Lecture 1

Question 1

Concert diplomacy

Answer 1

Since the Napoleonic Wars concluded, Euro states have been using formal meetings (Congresses/Conferences) among the great powers to manage European politics. Up until the 1860s/70s this system was built around preventing a single power from dominating Europe (the source of the problem with Napoleon). It is beginning to shift away from this view and more towards using conferences/diplomacy to manage international problems. This has been done with some success: The Congress of Berlin, 1878, sorts out some disputes relating to the bits of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans gaining independence and the Berlin Conference of 1885 (also known as the Congo Conference) sorts out colonial rights and possessions in Africa (organized by Bismarck). Worth considering why this system stops working in 1914.

Question 2

‘Sick man of diplomacy’

Answer 2

The Ottoman empire had been losing control over its component states since 1878; considerable unrest; ‘sick man of Europe’. Important to recognize that it stretched between Europe (eg Greece, the Balkans); and the middle east (Iraq) and Africa (Tunisia).

There is a power vacuum when there is a declining power in the international system. Realists tell us someone will try to fill the vacuum. Independence trying to fill vacuum, potential birth of a range of new states. Austria Hungary want territory but aren’t trying to take it. They have minorities, giving people inside their empire ideas about independence.

Question 3

Russo-Japanese War

Answer 3

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Question 4

Scramble for Africa

Answer 4

Spread of colonization is extremely rapid from the 1850s onwards; this means that Euro states have potential flashpoints for conflict all over the world, in addition to issues on European soil. Serious colonial wars (eg the Opium Wars) are recent. Anti-colonial pressures already exist, particularly in Asia.

If you want to compete/great power you need a colony for its status symbol, its resources, raw materials, people. Colonies as status symbols and real contributors to a state’s power. From 1880-1913 there is significant increase in number of colonies in Africa. Italy and Germany don’t get significant colonial possessions.
People who missed out on colonies feel it acutely because it just happened. People understand warfare and are trained in warfare with a colonial lens. The British are not used to fighting other Europeans, they are used to fighting the people in colonies. France and Germany are used to fighting each other. Everybody else preoccupied with colonial warfare. People coming to WW1 with training in a very different type of warfare.
Anti-colonial agitation all over colonial world, most intensely in modern-day India and Pakistan. Colonial administrators cannot hold colonies without a significant amount of force.