The Alliance System and International Rivalry, 1905-14 » Economic, Imperial and Military Rivalry Before 1914

Three kinds of rivalry

The alliances were only part of the story. The great powers were also rivals in business, in empire and in armed strength. These are the economic, imperial and military causes of international rivalry.

Key terms:

• Imperialism: building an empire by taking control of other lands as colonies
• Colony: a land ruled by another, more powerful country
• Weltpolitik: German for 'world policy'. Germany's aim, from 1897, of becoming a world power with colonies and a large navy
• Conscription: a law that makes young men serve in the army for a set time
• Reservist: a trained former soldier who can be called back to the army in wartime
• Arms race: a contest in which rival countries keep building up their armed forces to stay ahead of each other
• Militarism: the belief that a country should keep strong armed forces and be ready to use them
• Mobilisation: getting an army ready for war by calling up reservists and moving troops to the border

Economic rivalry: trade and industry

Britain was the first country to build modern industry, and for much of the nineteenth century it led the world in trade. Germany only became one country in 1871, but its industry then grew very fast. By 1914 Germany was making about twice as much steel as Britain, and it led the world in chemicals and electrical goods.

German goods were soon on sale everywhere, including in Britain. In 1887 a British law made foreign goods carry a label showing where they came from. 'Made in Germany' was meant to warn buyers off, but it became a sign of quality. Many British people began to see Germany as a threat to their jobs and wealth.

Germany had worries of its own. Russia's industry and railways were growing quickly, and German leaders feared that Russia would one day be too strong to beat.

Economic rivalry had limits. Britain and Germany were among each other's best customers, and most businessmen and bankers wanted peace because war would ruin trade.

Imperial rivalry: the scramble for colonies

Colonies gave a country raw materials, markets for its goods and bases for its navy. They also brought pride. In the late nineteenth century the European powers raced to seize land in the 'scramble for Africa'. By 1914 they ruled almost the whole continent. Britain's empire held about a quarter of the world's people, and France had the second largest empire.

Germany joined late. From 1884 it took Togoland, Cameroon, German South West Africa, German East Africa and some Pacific islands, but these colonies brought it little wealth. In 1897 Kaiser Wilhelm II's government began Weltpolitik, and in the same year Germany seized the port of Kiaochow in China. German leaders said they only wanted a fair share. To Britain and France, an ambitious Germany looking for land looked like a threat to their own empires. Germans felt the older empires were blocking them.

Imperial rivalry had limits too. Britain's colonial quarrels with France and Russia were settled peacefully in the ententes. In June 1914 Britain and Germany even reached agreement over a German-backed railway to Baghdad.

Military rivalry: armies, conscription and war plans

Growing armies. Each power enlarged its army because its rivals were enlarging theirs, and this arms race on land sped up from 1912. In 1913 Germany passed a law adding over 100,000 men to its peacetime army. France replied in the same year with the Three-Year Law, which raised army service from two years to three. Russia already had the largest army in Europe, and in 1914 it approved a 'Great Programme' to add almost half a million more men by 1917. Each increase frightened the other side into the next one.

Conscription. Every great power on the continent made its young men serve. Britain did not, and kept a small army of volunteers. After their service, conscripts became reservists. This meant that Germany, France and Russia could each put millions of trained men into the field within weeks. Army life touched almost every family, which helped militarism to grow, and generals gained more say over government decisions.

War plans. Germany's plan, drawn up by Count von Schlieffen in 1905, was meant to avoid fighting France and Russia at the same time. Germany would knock out France quickly, then turn east against Russia. You will study it in The Schlieffen Plan and Why It Failed. France's Plan XVII of 1913 was an all-out attack to win back Alsace and Lorraine. Russia planned to attack both Germany and Austria-Hungary as fast as it could. Britain got ready a small British Expeditionary Force to send to France.

These plans made a crisis more dangerous. Mobilisation ran to strict railway timetables, and the side that moved first would have the advantage. So if one power began to mobilise, its rivals felt they had to do the same at once. Some German generals also argued that if war had to come, it should come soon, before Russia's army grew any bigger.

Exam-style question

Source A: From a letter written in Berlin by Colonel Edward House, an adviser to the President of the USA, to President Woodrow Wilson, 29 May 1914.

'The situation is extraordinary. It is militarism run stark mad. Unless some one acting for you can bring about a different understanding, there is some day to be an awful cataclysm. No one in Europe can do it. There is too much hatred, too many jealousies. Whenever England consents, France and Russia will close in on Germany and Austria.'

Source B: From a speech by Bernhard von Bülow, the German foreign minister, to the Reichstag (the German parliament), 6 December 1897 (translated).

'We see it as our foremost task to foster and cultivate the interests of our shipping, our trade, and our industry, particularly in the East. ... In short, we do not want to put anyone in our shadow, but we also demand our place in the sun.'

Extract C: A practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history textbook.

'By 1914 the great powers were armed as never before. Their conscript armies numbered millions, and their generals had detailed plans for a war they expected to come. Trade and colonies had caused quarrels, but most of these were settled peacefully. It was the build-up of armies, more than anything else, that filled Europe with fear.'

Study Extract C. Extract C suggests that the build-up of armies was the main cause of rivalry between the great powers before 1914. How far do you agree with this interpretation? Use Extract C, Sources A and B and your own knowledge to explain your answer. [16 marks]