History

• Germany adopted an expansionist foreign policy called “world politics” after emerging as a European power.
• France was defeated by Germany in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71.
• Austria-Hungary hoped to expand in the Balkans after losing its control of Central Europe.
• Russia supported the expansion of Serbia, a Slavic nation, in the Balkans.
• The main causes of the 1st World War were economic and colonial competition, armaments race, alliance system, extreme nationalism, and crisis and incidents.
• During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the European powers competed for overseas colonies to get markets and resources.
• During this time, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia were almost entirely partitioned among the powers.
• The above things intensified the armaments race among the powers.
• Crisis and incidents caused the Moroccan Crises (1905-06, 1911), Tunishian Incident (1881), and Fashoda Incident (1898).
• Naval Race, Britain and Germany competed in building “dreadnoughts” from 1906.
• Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy formed the Triple Alliance, while France, Britain, Russia formed the Triple Entente.
• Alliances were made in secret, causing suspicion and fear among the powers.
• Europeans supported territorial expansion to gain national glory and the use of force to solve conflicts.
• In the late 19th century, a scholar, Spencer, proposed the idea of Social Darwinism.
• France wanted to get Alsace-Lorraine back from Germany to take revenge.
• Germany promoted the idea of uniting all Germans in Europe to build a ‘Greater Germanic Empire’.
• Russia advocated bringing all Slavs in Europe under Russian leadership.
• Serbia aimed to unite the Serbians in Austria-Hungary and the Balkans to form a “Greater Serbia”.
• In 1912, Morocco became a French protectorate after Kaiser William II visited Morocco to show support for the independence of Morocco.
• In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Balkans.
• Features of Fascism include one-party dictatorship, absolute obedience, total control and oppression, cult of personality, anti-communism, economic self-sufficiency, military and territorial expansion.
• In 1936, Germany and Japan concluded the Anti-Comintern Pact to defend against the threat of the communist Soviet Union.
• In 1935, Italy invaded and ceded Abyssinia at the end of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
• In 1939, Germany further signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union.
• Japan adopted the Meiji Constitution in 1889, but democracy didn’t take root in Japan.
• In 1939, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, forming the military alliance of the “Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis”.
• In the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed secretly to divide Poland and their spheres of influence.
• Features of Nazism include one-party dictatorship, total control and oppression, cult of personality, anti-semitism, anti-communism, military and territorial expansion.
• In 1935, the United States passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of arms to any nations at war.
• The coup ended in failure, though Hitler was imprisoned, he built up Nazi support among the Germans through his skilled oratory and charisma.
• In Germany, the Germans lost confidence in their Weimar Republic government, which helped the rise of Hitler and his Nazi Party.
• Features of militarism include military dictatorship, control over thoughts and emperor worship, anti-communism, military and territorial expansion.
• When Britain and France adopted an appeasement policy towards the totalitarian countries, the League of Nations existed in name only.
• After WW1, Hitler joined an extreme nationalist party, the German Workers’ Party.
• In 1923, Hitler and his followers staged an attempted coup, the Beer Hall Putsch.
• To prevent war, Britain and France signed the Munich Agreement with Germany, allowing Germany to occupy the Sudetenland.
• The League of Nations worked to maintain world peace through collective security.
• In 1912, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece formed the Balkan League and declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
• In 1913, the Balkan League split up.
• Serbia failed to acquire access to the Adriatic Sea as an independent Albania, supported by Austria-Hungary, was founded.