international relations Flashcards
Germany
Newly unified after a powerful victory against France in 1871
Began to expand its navy and threaten Britain’s hegemony internationally. Britain’s navy was the strongest in the world and was vial for protection of international colonies
1890s and 1900s, germany created new industrial cartels.
1904 - steel works association created. Subsidised to export steel globally
Germany was becoming increasingly industrialised and competitive with Britain’s manufacturing industries at the same time that Germany’s economic and industrial power was growing
France
Embarrassed after its defeat in the Franco-Prussian war.
Sought to reassert its strength militarily elsewhere in the world
1863 - Cambodia’s king had made Cambodia a French protectorate
1885 - France gained territory in Vietnam after its victory over China in the Sino-French war
1887 - France combined Cambodia with its territories in Vietnam to create French Indochina. In 1893, after another war, France added Laos to French Indochina.
1874 - Britain takes control over Malaya in response to France’s increasing power in south east Asia.
1885 - Britain takes Burma.
1898 - Fashoda incident. A French expedition to Fashoda on the White Nile river sought to gain control of the upper nile river basin and exclude Britain from the Sudan. The French party and British-Egyptian force (outnumbering the French by 10 to 1) met on friendly terms, but back in Europe, it became a war scare.
The British held firm as both empires stood on the verge of war with heated rhetoric on both sides. Under heavy pressure, the French withdrew, ensuring anglo-Egyptian control over the area.
Russia
Increasingly encroaching into the north of china with the 1891 Trans-Siberian railway.
Acquired Afghanistan, close to India. Threatened Britain
1905 revolutions weakened them; not seen as a threat to Britain for long
The Impact of the Depression
Between 1873 and 1896, there was a global economic depression
There had been a bubble in railroad investments that collapsed, and in the uk, the city of Glasgow Bank went bankrupt.
Internationally, lots of banks went bankrupt and stopped lending people money (giving credit to invest).
This was similar to the cause of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
With domestic demand falling in UK, Germany, France and the USA, all countries could increase their sales and output by selling their goods into new markets like Asia and Africa.
