The Road to the First World War 1900-1914

Britain, Austria, Russia, France and Germany continued to expand their empires. Germany was very keen to expand overseas and started building a large Navy. In response Britain increased the size of her Navy and other armed forces which lead to an arms race between the two countries. (PICTURE OF Germany battle cruiser).

The European countries formed large alliances to protect each other. Germany Sided with Austria-Hungary and France sided with Italy and Russia. Britain remained neutral but offered Belgium protection against German invasion.

The Great War or First World War began in 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Serbian rebels. There followed a rapid procession of declarations of War by members of each alliance and then, when Germany mobilised and attacked France through Belgium, Britain and her empire were drawn into the war.

The war was fought mainly in Europe with occasional fighting in other parts of the World. For much of the time the war was a stalemate with both sides facing each other from long systems of trenches dug across the entire country. Eventually the USA entered the War and the balance tipped in favour of the Western Allies. Germany and Austria-Hungary were finally defeated in 1918.

The Treaty of Versailles was agreed and Germany had to pay huge reparations to the victorious allies, which gave them cause to continue the fight years later.

The world had been changed a lot by the First World War. Many of the rulers, Kings and Emperors were replaced with state governments. After a long civil war Russia eventually become a Socialist country run by the Communists. Germany lost its overseas empire and the French and British were almost bankrupt because of the cost of the war.

Scientific and Engineering skills and knowledge progressed. Key areas were the  the internal combustion engine and materials, mainly due to the need for high performance aircraft during the war.

The Nazi Party took over Germany and started to reclaim the land lost to the allies in the First World War. Eventually Germany invaded Poland in 1939 forcing Britain and France to declare War.

Since the end of the First World War the Germans had been busy developing a new form of mechanised war using fast tanks and aircraft. Using these new machines Germany very quickly defeated France and nearly defeated Britain in the skies during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

This war started off as a small European war but very soon Russia was involved and then, by 1942, Japan and the USA were involved. Fighting took place over most of the world and involved millions of people.

Germany was finally defeated in 1945 and Japan surrendered after the Western Allies dropped some Atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After the Second World War Europe became divided up between Soviet Russia and the Western Allies. Russia formed the Warsaw Pact with countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and the Western Allies formed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).

This is the start of the Cold war with Nuclear weapons being used as a threat to keep the peace, which are nearly used when Russia tries to base some of them in Cuba, just off the coast of America.

The Cold war eventually peters out in the 1980's when Russia becomes unable to rule countries like East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland. East Germany is re-united  with West Germany into a single country again.

Scientific knowledge expanded massively during the later part of the 20th century. One of the biggest areas was in space exploration.

Spacecraft have been sent to most planets in our solar system and even some sent beyond it into outer space. Man has set foot on our moon and we have ambitions go even further in the near future.

The next century promises to be exiting as fast as the last with technology developing at an even faster pace and the exploitation of space becoming more common. Our biggest challenge is likely to be dealing with environmental conditions caused by our ever increasing demands on ever decreasing resources.