. World War I (a) Pre-War Power Politics Europe By the turn of the century Germany had emerged as the most powerful industrial state in the Continent. By then the world was largely occupied by other imperialist powers. Under Kaiser William II, Germany sought colonies.
Its ambition was to gain control over north Africa. German capitalists and imperialists also desired eastward expansion and the government obliged them by constructing a railway line from Berlin to Baghdad to facilitate economic control of the Ottoman Empire. Kaiser William II Franco-Prussian War The objective of France was to recover Alsace and Lorraine that it had lost after the Franco-Prussian War ( ). The French also had an ambition of adding mineral- rich Morocco to their African empire.
Russia entertained the hope of gaining control of the Bosporus and the Dardenelles (under Turkey’s control then), as they were expected to give access to the Mediterranean and to take possession of Istanbul. Russia’s plan was to lay claim to the Balkans once Turkey was eliminated from Europe. Italian foreign policy was based on hopes at the expense of Austria and Turkey. Austria’s hold on Trieste and other parts of Adriatic coast was precarious since much of this territory was inhabited by Italians.
Turkey blocked Italy’s acquisition of Tripoli and other territories in North Africa. As for Britain, despite the lead in industrial growth and control of a vast empire, it had to compete with Germany and the United States, which were producing cheaper manufactured goods and thus capturing England’s markets. Asia In Asia, during the Meiji era ( – ), as Japan became a great industrial power and the Japanese people more educated, there developed an aggressive nationalism and a wish to become a world power. Japan joined in the scramble for China.
Japan invaded Korea, then an independent kingdom and drove out the Chinese army. In the ensuing Sino-Japanese War, according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed at the end, Japan got Formosa, Port Arthur and Liaotung peninsula. The crushing defeat of China by Japan in ( – ) surprised the world. Fearing this sudden increase in Japan’s power,