france undermined bismarck's international policies by refusing to renew the reinsurance treaty.
who undermined bismarck's international policies by refusing to renew the reinsurance treaty?
france
as part of bismarck's system of "periphery diversion", the treaty was highly dependent on his prestige. when bismarck was ousted from office in 1890, russia asked for a renewal of the treaty. germany refused. bismarck's successor, leo von caprivi felt no need to mollify russia. germany's foreign policy establishment was unanimous in rejecting a renewal, because it contradicted so many other german positions with austria, britain, romania, and italy. for example, the reinsurance treaty contradicted the secret treaty of 1883 in which germany and austria promised to protect romania. russia knew nothing of that treaty. kaiser wilhelm ii was still highly influential in foreign policy and believed his personal friendship with tsar alexander iii would be sufficient to ensure further genial diplomatic ties. his higher priority was building better relationships with great britain. anglo-russian relations had long been strained by russia's quest to take control of the straits linking the black sea and the mediterranean. london feared that russian expansion to its south would threaten british colonial interests in the middle east. france, desperate for an ally, report financial help to rebuild the russian economy and successfully developed the franco-russian alliance in 1894, ending french isolation. the dismissal of bismarck, the erratic temper of wilhelm ii and the uncertain policy of the men who succeeded bismarck were joint causes of a growing international instability.
reinsurance treaty
the first chancellor of united germany otto von bismarck had skillfully guided germany's foreign relations so it was not firmly attached to any other european power. after his departure in 1890, germany's foreign policy drifted into deeper commitment with the triple alliance of austria-hungary and italy. friedrich von holstein of the german foreign office convinced the new chancellor, leo von caprivi, to not renew the reinsurance treaty with the russian empire in 1890. bismarck had designed the reinsurance treaty to keep russia from an alliance with france; the russian search for allies who could finance their enormous debts resulted in the franco-russian alliance several years later. holstein had hoped that the lapsing of the reinsurance treaty would result in a closer relationship with britain, which was competing with both russia and france, which did not occur. from 1890 to 1897, germany wavered between pro-british and pro-russian policies, reflecting the incoherence of german leadership.
anglo-german naval arms race