Five Great Powers
The Europe of 1871 was a continent of five great powers divided into two categories. The first grouping were the
three most powerful states—Great Britain, Germany, and France.
The second grouping were lesser in rank, but remained significant for
the period—Austria-Hungary and Russia. A sixth power was Italy, but
this newly unified nation was unpredictable and still suffered from
internal problems. (Another growing power in the west was the
United States.)
Each of these nations pursued— between 1871 and 1914—its own
set of national goals and objectives. Often these goals were in conflict
with one another. For example, Austria- Hungary controlled the Balkan
States of the Slavs, yet Russia wanted to see Slavic independence from
the Austrian Empire. In the bigger picture, much of the diplomacy
carried out by these powerful European nations beginning in 1871 led
The Iron Chancellor
to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
The entire period from 1871 to the beginning of World War I was dominated by German international politics. In
earlier years, Germany’s Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, pursued an aggressive set of policies that helped
create a unified Germany. However, after 1871, Bismarck strove for peace and stability across the Continent. One
of his main goals was to weaken French power. He did this by forming alliances with both Russia and Austria. The
result was the League of the Three Emperors, which included Germany’s William I, Austria’s Francis Joseph, and
Russia’s tsar, Alexander II. The first real test for the League came in 1877–1878 when Russia went to war with
Turkey over control of the Balkan region. Eventually the war included other powers, such as England (which sided
against Russia). An international conference of the major powers was called which met in Berlin in 1878. The
Congress of Berlin granted independence to the Balkan states of Montenegro, Serbia, and Rumania, and gave
Austria the green light to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina—two additional Balkan states.
The Russo-Turkish War caused strained relations between the Russian and German allies. This caused Bismarck to
make a secret alliance with Austria in 1879. (This alliance brought Germany and Austria together as allies in World
War I.) In 1882, Austria, Germany, and Italy negotiated another secret pact (to guarantee their mutual defense)
called the Triple Alliance. This agreement brought Italy and Austria together as allies rather than as enemies.
Throughout the 1880s, more military alliances were created (some of them secretly). In 1881, Austria and
Serbia signed a secret agreement which established Serbia as a protected nation of the Austrians. Austria and
Germany formed a secret treaty with Rumania in 1883, which Italy joined five years later. In 1887, Austria, Great
Britain, Spain, and Italy made a series of interlocking treaties intended to maintain the integrity of nation-state
boundaries in the Mediterranean and Near East.
Such international rivalry and secret treaties caused tremendous tension between the European powers through
the 1890s. With the forced retirement of Germany’s Bismarck by Emperor William II, new German diplomats began
isolating themselves and dropping out of previous alliances. Britain and France also began to warm to one another,
establishing the Anglo-French Entente in 1904. And France and Russia further solidified earlier alliances between
themselves. In 1907, Britain and Russia formed the Anglo-Russian Entente. This final move brought France, Great
Britain, and Russia together forming the Triple Entente. The other significant alliance—known as the Triple
Alliance—already existed between Germany, Austria, and Italy. Thus, the stage was set to bring these two powerful,
armed European camps into direct confrontation. Rivalries such as those between Britain and Germany, Russia and
Austria, and France and Germany seemed to make an explosive situation inevitable.
Directions: Answer all questions completely.
1) What nations were included in the first grouping?
2) What nations were included in the second grouping?
3) Why did Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck create the League of the Three Emperors?
4) What alliances were created in 1904 and 1907?
5) In your opinion what are the Positives and Negatives to creating an alliance?
The Balkans: Powder Keg of Europe
As the nations of Europe allied themselves in a complex web of treaties, secret alliances, and diplomatic
connections, the possibility of war early in the twentieth century increased. By 1914, in fact, full-scale war engulfed
Europe. How the Great War came about is a combination of tragedy, miscalculation, and political imbalance. The
center stage for all this was the Balkans.
The Balkans are a group of countries bordering one another,
located on a peninsula in southeast Europe. They are named for the
Balkan Mountains, which extend across Bulgaria and Yugoslavia
(balkan is Turkish for “mountain”). In 1912, the Balkan states included
Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, and portions of territory
controlled by the Ottoman Empire of the Turks (including Albania,
Macedonia, and Thrace) and by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in the
north, including Bosnia-Herzegovina. By the late 1300s, the people
living in the Balkans (many of them of Slavic descent) were under the
control of the Ottoman (or Turkish) Empire. For the next five hundred
years, the Turks controlled events in the Balkans. But by the early 1800s
the Balkan peoples began to rally against the Turks, seeking their
independence. One by one, beginning with the Greeks in 1821, the Balkans slipped out from under Turkish control.
Such setbacks for the Turks caused Europeans to refer to the Ottoman Empire as “the sick man of Europe.” By
1908, Montenegro, Serbia, Rumania, and Bulgaria had all successfully freed themselves from the Ottoman Empire.
But the liberation of these states did not bring unity to the Balkan countries. The Balkan people historically
represented several different nationalities, scattered across various Baltic States. As a result, not all the people of a
given nationality gained their independence when a Balkan state freed itself from Turkish control. As a result, by
1912, newly independent Balkan states went to war with the Turks to gain control of Macedonia and Albania, which
were still under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia and Bulgaria led a coalition of Balkan states called the
Balkan League (which included Greece and Montenegro) and in October of 1912 they went to war against Turkey.
This First Balkan War lasted until 1913 and resulted in Turkey’s defeat and the loss of nearly all its European
territory. Following the war, Serbia and Greece divided Macedonian territory between them. Greece also gained
control of the Mediterranean island of Crete. And Bulgaria extended its control over additional Ottoman territory.
Albania became an independent Muslim state.
Despite the success of these Balkan states in “liberating” neighboring states from the Turks, the peace treaty led
to animosity between former allies Serbia and Bulgaria. When Serbia did not receive all the territory it wanted (and
Bulgaria received more), war broke out again, this time with Bulgaria declaring war on Serbia and Greece in June of
1913. This short-lived, yet extremely bloody, conflict became known as the Second Balkan War. When
Turkey and Rumania joined the fight against Bulgaria, the Bulgarians were defeated. The Treaty of Bucharest
(August 1913) gave Serbia extensive territory, making her the most powerful Balkan state. This new turn of events
caused alarm among the leaders of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. A powerful Serbia could rally the Slavs who
were living in territory controlled by Austria-Hungary to gain their independence. By the next year, this tension, and
other international anxieties, led to the outbreak of World War I.
Directions: Answer all questions completely.
6) Where is the Balkans?
7) What empire controlled the Balkans and was known as “Sick man of Europe”?
8) What was the result of the first Balkan War?
9) Why were the Serbians angry after the second Balkan War?
10.
11.
12) List the triple Alliance countries:
13) List the triple Entente countries: