20th Century Part 1 (A House Divided)

France, Germany and "Revanchism"
At the turn of the century, French-German relations were at an all time low. In the 1870s, Germany had defeated and humiliated France in the Franco-Prussian War and assumed taken the title as the supreme power of continental Europe. Since then, anti-German sentiment had steadily grown in French, and frustration toward the government increased as well due to inept leadership, scandals, and a weak military. While the colonial empire of France far exceeded that of Germany, the French military was beginning to lose its grip on this as well, which in turn translated into further anger toward the Germans -- after all, France's weakened state was due to their war agains Napoleon III.

Throughout the early 20th century, many French people fostered an extreme nationalist anti-German ideology known as revanchism, named due to the desire to reclaim losses from Germany through aggresive military policy. However, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck had kept the French in check through strategic military alliances and shows of strength until he was forced to leave office in 1888 by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who drastically changed the course of German politics to pursue aggressive foreign policy through military alliances which would end disastrously.

Regardless, the German Empire's "New Course," as Wilhelm II called it, only furthered the French's calls for war. The kaiser called, throughout the first decade of the 1900s, for massive naval exapnsion, as he wished to compete with the British Royal Navy's fleet and to gain naval superiority. As the French military was far too weak to even attempt to defend itself against Germany on its own, the French were forced to seek outside assistance in possibly waging war against Germany. This assistance eventually came from Britain in 1904 with the Entente Cordiale. Great Britain had, inarguably, the most powerful navy on earth, which reassured the French that should a war break out, they would be well defended.

The Franco-German animosity eventually boiled over into the Moroccan Crisis of 1905, in which the Germans attempted to spark a revolt within French Morocco, to which both France and Britain threatened to respond to with military action. However, the situation was eventually defused through peaceful means at an emergency conference of several major nations, in which Germany realized it was largely unsupported by other nations in its ambitions in Morocco, prompting the Germans to sign an agreement only forcing the French to give up control of the Moroccan police.

The Balkan Crisis of 1908
At this point, Russia was not extremely powerful militarily, but was still a major player in eastern and southern European politics. The nation was allied with some of the Balkan States, such as Serbia. In 1908, Austria-Hungary announced its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was still technically under the control of the Ottoman Empire but was administered to by the Austrians. This allowed Austria-Hungary to take advantage of the power vacuum left by Ottoman decline in the region, and was an outrage not only to the Ottomans, but also the Russians and Serbs. To make matters worse, Bulgaria proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire at the same time, which nearly eliminated Ottoman influence in Europe, which was viewed as unacceptable.

Eventually, the Austrians agreed to pay the Ottoman Empire for its land, which was deemed less than ideal by the Ottomans but was its only viable option in the situation other than war (which was nearly impossible). However, the Ottomans did end up permanently losing Bulgaria in this process. At the same time, the Russians and Serbs refused to allow Austria to seize power in the Balkans through such means, and Serbia mobilized for war. Russia's army, which had been revitalized enough to pose a threat through the use of the gold in Alyeska, prepared to go to war also. Even so, the Austrians were confident that they could emerge victorious, prompting the Russians to call on the British per the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907.

At this pointm Austria-Hungary realized they were in a situation they needed to get out of quickly or a massive war would break out. So, in the Treaty of Berlin (1908), the Austrians relinquished control of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Serbs, a profound victory for the Russians and Serbs alike, surrounding Austria-Hungary with a wall of enemies on its east and southeast borders.