Foreign Policies | Actions relating to this aim | Evidence of Success | Evidence of failure |
Isolating France and avoiding revenge | Attempt to make alliances with Russia so France would not be able to- - Dreikaiserbund (1873)
- The Three Emperor’s Alliance/League (1881)
- The Triple Alliance (1882)
- The Reinsurance Treaty (1887)
Colonial Policy
The tariff act
Congress of Berlin
| - Alliances gave a certain amount of military security
- Dreikaiserbund, The Three Emperors alliance and the Reinsurance Treaty prevents France from getting an ally
- Triple Alliance ensures that Italy will oppose the French
- Colonial Policy creates tension between Britain and France, therefore increasing French isolation
- France was never able to get an ally, even when relations with Russia were very low after the Congress of Berlin
- Congress of Berlin maintains a good relation with Britain and Austria left pleased with the arrangements
| - The alliance against France was very weak. Ex: The “Is war in sight” crisis. When both Russia and Britain are highly critical of his policy and the Dreikaiserbund almost collapses
- Does little to avoid the French desire for revenge; however, if France did decide to act upon it, there would be a quick international reaction of protection towards Germany as a result of the alliances.
- Failed to stop French recovery. It wasn’t necessarily due to Bismarck’s policies that France remained isolated.
- The initial scenario of French bitterness was Bismarck’s fault in the first place, all due to his aggressive policies during the German Unification
- Introduction of tariffs pushes Russia and France together economically
- French were isolated not because of Bismarck’s policies, but due to the fact that they were a Republic
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Controlling Russian and Austrian ambitions in the Balkans- not having to choose between Austria and Russia | - The Dreikaiserbund states that they would discuss matters of common interests. This specifically relates to the Balkans
- The Congress of Berlin
- “The honest broker”
- The Dual Alliance
- The Three Emperor’s League
- Bulgarian Crisis
- Reinsurance Treaty
| - There was no catastrophic war over the Balkans
- Greater Bulgaria was divided at the Congress of Berlin, therefore preventing a war between Britain, Austria and Russia
- The Sultans introduced reforms
- The Three Emperor’s league Russia and Austria agreed to recognize each other’s ambitions so that they could be open to discussion in the future
| - The Tsar was unhappy with the Congress of Berlin
- His relationship with Bismarck deteriorated due to the tariffs
- The Balkan question was not solved in the long term, he just delayed it. Balkans remained a power vacuum, no one was really in power and the Ottomans didn’t have the power to control it.
- Franco-Russian relationship was more likely to develop due to common interests between them during the Congress of Berlin
- Congress of Berlin led to the Dual Alliance, Bismarck was forced to choose between Russia and Austria (however this was supposed to be only a temporary agreement)
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Possible war on two fronts- how to prevent the outbreak of war? | - Dreikaiserbund
- Three Emperor’s League
- Congress of Berlin
- Colonial Policy
| - War successfully prevented between Austria and Russia in the Balkans due to his alliances and diplomatic skills at Berlin
- Diverts French attention towards the colonies thereby creating bad feeling between France and Britain
- Keeps Russia and France from becoming allies, although they would never become allies anyway
- Bismarck’s personality always seems to dominate during diplomatic situations at Berlin
| - Almost faced a war on two fronts during the ‘war in sight’ crisis
- Forced to change his policy after the Congress of Berlin and make a firm alliance with the Austrians
- Dreikaiserbund and Three Emperor’s League were always weak and fell apart during every crisis
- His economic policies were actually pushing France and Russia together (The Tariff Act and Protectionism)
- Russian resentment over Berlin
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German Nationalism and the desire for expansion, pressure from the people. | | - Diverts French attention towards the colonies thereby creating bad feeling between France and Britain
- Successfully gets colonies: Togo Land, Cameroon, South West Africa, German East Africa and Islands in the Pacific
- Satisfies demands of the businessmen and nationalists
| - He was forced to follow a colonial policy that was actually against what he wanted to do, in the long run it created a rivalry with Britain and France
- For many German nationalists, Bismarck was not doing enough
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