Germany focused on keeping France isolated and vulnerable after defeating it in the Franco-
Prussian War. The Germans founded The
Three Emperors’ League consisting of
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia

 Before 1871 Germany was a loose union of independent kingdoms known as the Holy Roman Empire.
 The largest of these kingdoms, Prussia, increasingly dominated the other German states; the Prussian king’s chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, put together a plan to weld the German-speaking kingdoms together into a modern nation-state under the rule of Prussia.
 The heavily industrialized new Germany soon possessed the most powerful economy in Europe and sought a military to match.
 Germany turned into a world power almost over night, which struck tension the traditional alignments within
Europe.

 The alliance system was started by Bismarck, from 1871 to
1890.
 After the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck held that Germany was a satisfied state; no need for further expansion.
 Bismarck organized a system of alliances to maintain Germany's supremacy on the European continent.
 France was determined to challenge the power of Germany because France had been defeated by Germany in 1871 and had been forced to surrender two provinces (Alsace-Lorraine) to
Germany.
 Bismarck tried to befriend Austria, Russia, Italy and Britain in order to isolate France.

TEL
 Bismarck's aim for forming this League was to isolate
France by making friends with Austria and Russia.
 The partners were Kaiser William I of Germany , Czar
Alexander II of Russia and Emperor Francis Joseph of
Austria .
 These three rulers agreed:
(i) to maintain the existing territorial arrangements in Europe;
(ii) to resist the spread of revolutionary (e.g. socialist movements;
(iii) to consult one another if any international difficulties arose.

TEL
 TEL was a powerful military alliance although
Germany often had to prevent clashes between the Austrian and Russian allies
 Both aimed for the small and weak Balkan states such as
Bosnia and Serbia
 The new Kaiser Wilhelm II inherited the throne; the younger emperor fired Bismarck and took over Germany’s foreign affairs himself.
 Wilhelm II dismissed Russia from the three-power alliance to show his solidarity with the Austrians.
 The French succeeded in signing the Russians to a military alliance (Germany with Austria-Hungary versus France with
Russia)

 The French joining Russia and leaving Germany with Austria formed the basis of World War I alliance system.
 The French brought the British into the pact with
Russia (The Triple Entente, 1908).

"Background to the War Nobody Won: World War I, 1914-1918."
Http://iws.collin.edu
. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2012.
"League of the Three Emperors." Wikipedia . Wikimedia Foundation, 12 July
2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.
"World War I." Alliance System / System of Alliances . N.p., 2000-2007. Web.
07 Dec. 2012.