Europe on the Brink of Change at the Turn of the 20th Century

Europe on the Brink of Change at the Turn of the 20th Century By the turn of the 20th century Europe had undergone massive changes which had eventually pushed it into war. The main forces behind these changes were 1. Nationalism 2. Militarism 3. Imperialism 4. Socialism 5. Alliances 6. Unification These ideas and systems threatened the balance of power which caused a major war to break out. Nationalism is the feeling of loyalty shared by a group of people united by same language, race and culture; to express their loyalty to their nation, they attempt to unite themselves into a larger nation state with aspiration for independence. The Ottoman Empire†¦show more content†¦The problem for the government of Austria-Hungary was that they did not want to lose their power and control. The Slavs in the southern part of the empire were their main concern since they wanted to join up to Serbia. Socialism is the general term for the political and economic theory that advocates a system of collective or government ownership and management of the means of production and distribution of goods. In Russia socialism was creating many problems such as bad harvests, industrial strikes and the war with Japan in 1904, leading to economic difficulties and confidence in the Tsar faltering. In 1905 Father Gapon led a peaceful demonstration to see the Tsar hoping to alleviate the pressures on the working class. However, troops opened fire on the group and many were killed or wounded. This sparked off a revolution so the government made concessions, the Tsar promised working hours to be reduced and a Duma was created to hear the working class grievances. Socialism threatened the balance of power as each country needs its people to believe in their leader, they also need the working class to be productive. Russias working class lost faith in the Tsar after the Duma was dissolved and the promises made by the Tsar were broken. Because of the collective nature ofShow MoreRelatedGerman Expansionism And The Causation Of World War I1290 Words   |  6 Pages19th century, and moving into the 20th century, Germany began to organize into a world power and was one of the quickest changing and expanding countries in Europe at the time. The Wilhelmine Period was a quickly changing period for Germany as the country expanded incredibly fast, militarily, and industrially. These two factors drove Germany towards war in 1914 with Europe, and many other cultural factors also played into their drive to expand and influence countries and people across Europe. 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