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Bismarck´s Foreign Policy
Latest change: 12.10.
Write an essay (an article) to the Netpaper dealing with the question "How Succesful Was Bismarck´s Foreign Policy After 1871". Use your own book ( pages 16-38) and the Bismarck links..
The Article should answer the following charges (state your argument, please..)
Bismarck´s critics claim :
- he was responsible for France remaining embittered
- he exaggerated the threat of a Franco-Russian alliance
- his elaborate alliance system was fragile- little more than a form of crisis-management
- the Dual -Alliance, far from being a means by which Germany could control Austria, eventually dragged her into war in 1914
-his acquisition of colonies had negative results. German colonial ambitions alienated Britain. The colonies proved to be an expensive financial burden, costing the German taxpayer huge sums of money
- his style - his frequent use of bluster and blackmail - created a legacy of distrust
- his influence is often exaggerated. Economic and military strength was the basis of German power - not Bismarck´s diplomatic skill. The Desire of all the powers to avoid a major war was more impostant in ensuring peace than Bismarck´s diplomacy
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