Bismarck & Europe-1871-1878

1. What were Otto von Bismarck's aims in foreign policy following Germany's victory over France in 1871?

Otto von Bismarck's aims in foreign policy following Germany's victory over France in 1871 were to isolate France from all the other countries, and make Austria-Hungary and Russia less belligerent against each other. Bismarck's reasons behind his aims were that he was afraid of France declaring war on Germany for revenge and a major conflic arising in the Balkans with Austria-Hungary and Russia. His idea was to "keep rivalries simmering but to prevent them boiling over," in other words he wanted them to still be in conflict so as to not join together and go against Germany but not so much as to make them go into war with each other.

One way Bismarck kept the pot simmering but not "boiling over" was by making sure that the countries knew that he was not there to fight. He did this by diplomatically conversing with the German Kaiser, the Habsburg Emperor, and the Tsar of Russia. In the summer of 1871 he had these diplomatic gatherings and therefore the Three Emperor's League, also known as the Dreikaiserbund, was made in October of 1873. Bismarck did not have the idea of the treaty, however he agreed to it and liked it because it went along with his purposes. The treaty went along with his purposes by forcing the countries to talk to each other and compromise rather than going into a war. As one can see, Otto von Bismarck did a pretty decent job of trying to keep the countries together, having "peace and stability."

However, Bismarck had trouble keeping France isolated. Bismarck publicly said in a newspaper something disrespectful and taunting about France, which made France even more revengeful. His intention was to try to diminish their fast pace of rebuilding their army, because since the war in 1871 they had been rebuilding their army pretty quickly. This statement just made war more possible with France and made Bismarck look a little careless. His intention to deminish their rebuild of the army backfired because France made an agreement with Britain and Russia that made the countries promise to support France to fight against Germany if they were to attack. In conclusion, Otto von Bismarck's aim to isolate France went terribly wrong because of an article in a newspaper which made France make an alliance with Russia and Britain.



2. Why did events between the years 1875-78 in the Balkans lead to a crisis between the Great Powers?

Events between the years 1875 and 1878 in the Balkans lead to a crisis between the Great Powers because Russia felt obliged to help the Slavic Christians, Austria-Hungary wasn't willing to intervene, Germany wanted to keep peace and stability, and Britain took charge and wanted the land. All of these factors between the countries played a major role in the crisis. On the bright side of the crisis, in the beginning, none of the countries wanted to accelerate the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and were willing to try to find a compromise.

First, Russia felt obliged to aid the Christian Slavs if their Muslim Turkish rulers treated them with cruelty and oppression. The Russians felt this way because they were the leaders of the Orthodox Church. What made the crisis even more complicated was the encouragement and intervening of Britain, who was and decided to take the role of the leader in an attempt to try to reduce the tensions in the Dreikaiserbund. Unfortunately, the countries failed to find a compromise after a rumor spread that the Turks had masacred ten thousand Bulgarians. This made public opinion stir in both Russia and Britain. Britain was now against Turkey, which prevented the pursui of support from Turkey against Russia. Now Russia felt even more obliged to intervene, especially from all the public pressure to intervene. Eventually several thousand Russian volunteers were fighting in Serbia by 1877, which was financed by many Slavic Committees. However, Russia was hesitant to declare war because they were in a major depression and had a bad harvest season. By spring of 1877 Austrians declared themselves neutral in the Russo-Turkish war as long as their Balkan interests were respected. Then Britain made it perfectly clear that "she would not tolereate the sweeping of Russiain gains at Turkey's expense." At this point every country refused to compromise, they saw that there could be no solution and only wanted something for themselves in the outcome of the war. Not one of the countries saw the other's plans as fair. Finally, in 1877 after Serbia defeated the Turks Russia folded under the pressure and delcared war, but when the peace treaty was made Germany and Britain, mostly Britain, persuaded Russia to revise the peace treaty so that it would be more fair. Britain did this by summoning troops from India to Turkish waters who were ready to sail in the Black Sea. Therefore the treaty was revised in Berlin in the summer of 1878. As one can see, the statements and moves done by Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia lead to a crisis between the Great Powers because they all wanted something different, refused to find a solution, and wanted everything to be fair.