History Notes for May 12, 2010

Origins of World War One

Big Problems in Three Big Empires and Problems in smaller states:

(I) Unhappy minorities in three important European Empires:

A. Austria-Hungary: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbians, and Romanians did not like being ruled by
German-Austrians and Magyars (Hungarians).

B. Russia: Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Finns, Ukrainians, Jews, and Central Asians dislike being ruled by
Great Russians

C. Ottoman Turkey: Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, Kurds, and Jews do not like being ruled by Turks;
Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq and Nosairis in Syria do not like being ruled by Sunnite Muslims.

(II) Economic Problems:

A. Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Turkey are largely agricultural in an industrial age.

B. Most rural people are poor.

(III) Political problems:

A. Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey are traditional monarchies.
B. Other groups want political power:
1. Socialists in Russia and Austria-Hungary
2. Young Turks in Ottoman Turkey

The problems of the Balkans show how small states also had big problems.

Balkans--"Mountain Range" in Turkish. These were states of Southeastern Europe formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire (Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece).

Balkanization -- A state fragmenting into smaller states and warring communities.

Otto von Bismarck said, "The spark that will ignite all of Europe will be touched off in some d_____d place in the Balkans."
This was to warn the German government against getting involved in the problems of the small states that became independent of Ottoman Turkey between 1818-1912.

Minority problems in the Balkans:

(I) Is a nation defined by language?

Turkish. Greek, South Slavic, Albanian (Sqip)?

(II) Is a nation defined by religious traditions?
Eastern Orthodox?
Roman Catholic?
Muslim?
Jewish?

Are the Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks one nation, because they all speak South Slav; or are they three, because they are Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Muslim respectively? What about the Jews? Are they part of the nations among which they live, or should they be cut off to form a nation of their own?

(III) What about minorities living in other states:
A. Muslims still lived in Eastern Orthodox Serbia and Greece.
B. Eastern Orthodox still lived in Muslim-majority Turkey.
C. People who spoke Greek remained in Turkey
D. Slavic-speakers (Slavophones) lived in Greece
E. Serbs lived in Austria-Hungary.


Many politicians believed that minorities in other countries should be incorporated into their states. Thus, Greeks believed that they should get Turkish lands where Greeks lived; Serbs believed that the South Slav-speaking parts of Austria-Hungary should be joined with Serbia. Drawing the border between Hungary and Romania on the basis of language and ethnicity was also difficult.

If you have a question, email me at peter.herz@pgcps.org