Bismarck went even further to isolate France: under the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt France had to pay Germany 5 000 million French francs, and while they still owed this money, German troops were allowed to occupy France. But, Bismarck underestimated France, who due to the introduction of the National Lottery, managed to raise enough money to pay off the reparations in just two years. This was a shock for Bismarck as he had anticipated that it would take much longer for these reparations to be paid off. After the failure of this scheme to isolate France he now had to come up with another.
In 1875 Bismarck became alarmed at the rapid revitalization of the French army, which resulted in an increase in its strength. Bismarck saw his opportunity to isolate the French further when they ordered several horses to be exported from Berlin. In Bismarck’s eyes this was a threat of war (as normally countries bought horses in preparation for war) and so he tried to intimidate the French by publishing an article in the German newspaper “Die Post”, headed “Is War in Sight?” This insinuated that Germany would wage war on France if they didn’t abandon their rearmament scheme. Bismarck thought that by doing this would scare France and turn other European nations against them.
Again, this did not go to plan. Other European countries accused Germany of “bullying” France, seeing that France’s buying of horses was not an act of aggression but an essential procedure so that they would be prepared in the event of a war. Britain, Italy and Russia expressed their concerns and they rallied on the side of the French. This infuriated Bismarck, as again he had been defeated and instead of decreasing support for France, he ended up creating support for them, and he realized France was not so isolated after all.
There was, in 1875, another threat to the stability of the new unified Germany. An outbreak of conflict threatened to overthrow everything that Bismarck had been working for, for the last five or so years. A series of revolts in the Balkans against the Turkish rule of the Ottoman Empire nearly resulted in the end of the Dreikaiserbund. Austria - Hungary and Russia both held differing points of view over what should happen there. Russia wanted independence for all countries under the Ottoman Empire, as after being given independence, these countries would, no doubt, turn to Russia for support, and then Russia would gain access to a warm water port. This would help trade in the country, as Russia had been a somewhat backward country partly due to this. Whereas Austria -Hungary did not want independence for those countries, as she thought that this would give inspiration to all the countries that formed the Austro – Hungarian Empire, to break away and seek independence.
Due to the Pan-slavist movement in Russia, and their strong desire for countries like Serbia to be independent, Russia declared war on Turkey, a war that they easily won. The war led to the signing of the treaty of San Stefano in March 1878. Under the terms of the treaty Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Romania gained full independence and Russia was allowed access to a warm water port. So as a result Bulgaria became the biggest power of the Balkans, which allowed Russia to dominate the area.
This development caused outrage in Europe, as none of the countries were happy with the new situation apart from Russia. So Bismarck decided that he should take charge and change the situation to please every country in Europe a bit. So he organized the Congress of Berlin, over which he would officiate as an “honest broker” figure as he had found himself in a situation he had been hoping to avoid; Austria-Hungary and Russia on opposite sides. The congress led to a revision of the treaty of San Stefano - the Treaty of Berlin –whose terms included that Bulgaria had to split into three, in order to retain the power balance in the Balkans., Serbia, Montenegro and Romania remained independent of Turkey, Austria – Hungary was allowed to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia was allowed to take over Bessarabia , Karz and Batum and Britain was allowed to take over Cyprus for use as a naval base.
Most countries were happy with this treaty as its main aims had been achieved; the power balance had been restored, there was peace in Europe and France again was isolated (this made Bismarck happy anyway.)
Only one thing did not go quite to plan; Russia was very angry as they saw everything they had earned from the treaty of San Stefano slip away. They may have gained land, but so what? This land was insignificant, and they no longer had access to a warm water port. They felt that the congress had been a “European coalition against Russia under the Leadership of Prince Bismarck.” The Dreikaiserbund had now fallen apart.
After this turn of events Bismarck decided to focus on strengthening relations with Austria –Hungary. They formed a secret Dual Alliance; it was kept secret so as not to upset the Russian Tsar, who already thought that Bismarck’s Foreign policies were Anti-Russian, and in the case of being found out, Russia may have taken offence and allied with France. Germany and Austria – Hungary agreed that in the event of an attack from Russia the other country would provide full military support. But if one of the countries was attacked by another country that wasn’t Russia, they would sustain a state of benevolent neutrality, which basically meant that they would provide food, arms and money, but not soldiers.
One of the reasons for signing the treaty was to make Russia jealous and put pressure on them to seek a revival of the Dreikaiserbund but with very different terms. Bismarck assumed correctly, and Russia soon signed the Dreikaiserbundnis or the Three Emperors Alliance. This was a piece of diplomatic brilliance, showing Bismarck in his element, as again he had managed to isolate France. The treaty stated that if a fourth country attacked one of the countries involved in the treaty, the others would adopt a state of benevolent neutrality. This settled the problems for the moment but did not remove the causes of rivalry between Russia and Austria Hungary.
