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Franco-Russian Alliance
Both Russia and France, which had been humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, feared the rising power of Germany, which had already formed alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy. So the two nations decided to join forces for mutual protection as well. it was the start of what would become the Allied side, the Triple Entente, in World War I. -
First German Naval Law
This legislation, advocated by Germany's newly-appointed Secretary of the Imperial Navy, Admiral von Tirpitz, dramatically expanded the size of Germany's battle fleet. It was the first of five laws dictating a buildup in which the Germans envisioned building a force superior to Britain's Royal Navy. -
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The Russo-Japanese War
Russia's Czar Nicholas II wanted to obtain a port that gave his navy and commercial ships access to the Pacific, and he set his sites in Korea. The Japanese saw Russia's rising aggressiveness as a menace and launched a surprise attack on Nicholas' fleet at Port Arthur in China. The resulting war, fought both at sea and on land in China, was won by the Japanese, and as Beiriger notes, it helped shift power the power balance in Europe -
Austria-Hungary's Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Under an 1878 treaty, Austria-Hungary was governing Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though technically they were still part of the Ottoman Empire. But after the Austro-Hungarian government annexed their territory, the moved backfired. The two provinces' mostly Slavic population wanted to have their own country, while Slavs in nearby Serbia had the ambition of appropriating the provinces themselves. -
The Second Moroccan Crisis
The German foreign secretary, Alfred von Kiderlen- Wächter, sent a naval cruiser to anchor in a harbor on the Moroccan coast, in reaction to a tribal revolt that the Germans thought was being backed by France as a pretext for seizing the country. Again, the British backed the French, and eventually, Germany was forced to agree to recognize a French protectorate in Morocco. The two crises pushed the British and French closer together, and only hastened an eventual confrontation with the Germans. -
Italy Invades Libya
Italy aimed to expand its influence beyond its modern state and set its sights on Libya, which was under the Ottoman Empire's control. The Italo-Turkish War resulted in Italy taking over Libya and revealed the Ottoman Empire's vulnerability. This played a crucial role in the lead-up to World War I, which was essentially a war of empires. Countries either expanded their territories, retained what they had, or struggled to hold on to what was left. -
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The Balkan Wars
In the late 1800s, the Balkan League was formed by Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece to take more Ottoman territory. In the First Balkan War of 1912, they won, but the League fell apart, leading to the Second Balkan War. After Bulgaria's defeat, tensions grew between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, leading to World War I. -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo highlighted the nationalism that was pulling the Austro-Hungarian Empire apart. The tension between European powers increased, as they took different sides in the crisis. Germany promised backing if the Austro-Hungarians used force against Serbia, which emboldened Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia and France, and World War I had begun.