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Culture Documents
Imperialist Rivalries
The underlying causes of the war were the rivalries and conflicts
among the imperialist countries. You have seen before, in Chapter 9,
that the imperialist conquest of Asia and Africa was accompanied with
conflicts between the imperialist countries. Sometimes the imperialists
were able to come to peaceful settlements and agree to divide a part
of Asia or Africa among themselves without resorting to the use of
force against each other. At other times their rivalries created
situations of war. Wars were generally avoided at that time because
the possibilities of further conquest were still there. If an imperialist
country was excluded from a certain area, it could find some other
area to conquer. Sometimes wars did break out between imperialist
countries as happened, for instance, between Japan and Russia. By
the end of the nineteenth century, however, the situation had
changed. Most of Asia and Africa had already been divided up and
further conquests could take place only by dispossessing some
imperialist country of its colonies. So in the period beginning from the
last decade of the nineteenth century, imperialist rivalries resulted in
attempts to redivide the world, creating conditions of war.
You have read before that Germany entered the scramble for colonies
late. After the unification of Germany had been achieved, it made
tremendous economic progress. By 1914, it had left Britain and
France far behind in the production of iron and steel and in many
Formation of Alliances
The conflicts within Europe and the conflicts over colonies mentioned
earlier had begun to create a very tense situation in Europe from the
last decade of the nineteenth century. European countries began to
form themselves into opposing groups. They also started spending
vast sums of money to increase the size of their armies and navies, to
deadly weapons and have larger and larger armies and navies.
A series of crises took place during the years preceding the war.
These crises added to the bitterness and tension in Europe and
engendered national chauvinism European countries also entered into
secret treaties to gain territories at the expense of others. Often, these
secret treaties leaked out and fear and suspicion grew in each country
about such treaties. These fears and suspicions brought the danger of
war near.
full support to Serbia and started full scale preparations for war. On 1
August, Germany declared war on Russia and on 3 August on
France. German troops marched into Belgium to press on to France
on 4 August and on the same day Britain declared war on Germany.
Many other countries soon entered the war. Japan declared war on
Germany with a view to capturing German colonies in the Far East,
Turkey and Bulgaria joined on the side of Germany Italy, in spite of
her membership of the Triple Alliance, remained neutral for some
time, and joined the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in
1915.
Peace Treaties
The victorious powers or the Allies, as they were called, met in a
conference first in Versailles, a suburb of Paris, and later in Paris,
between January and June 1919. Though the number of countries
represented at the conference was 27, the terms of the peace treaties
were really decided by three countries Britain, France and USA.
The three persons who played the determining role in framing the
terms of the treaties were Woodrow Wilson, President of the United
States, Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain, and George
Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France. The defeated countries were
not represented at the conference. The victorious powers also
excluded Russia from the conference. The terms of the treaty were
thus not the result of negotiations between the defeated and the
victorious powers but were imposed on the defeated by the victors.
The main treaty was signed with Germany on 28 June 1919. It is
called the Treaty of Versailles. The republican government of
Germany was compelled to sign this treaty under the threat of
invasion. The treaty declared Germany and her allies guilty of
aggression. AlsaceLorraine was returned to France. The coal mines in
the German area called Saar were ceded to France for 15 years while
that area was to be governed by the League of Nations. Germany
also ceded parts of her prewar territory to Denmark, Belgium, Poland
and Czechoslovakia. The area of the Rhine valley was to be
demilitarized. The treaty also contained provisions for disarming
Germany. The strength of her army was to be limited to 100,000 and
she was required not to have any air force and submarines She was
dispossessed of all her colonies which were taken over by the victors.
Togo and the Cameroon were divided and shared by Britain and
France. German colonies in SouthWest Africa and East Africa were
given to Britain, Belgium, South Africa and Portugal. German colonies
in the Pacific and the spheres under her control in China were given
to Japan China was aligned with the Allies during the war and was
the theatres of war in Europe and elsewhere also brought with them
the new stirrings. All these factors strengthened nationalist
movements in the colonies. In some countries, the first stirrings of
nationalism were felt after the war.
The First World War had been believed to be a War to end all war.
However, the Peace Treaties had failed to ensure this. On the
contrary, the treaties contained certain provisions which were
extremely harsh on the defeated countries and thus they sowed the
seeds of further conflicts. Similarly, some victorious countries also felt
cheated because all their hopes had not been fulfilled. Imperialism
was not destroyed as a result of the war. The victorious powers had in
fact enlarged their possessions. The factors which had caused
rivalries and conflicts between imperialist countries leading to the war
still existed. Therefore, the danger that more wars would be fought for
another redvision of the world. remained lurking. The emergence of
the Soviet Union was considered a danger to the existing social and
economic system in many countries. The desire to destroy it
influenced the policies of those countries.
These factors, combined with certain developments that took place in
the next twenty years, created conditions for another world war.
EXERCISES
1. Explain the basic reasons for the conflicts between European
nations from the late nineteenth century to the early years of the
twentieth century.
2. What were the countries comprising the Triple Alliance and the
Triple Entente? What were the main aims of these groupings?
3. What is meant by the Pan-Slav movement? Why did it add to the
conflict between Russia and Austria?
4. Explain the reasons for the entry of the United States in the First
World War.
5. Why the war that broke out in 1914 is called the First World
War?
6. Explain the consequences of the First World War on Germany,
Austria, Hungary and Turkey
7. What were the purposes for which the League of Nations was
established?
8. Why did Russia withdraw from the war after the 1917
Revolution?
9. On a map of the world, show the areas in Asia and Africa which
caused conflicts among various European countries Also show
the European countries which emerged as independent states
after the First World War.
10.
How was the world redivided among the victorious
powers? Prepare a map to show the territories which were taken
over from the defeated countries by the victorious countries.
11.
Study the Fourteen Points of President Wilson and the
peace treaties that were signed after the war. Make a checklist
to show which of the Fourteen Points were covered by the
peace tea ties and which were not.
12.
How far were imperialist rivalries the basic cause of the
First World War?
13.
Do you think the peace treaties laid the foundations of a
just and stable peace? Discuss.
14.
How is it that an otherwise minor incident led to the
outbreak of a world war? Discuss.