What tensions built up before 1914 that turned the 20th century into an age of global conflict?
Topic 8.1 Contextualizing 20th-Century Global Conflicts: the alliances, rivalries, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism that built up before 1914 and set the stage for an age of total war and ideological struggle.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.1, setting the scene for Unit 8: the alliance system, great-power rivalry, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism that built up across Europe before 1914 and made the 20th century an age of total war, revolution, and ideological conflict.
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What this topic is asking
Topic 8.1 is a contextualization topic. The College Board wants you to set the scene for Unit 8: explain the tensions, alliances, rivalry, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism, that built up before 1914 and made the 20th century an age of total war and ideological struggle. You are building the background, not yet narrating the First World War.
The alliance system and the balance of power
Nationalism and the Balkans
Imperialism and militarism
Two further forces raised the temperature.
Why it mattered
These tensions are the background to everything in Unit 8. They explain why a single assassination in 1914 could plunge the whole continent into the First World War (Topic 8.2), and they set in motion the chain of catastrophe, total war, revolution, economic collapse, the rise of fascism and totalitarianism, and the Second World War, that defines the unit. Setting this context lets you explain not just that the 20th century became an age of global conflict but why Europe was primed to tear itself apart.
Try this
Q1. Name the four long-term tensions building toward 1914. [Recall]
- Cue. The rival alliance system, aggressive nationalism (especially in the Balkans), imperial rivalry, and militarism (arms races and war plans).
Q2. Explain why the alliance system made a local crisis so dangerous. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Because the great powers had divided into two rival blocs, a quarrel between any two of them could pull in all the rest, turning a local dispute into a general European war.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2019 (style)3 marksBriefly describe ONE long-term tension in pre-1914 Europe. Briefly explain ONE way it raised the risk of war. Briefly explain ONE way the 20th century became an age of global conflict.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per task.
A. Describe: the alliance system, great-power rivalry, nationalism, imperial competition, or the arms race and militarism.
B. How it raised the risk: rigid alliances and an arms race meant a local crisis could pull all the great powers into a general war.
C. How the century became an age of conflict: two world wars, revolutions, and ideological struggles between democracy, communism, and fascism convulsed Europe.
Markers want a tension, its danger, and the wider conflict it led toward.
AP 2021 (style)6 marksEvaluate the extent to which long-term tensions, rather than a single crisis, made the First World War likely in the period c. 1890 to c. 1914.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point causation rubric.
Thesis (1): "Long-term tensions, the alliance system, nationalism, imperial rivalry, and militarism, made a general war likely, though it took the crisis of 1914 to set it off."
Contextualization (1): the unification of Germany and the rivalries it created.
Evidence (2): the rival alliance blocs; the arms race and militarism; nationalist tension, especially in the Balkans.
Analysis (2): argue the tensions made war likely but not inevitable, then add complexity by noting the role of the immediate crisis.
Related dot points
- Topic 8.2 World War I: the outbreak and course of the war, the experience of total war and the trenches, the home front, and the war's transformation of European society and politics.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.2, on the First World War: how the crisis of 1914 ignited a general war, the stalemate of trench warfare and the nature of total war, the mobilization of whole societies on the home front, and how the war transformed and traumatised Europe.
- Topic 7.3 National Unification and Diplomatic Tensions: the unification of Italy and Germany through Realpolitik and war, and the diplomatic tensions and shift in the balance of power that followed.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 7.3, on the unification of Italy and Germany: the role of Cavour, Garibaldi, and Bismarck, the use of Realpolitik and war to build nation-states, and how the rise of a unified Germany shifted the European balance of power and bred new diplomatic tensions.
- Topic 7.2 Nationalism: the idea of the nation, its romantic and liberal roots, and how it became the dominant political force of the 19th century, uniting some peoples and dividing others.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 7.2, on 19th-century nationalism: the idea that peoples sharing a language, culture, and history should form their own nation-state, its romantic and liberal roots, and how it both unified peoples (Italy, Germany) and threatened the multinational empires.
- Topic 7.7 Imperialism's Global Effects: the effects of European imperialism on colonized peoples (exploitation, resistance, and disruption) and on Europe itself (rivalry, wealth, and new tensions).
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 7.7, on the global effects of imperialism: the exploitation, disruption, and resistance experienced by colonized peoples in Africa and Asia, the responses ranging from rebellion to nationalism, and the effects on Europe, including economic gain, great-power rivalry, and rising tensions.
- Topic 8.6 Fascism and Totalitarianism: the rise of fascist and totalitarian regimes between the wars (Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's USSR), their ideologies, and how they built total control over society.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.6, on fascism and totalitarianism: the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin, the ideology of fascism (ultranationalism, the leader, the enemy), and how totalitarian regimes used propaganda, terror, and the party to build total control over society.
Sources & how we know this
- AP European History Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)