POLS2409

International Relations of the 20th Century - UQ

Concert Diplomacy - Definition

• A system of diplomatic regulation and power-balancing among the major European powers

• Followed the Congress of Vienna (1815) to maintain political stability and prevent war in Europe

Concert Diplomacy - Why It Matters

• Demonstrates an early form of multilateral security governance based on Great Power management rather than binding institutions

• Eventual breakdown in the 19th- 20th century was driven by rigid alliance blocks and imperial competition

• Removed the primary diplomatic buffer keeping European powers from escalating regional disputes which directly paved the way for the multilateral crisis of WWI

Sick Man of Europe - Definition

• Refers to the Ottoman Empire (originally encompassed parts of the Balkans, Middle East, and Africa)

• 1878 onwards, lots of territory was lost, as certain areas became independent (Greece, Bulgaria)

• Term derived from the considerable unrest within the empire during this time

Sick Man of Europe - Why It Matters

• Dwindling power led to conflict due to a power imbalance created by the OE’s decrease in influence

• Other European states wanted the states previously part of the Ottoman Empire for power and influence

• Realists’ idea that a balance of power is required to maintain international order, where an imbalance creates potential conflict

Hague Conventions of 1899 - Definition

• A series of international treaties negotiated at the First Hague Peace Conference

• Codified laws of war, war crimes, and legal mechanisms for peaceful international dispute resolution

• Creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

Hague Conventions of 1899 - Why It Matters

• Represents a pivotal shift in International Law toward constraining state sovereignty through normative rules and formal dispute mechanisms

• Serves as a foundational milestone for Liberal Institutionalism

• Illustrates early attempts to mitigate structural anarchy

• Set precedents later expanded upon by the LoN and UN

Scramble for Africa - Definition

• Rapid invasion, colonisation, and partition of African territory by European powers between 1881 and 1914

• Formalised at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885

Scramble for Africa - Why It Matters

• Reshaped global power dynamics by tying imperial prestige and economic capacity directly to colonial holdings

• Generated friction points (Fashoda incident) that heightened pre-WWI European tensions

• The arbitrary borders drawn during this period disrupted indigenous political structures, created structural vulnerabilities, weak state institutions, and ongoing territorial disputes across post-colonial Africa

Russo-Japanese War - Definition

• War fought between imperial Russia and imperial Japan over conflicting territorial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea

• Decisive Japanese victory

Russo-Japanese War - Why It Matters

• Altered global racial and imperial hierarchies and perceptions by proving a non-Western nation could defeat a European Great Power

• Defeat severely destabilised the Tsarist regime (sparking the 1905 Russian Revolution) and diminished Russian military prestige in East Asia

• Forced Russia to reorient its expansionist ambitions back towards the Balkans, sharpening imperial friction with Austria-Hungary

Bosnian Crisis 1908-1909 - Definition

• Major diplomatic crisis triggered when Austria-Hungary unilaterally annexed the former Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Incited fierce opposition from Serbia and Russia

Bosnian Crisis 1908-1909 - Why It Matters

• Humiliated Russia who was forced to acquiesce under German threats of military intervention

• Permanently embittered Serbian nationalists against the Habsburg Monarchy

• Crisis solidified the Austro-German alliance, prompting Russia to embark on military modernisation while refusing to back down in the Balkans again

• Structurally locked Europe in rigid crisis dynamics that came to a head in 1914

Blank Cheque - Definition

• Germany’s unconditional guarantee of diplomatic and military support delivered to Austria-Hungary on July 6, 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Blank Cheque - Why It Matters

• Emboldened Austria-Hungary to issue an uncompromising ultimatum to Serbia, converting a localised Balkan conflict into a general European war

• Classic demonstration of moral hazard and extended deterrence failures where unconditional alliance backing encouraged weaker allies to undertake reckless diplomatic escalations

Chain-Ganging - Definition

• Structural realist concept describing a tight network of defensive alliance commitments

• States tie their security so closely to their allies that any conflict involving one partner automatically drags all members into war

Chain-Ganging - Why It Matters

• Explains the structural systemic mechanism that converted the localised 1914 July crisis into a global military confrontation

• Great Powers perceived their alliance partners’ survival as vital to their own balance of power

• Surrendered diplomatic manoeuvrability, causing defensive mobilisation to escalate uncontrollably across the entire European system

6 April 1917 - Definition

• Date the US officially declared war on Germany

• Formally entering WWI on the side of the Allied Powers

6 April 1917 - Why It Matters

• Ended a century of official US isolationism

• Decisively shifted the economic, industrial, and military balance of power against the Central Powers

• Broke the Western Front stalemate

• “Male the world safe for democracy” - Woodrow Wilson
  Established liberal internationalism as a competing visionary framework for post-war international order