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Example research essay topic: Austro Hungarian Empire First World War - 2,097 words

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... the British in the North Sea. Germany and Austria also had military agreements. When the First World War was fought, it was to be fought by all powers because they had made the military plan cooperatively and very few people inside or outside government circles expected a long and destructive world war 13. As a result of the armaments race, all the European powers felt they were prepared for a war by 1914. There were two kinds of nationalism in 19 th Century Europe, the desire of subject peoples for independence (which led to a series of national struggles for independence among the Balkan peoples) and the desire of independent nations for dominance and prestige, as the powers try to dominate each other in Europe.

Germany was united in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, and she rapidly became the strongest economic and military power in Europe. From 1871 to 1890, Germany wanted to preserve her control in Europe by forming a series of peaceful alliances with other powers. After 1890, Germany was more aggressive. She wanted to build up her influence in every part of the world.

German foreign policy in these years was best expressed by the term Weltpolitik or imperialism in this very general sense seemed to give a new purpose and a new mission to the German state 14. Because German ambitions were extended to many parts of the globe, Germany came into serious conflicts with all other major powers of Europe (except Austria-Hungary) from 1890 to 1914. Italy was unified in 1870, but was barely powerful enough to be counted as a great power. Italy's parliamentary system was corrupt and inefficient and the industrial progress was slow. But Italy had great territorial ambitions; she wanted Tunis and Tripoli in northern Africa. This brought her into conflicts with France because Tunis was adjacent to the French colony, Algeria, and was long regarded by France as French sphere of influence.

Italy also wanted Italia Irredenta -- Trieste, Trentino and Tyrol. Although the majority of the people in these places were Italians, they were kept under the rule of the Dual Monarchy, thus Italy came into serious conflicts with Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary was established as the Dual Monarchy in 1867. The Dual Monarchy ruled over a large empire consisting of many nationalities, but only the Austrians (racially they were German) and the Hungarians had the right to rule. The other nationalities Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Rumanians and Poles resented their loss of political freedom. They desired for political independence.

Thus the policy of the Dual Monarchy was to suppress the nationalist movements both inside and outside the empire. The particular object of the Dual Monarchy was to gain political control over the Balkan Peninsula, where nationalist movements were rife and were always giving encouragement to the nationalist movements within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The center of the nationalist movements in the Balkans was Serbia. Serbia always hoped to unite with the Serbs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire so as to create a large Serbian state. Therefore the first enemy of Austria-Hungary from 1871 to 1914 was Serbia.

Besides Serbia, Austria-Hungary also despised Russia because Russia, being a Slav country, always backed up Serbia in any Austro-Serbian disputes. Russia was the largest and most populous country in Europe. It extended from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to those of the Black Sea and from the Baltic Sea eastwards to the Pacific Ocean. Two thirds of her people were Slavs. She was still territorially ambitious. She wanted to expand in all directions.

In 1870, Russia broke the Treaty of Paris and renewed her aggression in the Balkans. Thus, her territorial ambitions clashed with the interests of Austria-Hungary and Britain. However, Russia did not retreat. Being a landlocked state, she wanted to acquire warm water ports in the Balkans.

Moreover, as most of the Balkan peoples were of the Slav race, Russia could claim to be the protector of her brother races in her expansion. France had been the dominant power in Europe for centuries, Napoleon I and Napoleon III had attempted to dominate Europe until in 1871, when France was defeated by Germany. She had to lose two provinces: Alsace and Lorraine. She also needed to pay heavy indemnities. From 1871 onwards, France's greatest ambition was to recover Alsace and Lorraine from Germany. She also wanted to prevent another defeat by Germany, to recover her national prestige by acquiring overseas colonies (such as Morocco) and to make diplomatic alliances with other important powers in Europe.

In 1870 Britain was the most industrially advanced country in Europe. She also possessed the largest overseas empire and the largest navy in the world. She did not want to trouble herself with the continental affairs of Europe. Her main concern was to preserve her overseas empire and her overseas trade by maintaining a large navy. Before 1890, her chief enemies were France and Russia. The colonial interests of France often clashed with those of Britain.

Russia's interest in the Balkan area also alarmed Britain, as British naval interests in the Mediterranean Sea would be immediately threatened. After 1890, as Germany went on increasing her naval strength and threatened British naval supremacy and the British overseas interests, she became Britain's chief enemy. Early in the twentieth century, the European powers had formed themselves into two rival groups: the Triple Entente versus the Triple Alliance. The policies of these groups began to clash in many parts of the world. Altogether there were four important clashes from 1905 to 1913: two arising out of the Moroccan question, and two concerning disputes in the Balkans. Whenever a clash arose, the two groups seemed to be on the point of war.

Morocco on the northern coast of Africa was rich in mineral and agricultural wealth. Both Germany and France coveted the place. Her entente with Britain in 1904 gave France a free hand in Morocco. Kaiser William II, angry at France's influence and at Germany's exclusion, decided to intervene. In March 1905, the Kaiser landed at Tangier where he made a speech greeting the Sultan of Morocco as an independent sovereign and promising him German protection if France attempted to colonize his state. The German government followed this up by demanding an international conference to clarify the status of Morocco.

