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Nationalism, the idea that citizens of a country feel loyalty to their nation above other people or organizations, first started in the late 1800s when democracies replaced many monarchies. Citizens felt they were key members of their countries, and that created a strong sense of loyalty.
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Germany finished a distant third to Great Britain and France in the scramble for colonies. The German leaders weren’t satisfied with this result.
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In 1878, the Great Powers recognized the independence of Serbia from the Ottoman Empire and put Austria-Hungary in charge of Bosnia-Herzegovina—a multi-ethnic region of Croats, Turks, and Serbs on Serbia’s border. Russia quickly formed close ties with Serbia and took on the role of Serbia’s protector.
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Germany was a monarchy, but its affairs were led by its first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, until 1890. Bismarck’s foreign policy was shaped by his goal to protect Germany from the two potential enemies on its borders—France and Russia. He reduced the threat from Russia in 1881 by forming an alliance with Russia and Austria-Hungary called the Three Emperors’ Alliance.
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A new kaiser, the German title for emperor, Wilhelm II, took the throne in 1888. Kaiser Wilhelm and other German leaders were more interested in creating an overseas empire. To help achieve this goal, Germany began strengthening its navy. Bismarck was forced to resign and the Reinsurance Treaty was allowed to expire. These developments increased tensions with both Russia and Great Britain.
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France took advantage of the Reinsurance Treaty’s end by forming an alliance with Russia in 1894. The French also provided money and other assistance to help Russia build railroads and modernize its army. Britain’s growing concerns about Germany prompted it to join with France and Russia in 1907 to create the Triple Entente.
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The railroad was the first to link Europe and Asia. It also fueled Russian dreams for expanding trade, landholding, and influence in East Asia.
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In 1904, the United States announced that it would take charge in any Latin American nation that could not properly manage its affairs. It took such action in several nations between 1904 and 1916. The policy blocked European powers from increased control in Latin America to protect their investments and made the United States the major power in the region. It also caused much resentment in Latin America.
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Russia and Japan went to war over Manchuria and Korea—another area of rivalry between the two nations. The war went badly for Russia and ended in 1905 when the United States, with German and British support, forced a settlement. Manchuria was returned to China, and Russia agreed to respect Japan’s control over Korea, which became a Japanese colony in 1910. Neither Russia nor Japan was happy with the war’s outcome.
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By 1914, Germany, the nation Prussia created in 1871 after defeating the Austrian Empire and France in war, had become the strongest. Between 1871 and 1913, Germany surpassed Britain to become Europe’s leading industrial power. These developments dramatically altered the balance of power in Europe.
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The assassination of Ferdinand ignited tensions in Europe. An act of Serbian nationalism led to the murder of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb who had been trained by a Serbian secret terrorist organization called the Black Hand, shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.
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In August 1914, the French begged Russia to take pressure off of the Western Front by invading Germany. The Russian army was not ready to fight, but in late August it attacked anyway. A large Russian force was almost completely destroyed at the city of Tannenberg, just inside Germany’s eastern border. Of 150,000 Russian troops, some 130,000 were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.
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Austria-Hungary saw Franz Ferdinand’s assassination as a chance to crush Serbian nationalism. After making sure it had Germany’s support, it made a series of harsh demands on Serbia. Austrian leaders expected Serbia to reject these demands, which would give Austria-Hungary an excuse for war. When Serbia agreed to most of them, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia anyway on July 28, 1914.
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Russia, which was pledged to protect Serbia, began to mobilize, or ready its army and other resources, for war. On July 31, Germany gave Russia 24 hours to halt its mobilization. The Germans also demanded that France pledge neutrality in the event of war between Germany and Russia. When these demands were ignored, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and two days later declared war on France. Because of the alliance systems, nearly all of Europe was at war within two weeks.
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Hoping to gain Germany’s colonies in Asia, Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914.
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In 1915, Germany began using poison gas. Its first use drove panicked troops from their defenses as the clouds of gas settled in their trenches. Armies on both sides were soon lobbing gas at each other in artillery shells. The airplane was another new weapon in World War I. The first planes were used to spy on the enemy.
