ABSTRACT
The Bosnian crisis was of outstanding political importance for several reasons. The ‘race in naval armaments’ meant a futile and exasperating expenditure of public money; but the acceptance of the German conditions would secure to Germany the political control of Europe. The German General Staff knew that if their plan of campaign were to be carried out with success, Germany must mobilize simultaneously in the East and West, and must assume that France would help Russia, and that Russia would help France. If Germany aimed at security, and not at Continental domination, the improvement of Anglo-German relations offered solid and undeniable advantages. A foreign observer of the decisions taken by Germany can scarcely avoid the conclusion that, in the last resort, the self-will of the Emperor was mainly responsible for the failure to come to an agreement on the subject of naval competition.
