The spirit of the time seething in so many wars had a beneficial effect in the political arena which will make the century forever famous in the history of democracy. Popular government and responsibility to the elected representatives of the people advanced as never before. The Liberals of England suc ceeded in modifying parliamentary law so that the veto power of the House of Lords on legis lation was eliminated and as a consequence important measures of reform in taxation and franchise were passed. In Portugal King Car los and the Crown Prince were assassinated 1 Feb. 1908 and Manuel II, younger son suc ceeded to the throne but in October 1910, fled before a revolution which set up a republic. The republic maintained itself though the monarchists have not ceased reactionary efforts. To the surprise of all, the Sultan of Turkey in July 1908 after a revolt in the army which .threatened to prove serious proclaimed a constitution and elections were held and a new Parliament was opened in December. The Young Turks, representative of the better edu cated Ottomans' came to be the dominant party and liberalization was promised but the results were far from satisfying; cruelties continued and Turkey's entrance into the war against the Allies marked the doom of Turkish power in Europe. Austria took advantage of the disturbance in Turkey to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina placed under Austrian control by the Great Powers after the Russian-Turkish War. In October 1908 Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria declared his country independent of Turkey and assumed the title of Tsar.
The most astonishing democratic develop ment was the establishment of a republic in China where late in December 1911 a pro visional republican government with Dr. Sun Yat Sen as President was proclaimed. This was all the more surprising because scarcely 10 years before the Boxer Rebellion (1900) had seemed to stamp China as hopelessly re actionary. The aBoxers,D a secret society banded together for the extermination of the Devils,* laid siege to the foreign lega tions in Peking. A combined relief expedition from Japan, France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain and the United States occupied the Chi nese capital, exacted a huge indemnity but signed an agreement for the maintenance of Chinese integrity. The dowager empress con tinued all powerful, for a decade, and then came the republic. In spite of certain reactionary movements, the President, Yuan Shih-Kai, ((con senting' to be emperor for a time, the Chinese republic has maintained itself and in August 1917 entered the Great War on the side of the Allies.
In Russia the liberalizing tendencies of the young Tsar, so promising at the beginning of the century, gradually changed and utter au tocracy prevailed. The Russian-Japanese War provided an opportunity for the liberal ele ments to press political reforms. With the army in the Far East the government had to yield but not until after the awful massacre of Bloody Sunday, January 1905, and harsh at tempts at suppression which were rudely inter rupted by the loss of the battle of Mukden (23 March 1905) and the annihilation of the Russian fleet in the East (27 May 1905). In August 1905 the imperial decree establishing a representative body, the Duma, though with very limited powers was issued. Unrest con tinued and a universal strike led to the grant ing of legislative powers. This body was arbi trarily dissolved the following year and another more complacent elected. This filled out its term as did the third Duma though without accomplishing much; but the fourth Duma was at hand in 1916 to demand the abdication of the Tsar when Russian affairs reached a crisis. The proclamation of a republic in 1917 seemed too good to be true and there are so many warring elements that the Russian people have still their political salvation to work out.
The greatest event of the century, the great est of its kind in the history of humanity is the World War which lasted over four years and three months. On 28 June 1914, Archduke
Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, with his wife was shot to death in Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia. A bomb hurled by a printer aged 20 missed them, injuring others, but shots fired by a student, Princip, aged 19, proved fatal. Official investigation showed that the two assassins belonged to a Ser bian secret society for revolutionary propa ganda in Bosnia. Many Serbian high offi cials, hoping to unite the Serbs everywhere for action, were members of this. The annexa tion of Bosnia by Austria had aroused deep enmity in Serbia. Austria felt that this fo menting of revolution could no longer be per mined. • For the next three weeks Austrian diplomacy kept its own counsel, except so far as it was shared by Germany, but the authori ties planned war against Serbia. In 1913 they had proposed aggregation against Serbia but Germany and Italy, as members of the Triple Alliance, refused to join it. The Austrian mili tary purpose was so thoroughly hidden that many important diplomats and government officials of Great Britain, Russia and France, unsuspecting went on their vacations in late July. July J.3d, Austria's ultimatum to Serbia was delivered. War evidently was intended. No independent state could maintain its self respect and accept the provisions. Behind Ser bia stood Russia, unwilling to permit further Austrian encroachments in the Balkans. Ger many was the ally of Austria and France of Russia and Great Britain had an understanding with both so that war would involve most of Europe. Serbia, taking counsel with foreign embassies, gave a most diplomatic reply, but could not submit completely. The Austrian Minister to Serbia withdrew at the end of the two days allowed for the reply and Austria declared war on Serbia 28 July. With Aus trian mobilization, Russia mobilized and on this score Germany's Ambassador was instructed to withdraw from Saint Petersburg after hav ing handed over a declaration of war 1 August. August 3d the German Ambassador to France declared a state of war because of aggressions at the frontiers. Germany seemed assured that England would not enter the war. The British Empire had but a few hundred thousand sol diers, the Boer War had been unpopular and had revealed British weakness and the threatened in surrection in Ulster, for which German muni tion plants supplied the arms, seemed to give assurance that England would refuse to enter a Continental war. Her great fleet made her mistress of the seas but it was felt that before this could count materially the war on the Con tinent would• be over. When on 4 August it became known that German troops had invaded Belgian territory, Great Britain declared war. The German Chancellor in the Reichstag con fessed that the invasion of Luxemburg and Belgium was 'against the rules of international law" but the necessity of the situation de manded it. He promised 'to atone as soon as our military end is attained." When the Eng lish Ambassador declared that the invasion of Belgium would mean war the German Chan cellor suggested that 'a scrap of paper" ought not to count for so much. Germany must be held responsible for the war at the bar of history, for though Austria precipitated it a word from Germany would have prevented it and not only was that word withheld but the publication of Austrian diplomatic documents (1919) shows that from early in July Ger many urged such measures against Serbia as could only mean war. The most important witness against Germany is her own Ambassa dor in London during the crisis, Prince Lich nowsky, who published (1918) his account of the negotiations to prevent the war in which he found the English eager and anxious to avoid a conflict which they foresaw so clearly would prove ruinous for all concerned.