GREAT BRITAIN: English administrative system became the paradigm of classical liberalism with the governments of Disraeli and Gladstone, around 1900 the British colonial expansion in Africa and India reached its peak, the Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1876, control was achieved in South Africa after Zulu and Boer victories at the end of the century (1899-1902), and in 1896-98 was defeated Sudan's Islamic fundamentalists, and avenging the murder of General Gordon in Khartoum years earlier.
Success, however, overshadowed by concern that German economic growth and its power exporter, to which was added the fear of naval armament program of the Germans, very scary for an essentially maritime nation like England. Started an arms race since 1898, after the first German naval law, where the British tried to maintain the doctrine of "two power standard (English fleet should be greater than the sum of its two main rivals). The statements by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Fisher, in 1904 asking a preemptive attack on the German fleet are well illustrative of the feelings of the British military. The answer brit nica went through the design of a new battleship, the "Dreadnought" in 1906, with 18,000 tons displacement, 10 artillery pieces of 305 mm, speed of 21.5 knots thanks to the steam turbine, 279 mm of armor ... that revolutionized the concept of the battleships. It also added a new type of ship, the battle cruiser, in line with the "Dreadnought", but faster (sacrificing shielding), the "Invincible" delivered in 1908, reached 26 knots. The Germans picked up the gauntlet and the British should make major investments to maintain its supremacy until 1914.
other hand
defined the English gradually change their foreign policy preferences abandoning the European balance in favor of partnerships, opted for the reaction to what was considered the Germanic threat: between 1906 and 1907, for example, the secretary of the ministry external constant Eyre Crowe warned in memos against alleged plans by German world power. In this logic established an informal alliance with France in 1904, and Russia in 1907, the "Triple Entente" with the U.S. relations were normalized after the border dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela, covered by U.S. in 1899, and firmly establish even a few years later. Approved self-governments ("Domains") in the English colonies of European settlement (Australia in 1901, New Zealand in 1907, South Africa in 1910). The debate on the Irish question occupied the last two years before the conflict, by developing a plan of autonomy, "Home Rule" which ended in acrimonious debate and was not finally approved. HH Asquith was the Liberal Prime Minister in July 1914.
FOTO.EL BRITISH KING GEORGE V with French President Poincaré (right image)
GERMANY: He was a young state, unified in 1871 under the title of Reich II (seen as the renewal of the medieval tradition of the Holy Roman Empire, the First Reich). Dominated the kingdom of Prussia, agent of unification, which now bore the title King of Kaiser (Emperor). Otto von Bismarck played a central role as chancellor, fought a tough ideological struggle with the Catholics and the Social Democratic Party, based on conservative nationalism and Protestant. Bismarck introduced social security system (the first in the world) to break the socialist discourse of class struggle. In foreign policy sought to isolate France, the enemy par excellence neighbor. Germany was the strongest economic and military power Europe in the late nineteenth century, having diplomatic projection in the Congress of Berlin in 1878 (end of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877) and a network of shifting alliances with Russia (soon rescinded in 1887), and Italy and Austria-Hungary in 1882, the so-called "Triple Alliance" that would prove very operative in the case of pivot of Rome. 
PHOTO. GUILLERMO II in his youth.
ascended the throne in 1888 the William II (1859-1941). A complex personality, Bismarck alienated from power and expansive actions taken in harmony with the army officers and more imperialist ideologues hypernationalistic that theories defiendian Darwinian "civilizing mission" (foundation of the " Werhverein " or Defence Union of General Keim in 1912, supporting the increase of the army). Suddenly struck with Russia showed sympathy pro-Boers in the Transvaal war he distanced themselves from England, and rejected French claims on Morocco. To achieve a power overseas Wilhelm II drove the rise of the military fleet supported by the Secretary of the Navy, Von Tirpitz. These disturbances of the European and global balance Germany united against Russia, France and England, which was called "Einkreisung" international siege psychosis that swept Germany. PHOTO
. ANOTHER PICTURE OF WILLIAM II .
Meanwhile, inside the country remained the second phase of the booming industrializing middle of the "signs" (business associations of a branch). Stressed the dynamism of these enterprises, which showed interest in the marketing, advertising and customer service using knowledge of language, punctuality and reliability. In keeping the census increased from 41 million in 1871 to 68 million in 1913 helped by factors such as the cessation of emigration to America and a considerable demographic dynamism rejuvenated the composition of the population, with the addition of significant growth of the cities that attracted the surplus population of the field. Among the most favored and older had Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Ruhr conurbations and Upper Silesia, and especially Berlin, which had in its suburbs with 4 million residents. The influence of the old landed aristocracy, in increasing financial difficulties (the "Junkers") persisted to fill the ranks of the army and the bureaucracy of the Second Reich, giving them a conservative and nationalistic.
Bismarck was succeeded in the chancery of Caprivi (1890-1894) ousted by his clashes with the Alldeutsche Verband, a lobbying group pro-colonial and Reichslandbund, representing farmers in eastern Germany contrary to the grain trade agreements with Russia. After they arrived Hohenlohe, and finally Bethman Bülow-Hollweg in 1909. They formed different majorities in the Reichstag, a body with limited powers under the German constitution. The Social Democrats achieved a 34% of the vote in 1912, by adopting a revolutionary and reformist discourse not surrounded himself with a nationalist (Imperial budgetary support provided by the government).
