Late 19th – early 20th century and the First World War

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were the time of the "Second Industrial Revolution", monopolies and the scramble for colonies. Rivalries between the great powers produced two military blocs and eventually led to the first world war in history. Exams often ask about the make-up of the blocs, the causes and results of the war, and the order of key dates.

§1. Industrial civilisation and monopolies

The Second Industrial Revolution stood out for the rapid application of science to production:

• electricity (Edison's incandescent lamp, power stations), the telephone (Bell, 1876), radio (late 19th century);
• the internal combustion engine → the motor car (Benz, 1886), later the aeroplane (the Wright brothers, 1903);
• new steel-making methods, the chemical industry, oil extraction.

Monopolies were combinations of big firms: a cartel (agreement on prices and market shares), a syndicate (joint sales), a trust (full merger), a concern (firms from different industries under one financial group). Bank capital merged with industrial capital to form finance capital.
Colonialism: in the struggle for raw materials and markets the world was almost completely divided; the rules for partitioning Africa were agreed at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. From then on colonies could only be redivided — which raised the danger of war.
Social life: workers' parties and trade unions grew stronger; voting rights were widened in many countries.

§2. The leading powers

• Germany: after the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) the empire was proclaimed in the Palace of Versailles on 18 January 1871; Alsace and Lorraine were taken from France. Germany quickly overtook Britain industrially and demanded "a place in the sun" — colonies.
• France: on 18 March 1871 the Paris Commune (72 days) became the first experiment in workers' government; then came the Third Republic. France lived with the idea of revenge (recovering Alsace-Lorraine).
• Great Britain had the largest colonial empire but lost industrial leadership to the USA and Germany.
• The USA became the world's top industrial producer by the late 19th century; after the Spanish–American War of 1898 it gained the Philippines, Puerto Rico and other territories.
• Russia: defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905; Port Arthur, Mukden, Tsushima) → the 1905–1907 revolution ("Bloody Sunday", 9 January 1905) → the State Duma (1906). Prime Minister Stolypin's agrarian reform.
• Asia: Japan became a strong power after the Meiji reforms; the Young Turk revolution took place in the Ottoman Empire (1908); in China the Xinhai Revolution (1911), led by Sun Yat-sen, overthrew the Qing dynasty and created a republic.

§3. Military blocs and the causes of war

Main causes of the war:

1. The struggle to redivide colonies and markets (Anglo-German rivalry, the naval arms race).
2. Franco-German antagonism (Alsace-Lorraine).
3. The Balkan question: Austria-Hungary and Russia competed for influence in the Balkans; Serbia relied on Russia. The Balkans were called "the powder keg of Europe".
4. The arms race and nationalist feeling.

Pretext: on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

§4. The First World War (1914–1918) and its results

• The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, later the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria) fought the Entente.
• 1914: Germany's "lightning war" plan (the Schlieffen Plan) failed at the Marne; the war became one of position (trench warfare).
• 1915: poison gas was first used near Ypres; Italy joined the Entente.
• 1916: the "mincing machine" of Verdun; at the Somme the British used tanks for the first time; on the Eastern Front — the Brusilov Offensive.
• 1917: the USA entered the war (April); revolutions in Russia.
• 1918: Soviet Russia left the war by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March); the November Revolution in Germany.

Link to Turkestan: the decree of 25 June 1916 mobilising the local population for rear-area labour sparked the 1916 uprising in Turkestan.
Results:

• The Paris Peace Conference; the Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 1919: Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France, lost all its colonies, its army was limited to 100,000 men, the Rhineland was demilitarised, and heavy reparations were imposed.
• Four empires collapsed: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman. New states appeared: Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia), Finland, the Baltic states, Austria, Hungary.
• The League of Nations was created (1919–1920) — the first international organisation for keeping peace; the USA did not join.
• Germany's humiliation fuelled revanchism — the seeds of the next war were sown.

§5. Colonialism, liberation movements and the conquest of Central Asia

The "age of imperialism" was not only a rivalry among European powers but also the subjugation of the peoples of Asia and Africa and their struggle against it.

• In Africa: after the Berlin Conference almost the whole continent was partitioned; among those that kept their independence were Ethiopia (which defeated an Italian army at Adwa in 1896) and Liberia. In southern Africa the British fought the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).
• In Asia: India was a colony of the British Crown; China became a "semi-colony" divided into spheres of influence, and in response the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) broke out.

The Russian conquest of Central Asia was part of the same global process. Russia competed with Britain for influence in Asia, and Central Asia attracted it as a source of raw materials (above all cotton) and as a market.

Consequences: the region came under colonial rule, cotton monoculture intensified and railways were built. Opposition showed itself in the Andijan uprising of 1898 and the 1916 revolt, while in the early 20th century the Jadid movement sought to awaken the nation through education.

Worked example

"Sort the countries into blocs: Russia, Italy (before 1914), France, Austria-Hungary, Britain, Germany."

1. Triple Alliance (1882): Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy.
2. Entente: Britain, France, Russia.
3. The trap: Italy stayed neutral at the start and entered the war on the Entente side in 1915. If the question says "during the war", Italy belongs to the Entente.

Worked example

"Order: the Armistice of Compiègne; the Sarajevo assassination; the Treaty of Versailles; US entry into the war; the Battle of the Somme."

1. Sarajevo — June 1914; Somme — 1916; USA — 1917; Compiègne — November 1918; Versailles — June 1919.
2. Answer: Sarajevo → Somme → USA → Compiègne → Versailles. Note: the armistice (stopping the fighting) comes before the treaty (peace terms).

Worked example

"How many years passed between the capture of Tashkent and the abolition of the Khanate of Kokand, and which administrative unit was created in between?"

1. Tashkent — 1865; abolition of the Kokand Khanate — 1876.
2. 1876 − 1865 = 11 years.
3. In between, in 1867, the Turkestan Governor-Generalship was created. Answer: 11 years; the Turkestan Governor-Generalship.

Check yourself

1. How does a trust differ from a cartel?

2. When and where was the German Empire proclaimed?

3. Which agreements completed the formation of the Entente?

4. What was the pretext for the First World War?

5. In which battle were tanks first used?

6. How did the Treaty of Versailles limit Germany's army?

7. When was the Turkestan Governor-Generalship created and who was its first head?

8. Which African state defeated an Italian army in 1896 and kept its independence?

Common mistakes

• Listing Italy as an Entente member from the start (it was in the Triple Alliance and switched in 1915).
• Confusing the date of the Sarajevo assassination (28 June) with the start of the war (28 July).
• Mixing up the Armistice of Compiègne (1918) and the Treaty of Versailles (1919).
• Thinking the USA joined the League of Nations.
• Placing the Ottoman Empire in the Entente (it was one of the Central Powers).