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The goal was to capture Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire’s capital, and gain access to the Black Sea. This would give a sea route to Russia to provide supplies that it desperately needed. However, the invaders met strong Turkish defenses. A stalemate quickly developed. In December, after suffering more than 200,000 casualties, the Allies withdrew in defeat from Gallipoli. Turkish losses were even greater, a total of about 250,000.
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The onset of World War I furthered tensions between the Ottomans and Armenians. The Three Pashas, the dominant political figures of the time, ordered Turkish troops to disarm the Armenian components of the Ottoman Army. This move to weaken the Armenian people was intentionally designed to spark revolt, which it did in 1915 in the city of Van. Russian intervention ended the siege but created a popular belief that the Armenians actively spied for the Russians.
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Within weeks of going to war in 1914, the British began a naval blockade of Germany to cut off its overseas trade. Great Britain declared the entire North Sea a war zone where British warships could stop merchant ships and seize any cargoes bound for Germany. The German navy was still no match for the British navy. The United States’ opposition to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare was one reason why they entered the war.
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In April 1916, the Turks defeated a force of British colonial troops from India. However, that summer an Arab uprising against Turkish rule drove the Ottomans out of much of the Arabian Peninsula. In December 1917, the British captured Jerusalem.
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The rebellion ended in February 1916, but the German colony was not defeated until November of that year. But the fighting in these and other places had little effect on the war’s outcome.
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Heavy battlefield losses led Britain to begin requiring military service from men age 18 to 41 in 1916, while Germany made men of all ages eligible to be called.
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World War I was largely concentrated on two main battlefronts. The Western Front stretched across Belgium and northern France, while the Eastern Front spread through much of present-day Poland. Russia’s withdrawal from the war in December 1917 dissolved the Eastern Front.
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In 1917, the huge number of lives and resources lost caused Russia’s government to collapse. Months of unrest followed until, in December, a new government signed a peace agreement with the Central Powers and pulled Russia out of the war.
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by 1917, peace movements existed in every Great Power—including France—where German forces remained entrenched on the Western Front.
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In February 1917, Germany resumed its previous policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. Furthermore, Germany made an offer of an alliance with Mexico. It promised that if Mexico went to war against the United States, Germany would reward Mexico with lands in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. These actions led the United States to declare war on Germany in April 1917.
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In German East Africa, however, some 12,000 African soldiers defended against 130,000 Allied troops for three years until finally being forced to surrender.
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The first five points addressed general world concerns—an end to secret agreements between nations, freedom of the seas, the removal of trade barriers, arms reduction, and a fair settlement of colonial disputes. The next eight points dealt with specific territorial issues in Europe and the Ottoman Empire. The fourteenth point called for “a general association of nations” to be formed, whose members would work together to protect all nations.
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Influenced by the14 points
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For the next two months, they slowly pushed the British and French forces back in heavy fighting. By June, the German army was again within artillery range of Paris. The Germans lost nearly 500,000 men. British and French losses were only slightly fewer. The German army was exhausted. But the Allies were reinforced by 300,000 American troops arriving on the Western Front each month by late spring. Some of these troops helped French forces stop the German advance at Château-Thierry.
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In Berlin, the monarchy came to an end. Civilian political leaders took control and declared Germany to be a republic.
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With Germany on the verge of revolution and Allied armies poised to invade, German leaders knew that only surrender could save their nation. On November 11, 1918, they signed an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting
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Twenty-seven nations were represented. The conference was dominated by the “Big Four,” they were Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, French premier Georges Clemenceau, Italy’s premier Vittorio Orlando, and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States. Over the next 20 months, treaties with Germany (June 1919), Austria (September 1919), Bulgaria (November 1919), Hungary (June 1920), and Turkey (August 1920) were concluded at locations around Paris.
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Enraged Turkish nationalists rejected the treaty and their government for signing it. They overthrew the Ottoman ruler, forced the Italians and French out of Turkey, and defeated a Greek army sent to enforce the treaty. A new treaty with the Allies restored the peace in 1923. It also recognized Turkey’s new government and independence.