The composition of the chamber in November 1913 was as follows: Conservatives 43 seats, the party of empire 13, 47 National Liberals, the Catholic Centre 89, Progressive Democrats 44, 111 Social, 18 Poles, Alsatians 9, Denmark 1 and 21 independent deputies.
France: After the end of the Second Empire and the fall of Napoleon III as a result of the loss of the Franco-Prussian war was proclaimed the Third Republic in 1871. The Constitution of 1875 reaffirmed the principle (idealized) of liberal republicanism ("the apotheosis of the bourgeoisie" to his enemies and revolutionary Marxist left). The parties were poorly defined, as the deputies were very parochial and disinterested of the "big issues" national, preferring to guide individuals or heads of faction in the Assembly. Prevailed since 1875 Republican allies of liberal governments in coalition with some socialists who opted for the reforms since 1894 (Millerand for example), the divided conservative right was in opposition. There was a widespread desconfiaza to the "politicking" and there were anti-regime episodes conservative tint as that of General Boulanger, despite everything, the new system had some stability through socio-economic conditions provided by a prosperous peasantry accompanied by a small craft industry of origin but solid in the leading sectors of the automobile, electricity and chemistry.
The foreign policy was dominated by the humiliation and resentment arising from the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871. Partly conceived as redress colonial expansion in Africa and Asia was strong, drawing support points established earlier under the rule of Napoleon III.
Moroccan crises of 1905 and 1911 revived
PHOTO. GUILLERMO II VISIT TO MOROCCO MOROCCAN CRISIS DURING THE FIRST TO FRANCE; SETTLED IN 1906 Algeciras Conference
tension with Germany, despite the government's conciliatory gestures Caillaux, a radical liberal harshly criticized by the apparent weakness of their attitude to Germany.
But France failed to improve their relations with England after the serious incident of Fashoda in the Sudan (1898), reaching the understanding of 1904.
early twentieth century, the curators of the domestic industry were strengthened with the influx of right-wing liberal, suspicious of the intentions of the socialist movement convulsed by "National Reveil" driven by Action Francaise, reflected in measures as the extension of military service to three years in 1913 and in general rearmament and fiercely anti-German attitude advocated by President Poincare, leader of the French right, the head of government in July 1914 was the socialistaViviani.
RUSSIA : Mainly agricultural, the country experienced since 1880 a sustained industrialization. The tsarist autocracy was in control but in the midst of a growing internal opposition from various sources (Liberals, Marxists several, Socialist, etc.). Nicholas II (reigned 1894-1917) suffered a humiliating failure to Japan in the dispute over Korea and Manchuria in 1904-05, after the defeat of Port Arthur, Mukden and naval Tushima. The Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) stopped their hopes so expansive in the Far East even worse encouraged the 1905 revolution in Russia itself, which was suppressed by mixing concessions (creating a Duma parliamentary or assembly) with military force. The first Duma of April 27, 1906 40 proautócratas composed it, 184 cadets (liberal conservative) 124 and 122 leftist independent deputies. Deemed hostile by the Tsar, was suspended and after a very restrictive new election law resulted in a Duma du CTIL in the hands of the tsarist autocracy.
real power remained in the hands of technocrats and authoritarian super ministers: Stolypin, preoccupied with domestic issues and little imperial Russification intensified, after his murder, Witte liberal developmentalism continued implementation of capital investment by encouraging agent: sugar French in western Ukraine, the Donetsk coal consortium controlled by French-Russian Produgol (representing 60% of the Russian huller), with its own shipping company in Mariopol ... and many other companies, industrial and mining appear isolated nuclei but strong in St. Petersburg, Moscow, the Urals, Baku, etc. Instead agrarian problems persisted and agitation aimed at some sort of land reform, despite the growing agricultural colonization of Siberia, encouraged by the route of the Trans-Siberian railway to the Pacific.
According to 1897 census, the ethnic composition of the Russian empire was: 67% of Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians and Belarus) with more than 80 million people who formed the dominant group but rather divided by parochial aspirations of Ukrainians, Poles 8 million provided by a movement of nationalist agitation very consistent, 5 million Jews, hated by the rest of white people and newspapers "pogroms" tolerated by the authorities; 1,800,000 Germans in the Volga or scattered in the Baltic Finns 1,700,000 grouped in their homeland so tense border and politically as the Poles, 4 million Baltic ( Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians), some hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Georgians, and poorly organized the 20 million Muslims of Central Asia (Uzbeks, Turkmen, etc.) Siberian and Mongolian. Thus national groups protest of their own state was another challenge added to the Russian empire.
Germany In foreign policy, especially Austria-Hungary were considered potential enemies, due to pan-Slavism, Russian ambitions in the Balkans and the coveted annexation of the Turkish Straits and therefore approached the czarist government (1891 to 1894 ) to a France anxious counterweight in eastern Germany, and Britain once settled colonial disputes in Central Asia and Persia (1907).
