... 1871 in the Franco-Prussian war and the unification of Germany, the nation became the greatest military power in Europe and a potential threat to the other powers. Bismarck the German Chancellor had very clear aims in foreign policy; to show that Germany was not a threat, to keep France isolated in the event of revenge and to be one of three powers in an alliance preferably Austria and Russia. This led to the birth of the alliance system and the Three Emperors' Alliance in 1881 between Germany, Austria and Russia. However this alliance was destroyed by the second Balkan crisis of 1885. Russia threatened to occupy Bulgaria, but Austria intervened to prevent Russia's dominance of the Balkans, resulting in deterioration in Austro-Russian relations. When Germany supported Austria instead of Russia, Russia would not renew the Three Emperors' Alliance and allied with France in 1894, who had been previously allied with ...

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