In World War I there were multiple tactics that were technically against international agreement. The British had installed a hunger blockade against the Germans. They used all food going to Germany as contraband. Food going to German troops could possibly be used as contraband, but it was against international policy to impose a blockade on civilians. The way in which the imposed the blockad ws also against policy. Instead of intercepting ships going to Germany so as to differenciate different kinds of cargo, they just mined the whole area to blow up any kind of ship going to Germany. To combat this the Germans announced submarine warfare. They would fire on any king of ship in the war zone, as British Navy ships often concealed themselves as neutral ships, and then fired on surfacing submarines. Woodrow Wilson, the American president at the time, gave some rebukes to the british about the hunger blockade. But as to the German submarine warfare he wanted a garauntee that any American sailing on any kind of ship, wheather it was carrying ammunition or not, would have assured safety while sailing in the war zone. Indeed some Americans were killed while on ships with beligerant flags sailing through the war zone, some of the ships even carrying ammunition. This was a very uncommon view as most countries stated that if their citizens wanted to travel through a war zone it would be at their own risk. However Wilson stuck with this view and it was one of the main reasons that America joined World War I.

Woodrow Wilson also wanted to influence the peace agreement that ended World War I. He drew up a plan called the fourteen points that he wanted followed in the conforence. One was that he wanted an impartial adjustment to territorial claims. It would not be a victor take all loser give up all situaton, but that an impartial adjustment of territoris so as to not anger the losing side. He also wanted the removal of economic barriars and free trade between all the countries consenting to peace. Another point was that he wanted freedom of the seas in peace and in war, enforced by international agreement. The territory of Alsace-Lorraine would be returned to the French as it had been taken from them by Germany fifty years before. But the thing that Wilson most wanted was the formation of a Leage of Nations that would defend the other members of that league when they were under attack. Because Wilson wanted the League so much, however, any country at the Paris Peace Conference that threatned to to not join the League of Nations would get their own way in every other matter. Almost all the fourteen points were not followed and it was very much a victor take all loser give all situation. The statement that Germany alone was guilty for World War I particularly stung the Germans, and they were made to pay all the war expenses. All of these things paved the way for the begining of World War II.

In the 19th century, there was a new way of thinking that was in many ways a great departure from the previous centuries. The Modernism movement encompassed many aspects of life, from science to psychology, to music and literature. The scientific discoveries of the day lead many people to believe that the universe was not so rational and constant as had been thought in the Enlightenment. In 1913 it was found that electrons orbiting a nucleus did not appear to obey Newton’s law of motion. Even things as constant seeming as time were found unconstant when Einstein found that time at the speed of light slowed down. Thinkers such as Sigmund Freud believed that people had violent tendencies but suppressed them because it would be unconventional in society. However, they might come out in your dreams when you cannot control what you think about. Writers such as Franz Kafka and James Joyce express themes of not knowing what is going on or completely fantastical subjects in their writing. Art from this time has an emphasis on what the painter sees or wants to portray, rather than a lifelike painting of something. Overall Modernism was a movement away from thinking the world was rational and orderly, to something more obscure and chaotic.

There were many events and factors leading up to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which triggered World War 1. Bismarck in Germany had been trying to make alliances with countries to isolate France diplomatically and avoid a two-front war. However, when Bismark was removed from power the king of Germany, Wilhelm II, backed off from the alliance plan believing that absolutist tsar ruled Russia would never form an alliance with republican revolutionary France. Russia and France did, however, form an alliance and at the same time, Germany began building up its Navy, which caused Britain, who relied on its navy, to do the same. At this time, Serbia was being ruled by the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and many of the Serbians that lived in Austria-Hungary were treated as second-class citizens. Serbia launched several wars to try and unite Serbians leading up to 1914 but these were unsuccessful. Though as a result of these wars and some of their circumstances, Russia felt that it could not back down if war was declared in the Balkans again. Franz Ferdinand was sympathetic to the Serbians living in Austria-Hungary, and was planning on making Austria- Hungary a triple monarchy with Serbians having the same self-rule that everyone else had. This made Ferdinand the most dangerous person to the Serbian nationalists. If Serbians actually enjoyed living in Austria-Hungary they would not help them to create a powerful Serbia. This is the reason that the Serbian terrorist group, the Black Hand, decide to assassinate Franz Ferdinand.

