1. Great Powers and Imperialism:

1890-1900: world great power hierarchy reversed

- US became a super industrial power => shift in policy toward barring european influence
- Germany became the greatest industrial power in Europe => challenged British and French supremacy
- modernization of Japan => rise of an Asian great power

Competition for resources => great powers built colonial empires => imperialism = world politics with colonial aims

Africa - North - South British colonial territory
           - West - East French colonial territory

Asia - Britain: South Asia, India, Afghanistan
        - Russia: Central Asia, Persia
        - France: Indochina
        - Japan: Taiwan, Korea, Sakhalin

Oceania - Britain: Australia, New Zealand
              - Germany: Bismarck, Marshall, Caroline
              - US: Hawaii, Philippines, Guam

2.Political and Military Alliances:

1871: German victory over France => 1872 -1873: Three Emperors' League (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia) against France and for stability in Europe

- Germany and Austria - Hungary had common interests in the Balkans => 1879: Dual Alliance against Russia

1882 Triple Alliance - Germany
                                  - Austria - Hungary
                                  - Italy
                                  - Romania (in 1883)
1891 - 1893 French - Russian agreements against the Triple Alliance

1904: France and Britain settled their colonial disputes =>
the Entente Cordiale
1907: Russia and Britain settled their disputes in China and Persia => the Triple Entente

3. Regional Crises:

1877 - 1878: Russo - Turkish war => Russia obtains Austrian - Hungarian neutrality against Balkan territories for Austria - Hungary
1908: Austria - Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina on Serbia's borders => conflict with Serbia, backed by France and Russia (1)

1904: Franco - English agreements on Egypt and Morocco => 1911: French troops occupied Fez => Germany dispatched a gunboat to Agadir => pressure from Russia and Britain => Britain promises military support for France (2)

1912: Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro formed an alliance against Turkey => the First Balkan War => Turkey lost most of its territories in the Balkans

1913: Bulgaria, with Austro - Hungarian support, attempts to occupy most of Macedonia => Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Turkey, and Romania formed an alliance against Bulgaria => Second Balkan War => Bulgaria reduced in size, Serbia's power increased, Albania - independent

4. World War I:

June 28, 1914 / Sarajevo/: Serb terrorists assassinated archduke Franz Ferdinand ( heir to the throne of Austria - Hungary) => ultimatum to Serbia => both alliances entered the war

Germany, Turkey (1914)
Bulgaria (1915)          ====> Triple Alliance
                                               (Central Powers)

Italy (neutral 1914, war 1915) Russia (1914)
Japan (1914)
Romania (neutral 1914, war 1916)
Greece , US (1917)                     =====> Entente
                                                                   (Allies)

- various belligerent powers followed various goals

> Germany: destruction of Britain
> Austria-Hungary: occupation of the Balkans
> Russia: occupation of the Turkish straits and of Constantinopole
> Romania: national unity within a national state (Transylvania)
> Italy: territorial gains
> US: stop German U-boat warfare and introduce US like democracies in Europe

5. War Fronts:

Central Powers planned a short war => 1914: Germany invaded Belgium and northeast France => September 1914 (Marne River) German invasion halted => "war of attrition"

- (Eastern Front) Russian invasion of East Prussia checked by German armies => August 1914 (Tannenberg) Russian crushed
- (Balkan Front) Austrian - Hungarian invasion of Serbia failed

1915: introduction of machine guns, hand grenades, zeppelin airships and air crafts & tanks => growth of the war industry => changes and alliance switching

- Italy joined the Entente
- Bulgaria joined the Central Powers

1916 - West: German armies failed to take Verdun
         - South (Balkans): Serbia crushed by Bulgaria and Austria - Hungary
         - East: Austrian - Hungarian armies crushed by the Russians => Romania joined the Entente

Germany decreed total mobilization, introduced compulsory service in industry and ersatz materials to make up for shortages, and stated the submarine warfare

1917:
- Germany generalized U-boat warfare => US joined the Entente
- German invasion of Romania halted at Marasesti
- November 7: Bolsheviks seized power in Russia => Russia suffered heavy losses on the front against Germany => March 1918: separate peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk deprived Russia of most of its European territory

1918:
Economic supremacy of the Entente + American intervention => a new German offensive on the Marne is halted => France, Belgium, and north Italy occupied by the Allies => Bulgaria, Turkey, and Austria-Hungary surrendered

November 11, 1918: armistice at Compiegne

the war:

- 20 million lives (Germany - 1 mill., Russia - 1.7 mill., France - 1.3 mill., US - 114,000)
- heavy civilian casualties (Belgium)
- great influenza pandemic (1918) => 20 million dead

6. Peace Treaties:

1919-1922: the Peace Conference in Paris => separate treaties with specific stipulations

1. disarmament of Germany
2. demilitarization of the Rhineland and its temporary military occupation by the Allies
3. heavy reparations
4. collapse of Austria - Hungary
5. confirmed the existence of new or enlarged states:

    - Czechoslovakia
    - Poland
    - Yugoslavia
    - Romania