Topic 1 - Country Profiles

	Germany	France	Britain	Austria-Hungary	Russia	Turkey
Political System	*Democratic monarchy (authoritarian)	Democratic Republic	Parliamentary democracy with a monarchy	Dual monarchy – one Emperor and each had a parliament	Autocratic ‘divine’ monarchy	Sultan
Economic strength	*Strongest industrial power *Overtaken Britain in industrial output *Biggest industrial power	*Agriculture *Gold reserve *Overseas investments (Russia)	*Powerful international trader *Overseas empire – 20% of world	*Poor because of rivalries *Land-based	*Rapid industrialization *Lots of people and resources	*Very poor *Foreign debt
Socio-economic problems	*Tension between large working class and growing middle class *Tension with Junkers who wanted to prevent more liberal democracy	*Left ‘pacifist’ wing against revanchist Right wing *Short-lived, unstable  governments	*Unhappy working class *Social class tension *Loss of economic lead to US and Germany	*Gain old Ottoman Empire *Multi-national empire in age of nationalism	*Outdated farming, most people peasants *Discontented middle class *Revolution of 1905 led to limited degree of democracy, living conditions not improved	*Revolts by national and Islamic groups *Divisions between Turks, Slavs, Europeans, Christians, and Muslims
Foreign policy	*Tried to expand, but too late	*Left wing was against imperialism *Right wing for *Looked to Russia for ally	*Policy of ‘Splendid Isolation’ – not getting involved in conflicts because it might damage international trade, but because of powerful USA and Germany, it started looking for allies	*Policy of containment in the Balkans *Wanted to industrialize	*Encourage Slav nationalism to establish own influence *Help Ottoman empire to prevent A-H expansion
Key strengths/weaknesses	*Economically powerful *Powerful army *No colonies *Made enemies	*Lost war *Birthrate decline *Government *Wealthy *More allies	*Flexible government that was alert to public opinion and popular press *Only grew 20% of food (could cut off their food supply) *Navy resources were overstretched *Loss of territory	*Inefficient political system *Lacked cohesion	*Heavily bureaucratic and ineffective *No longer viewed as a great military power	*Revolts, debt, weaknesses exploited by European powers for commercial interest
Key aims and fears	*Undecided whether to compete or ally with Britain *France’s revenge	*Looked to Russia alliance to help contain Germany *Gain Alsace Loraine	*Maintaining dominance of the seas, preserving balance of power in Europe and defending the Indian trade routes	*Hostility and aggression of Serbia *Russia was defender of Slavs	*Encourage Slav nationalism to establish own influence *Help Ottoman empire to prevent A-H expansion	*’Young Turks’ wanted to modernize Turkey, economically and politically