Can someone please explain to me why there wasn't any major European wars between 1871 and 1914?

by TheDoors1

I know everybody was scrambling for Africa

tim_mcdaniel

Is there a reason why these are not considered major?

  • First Balkan War, 1912-3: Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire. Roughly 400,000 dead or wounded, and the Ottomans lost almost all their European territory.
  • Second Balkan War, 1913: Bulgaria versus Serbia, Greece, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire. A little more than 100,000 killed or wounded, some substantial territorial switches.

The Franco-Prussian war, in contrast, had some 400,000 killed or wounded.