As exports to the Ottoman Empire increased, East African exports to other countries were equally impressive. Apart from the Balkan Peninsula, numerous countries worldwide actively prepared for war; the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, the United States, Japan, including East Africa itself, all expanded military equipment upon entering the 20th century.
Beyond the large-scale arms race among the Great Powers, the imperialist frenzy to carve up the world that began in the late 1890s also spurred non-Great Power countries to invest in the military field.
Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, signs of war appeared worldwide, with a looming war cloud having quietly brewed for nearly twenty years. The storm's center was Europe.
