ABSTRACT
The core of the European alliance system that dominated the relations of the great powers before the First World War was created by Bismarck. Its bedrock was the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary on October (p. ): article promised that each power would aid the other with its whole strength if Russia attacked one of the two empires; article provided that if another power attacked one of the allies the other would remain neutral unless the attacking country is joined by Russia. Bismarck’s intention was to use this defensive alliance as a lever to bring Russia back into alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary and so to dominate European diplomacy in the interests of peace between the great powers. The web of alliances with Berlin at its centre was intended to ‘place a premium’ on peace. Bismarck wished to prevent wars from breaking out over territorial and international disputes, particularly over the disposal of the Ottoman Emperor’s European territories. No less serious concern later was the danger of war between the successor Balkan states on the one hand and Austria-Hungary and Russia, rivals for influence in the Balkans, on the other. Any such wars might spread and involve the German empire. In playing the role of ‘honest broker’ Bismarck was above all serving German national interests. He feared that the newly founded German empire, the most powerful state in the heart of Europe, would lead inevitably to a hostile counterbalance. His ‘nightmare of coalitions’ was that Germany’s neighbours would ally with each other against Germany and encircle her. To prevent this from happening he allied Germany with Austria-Hungary, Italy and Russia, and isolated France which might otherwise be tempted to seek revenge for the defeat of and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and act as the nucleus of an antiGerman alliance group of nations.
