Age of Imperialism

• Imperialism occurs when a powerful country dominates another country or territory through economic, political, military, or cultural means
• In the 19th and early 20th centuries, European powers and the U.S. expanded territories and colonies in Africa, Asia, seeking power, wealth, and resources

Factors Behind Imperialism

• Scientific and technological advancements like the Royal Geographical Society (1830) led to explorations, explorers like Livingstone and Stanley in Africa, and Amundsen and Peary reaching the poles
• The Second Industrial Revolution provided Europeans with tools for conquest: steamships, modern weapons, telegraphs, and medicine for tropical diseases

Economic Factors

• The economic crisis of 1873 in Europe drove powers to seek colonies for raw materials and markets
• Colonies offered access to key resources like minerals, ports, and railroads and were sought after by Germany, the UK and the US

Political and Strategic Reasons

• Powers aimed to control key trade routes like the Suez Canal (Egypt, 1869), connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea for Asian trade
• Another example was the Panama Canal (1914), linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and was obtained by the United States

Political and Ideological Justifications

• Racist discourses justified imperial conquest, claiming white superiority and the right to rule "backward" peoples
• Social Darwinism, an incorrect Darwin interpretation, asserted stronger races should dominate weaker ones
• Europeans declared a "civilizing mission" to bring education, culture, and religion to colonized peoples, sending religious missions to build schools and hospitals to reinforce colonial control

Colonial Administration

• Colonizers controlled key aspects of their colonies, with varying political and administrative organizations that were based on the number of colonists that were moved there
• Colonies of Exploitation had few colonists, direct administration led by a governor and army, seen in British India and Belgian Congo
• Colonies of Settlement had a signficant colonist population, and were classified many ways: protectorates retained government structures but depended on the colonizer for defense and economy, for example, Morocco and Egypt
• Dominions were colonies with self-government under the colonizer's sovereignty, for example, Canada and Australia, and temporary territorial concessions were given for exploitation, for example, Hong Kong and Shanghai

Resistance in Colonized Territories

• The Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) occurred between Great Britain and China due to illegal British opium trade
• British military superiority led to China's defeat, resulting in concessions such as Hong Kong, port openings, indemnities, and opening China to Western imperialism
• In 1879 the Zulu tribes fought initial battles against the British in Africa, who were later defeated and joined the British imperial army

Conflicts Among Colonial Powers

• In South Africa, Dutch settlers and the British Empire clashed over gold and diamond-rich territories
• The Boer Wars (1880-1881 and 1899-1902) ended with the annexation of these territories by the British Empire

World War I: Territorial and Economic Rivalries

• Tensions in Europe led to territorial and economic disputes, with Germany challenging the established order
• There was a dispute with France over Alsace and Lorraine, rich in iron and coal, lost by France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871
• Germany competed with the UK for industrial and naval supremacy, seeking markets and colonial expansion
• Germany's late entry into the colonial race caused conflicts with France and tensions in the Balkans, due to the Ottoman Empire's retreat

Diplomacy and Armed Peace

• From 1870 to 1890, Bismarck created international alliances to isolate France and prevent retaliation for the loss of Alsace and Lorraine
• The League of the Three Emperors (1873) included Germany, Austria, and Russia and the Dual Alliance (1879) was between Germany and Austria-Hungary
• The Triple Alliance (1882) included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy

Shifting Alliances

• Kaiser Wilhelm II's imperial ambitions disrupted the balance, leading to an arms race and rapprochement between France and Russia through mutual aid agreements (1892 and 1894)
• Instead of maintaining peace, alliances created instability and increased the risk of a widespread conflict.
• German naval expansion led to cooperation between France and the UK, forming the Entente Cordiale (1904), which Russia later joined, creating the Triple Entente (1907)
• Increased tensions, investment in armaments, and nationalist propaganda led to an "Armed Peace" climate between 1890 and 1914

Crisis in Morocco

• Germany challenged French claims in Morocco and landed the Kaiser in Tangier
• The Algeciras Conference (1906) established a shared protectorate, and Germany leveraged an uprising to send a gunboat to Agadir, gaining territory in Cameroon in exchange for leaving Morocco.

