6: The European State System in the Era of Bismarck Flashcards
Treaty of San Stefano
The Treaty of San Stefano was a treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War, 1878. The Ottomans recognized the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and autonomy of Bulgaria, ceded to Russia parts of Armenia and the Dobruja, and agreed to pay a very large indemnity. Because the treaty modified the Treaty of Paris (1856) and greatly increased Russian influence in South-East Europe, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania also grew at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. Alarmed by the extension of Russian power into the Balkans, the Great Powers later forced modifications of the treaty in the Treaty of Berlin 1878. The main change here was that Bulgaria would be split, according to earlier agreements among the Great Powers that precluded the creation of a large new Slavic state: the northern and eastern parts to become principalities as before (Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia), though with different governors; and the Macedonian region, originally part of Bulgaria under San Stefano, would return to direct Ottoman administration
War in Sight
The “War in Sight” period was a diplomatic crisis in 1875 between France and Germany in the aftermath of the German-French War in 1870/1871. This crisis was provoked by Bismarck as France had recovered from the war and regained power and importance in international relations. To test European powers, Bismarck (secretly) initiated German press articles with the title “is the war in sight” in which Germany threatened France with another war if France would not stop its rearmament. By this, Bismarck wanted to see the reactions and alignments of the other great powers in Europe confronted with a new German-French war. The results were clear signals from England, Russia and Austria to foster France! They were reluctant to accept the growing power of Germany and wanted to maintain the equilibrium of powers in Europe with a French state. Consequently, Bismarck realized the weakness of Germany’s alliances (like the Dreikeiserbund) and tended to the diplomacy of equilibrium between the great powers. He wanted to show Germany as a “satisfied” power who is not longing for new territories, and at the same time isolate France to prevent a war on two fronts. Unfortunately, Bismarck’s successors isolated Germany by an aggressive foreign policy which ended in the conclusion of the Entente and WWI.
Crispi
Francesco Crispi was a 19th-century Italian politician who, after being exiled from Naples and Sardinia-Piedmont for revolutionary activities, eventually became premier of a united Italy. He was instrumental in the formation of the united country of Italy and was its Premier from 1887 -1891 and again from 1893-1896. For several decades following unification, he was the key actor in the political and institutional development of the new nation. Crispi was one of the towering figures of the Risorgimento: a revolutionary and a conspirator, a close friend of Mazzini, and a key player in the events of 1860. In 1864, however, he announced he was a monarchist, in the famous phrase afterwards repeated in his letter to Mazzini: The monarchy unites us; the republic would divide us. Crispi was a colourful and intensely patriotic character. Although he began life as a revolutionary and democratic figure, his premiership was authoritarian, and he showed disdain for Italian liberals. His career ended amid controversy and failure: he got caught up in a major banking scandal and fell from power in 1896 following a disastrous colonial defeat in Africa. Left-wing Italian academics and intellectuals accuse him of having inspired the Italian fascist regime.
Nietzsche
One of the central tendencies of Nietzsche’s thought is the theme that all socio-politic history is characterised by the “weak” and the “strong”, masters and slaves, the master-morality and the slave-morality. With variations, Nietzsche repeats the key idea of his aristocratic conception - the high culture and the development of superior human species need slavery and forced labour of the immense majority in order to release the narrow privileged class from physical toil and the struggle for existence. He rejects the ideas of freedom and equality in human relationship as every entity has its own privileges. In the historical evolution of Europe, he states, “the weak” tend to gain more power. The new philosophy of the weak (or ressentiment) is called Democracy, considered by him to be a perfect form of slavery when one becomes a slave to masses. Even leaders are weak in a democratic society since they have to respond to the needs of the crowd. Ressentiment presupposes a drive to blame other persons for all bad things happening. The weak may revolt against the masters and they may defeat them, but if they do, they won’t manage themselves, for they don’t have any idea of what to do with themselves. In the unification of Europe Nietzsche recognises the means to overcome the nation-State system, ressentiment and democracy altogether. Europe is opposed to the philosophy of the weak and he believes that strong leaders will emerge. Nietzsche is convinced (and he predicts) that Europeanisation will first of all lead to a further democratisation. Later, he believes however, this process will undermine itself and a strong man will emerge, a superior character who will rule over a unified Europe.
