World War Changed the World
The theatre of war in World War I was mostly
Europe. But the rest of the world was forced to
contribute as colonies, or others like the USA
entered the war for their own reasons. They were
total wars (fought not merely by professional
armies, but as much by civilian populations
engaged in war efforts and being targeted as
combatants). Mobilization of resources was
colossal, and the level of destruction left observers
speechless.
The capacity and nature of destruction now
acquired new features. The first was genocide,
or the killing of an entire group of people. This
was first attempted between 1915 and 1923 on
the Armenians by Turkish nationalists, and then
by the Nazis on Jews and Gypsies (Roma) during
World War II. Never before in history had killing
on this scale been attempted. More significantly,
it was not carried out in bursts of anger, as in
communal riots, nor even by small organizations,
but by the modern state. The genocides were
modern, and belonged entirely to the modern
world. That was a singular aspect of the crisis of
modernity in the twentieth century.
The other notable feature is that modern
civilization had, during the war, acquired the
capacity for the annihilation of the human
species. This was revealed when atomic bombs
were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945. Modern class society, built around the
central drama of the struggle between capital
and labour, became obsolete in Europe and
America, as new technologies and organization
systems led to new social relations, collectively
called the postindustrial.
The wars put an end to the nation-state
system, with supra-national agglomerations
taking shape. The sovereignty of the nation-states
of Europe was now subordinated in the Cold
War to the power blocs of East and West, led
respectively by the USSR and USA.
WORLD WAR - I
Imperial and colonial rule came to an end
with the expulsion of the British from India, the
French from Indo-China and finally the Americans
from Vietnam, besides numerous decolonization
processes in Africa and the Middle East.
The Wars were in every sense a struggle for
the mastery of the planet. At the beginning of
the century, the world saw six contenders for
domination of the earth, the USA, UK, France,
Germany, Russia, and Japan. The two Wars
reduced the six to two; USA and USSR.
It is still not yet clear what form the power
structure will assume in the twenty-first century,
whether the USA will retain its supremacy,
whether the European Union and China would
become challengers, whether Russia would revive
and in what form, and whether India would
play a leading role at all. But one thing can be
said for sure is ‘World wars changed the World
for ever’.
Growing Rivalries
The world economy of capitalism from mid
19th century onwards was a conglomeration of
national blocs or national economies which had
emerged with the growing number of nation
states. These states protected their industrializing
economies against competition from other
nations. Thus these nations also became rival
economies.
The period inevitably saw the hunt for more
profitable investment and more markets. This led
to the clamor for colonies outside the areas
traditionally dominated by Britain. Economic
competition and economic rivalry between nation
states led to imperialism of the 20th century and
to the genesis of the 1st World War.
Germany’s strength was increasing more so
after the unification. France was defeated in the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Under the
subsequent Peace of Frankfurt in 1871 France
had to pay an indemnity of 200 million poundsand agreed that thirty thousand German troops
would remain in Paris until the amount had been
paid. Bismarck evolved the "system of the great
European alliances."
Apart from the growing strength of Germany,
another important development in this period
was the expansionism of Russia. As the Ottoman
Empire weakened and the nationalist aspirations
of the Balkan peoples became stronger, the
Russians could not restrain themselves. Many of
the subject nationalities of the Ottoman Empire
were Slav and therefore had a strong ethnic
affinity with the Russians. Hence Russia gave
support to the secessionist moves of these various
Balkan peoples, especially the Rumanians and
Serbians. This went against the interests of Britain
which did not want a dismemberment of the
Ottoman Empire.
France was also unhappy. From as early as
the time of the Crusades, France had been
regarded as the protector of Christian rights in
the East. But now the Russian Tsar, by posing as
the champion of Orthodox or Eastern
Christianity, which was the version of
Christianity largely followed in the Balkans
region, was challenging the French claim.
French imperialism in Africa made rapid
strides in the 1880s. Tunis was occupied in 1881.
Madagascar was brought under control in 1884.
It desired to advance into the Sahara region for
which it would have to control Morocco. But
Germany and Spain were also interested in the
Morocco region. French expansion into the
Sudan region led to conflict with Britain and
confrontation on the Niger and at Fashoda.
Moreover, by 1882 France had to forego its
control over Egypt to Britain.
The Treaty of San Stefano (which concluded
the Russo-Turkish war) was placed before a
Congress of all the major European powers—
Britain, France, Turkey, Russia, Italy and
Germany—in June 1878 at Berlin. Russia's gains
were reduced while Austria stood to gain by
being allowed to occupy and administer Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Britain got Cyprus and France
was promised a free hand in Turkey's North
African territory of Tunisia. However, Italy and
Germany did not gain any territories as a result
of this Congress.
But what was even more alarming for Britain
was Russia's expansion in the Central Asian
region prospect of a Russian takeover of
Afghanistan, which was a buffer state within
the Britain sphere of influence. In 1885, Russian
forces occupied a part of Afghan territory. The
British Prime Minister asked Parliament to vote
him eleven million pounds for resisting the
Russians. But once again the Tsar, Alexander III,
realizing that it was better to exercise discretion,
decided to withdraw and to turn his energies
instead towards expansion in China.
Power Combinations
Austria-Hungary was steadily losing its
importance during this period. However, for
Germany it was a natural ally, especially against
Russia. Though the alliance of the Three
Emperors (Russia, Germany and Austria-
Hungary) known as the Dreikaiserbund had been
forged in June 1881 and renewed in 1884, it
finally broke down in 1887. As differences
between Russia and Germany increased, Austria-
Hungary as well as Italy drew closer to Germany.
This process culminated in the formation of the
Triple Alliance in 1882. By the 1890s Russia was
experiencing great isolation. So was France. This
brought the two together in a Dual Alliance in
1893. Thus, in the 1890s, two sets of European
alliances existed.
In 1904 the Entente Cordiale or Anglo-French
agreement was signed. It settled all their main
differences over colonies. France recognized
British interests in Egypt while Britain in turn
endorsed French interests in Morocco. This
agreement was only a "friendly understanding",
not an alliance. But Germany's aggressive
postures, especially in Morocco, brought the
French and the British closer to each other. It
also brought Germany and France very close to
war in 1906 and it was only an international
conference at Algericas, in which the
independence of Morocco was reaffirmed, which
defused the issue.
In 1905 Russia suffered an ignominious defeat
at the hands of Japan. This humbled Russian
aspirations and the Anglo-Russian Agreement
of 1907 settled the long-standing rivalries between
the two powers over Afghanistan, Persia and
Tibet. Thus a Triple Entente of Britain, France
and Russia, to rival the Triple Alliance of
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, had
materialized.
