ABSTRACT
IN 1900 NO LESS THAN seven great states in the world called them-selves empires. In Europe there were four: Russia, Germany, AustriaHungary, and the Ottoman Empire. These were multinational political constructs, bringing a number of contiguous states or peoples under a unique rule, tempered by various degrees of local autonomy and a nascent parliamentary life. (Germany was more a multistate than a multinational construct, however, except for its Polish and Alsatian minorities; it was also a colonial power on the rise with possessions in Asia and Africa.) In addition two other powers combined the character of a democratic nation-state in Europe and a large colonial empire abroad: Great Britain and France (but only the British called their possessions abroad an empire). In Asia there were three empires: China, Persia, and Japan; the first two under foreign influence if not formal rule, the third a westernized nation-state that had itself embarked on an ambitious policy of colonial expansion.