Crisis in the Balkans

• Conflicts between Austro-Hungarian and Russian interests, and the unification goals of southern Slavic peoples (Serbia and Bulgaria) led to three consecutive crises and alliance formations
• The Bosnian Crisis (1908) involved Austria-Hungary annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina
• The First Balkan War (1912) saw Serbia create the Balkan League with Russian support and confront the Ottoman Empire
• In the Second Balkan War (1913), Serbia, supported by other countries, defeated Bulgaria, which increased Russian influence and strained imperial relations

The Development of the War

• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in July 1914 triggered a rapid escalation with Austria declaring war on Serbia
• Alliances resulted in Austria declaring war on Serbia, Russia declaring war on Austria and Germany declaring war on Russia and France
• Germany's invasion of Belgium led to the UK entering the war against Germany

Alliances

• The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and Italy in 1915) and the Allies (the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Serbia, Italy, Japan, Belgium, and others) formed, with Italy joining the Allied side in 1915 due to territorial ambitions
• The initial war plans failed and the German Schlieffen Plan, intended to quickly defeat France by invading through Belgium, was stopped by the French army at the Battle of the Marne
• On the eastern front, Russian forces were defeated at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes by German troops under Hindenburg
• By late 1914, the Western Front stabilized into a long trench line, marking the start of positional warfare, where advancements were slow and costly, characterized by artillery use and movement through "no man's land"
• The intial enthusiasm faded by Christmas 1914, giving way to a grim war of attrition

Positional Warfare

• An Allied attempt to open a new front faced strong Turkish resistance
• Central Powers made gains against Russia on the eastern front, recovering lost territories
• Brutal trench warfare defined the Western Front, and the battles of Verdun and the Somme highlight the immense loss of life in attrition combat
• German offensive Verdun failed despite heavy French causalities and an Allied attempt to break the stalemate at the Somme resulted in high human cost and little territorial progress
• The British naval blockade significantly impacted the German economy, while the Battle of Jutland was indecisive

Ending the War

• U.S. entry to the war after the sinking of the Lusitania, which killed 118 U.S. citizens
• The Zimmermann Telegram, where Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico to recover territories lost in a war against the U.S., prompted the U.S. declaration of war on April 6
• The Russian Revolution weakened the Allied side and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) between Russia and Germany led to the former retreating from conflict

War's End

• The Allies defeated Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary on the Balkan front, weakening the Central Powers
• Germany launched offensives on the western front, hoping for resolution before the U.S. joined
• The Allied counter-offensive, led by Ferdinand Foch and reinforced by U.S. troops, secured a decisive victory at the Second Battle of the Marne
• Mutinies and abdication occurred as Germany experienced naval mutinies and widespread revolts demanding peace, which led to Kaiser Wilhelm II abdication on November 9, and the Weimar Republic was proclaimed
• An armistice ended World War I on November 11, 1918

Consequences of the War

• World War I caused unprecedented human losses and between 9 and 10 million deaths
• "Total war" tactics, combined with armaments and diseases, increased casualties, there were 3 million widows, 10 million orphans, and 20 million injured
• Hunger and disease affected the civil population, and the 1918 influenza pandemic spread rapidly amid poor sanitation
• War caused mass displacement of peoples, like Belgians, Russians, Bulgarians, Armenians and violence among ethnic and religious groups culminated in the Armenian genocide (1915-1923)

Social Changes

• The war catalyzed social changes for women, and despite a labor market reduction after the war, many women attained better-paying jobs in services and administration

Economic

• Destruction of cities, infrastructure, factories, and fields severely impacted national economies, such as France losing 22% of its wealth and Germany 30%
• The U.S. became the primary supplier of food and manufactured goods to the Allied countries, consolidating the U.S. dollar as a reference currency

Territorial

• President Woodrow Wilson proposed the Fourteen Points in January 1918, which included ending secret diplomacy, respect for nationalities, and the creation of a League of Nations
• The Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) reorganized the map of Europe and redefined international relations, with decisions made by the Council of Four (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy)
• The victors imposed a peace dictated by the winners and defeated countries ratified unfavorable treaties like the Treaty of Versailles (Germany)
• These treaties altered the European geopolitical landscape by dismantling the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires and creating new states like Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia
• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, previously signed between Russia and Germany, also contributed to this new map

Political

• Liberal governments rose across Europe, replacing old autocracies, and ideological polarization and a "culture of defeat" affected many
• Germany faced economic hardship and state weakness post-armistice, leading to militia groups becoming more prominent
• A new republic replaced the old empire in Germany, and unrest led to the Spartacist uprising (Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht), which was violently suppressed, and its leaders were killed
• The League of Nations, created in 1919, aimed to promote multilateral diplomacy, but faced limitations, especially in preventing future conflicts

Treaty of Versailles

• The Treaty of Versailles was forced upon Germany, causing much resentment