The collapse of the autocratic empires could be viewed as
expected
Germany
• Claimed to be a democracy but the Reichstag (which was an elected body) was still
governed by the Kaiser, who chose ministers that had the same ideology as him. The
Kaiser Wilhelm II would dissolve the Reichstag if they did not agree with him and
created another one that would.
• The military were growing in influence and power- Kaiser Wilhelm II promoted
Weltpolitik which not everyone agreed with
• Germany had a lot of enemies
• Germany felt inferior to other nations and wanted an empire- could have felt it was the
responsibility of the leadership.
Russia
• Tsar Nicholas II didn't want any democracy and wanted all the power- so he gets the
blame when things go wrong.
• Not a very cohesive country- different ethnic groups
• Lost to Japan in 1904, which sparked the first revolution - so when an issue occurred
the people blamed the Tsar
Ottoman Empire
• The rise in pan-slavism (especially in the Balkan region)
• The Sultan was very oppressive- not modernising and having university. Young people
went abroad and saw democracy’s.
• Massacred lots of people in Macedonia for their religious beliefs
Austria-Hungary
• Dual-Monarchy- ineffective in making decisions and if decisions were made it was a
very slow process
• Lots of ethnic groups- threatened by pan-slavism and how that would threaten their
empire.
• If Franz Ferdinand succeeded to being monarch, he would have employed democracy
eventually- suggests that there was a demand for it.
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