Global Foreign Policy 1900–1919: Imperialism, Crises, and the Great War

The 1900–1919 era was defined by the collapse of the long 19th-century order and the birth of modern geopolitics.

1. High Imperialism & Colonial Scramble

Europe + US/Japan partitioned Africa (Berlin Conference 1884–85 implemented), Asia, Pacific. "Civilizing mission" rhetoric masked resource extraction, markets, strategic bases. Rivalries intensified (Fashoda 1898, Moroccan Crises 1905/1911).

2. Rise of Japan

Russo-Japanese War (1904–05): First Asian victory over European power in modern era. Japan gains Korea, South Manchuria Railway, Southern Sakhalin. Shatters myth of white invincibility.

3. Balkan Powder Keg

• First Balkan War (1912–13): Balkan League (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro) ejects Ottomans from Europe.
• Second Balkan War (1913): Bulgaria attacks former allies; loses territory. Serbia doubles — threatens Austria-Hungary.

4. Alliance System Rigidifies

Triple Alliance (Ger, A-H, Ita) vs. Triple Entente (Fra, Rus, UK). Military plans (Schlieffen, Plan XVII) assume offensive speed > diplomacy.

5. July Crisis 1914

Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated (Sarajevo, June 28). Austria's ultimatum to Serbia (German blank cheque). Russian mobilization → German declaration → French mobilization → German invasion of Belgium → UK entry. World War I.

6. War Aims & New Diplomacy

Secret treaties (London, Sykes-Picot) vs. Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918): self-determination, open diplomacy, League of Nations.

7. Postwar Settlement (1919)

Versailles, Saint-Germain, Trianon, Neuilly, Sèvres. Germany humiliated; empires dissolved (Habsburg, Ottoman, Romanov); mandates created; League founded — US absent. Seeds of WWII sown.

1900–1919: The world went from multipolar imperialism to shattered order, with the US and Japan as new great powers, and ideology (communism, fascism, Wilsonianism) replacing dynasty as driver.