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: The figure of Emperor Franz Joseph (1830-1916), who reigned from 1848 was both emotional symbol and reality of the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the nineteenth century the idea of \u200b\u200bmultinational dynastic rule in this case symbolized the Habsburgs fell steadily to nationalism, following the loss of the influence of Vienna in the Germanic Confederation in favor of Prussia after the defeat of Königgrätz in 1866, and the loss the Veneto and Lombardy in northern Italy after the unification of this country, Austria emphasized its predominantly Danubian and Balkan, in fact, the Hungarians were able to recognize a dual monarchy (Austria-Hungary) in 1867, compared to the previous state-dynastic Germanic "Austria" in force until then. But continued difficulties in balancing within the same state to different nationalities:
TABLE. NATIONALITIES 1900. (Not counting annexed Bosnia in 1908)
German Hungarians 24.7% --- 13.1 --- 19.7 --- Czech --- 9.3 Poles Ukrainians / Ruthenians 8.2 - Romanian-Croatian 6.4 --- 5.8 --- 0.6
Jewsmatch the increasing demands Slavic with political reaffirmation of the Germans, both considered an obstacle to the Habsburgs but for different reasons. It was in those days when an unknown young Austrian painter, Adolf Hitler, accepted and developed his pan-Germanism contempt for Jews, Slavs and ineffective parliamentary uses of imperial Vienna, in effect after 1907 increased the electoral weight Slavic in parliament and it fell into paralysis and confusion more surreal. Since 1909, it was necessary to resort to autocratic rule based on executive orders.
In the Kingdom of Hungary, a process gained momentum "Magyarisation" that raised the irritation of the Slavs, Romanians and the Germans of Hungary. Paradoxically, in the midst of these tensions aparecieon prosperous industrial areas of Bohemia and Vienna, and the sociocultural environment was in full swing, with a clear taste for knowledge and fun patent in sparkling performances but overshadowed by a sense of imminent threat, given the lack of national cohesion and to a lesser extent, social.
In 1908, the annexation of the former Turkish province of Bosnia by Austria caused an international crisis to complaints from Russia, Serbia and Italy. The contrast between Pangerman and pan-Slavic declared within delIimperio took power. The Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, to strengthen Serbia and Albania create Serbian nationalism became an essential threat to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and the pressures (embodied in the figure of the heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand) to create a "triad "involving of the Czechs and other Slavs of the monarchy, were increased.
Italy : Posted unification belatedly. Since the late nineteenth century industrialization increased in the northern half of the country, the Socialist Party was founded in 1892 while extending the labor unrest. Also the Catholic movement got organized into a popular party. The prevailing regime was liberal oligarchic traits, and was imperfect, existing to "transform" and a sharp political opportunism, on the other hand, as in France, their parties were poorly defined. As for the exterior, there was irredentism against Austria by the regions of Trentino and Dalmatia, populated by people of Italian ethnicity, however insecurely Rome signed the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria in 1882 because of his anger at the French annexation of Tunis in 1881. Colonial expansion was modest and punctuated by the defeat of Adua in 1896 to Ethiopia. Giolitti governments in 1903-12 conquered Libya in 1911 and adopted liberal policies such as universal suffrage, the appeasement of socialists and Catholics and others are not as liberal as economic protectionism. In 1914 the government presided Salandra, a liberal conservative.
U.S. : Unica internationally renowned American power, and Japan, the only outside Europe, Largely due to its emerging economic power in the second phase of industrialization. U.S. was the prototype of capitalism at all levels, aided by an excellent natural resource base coupled with a democratic-liberal political tradition from the founding home of the American republic in 1776-1783.
The extension of railway communication, the creation of large industrial and urban concentrations and parallel financial concentration (trusts) are typical of this era. PHOTO . FORD FACTORY OF ONE OF THE EXAMPLES OF MASS PRODUCTION.
parties from the 1850 were Republican, strong in northern and western areas, and the Democratic majority in the south and west farmer. The Socialists, founded in 1900, failed as a mass party due to the strong presence of the individualistic character and strong tradition of civil rights. In international action imposed imperialism at the turn of the century under the chairmanship of the Republican McKinley, with the full force of the Monroe Doctrine by defending national interests abroad, both economic and strategic. His favorite course was South and Central America: the new American fleet crushed the English in 1898 and ended the secular rule English in America, U.S. annexing Philippines and Puerto Rico and Cuba making an informal protectorate through the Platt Amendment passed in Congress.
Under Theodore Roosevelt "independence" from Colombia to Panama Offshore obtained rights to build a canal, was the policy of "Big stick " in South America since 1908 maintained by Taft, who occupied Nicaragua in 1912. Became president that year the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, an idealistic Protestant. Wilson reluctantly intervened in Mexico during the revolution in that country in 1914-16 and opened the Panama Canal on 15 August 1914. All U.S. governments sought closer relations with England since the end of the dispute of the Guianas in 1899. The main American military instrument this time was the war fleet, renovated in 1890 and was the third in the world in 1914 after the UK and Germany. Instead ground forces were small and were involved in a riot in Mexico after the assassination of President Madero.
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