Russia's relationship with other countries

• Three Emperors League formed

  1873
• Three Emperors League


  Alliance between Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary to consult on mutual interests in Europe and remain neutral when any one member state took military action against a non-member
• There was a major problem with the Three Emperors League arrangement as Austria-Hungary and Russia were in competition with each other for influence over the Balkans
• Desire to control Balkans


  Many European powers wanted to keep the weakened Ottoman Empire in the Balkans to prevent any one European state from gaining full control over the Balkans
• Russia's interest in the Balkans


  Protect valuable trade routes and promote Pan-Slavism (unity of all Slavic peoples)
• Austria-Hungary's interest in the Balkans

  Restore prestige and territory lost, counter nationalist pressures from Slavs who wanted to break away
• Bosnia and Herzegovina rebelled against Ottoman rule, beginning the First Balkan Crisis


  1874
• Serbia declared war on Turkey


  1876
• Russia, based on pan-Slavism, declared war on Turkey

  1876
• Turkey sued for peace, Bismarck mediated the dispute at the Congress of Berlin


  1878
• Bismarck sought to prevent Russian control of the Balkans to maintain the balance of power in Europe
• Russia was resentful about Bismarck's role in their defeat and suspicious of German policy
• Russia begins to worry about the strengthened German-Austro-Hungarian link and signs the Second Three Emperors League


  1881
• Italy joins the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary


  1882
• German policy changes as Kaiser Wilhelm II dismisses Bismarck

  1890
• Dual Entente alliance formed between Russia and France


  1891
• Minor events in the Balkans now had the potential to cause a European war due to the complex web of alliances
• France ends the Triple Alliance by secretly negotiating with Italy


  1900-02
• France and Britain sign the Entente Cordiale

  1904
• The Entente Cordiale was a friendly understanding, not a military alliance, but Germany behaved as if it was anti-German
• Germany tries to break up the Entente Cordiale over the Moroccan crisis, but the Algeciras Conference strengthens it instead


  1905-06
• Anglo-Russian Entente signed, establishing the Triple Entente of Britain, Russia and France


  1907
• Russia's adoption of industrialization was driven by the need to improve its military strength in light of the European alliance system