However Fahn

However, the street celebrations that accompanied the British and French declaration of state of war gives historians the impression that the move was popular and politicians tend to go with the popular mood. Was much done to avoid the starting of the war? By 1914, atomic number 63 had divided into two camps. The Triple Alliance was Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. The Triple entente wasBritain, France and Russia. The conglutination amongst Germany and Austria was natural. Both spoke the same language German and had a similar culture. In preceding(prenominal) centuries, they had both been part of the same empire the Holy Roman Empire.Austria was in political trouble in the s turn outh-east of Europe the Balkans. She needed the might of Germany to back her up if trouble got worse. Italy had Joined these countries as sne teared their spot on ner northern border. Germany was primary(prenominal)land Europes around powerful country so from Italys point of view, being an al ly of Germany was an self-evident move. Each member of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria nd Italy) reassured to help the others if they were attacked by another country. The Triple Entente was less structured than the Triple Alliance. Entente means understanding and the members of the Entente (Britain, France and Russia) did not have to promise to help the other two if they got attacked by other countries but the understanding was that each member would game the others but it was not fixed. France was suspicious of Germany. She had a huge army but a poor navy. Britain had the worlds most powerful naw and a small army. France and Britain Joining together in an understanding was natural. Britain was also concerned somewhat Germany because she was construct up a new and powerful navy. The inclusion of Russia seemed odd when Russia was so far from France and Britain.However, Russias gallant family, the Romanovs, was related to the British Royal Family. Russia also had a huge army and with France on the west of Europe and Russia on the east, the message sent to Germany was that she was confronted by two huge armies on either side of her borders. Therefore, it was not a good move by Germany to provoke trouble in Europe that was the hoped for message sent out by the Triple Entente. Certain specific problems also helped to create suspicion throughout Europe. The first was Germanys worry of the huge British Empire. By 1900, Britain owned a quarter of the world.Countries such as Canada, India, atomic number 16 Africa, Egypt, Australia and pertly Zealand were owned by Britain as part of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been crowned Empress of India. Huge amounts of currency were made from these colonies and Britain had a powerful military presence in all parts of the world. The Empire was seen as the status symbol of a country that was the most powerful in the world. Hence Britains title big Britain. Germany clearly believed that a sign of a great power was possession of overseas colonies. The best had already been taken by Britain but Germany resolved to gain as much colonial territory as possible.Her main target was Africa. She colonised territory in southern Africa (now Namibia) which no-one really wanted as it was useless withdraw from but it did create much anger in London as Germanys new territories were near South Africa with its huge diamond and gold reserves. In reality, Germanys African colonies were of little economic importance but it gave her the prospect to demonstrate to the German people hat she had Great Power status even if this did make traffic with Britain more fragile than was perhaps necessary for the economic returns Germany got from her colonies.A second issue that caused much friction between Britain and Germany was Germanys desire to increase the size of her navy. Britain carryed that Germany, as a with child(p) land-based country, needed a turgid army. But Germany had a very small coastline a nd Britain coul d not accep na Germany needed a large navy. Postcard from 1912 of the Spithead review of Britains Navvy Britain concluded that Germanys desire to increase the size of her naw was to hreaten Britains naval might in the North Sea.The British government concluded that as an island we needed a large naw and they could not accept any challenges from Germany. As a result, a naval race took place. Both countries spent vast sums of funds building new warships and the cost soared when Britain launched a new type of battleship the Dreadnought. Germany immediately responded by building her equivalent. Such a move did little to improve relations between Britain and Germany. All it did was to increase tension between the two nations.