Andrassy
Count Gyula Andrassy was a Hungarian politician. During the revolution of 1948, he fought for the independence of Hungary and had to flee to France and Britain afterwards. He returned in 1857 and started fighting for an autonomous Hungarian policy within the Austrian empire. In 1867, he helped to create the Austro-Hungarian dualist form of government granting the Hungarian government in Budapest equal legal status to the Austrian government in Vienna, while the common monarch retained responsibility for the army, navy, foreign policy, and customs union. Andrassy had become a close friend to the emperor Francis Joseph who appointed him the first constitutional Hungarian premier in 1867. On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Andrássy resolutely defended the neutrality of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. In 1871-1879, he became Hungarian Prime minister and Austria-Hungarian foreign minister. As a firm supporter of Germany, he further created, with the imperial German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Austro-German alliance of 1879, which became the cornerstone of Austria’s foreign policy until the monarchy’s eventual collapse in 1918.
Boulanger
French general, minister of war, and political figure who led a brief but influential authoritarian movement that threatened to topple the Third Republic in the 1880s. He was famous for his strong intentions for a retaliatory war against Germany because of France’s defeat in 1971. In January 1886 Boulanger was given the post of War Minister. In this capacity, he gained most popularity introducing various military reforms and amongst others concluded a law which permitted the rearmament of France in order to pursue a war against Germany. Boulanger started a movement, advocating the three principles of Revanche (Revenge on Germany), Révision (Revision of the Constitution), Restauration (the return to monarchy). The common reference to it has become Boulangisme, a term used by its partisans and adversaries alike. In 1888 he led this short-lived but influential authoritarian movement that threatened to topple the Third Republic. In 1889 the government decided to prosecute him, prompting him to flee Paris. He was convicted in absentia for treason, and in 1891 he committed suicide.
Caprivi
Leo of Caprivi, was a German major general and statesman, who succeeded Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor of Germany from 1890 to 1894 under Wilhelm II. Bismarck had to resign as he had been resistant to Wilhem’s proposed changes to the government. Caprivi’s administration was marked by what is known to historians as the “New Course” in both foreign and domestic policy, with moves towards conciliation of the Social Democrats on the domestic front, and towards a pro- British foreign policy, exemplified by the Zanzibar treaty of July 1890, in which the British ceded the island of Helgoland to Germany in exchange for control of Zanzibar. Caprivi rejected to renew the League of the Three Emperors with Russia and instead sought an alliance with Britain, but Britain refused to give up its “splendid isolation”.
Dreikaiserbund = The League of the Three Emperors
The Dreikaiserbund was an 1872 alliance among the emperors of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, the three largest powers in Eastern and Central Europe at the time. It was intended to stand in opposition to increasingly liberal forms of government to the west. It was set into motion by the unification of Germany by Prussia after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. These conservative leaders stood in contrast to the more liberal leaders of Western Europe. Conservatives in the three countries were wary of the perceived threat of liberalism and so created a league of nations that would protect their more conservative forms of government. Although the league provided no formal alliances, it listed socialism, and more importantly republicanism, as the greatest evils — France was a republic at the time. The league was part of Otto von Bismarck’s grand foreign policy plan to keep France isolated and keep both Austria-Hungary and Russia on his side. The League of Three Emperors disintegrated as a result of Russia’s dissatisfaction with the Congress of Berlin (1878). The League was resurrected in 1881 after Bismarck secretly persuaded Russia to re-join, without Austria-Hungary’s acknowledgment. In 1980 Caprivi rejected Russia’s proposal to renew the conditions of the League of Three Emperors (the Reinsurance Treaty), much to the disappointment of the Russian Foreign Minister and a retired Bismarck. Russia, now isolated, would eventually seek an alliance with France to counter the threat of the Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Francis Joseph I
Franz Joseph I of the Habsburg Dynasty was Emperor of Austria and king of Hungary; the last important ruler of the Habsburg dynasty. During his reign of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he established a policy of absolutist centralism and experienced an increasing paralysis of its domestic politics and a steady decline of its standing as a Great Power. Francis Joseph’s policies played a major role in the events that led to World War I (1914-1918)
After a successful start—Francis Joseph’s government defeated the revolution at home and re-established Austria’s authority among the German states—Austria’s international situation deteriorated. In 1859 Francis Joseph fell into a trap to oust the Austrians from Italy; French and Piedmontese troops defeated Austrian forces. Without support from his German confederates, Francis Joseph had to surrender Lombardy to Napoleon, who passed it on to Piedmont. Further, the defeat in the Prussian-Austrian war in 1866 sealed Austria’s exclusion from a Prussian-dominated Germany.
