Alliances, Expansion, and Conflict

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Europe was controlled by a series of alliances that served to check any one power from becoming too large. These alliances had worked for a number of decades, and there had been little in the way of warfare on the continent. However, competition existed among the powers, especially in colonial development. In particular, Germany’s desire to have more colonies and a correspondingly larger navy put it in direct competition with the British Empire. Meanwhile, innovations in shipbuilding meant that early twentieth-century naval ships were both faster and possessed of more firepower than at any time in history.            All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/11-1-alliances-expansion-and-conflict            Welcome to A Journey into Human History.    This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.       The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.     Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction    Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production.