THE DIPLOMACY OF GREAT POWER RIVALRY
THE ORIGINS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR1870-1914
OUTLINE1- Europe in the World: 1870-19142- Nationalisms and internationalisms3-The evolution of war in the early 20th century4- The souvenir of 1870, Alsace-Lorraine and revenge: Franco-German relations until 19145- Economic and colonial rivalries6- The evolution of international relations: 1905-19147- Balkan entanglements8-Assassination in Sarajevo: the march to war
BOOKS OF INTEREST
THE DOMINATION OF EUROPE
THE 19TH CENTURY: THE FIRST GOLDEN AGE OF GLOBALIZATION
The Industrial Revolution:
acceleration of globalization
The impact of new
technologies
THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND DEMOCRACY
Equality between men
The people is sovereign
=
THE BIRTH OF MODERN DEMOCRACY
THE EVOLUTION OF WARFARE
The end of dynastic conflicts
New technological innovations - The American Civil War (1861-1865)
EUROPEAN EXPANSIONISMIncreased technological gap Europe-Non
European societies
Europe’s expansionism accelerates in the 19th century
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
Jean-Baptiste de LamarckDarwin
EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION
A common universal ancestor
SOCIAL DARWINISM
Herbert Spencer
The survival of the fittest
in society
Little to no government interference
EACH PERSON CONTROLS HIS OR HER ECONOMIC DESTINY
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
“The growth of large corporation
is merely a survival of the
fittest, the working out of a
law of nature and a law of God.”
“A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS”
THE FAR EASTTwo powerful states: China & Japan
China (the Middle-Kingdom): One of the largest empires on the planet
Strong political and administrative
centralization (30,000 imperial bureaucrats)
THE DECLINE OF CHINAThe First Opium War (1839-1842) and the
Treaty of Nanking: British economic penetration in China + Hong Kong
Political anarchy = Treaty of Tientsin (1858) and increased European economic penetration
1860: the Franco-British expedition
Permanent European embassies in China
THE “SCRAMBLE FOR CHINA”
THE CONFERENCE OF BERLIN (1885)
AFRICA COLONIZED
THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 1914
JAPAN’S RESPONSE TO WESTERN COLONIZATION
The Meiji era (1868-1912)
Traditional Japanese values such as honor and sacrifice were put to the new Japan’s
service Systematic imitation of foreign traditions
A REACTION TO THE ‘WESTERN THREAT’
Fukuzawa Yukichi
European-style military instruction
The learning of English
Diplomatic missions to the U.S. and
EuropeThe assimilation of Western technologies
THE RISE OF JAPAN’S EXPANSIONISM
The Russo-Japanese War
(1904-1905): the first major military victory
of an Asian power over a European
nation
Korea colonized (1910)
COLLISION COURSE WITH THE UNITED
STATES
THE UNITED STATES AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE (1823)
“the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have
assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by
any European powers.”
1861-1866: No to the French expedition to Mexico
From continental to global expansion
THE TREATY OF PARIS (1898)
1- The “independence” of Cuba
2- The Philippines, Puerto Rican and Guam granted to the U.S. in return for a $20 million
payment to Spain
The U.S. had already annexed Wake Island and Hawaii
INTENSE DEBATE: EXPANSIONISTS vs. ISOLATIONISTS
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
The end of the frontier (1890) = the need to find new markets for American goods
The Chinese market: 400 million consumers
Intense lobbying: the American China Development Company
The Philippines: a door to China
THE FIRST “OPEN DOOR NOTE” (1898)
Secretary of State - John Hay
1- China’s territorial integrity MUST be
respected 2- European powers
MUST permit free trade ports in their
spheres of influence
1900: THE BOXER REBELLION
China’s weakened state = deep resentment among Chinese
Foreign intervention
Expansion of existing spheres of
influenceThe Second Open
Door NoteAn American
sphere of influence
“MANIFEST DESTINY”A key global role for the U.S.
The rise of jingoism (nationalism + racism): the superiority of the “Anglo-Saxon
race”
To bring freedom, democracy and progress to “inferior” races – The “White Man’s
Burden”
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
Ms. Columbia’s School House
THE DECLINE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
A CONSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTION IN IRAN (1905-1906)
A constitutional monarchy
BUT
1907: Great Britain and Russia agreed on
a possible dismemberment of
Iran
THE “TITANIC SYNDROME”