In 1968, the Austria-Hungary Dual Monarchy was established. Francis became a close friend to Andrassy, and both conducted Austrian-Hungarian policy, although overall political authority was held by Emperor Franz Josef. In 1879, Germany and Austria concluded an alliance. Henceforth, three key components shaped the course of Austrian foreign policy: (1) its long-term alliance with Germany; (2) its relationship with Russia, which wavered from renewed alliance to limited cooperation to outright hostility; and (3) its keen interest in the affairs of the Balkans. When a Bosnian Serb killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an heir to Francis Joseph, he declared war to Serbia and, due to the overlapping alliances in Europe, World War I started.
Plevna
The Siege of Pleven (or Plevna) during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78, saw a major struggle between the joint army of Russia and Romania; and the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish defence held up the main Russian advance southwards into Bulgaria. Eventually superior Russian numbers forced the garrison to capitulate. The siege had held up the main Russian advance into Bulgaria and captured the world’s admiration. The fall of Pleven freed up Russian reinforcements, which were sent to Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko, who then decisively defeated the Turks in the fourth battle of Shipka Pass.
Triple Alliance
In 1879 Germany and Austria-Hungary agreed to form a Dual Alliance. This became the Triple Alliance when in 1882 it was expanded to include Italy. The three countries agreed to support each other if attacked by either France or Russia. It was renewed at five-yearly intervals. The formation of the Triple Entente in 1907 by Britain, France and Russia, reinforced the need for the alliance.
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism is a movement which fully developed in the mid-19th century and aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples and fighting western oppression. It was born in a nationalistic movement and intended a cultural and political union of fall Slavic people in Europe concluding finally in the formation of a Slavic empire. The main focus was on the Balkans where South Slavs had been ruled and oppressed for centuries by the two great empires, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Political goals for Slavic unity increased in 1848, when a Slav congress organized by František Palacký met in Prague to press for equal rights under Austrian rule. In the 1860s the movement became popular in Russia, to which Pan-Slavs looked for protection from Turkish and Austro-Hungarian rule; this led Russia and Serbia into wars against the Ottoman Empire in 1876–77. Pan-Slavism was used as a political tool by both the Russian Empire and its successor the Soviet Union. In the 20th century, nationalist rivalries among the Slav peoples prevented their effective collaboration.
Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1882) was a British Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister—the first and thus far only person of Jewish parentage to do so. Disraeli’s most lasting achievement was the creation of the modern Conservative Party after the Corn Laws schism of 1846. He was a major figure in the protectionist wing of the Conservative Party and his career was marked by his intense rivalry with William Gladstone (later leader of Liberal Party) and warm friendship with Queen Victoria. Writing romances, of which Sybil and Vivian Grey are perhaps the best-known today, he was and is unusual among British Prime Ministers for having gained equal social and political renown.
Gambetta
Leon Gambetta (1838-1882) was French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War and a leading republican figure. as he had helped direct the resistance of France. Gambetta was a founding father to the Third republic and was an influential figure in its formative years. He inspired many Frenchmen to the ideals of moderate democratic republicanism. Gambetta rendered France three inestimable services: 1) by preserving her self-respect through the gallantry of the resistance he organized during the German War, 2) by his tact in persuading extreme partisans to accept a moderate Republic, and 3) by his energy in overcoming the usurpation attempted by the advisers of Marshal MacMahon.
Izvolsky
Alexander Izvolsky was a Russian diplomat instrumental in fostering the Triple Entente with France and Great Britain. He rose in the diplomatic service and in 1906 was appointed foreign minister by Czar Nicholas II. In 1907 he reached an agreement with Great Britain – the Anglo-Russian Convention - ending the rivalry between the two powers in the Middle East. This agreement, in conjunction with the Franco-Russian alliance formed in the 1894 and the Anglo-French accord in 1904, marked the emergence of the Triple Entente. In 1908, Izvolsky attempted to open the Dardanelles to Russian warships through an agreement with the Austria-Hungary. In return for Russian acceptance of Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria agreed to support the opening of the straits (a long-term goal of Russia). Austria failed to keep its part of the pact, and Izvolsky suffered a humiliating diplomatic defeat.
