Bismarck

Spock

is it just me or did Bismarcks Re-insurance Treay amount to nothing.

Dancing duck

When the Reinsurance Treaty was brought up in 1890, it could have been renewed through clever diplomacy, had Germany sought reconciliation with Russia. However, no such reconciliation was sought and the Treaty that effectively stopped European war through ensuring that France remained isolated was allowed to lapse.
So yes, that's close enough to nothing for me.

Spock

The Treaty said that Germany and Russia would remain neutral in a war in which the other was involved. Unless Russia attacked Austria-Hungry or Germany attacked France.But those two situations were the only likely wars to happen and the only wars that Bismarck was afraid of, the treaty only covered you against war with England, which at that time was very unlikely because of its foreign policy at the time.

treaty=useless

ykt0di9url7bc3

the Tsar was on very friendly terms with France at the time, and there was mistrust between russia and germany over german gains and the embarressment dealt to france in the franco prussian war...

a lot of thinkers at the time thought that the next big war would be an european alliance taking on the mighty Russian Colossus (they were so wrong, there were many ideas on what was to be the next war) but Bismark usually tied up loose ends....

Russia would always be a staunch ally and supporter of France yet Russia saw itself as the defender of the slav states in the balkans (eg serbia) and was not on friendly terms with the Hasburgs (sp?) due to serbia pissing them off (we know that princip and the black hand took it too far)....

Bismark secured peace/nuetrality with Russia in any war except one which France (which would call in Russian support for the french due to Franco-Russian agreements at the time).

The treaty was to stall/prevent the Russians from taking advantage if Germany was fighting elsewhere, no one believed that a war on 2 fronts could be won, and many believed that Russia was the greatest threat due to its limitless supply of man power (many generals at the time believed mass was the key, and gave Russia an undesrved reputation for any coming wars)

and further treatys building on this could have isolated Russia and France even further and could have changed the Schlieffen Plan as it was aimed as a quick knockout blow before German turned on Russia (who at the time was considered to be her greatest threat)

I apologise for spelling and haphazard layout*



*bollox its 5 in the morning

[Information taken from AJP Taylor's "The first World War" & "From Boer War to Cold War - European History 1870 - 1960]

Spock

So basicly, the symbolism of the treaty was all that mattered, the fact that they were all talking was a good thing, dispite reached no GREAT conclusion.

ykt0di9url7bc3

Originally posted by SearrarD

a lot of thinkers at the time thought that the next big war would be an european alliance taking on the mighty Russian Colossus (they were so wrong, there were many ideas on what was to be the next war) but Bismark usually tied up loose ends....

Bismark secured peace/nuetrality with Russia in any war except one which France (which would call in Russian support for the french due to Franco-Russian agreements at the time).

and further treatys building on this could have isolated Russia and France even further and could have changed the Schlieffen Plan as it was aimed as a quick knockout blow before German turned on Russia (who at the time was considered to be her greatest threat)

R U S S I A N .... N U E T R A L I T Y

very nice thing to have...

possible maybe an alliance down the road...




Reinsurance Treaty of 1881-Triple Alliance

Bismarck was able to reduce the fears of a two-front war when he signed the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia. The treaty was designed to help Bismarck overcome two problems. The first was the fear of being dragged into a war in the Balkans region. Both Russian and Austria-Hungary expected Germany to support them in case of a war. Second, if Russia did not feel that Germany was a supporter of them, she might look to the French for support, and the fear of a two-front war would be a possibility.

Russia was very paranoid about the Dual Alliance. She believed that the alliance was directed at her. Therefore, Russia approached Bismarck and requested an alliance. Bismarck took the opportunity to solve his problems. In creating the treaty, he was clever enough to include Austria-Hungary in the deal as well. Russia and Austria-Hungary were rivals in the Balkans region so Bismarck forced them to work together. This cleared up the problem of being dragged into a Balkan war. The treaty stated that if a country were to attack one of the members, the others would come to their aid of the country that was attacked. Yet, the most important aspect of the treaty for Germany was that it eliminated a two-front war

http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/history20/unit1/sec1_05.html

very good resource webby

da_deadman

Thank you SearrarD, I was sure that Austria-Hungary was involved too. But no-one mentioned it and I thought maybe I was crazy, I was gonna go straight home and look through my old history Leaving Cert book

Bismarck was a very clever politician in his ability to get what he wanted nearly everytime. His success in beating Austria to gain control of the future German state, and then getting an alliance with her AND Russia is amazing. He used force and diplomacy when they were called for. Surely he was one of the best, if not the top, statesman in European history.