Traditional "earthquake" War

The inclilanded estate of volume to manage between fellow-countrymen and foreigners, and to distrust the latter, is widespread if non universal. The doctrine of nationalism, which emerged in mature form in the 19th century, elevated this tendency to a matter of principle. A nation, a geographical area whose people had a dual-lane verbiage and (supposedly) a shared culture, came to be viewed as the proper and natural condition of aliveness and the inherent basis of sovereignty. Expressions such as "the British dry wash" or "the German race" became common by the belated 19th century.

In Western Europe, where proto- chauvinistic feelings had often been developing for centuries (and had been further by governments), perceived nations corresponded more or less to states. The British verbalize English, the French spoke French; and after 1871 Germans spoke German and Italians spoke Italian. Further east, however, the correspondence of state to "nation" broke down. The empire of the Hapsburgs was centered in (German-speaking) Austria, but its people spoke a variety of languages, with no one language or cultural heritage predominating -- naval officers found it necessity to speak six or seven (Preston 12). The empire could not be characterized as a nation, and was not felt to be one by or so of its peoples.

Prior to the spread of nationalist ideology, this posed no special problem for the Hapsburg empire. In existent terms, t

Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and worsening of British Naval Mastery. New York: Scribner's, 1976.

Germany had largely stayed out of the nifty colonial land grab of the 1880s, not for lack of cogency but for lack of interest, and in hindsight Germany's choice then was a wise one. By the end of the century, however, Germany felt it had been left behind, in spite of its growing industrial might and technological leadership. Germany, too, essential an overseas empire, and would take it if need be from other imperialists. German anxieties were reinforced by the popularity at the turn of the century of American Alfred Thayer Mahan's theory of seapower. Whoever ruled the seas, said Mahan, ruled the world. Obviously that was Britain.

Germans so came to view Britain, as much as France and Russia, as a threat to German greatness.

Breyer, Siegfried. Battleships and Battle Cruisers, 1905-1970. Alfred Kurti, trans. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973.

Gallagher, Tom. Political transfigure in Eastern Europe. European History Quarterly, 24 (1999), pp. 58794.

German nationalism was born in the Napoleonic era, though the mediaeval patchwork of German states was not unified until 1871. The new German Empire was immediately a Great Power, succeeding to the rear of Prussia in a sharply enhanced form. By 1914, Germany was the most powerful and highly industrialized state in Continental Europe. Rivalry with France and Russia was inevitable. So long as Germany did not grossly overstep, however (as by attempting to establish outright hegemony over Europe), on that point was little reason for rivalry between continental Germany and parochial and maritime Britain. In fact, France and Russia were fnr most of the 19th century similarly Britain's chief rivals. This made Britain and Germany, if not natural allies, at least natural friendly neutrals.

Fromkin, David. A Peace to End only Peace. New York: Avon, 1989.

While personal factors might have so led to a dramatically different co
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