In 1882 Bismarck then took the chance to enlarge his field of alliances with the aim to isolate France further, by taking on another anti – French nation. Italy had recently been unified and was angry because the French had recently occupied Tunis. Austria –Hungary was also keen to enter this treaty as the Italians had claim to some land in the southern Tyrol and Croatia, so as result of signing, Italy would not be able to attach this territory. This treaty excluded Russia.
This new treaty and a new development in the Balkans put the Dreikaiserbundnis under strain. So Bismarck signed another secret treaty, this time with Russia, in which he agreed to support their claims in Bulgaria, whereby, in the event of war against a third power, they would take on a benevolent state of neutrality. But if Russia went to war with Austria-Hungary then this would not apply as then the Dual Alliance would be contradicted, this shows again Bismarck favouring Austria-Hungary over Russia.
But, unfortunately for Bismarck the Dreikaiserbundnis collapsed after a Russian attempt to kidnap the King of Bulgaria and replaced him with a Russian general. This caused uproar and the alliance dissolved as tension between Russia and Austria Hungary was renewed.
Then there was a second war scare with France in 1886. The rise of General Boulanger to French Minister of War was seen as a great threat to Germany. He won support through radical vocal attacks on Germany. Under him, France seemed to be heading towards a coup d’etat. He was keen to get revenge on Germany, which earned him the name General Revanche. Again Bismarck went to the papers, but in the end nothing came of it and Boulanger’s power fizzled out after three years.
The policy of French exclusion continued in 1887 with the signing of the Mediterranean Agreements involving Germany, Austria – Hungary, Spain, Italy and Great Britain. These agreements allowed for the maintenance of a status quo in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Note that this treaty excluded Russia as well as France which was bound to contribute to the deterioration of relations between them later.
Then to conclude this saga in 1888 the Russians openly accused Bismarck of double dealing as they thought he was favouring Austria-Hungary over them while pretending to be impartial. In response to this Bismarck published the terms of the Dual Alliance. As a result of this relations began to deteriorate as the Russians felt humiliated. This pushed Russia further towards France, especially when Bismarck refused to lend the Russians a loan, which they ended up having to borrow from the French, then political and diplomatic links between the two countries began to grow; the French were now not alone.
Germany had experienced nineteen years of peace up until 1890 when Bismarck was forced to resign. Having exploited and encouraged rivalries between the European countries Bismarck had managed to prevent any hostile alliances against Germany, so that was one aspect of the policy that was completely successful. But in most areas he was not so successful:
Though he did not succeed in the first to attempts that he made this intricate and complex set of agreements and alliances had the effect of denying the French of any potential allies and allowed Bismarck to retain diplomatic initiative. In the years of 1879 – 1882, when many of these agreements were being concluded Bismarck moved with assurance and aplomb, taking advantage of the apprehensions of the other governments, making the most of the unforeseen opportunities, always retaining the initiative and by 1882 he had enhanced Germany’s position so much that Berlin was regarded as the diplomatic capital of Europe. Bismarck succeeded in keeping France isolated until 1888, when Russia fell out with Germany for good and struck up good relations with France. Now, in the event of a war, Bismarck would face a battle on two fronts. In considering this, Bismarck was successful in isolating them for almost twenty years, but towards the end he failed by pushing Russia towards them.
Through the mountains of treaties from Dreikaiserbunds to Dual Alliance Bismarck managed to keep Austria –Hungary happy and on his side the whole time. But Russia was a different story. Although they were contented at first to sign the initial Dreikaiserbund, after the exposure of Austro – Hungarian favouritism by Bismarck, Russia began to get more and more anti –German. The second Dreikaiserbund temporarily settled them, but before long the tension between them and Austria –Hungary became unbearable, and it dissolved, pushing them further and further into the arms of France. So much so, that this would lead to an alliance between the two countries later on. But although this did not work out we must consider what an achievement it was that Bismarck managed to contain such tensions during the terms when the treaties did last, between two countries that were so culturally different. For any other diplomat, this is an impossible feat.
In respect to peace in Europe Bismarck was very successful. He managed to resolve issues at the Congress of Berlin, which suited the majority of Europe, and so he managed to stabilize its situation and avoid even the concept of war until he resigned and even after that. Due to him there was no conflict in Europe from 1885 (Bulgaria against Serbia) until 1914. So although his treaty was successful it did leave unresolved issues that would ultimately result in the First World War.
But how far these agreements go to be useful in the long term is questionable. Particularly as, when, not long after this Bismarck was forced to leave office and his delicate system was left in the clumsy hands of a pompous and clueless Kaiser where it all started to unravel…
Bismarck is, to this day, considered to be the most significant German in history, which only partly credits him for his outstanding actions towards a potentially disastrous turn of events. If handled by anyone else German history may have been quite different.
