Europe before World WAR I

For much of human history, Europe has been the center of the world, being the place where the great conflicts took place and the greatest social, political and economic. The first World War changed europe forever and that is why it is important to understand the situation in the Old Continent before the start of the first world conflict. To talk about it in this lesson from a TEACHER we're going to talk about Europe before the First World War.

Index

1. Imperialism in Europe before World War I
2. A Europe in relative peace: Armed Peace
3. Ideologies of pre-war Europe
4. The major European nations before World War I

One of the most relevant factors in Europe at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th was the so-called imperialism, being a key process to understand Europe before the First World War and to see the first tensions created by the difference in importance between regions.

The power of europe

Europe conducted a colonialism all over the planet that only a few nations could stop. The best example of this was the Berlin Conference in which the different powers divided Africa as if it were a kind of cake. Disputes over who controlled the various regions of Africa created a series of tensions that were key to the start of World War I.

Although for decades all the European nations had begun a great process of military development that made them powers much more dangerous than those of previous centuries, Europe was in a relative peace. The period of time before the First World War is known as the Armed Peace in which there were no conflicts between the different countries.

The tension between the powers was growing, but there was some kind of unwritten agreement not to enter into any kind of war between nations. To make peace more durable, the European countries joined in great alliances such as the Triple Entente or the Triple Alliance, in order to be great powers and that the entry into a war would attract many countries to the same time, being a kind of method so that no one dared to start a large-scale war.

The European stage before the war was a period of great evolution in thought, being the reason why there were great ideologies that gained weight and that had relevance for the beginning of the conflict. Next we must talk about the most relevant thoughts at the beginning of the First World War.

Socialism

In the years before the First World War, the socialist policies, being many the socialist parties in the European powers that began to have relevance. The start of the Russian Revolution it showed that socialism was to be a key ideology for Europe throughout the century.

Nationalism

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, nationalism was taking a great influence in most nations of the planet, creating a sense of own uniqueness and of confrontation with different nations. The generated tensions by nationalisms were a key factor in the beginning of the war.

Social darwinism

An ideology that sought to use the Darwin's theory of natural selection to defend imperialism, which is why it was said that the European human being who had a superior technological and social evolution was empowered to rule over other peoples less civilized. This theory was partly to blame for military evolution and was therefore a major cause of the war.

To conclude with this lesson on Europe before World War I we must speak individually of some nations of great relevance in the continent and what was their situation before war.

France and UK

The union between France and the United Kingdom It was due to the common points that both nations had, since they were democratic nations, with a liberal economy and with great influence on imperialism. Both powers were possibly the most powerful nations in the entire world at the time.

Germany

The evolution of Germany had made it go from a newborn nation to one of the most powerful in the industrial and economic sector. It was one of the nations that more bet on the separation of Africa, although it was also one of the most affected by it. The great power of Germany and her desire to become the greatest power in Europe played a key role in the start of the First World War.

The old empires

The old empires was a way of referring to Russian Empire, Turkish Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They had in common that they were classical nations, with antiquated political and economic systems and that over time they had stagnated. Russia was the first to undergo a great change with the advent of socialism, but the other two empires They took years to evolve and in the case of the Austro-Hungarians the change ended with the nation as such.

Image: World War I

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