Previously they had been loosely knit associations of petty states. Now, united and therefore stronger, Germany and Italy were disturbing to the older, better established states of France and Great Britain. The older powers had already seized large areas of the world as colonies from which to obtain the raw materials for burgeoning industries. Their early start had left only scraps for the newcomer states.
In 1914 countries as Italy and Germany did hold overseas territories. Still, the best and the largest were in the hands of the British and French. By 1900, in Africa alone, these two powers controlled over five and a half million square miles of territory, having a population of over sixty-seven million. Germany and Italy, on the other hand, could claim only one and a half million square miles with about twelve million people.
Such great disparity led the Germans to demand a “place in the sun” in order that they might reap the supposed benefits of a large overseas empire—raw materials, monopolistic markets, controlled investment areas and added manpower. Lacking these advantages, the ‘have-not’ nations felt they were seriously handicapped in the competition of an increasingly industrialized world.