The Onset of War History 104 / March 25, 2013
France: the Dreyfus affair 1894: Captain Alfred Dreyfus convicted of espionage by military tribunal 1898: evidence of Dreyfus’s innocence discovered
1898: France divided into two camps
Theodor Herzl ( ) The Jewish State: Attempt at a modern solution to the Jewish Question (1896)
Germany: the phenomenal growth of the SPD Attention! Voters, observe! What is Social Democracy fighting for? -freedom of the press -cheap meat, cheap bread -eliminating indirect taxes -eliminating exploitation and class domination What are its opponents for? -expensive bread and meat -new naval and colonial burdens -maintaining exploitation (1912 election poster)
Nicholas II Tsar of Russia,
Russia’s near-revolution in 1905: “bloody Sunday”
Austria- Hungary: inter-ethnic strife
As the Ottoman Empire fades… Austria & Russia compete for influence among the successor states The Balkans in 1878The Balkans in 1913
Wilhelm II Emperor (Kaiser) of Germany,
HMS Dreadnought (completed 1906)
The “Triple Entente” France and Russia draw closer together Britain makes it a triple entente, 1907
Germany’s Schlieffen Plan
Archduke Franz Ferdinand ( ) Heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Franz Ferdinand’s fateful visit to Sarajevo, June 28, 1914