Notes on the events and relationships between countries leading upto WW1 and some of the Military Plans Put into action.

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Modern History Notes

Otto Von Bismarck

· Bismarck Unified Germany

· Bismarck was a nationalist

· Germany of WW1 is Bismarckian

· Bismackian Germany excluded Austria-Hungary after 7 week war

· Bismarck formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary

· Bismarck excluded it because it carried too much non-German nationalist baggage 'is that' the Hungarian empire consisted of about one dozen different nationalities and cultures

· Bismarckian Germany was exclusive (monoculture) because he was a Junker (aristocrat) and did not trust the masses of ordinary people

· Bismarck by 1880's feared France and the spread of socialism in Germany (Paris Commune)

· Germany could only be unified by "blood and iron"

· Bismarck's blood and iron approach meant that Germany was always prepared for war, and was twitchy about her boarders. (Especially in France)

· Bismarck believed that military solutions could justify the ends, that is, warfare leads to national unity; fear of the outsiders created a political fear, that the nation-state as threatened.

Prussia

Had a well trained army, the government sent a lot of money on the army which meant its equipment was modern and well maintained. The government under Bismarck created a culture of militarism and discipline in Germany.

Germany-France relationship

Bismarck's blood and iron approach meant that Germany was always prepared for war, and was twitchy about her boarders. (Especially in France)

France was provoked into a war with Germany over their rivalry for the disputed lands around the Rhine river area, that is, Alsace-Lorraine and southern German states that bordered on France.

Bismarck feared that France might gain a foothold in Southern Germany, that is, Bavaria. This was plausible to him because France and Southern German states were catholic, that is, they owed allegiance to the pope (central Italy). The pope at this time was a powerful...