Germany's aim of calling a conference was to humiliate France and to split the Entente because from the point of view of international law, Morocco was an independent state and the French claim to Morocco was illegal. France was prepared to fight but at last she agreed to settle her conflict with Germany at a conference. At the conference at Algeciras in 1906, Germany was supported by Austria while France was supported by Britain, Russia and the United States. In name, Morocco was preserved as an independent state whose trade was to be open to all nations; but in fact France was given two special privileges that in conjunction with Spain, she was given control over the Moroccan police and she was to control the customs and arms supply of Morocco. Thus the Entente powers scored a diplomatic victory over the Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria. The Algeciras Conference could only offer a temporary solution to the Franco-German conflict.

Germany was dissatisfied with the resolutions of the Conference because they would benefit France more. France also bore ill feeling towards Germany remembering that Germany had tried to browbeat France to give up Morocco by a threat of war. To prepare for the eventuality of a Franco-German war, France began to hold secret military conversations with Britain, which finally led to the sending of British army to fight alongside the French army during the First World War. The Balkan area was a trouble spot in Europe, it was ruled by the repressive Turks. By the late nineteenth century, many of the subject races of the Turks had gained independence and formed their national states, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania and Bulgaria; but these national states were small and many of their fellow nationals still lived in the Turkish Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Thus the Balkan states were prepared to carry on a series of struggles against Turkey and Austria-Hungary in order to win back those territories that were still lived by their fellow nationals.

The national struggles of the Balkan peoples were complicated by the rivalry between the powers in the area. Of the five great powers, Russia, Austria and Germany were particularly interested in the area. Russia's interest in the area was based on economic and cultural reasons. Economically speaking, Russia wanted to find a warm weather port in the south because half of Russian total exports (including nearly all her exports of grains) passed through this area.

Many historians have also pointed out that Russia might need a warm water port for the construction of naval base. Culturally speaking, Russia always regarded herself as a member of the Slav race. As Russia was the powerful Slavic state, she took it as her duty to support her Slav brothers in their national struggles against Turkey and Austria. Pan Slavism (the union of all Slavs) was always espoused as the policy of the Russian government in the Balkans. Austria's interest in the Balkans was based on political reason. Austria wanted to suppress the nationalist movements in the Balkans, particularly that in Serbia.

By the early twentieth century, Austria wanted to extend her rule over Serbia. This brought her into conflicts with both Serbia and Russia. Germany's interest in the area was based on both economic and cultural reasons. Economically speaking, the control of the Balkans would provide industrial Germany with abundant supply of cheap raw materials, a populous market and a large field for profitable investment. From 1888 onwards, Germany began her economic penetration in the area by building the Baghdad railway, which was ultimately to connect Berlin with the Persian Gulf. Culturally speaking, the German government believed that the Germans were spiritually and culturally a superior race and so had a mission to dominate the Balkans, the Middle East, central Europe and Asia.

The inferior races should be forced to accept the German culture. Because of the complicated nationalistic movements and the conflicting interests of the powers in the Balkans, the area was prolific of crises from 1908 to 1914. Count von Aehrenthal, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, always wanted to extend Austrian political control over the Serbs in the Balkans. In 1908, three events caused him to take action at once. First, a new king had ascended the throne in Serbia. The new king, Peter, was strongly anti-Austrian and he wanted to unite with his fellow nationals in Bosnia, which had been under Austrian administration since the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

Second, in 1908 a revolution, known as the Young Turk Revolution, broke out in the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turks were liberal reformers and young officers. They demanded the Sultan to grant a parliament and a modern constitution and to liberalize his despotic rule. In July 1908, they rose in rebellion and threatened to march to Constantinople. The Sultan Abdul Hamid II gave way at once and agreed to restore a constitution. Taking advantage of the chaos at Constantinople, Ferdinand of Bulgaria threw off his last shreds of allegiance to the Sultan and proclaimed himself King of Bulgaria.

Crete proclaimed herself united with Greece. Austria also wanted to take advantage of this chaotic situation. Third, Russia's defeats in the Far East had turned her attention back to the Balkans again. In September 1908, the Russian Foreign Minister, Alexander Isvolsky made a political bargain with Count von Aehrenthal: Russia agreed not to oppose Austrian annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina if Austria agreed to raise no objections against the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships. While Isvolsky was trying to gain approval from the other powers about the opening of the straits, Austria suddenly annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 6. Thus Austria had strengthened her position in the Balkans without giving the Russians any compensation.

Isvolsky was extremely indignant 15 as was Serbia. The inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina were primarily South Slavs; Serbia had long cherished the dream of creating a Greater Serbia that should include Serbia proper and all the neighboring kindred people. The Austrian annexation dashed this dream to the ground. Serbia was ready for war and asked for support from Russia. War seemed imminent but Russia was obliged to back down because England and France were unwilling to become involved in this issue and because Germany promised...


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Research essay sample on Austro Hungarian Empire First World War

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