Features of the formation of the European bloc policy in the period of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problems of the formation of coalitions in the period preceding the First World War. In most scientific works, when analyzing the creation of the German-Austrian and Franco-Russian alliances, the factor of England, which was in a state of "brilliant isolation" for almost the entire period, is not taken into account. However, according to the authors of this article, the British policy regarding the emerging blocs was a kind of "super-dense object", invisible to an external observer, but having a strong influence on the surrounding political space. This article shows a serious, albeit indirect, influence on the formation of the German Empire of the era of Wilhelm I, which was exerted by England. The British Empire has long been an "invisible third participant" in the architecture of the German-Austrian alliance, as it was designed by the "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck. The collapse of this structure under Kaiser Wilhelm II caused a German and pan-European catastrophe.