After Otto Von Bismark united Germany, he started a program called Kulturkampf beginning in the early 1870s. The mission of Kulturkampf was to phase out the Catholics and to put restrictions on them. Thirty-six percent of the German population was Catholic, so while they were a minority they were not a very small one. In particular, Bismark disliked Pope Pious IX, who was against progress and modernity. They began with smaller things, such as banning any sort of political talk in sermons. They then moved on to banning the clerical oversight of the school system and banned the Jesuits from Germany. Civil marriage was required to be considered legitimate, and Clerical appointments had to be approved by the state. There were many other laws put in place to restrict the Catholics, but in response, the Center Party was formed to protect the rights of Catholics. By 1878 the Center Party had support and Pope Pius IX had died, and his successor Leo XIII was not against progress in his dealings with political matters. Bismark decided to end Kulturkampf and the unsuccessful crusade against Catholics ended in Germany.

In the late nineteenth century, the British office of Prime Minister usually alternated between Conservative Benjamin Disraeli and Classical Liberal William Gladstone. There had been several revolts in Ireland to try and get its independence, but these were all unsuccessful, and one of Gladstone’s ambitions was to get Ireland Home Rule. Ireland would be able to make its own laws, which was particularly important as most Irish people were Catholic. Some of the things he argued in favor of home rule, was that the Irish were often harshly treated under English rule, and when they opposed the English they were often brutally suppressed. He also considered it unfair that Ireland had to pay a tax to the protestant church when they were mostly Catholic. Gladstone was unsuccessful in his quest to get the Irish home rule but is still remembered for his effort.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Italy was again attempting Italian unification. There had been a very short-lived Republic of Rome previous to this, which was led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, but this time the leader would be Camillo Benso Count of Cavour Prime Minister of Piedmont Sardinia. Cavour was a very intellectual man and was a proponent of classical liberalism. He wanted a unified Italy with the monarch of Piedmont Sardinia at its head. First, he had to get the Austrians out of northern Italy. To do this he needed outside help, so in the Crimean war, he sent fifteen thousand troops to fight on the side of the French to try and win French favor. Eventually, the French aided Piedmont in their fight against Austria, and Piedmont gained the kingdom of Lombardy. After this False plebian votes were set up in other Italian countries so that it looked like they were agreeing to become part of a unified Italy. Giuseppe Garibaldi marched south with a thousand civilians as troops and surprisingly took over the kingdom of Sicily and other southern Italian states. Most of the southern Italians did not know what was going on or what this unification meant, so it was not as if the States were heroically banding together in the fight for unification. After this, the task of unification was almost over, and in 1866 Italy received Venitia from the Austrians, and the papal states, with the exception of the Vatican city, were unified in 1871.

In the 1860s the process of German unification also began. This effort was led by Prussia and the Minister-President of Prussia, Otto Von Bismark. Unification came about in a series of three wars, purposely excluding Austria as it had many nationalities which would cause problems for a unified Austria. The first war was over the mostly German Dutchies of Schleswig and Holstein. They had been Dutchies of Denmark but then Denmark attempted to extend its constitution to Schleswig and Holstein, which angered the Prussians. They quickly defeated Denmark with Prussias advanced military, and the Dutchies became part of Germany. After this Bismark created a diplomatic environment in which Austria declared war on Austria. Austria was defeated and Prussia was lenient with Austria, although it had to recognize the Northern German confederation. The final war was the Franco-Prussian war. The southern German states were still suspicious of Prussia, and Prussia thought a war with France would rally them to the Northern German confederation. Bismark heavily edited a meeting between the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I, and the French Ambassador to make it seem like insults had been exchanged. This so angered the French that they declared war on Prussia. The Prussians defeated the French and they had to give up the territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The southern German states rallied to the German Confederation, as Bismark had expected, and this was the beginning of a unified Germany.