THE DIPLOMACY OF GREAT POWER RIVALRY

THE ORIGINS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR1870-1914

OUTLINE

1- 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 EXPANSIONISM

Increased 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 EAST

Two 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 CHINA

The 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”