The 19th century was an ‘Age of Revolutions’ in Europe. The Serbians revolted against Ottoman rule from 1804 to 1835 and succeeded in setting up a constitutional monarchy. The end of the Serbian revolution resulted in a constitution that brought an end to serfdom and feudalism. The Greeks also revolted against Ottoman rule and succeeded in becoming a nation in 1832. Riots in Brussels took place in 1830 due to worker dissatisfaction with the monarchy. Belgium separated from The Netherlands and became an independent nation. Workers were dissatisfied with the aristocracy plus the division was along religious lines. The workers wanted rights. Several waves of worker revolutions occurred in France from 1830 until 1848. Also in 1848 nationalist rebellion exploded in Ireland. Many more rebellions were taking place in throughout Europe. The main reasons for rebellion were workers rights, religious freedom, and desire for democratic constitution, overthrowing aristocracy or the Ottoman rule.
The large powers, Germany, Prussia, Hungary and Austria, were sometimes involved in making alliances with smaller nations while always pushing for territorial expansion. The bigger countries took advantage of the rebellions to maneuver for more territory. Germany had a great plan for German Unification. Bismarck called it “the revolution from above” and some democratization did result (Reich, 2011, para. 1). From 1871 to 1918 the German Reich was able to annex many surrounding countries in its unification plan. The unified Germany Reich bordered the Russian Empire, The Austrian Empire, Switzerland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
All this turmoil caused a lot of resentment, distrust and unease between the empires and nations. Austria-Hungary wanted to expand into the Balkans, Germany and Great Britain were in an arms race, Russian was exhausted from decades of civil strife and embarrassed from losing a war with Japan, and France was very upset with Germany about losing the Franco-Prussian War. (Duffy, 2009) Tensions were very high and fraught with bad feelings at a boiling point in Europe. On June 28, 1914 in the city of Sarajevo a Serbian nationalist assassinated, Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The assassination was like the first domino that knocks all the others down. The Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination was enough to initiate the beginning of WWI because of the revolutions, wars and times of anarchy which had taken place throughout Europe during the 19th century
References:
[Reich] Founding of the German Reich Facts about Germany. 2011. Web. Accessed 27 April 2012. <http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/history/main-content-03/1871-founding-of-the-german-reich.html>.
Duffy, M., WWI (1914 – 1918) The Great War. First World War. 22 August 2009. Web. Accessed 20 April 2012 from <http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm>.
