German and Italian Empires in 1914
About this video
This short video explains that Germany and Italy were new unified states, both created around 1870-1871 thanks to the Franco-Prussian War, so they joined the race for empire late. It shows the colonies they held by 1914 in Africa, the Pacific and China, using Tsingtao as an example of German influence.
You'll be able to
- explain how the Franco-Prussian War helped both Germany and Italy unify.
- explain why Germany and Italy had smaller empires than Britain and France by 1914.
- name some of the territories controlled by Germany and Italy in 1914.
Key words
- Race for empire
- The competition among European powers to gain colonies for national prestige and wealth.
- Unified state
- A single country formed by joining together smaller states or kingdoms.
- Franco-Prussian War
- The 1870-1871 war between France and Prussia that allowed Prussia to unify Germany.
- Papal States
- Lands in central Italy ruled by the Pope, which France had protected until 1870.
Transcript
As we've already talked about, as we exit the 1800s and we get into the early 1900s and we approach World War I, the various powers of Europe were really on this race for empire. It was a part of national prestige. And it helped build national wealth. But of the major powers, Germany and Italy were relatively new as unified states.
The British Empire-- they had been building their empire for hundreds of years. The Germans, on the other hand, even though they have a very old culture going back hundreds-- or you could argue thousands-- of years, as a unified state, they only existed since 1871.
And that's only after the Franco-Prussian War, which allowed the Prussians to unify all of Germany. And the Italians only became fully unified in 1870, also due to the Franco-Prussian War. Because the French had to focus on the Germans, had to focus on the Prussians, they couldn't protect the Papal States anymore.
And so that allowed the Italians to unify it under their a rule. So by the time we get to 1914, the beginning of World War I, these two powers, they were also on their race for empire. But they were only about 43 or 44 years old. And so they hadn't been able to build as extensive of an empire as France and, especially, as extensive of an empire as Great Britain.
But this map right over here shows how far their actual empires did extend. Italy had control of Libya, Eritrea, and parts of what's today Somalia. And Germany had control-- it also had holdings in Africa, possessions in Africa. Togoland, which is modern-day Togo; Cameroon, which makes up-- modern-day Cameroon is part of German Southwest Africa.
That's now known as Namibia. German East Africa, which is now Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. And Germany also had holdings in the Pacific and even in China. These are the Pacific Islands that Germany had possession of. It had German New Guinea. And it even had control of the town of Tsingtao.
And that actually is culturally interesting for those of you watching this video in 2013. Tsingtao is now a very popular Chinese brand of beer. One of the more-- I think it's the number two in the market Chinese beer. And it's associated with China. But it was actually started by German settlers in Tsingtao in 1903.
So actually its roots are with the Germans, who obviously have a long tradition of producing beers. And so Tsingtao-- you could argue it's a Chinese beer. It's produced in China. But it had its roots in German imperial rule.
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