parties.

Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany preferred monarchs instead of parliamentary majority.

Europe's socialist parties opposed wars of conquest and aggression.