In 1871, France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War by Germany, which made Germany the greatest power in Europe, and satisfied Otto Von Bismark with a Prussian-dominated Germany. Although it was feared that Germany, in it's rising power, would continue to grow stronger and expand further, that was not Bismark's intention. He had achieved his goal, and his intention was to maintain peace in Europe to protect Germany's security. In order to maintain peace, something had to be done about the multiple conflicts between European countries. The largest issues were France, and its bitterness and thirst for revenge. Although France alone posed no serious threat to Germany, if it were to form an alliance with Russia or Austria-Hungary, then Germany could be facing a multi-front war. Also, the declining Ottoman Empire was losing control over its territory in the Balkan region, and there were disputes between nations on what to do with the land that the Ottoman Empire may lose. In order to maintain peace, Bismark's plan was to isolate France and reduce the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia over the Balkans, but not so much that they would not need to depend on Germany, and might possibly conspire against it. First, Bismark had to assure leaders of the other nations that he had truly become a man of peace.
In order to begin maintaining peace in Europe, Bismark consistently assured everyone that he had peaceful intentions, and his words were reinforced by the meetings between the German Kaiser, the Austria-Hungarian Emperor, and the Tsar of Russia, which became the Three Emperors' League. It expressed the three leaders' desires to maintain peace between each other, and avoid conflict over the Balkan region. However, Bismark ruined his plans for peace when he accused France of preparing for war against Germany, and threatened them, to which they responded with a threat saying they would have support from Great Britain and Russia in the event of German threats. Bismark made a foolish, clumsy mistake that went against all he had been trying so hard to convince the people of.
2. Why did events between the years 1875-78 in the Balkans lead to a crisis between the Great Powers?
In the year 1875, a rising in Bosnia and Herzegovnia against Turkish rule upset the balance and peace between Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia. In 1876 the revolt had spread to Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and part of the Ottoman Empire. This re-opened the Eastern Question, and Bismark had to mediate between Russia and Austria-Hungary without appearing to take the side of either, or else the other might seek France's support against Germany. Russia wanted to protect its fellow slavs in Serbia in order to protect the slavic influence in other nations, and Austria-Hungary was interested in land in the Balkans. Both Austria-Hungary and Russia sought to gain something out of the crisis, and neither seemed to be willing to settle or back down. By 1877, thousands of Russian volunteers were assisting Serbia, and Russia's patience was exhausted. Austria-Hungary only agreed to remain neutral in the war as long as its interests in the Balkans were met, and Britain refused to allow Russian gain at the expense of Turkey. The Turks finally defeated Serbia, and Russia felt obliged to get involved for the sake of their fellow slavs, so they declared war on Turkey in April. 1877
Russia met skillful resistance from the Turks, but ultimately won the war, and in their victory they extracted severe terms from Turkey, and made some big territory gains. This, of course, upset Great Britain, who sent troops to back Turkey and pin Russia down. Also, Austria-Hungary was upset with Russia's actions, because they had tried so hard to work out an agreement involving the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans, but Russia went and defeated Turkey in war, and used that as much to their advantage as possible. Austria-Hungarian anger, and British military forced Russia to agree to a revision of the peace terms in 1878.
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