1875- 1878 the near east crisis is another climax of the eastern problem after the Crimean war. European powers were involved in this crisis to varying degrees. Germany played the role of "honest middleman" in the whole crisis process, seemingly neutral, but in fact biased towards Britain and Austria, and played an important role in the development of international relations at that time. First, the attitude of European powers The serious situation in the Balkans has aroused the anxiety of European powers, especially Britain, Russia and Austria, the three countries most involved. Austria is worried that there will be a big Slavic country supported by Russia on the border, blocking the only way for Austria to expand eastward since it lost its status in Central Europe. Maintaining Turkey's rule in the Balkans is conducive to curbing the development of Slavic forces there and expanding Austria's political influence in the region. Moreover, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was afraid of setting a precedent for domestic Slavic subjects and causing domestic division. Moreover, Austria's growing economic interests in the Ottoman Empire are not suitable for this. So Austria opposed the Slavs' national movement. The conflict between Germany and Austria is inevitable. As a powerful country in the European continent, Russia's near east policy is mainly based on three considerations: avoiding diplomatic isolation; Control Constantinople and establish a favorable strait system; Ensure Russia's absolute superiority in Bulgaria. Therefore, the Balkan issue is the center of Russian diplomacy. Russia tried to control the Danube countries, expand into the Balkans and strengthen its influence on Turkey by intervening in the Slavic national uprising. In addition, the Bosporus Strait and the Da Daniil Strait are the only channels for all maritime trade in southern Russia, and Britain, the possible organizer of the anti-Russian alliance, also covets the hegemony of the strait, because it is the lifeline of Britain from Europe to India. With the sharp contradiction between Britain and Russia, Russia needs Germany's support even more. From the beginning of the Near East crisis, Disraeli regarded it as a good opportunity to break up the san huang League, because in Disraeli's mind, the san huang League was an invisible sword, which stung the throat and heart of the British. Eliminating the threat of this sword to Britain has become the main goal and content of his foreign policy. He used the conflict between Russia and Austria in the Balkans to intensify the internal contradictions of the alliance of the three emperors and adopted diplomatic strategies of wooing Germany, luring Austria and isolating Russia. Second, Germany's diplomatic countermeasures in the Near East crisis Germany has no direct interest in the East. Bismarck "publicly declared absolute indifference to the Oriental issue" and claimed that "it is not worth sacrificing a grenadier" [1]p.29, but the changes in the relations between the great powers in the Near East will inevitably affect the diplomatic pattern in Europe. Therefore, the crisis in the Near East is a blessing for Germany: on the one hand, the struggle of great powers in the Balkans has shifted the attention of European countries from Alsace and Lorraine to the East, and it has also provided an opportunity for Germany to use the Eastern issue to divide the great powers and help reduce the possibility of their joint resistance to Germany; On the other hand, Russia, Britain and Austria may ask Germany to support their respective policies at any time, and any careless move by Germany may lead to an alliance between one of them and France. Therefore, Bismarck is committed to maintaining neutrality, so that Germany can avoid being involved in the great power opposition in the Near East and try to engage in some opposition among other great powers. He hopes to have a "political overall situation, and all powerful countries need us except foreign countries;" Using their relationship, we can prevent them from forming an alliance against us as much as possible. " [2]p.284 is embodied in: 1. Bismarck, who favored Austria on the premise of avoiding the conflict between Russia and Austria, said many times that "we can tolerate the breakdown of British-Russian relations, but we cannot tolerate the breakdown of Russian-Austrian relations." [3]p.33 This sentence shows the position of Russian-Austrian relations in Bismarck's diplomatic priorities. However, both Austria and Russia have important interests in the Near East, and these interests will almost inevitably conflict sooner or later. Essentially, Germany cannot choose between Austria and Russia. Otherwise, either Russia and France will join hands to make Germany face the threat of double attack, or Austria and France may form a revenge alliance to weaken Germany's European hegemony. Bismarck needs to control the "degree" of Austria-Russia relations, make his two allies reach some arrangement, form a coexistence trend in the Balkans, and at the same time both need German friendship. Therefore, Bismarck supported "Russian-Austrian reconciliation" instead of "Russian-Austrian conflict", "eliminating any possible friction between Russia and Austria" [5]p. 1 19, and supported the two sides to reach an agreement on the near east issue. Such as the Andrasi Memorandum, the Berlin Memorandum and the German Agreement. Germany also helped Russia intervene in Berlin. For example, Germany opposes Austria's demand to further reduce the number and duration of Russian occupation in Bulgaria and East Rumilia; Give support to Sofia and Batumi Russia. However, at this time, due to the pressure of public opinion and the consideration of balance of power, the focus of German foreign policy has changed, the relationship between Germany and Russia has become unreliable, Germany and Austria are getting closer and closer, and Germany has made various expressions in favor of Austria under the guise of neutrality. These favorable performances are as follows: 1. In September 1876, in order to ensure Germany's support, the tsar verbally asked General Wilder, the German plenipotentiary military representative, "Once the Russian-Austrian war breaks out, will Germany take actions like 1870 Russia?" [7] p.355 For this "doctoral question that will force Germany to choose Russia and oppose Austria-Hungary", Bismarck skillfully made the following answer: Germany neither allows Russian weapons to fail due to European union, nor can it tolerate Austria-Hungary being weakened or disappeared as a European balance of power factor. In essence, Germany did not allow Russia to defeat Austria-Hungary. It can be seen that Germany's support for Russia is limited, on the premise of not damaging Austria's fundamental interests. Germany's attitude forced Russia to compromise with Austria-Hungary and signed the Budapest Agreement in 1877. Second, the clause of establishing Greater Bulgaria in the Peace Treaty of Saint Stifano signed after the Russian-Turkish War (1March 878) directly threatened the interests of Britain and Austria in the Balkans. At this time, Bismarck claimed to be an "honest middleman" and said that he would not intervene in the eastern issue. Under the situation of the alliance between Britain and Austria, Germany's neutral attitude is obviously not conducive to Russia. Russia was then forced to accept arbitration at an international conference. After the Peace Treaty of Saint Stifano, Austria moved closer to Germany, and Russia became more dissatisfied with Germany. Thirdly, at the Berlin Conference in June-July 1878, Bismarck, as the host, mediated, claiming that he was only an "honest middleman", trying to safeguard the interests of both Russia and Austria and trying to remain neutral in the dispute between Russia and Austria. But in fact, all Bismarck's policies are based on the premise of not harming Austria's fundamental interests and not breaking with Britain. In most cases, Bismarck supports the British-Austrian position, which makes Russia isolated and forced to hand over all the fruits of victory, such as giving up the Greater Bulgaria plan. Russia blamed all this on Germany's poor support and regarded the Berlin conference as "the anti-Russian European Union under Bismarck's leadership". [4] p.2032 advocates an alliance with Britain. Germany advocates cooperation with Britain and urges Britain to support Austria. Germany advocates the cooperation between Britain and Germany for the following reasons: First, the conflict between Russia and Austria in the Balkans may lead to an alliance between Russia and France, which will hit Germany in Europe. An alliance with Britain can intimidate Russia, make it realize the importance of friendship with Germany, and prevent it from forming an alliance with France against Germany soon. On the other hand, it can reduce the diplomatic dependence on Austria and improve the status of a big country. At the same time, it can also contain the drastic changes in Austria-Russia relations. Secondly, Bismarck saw that the conflict on the colonial issue, especially the Egyptian issue, led to the deterioration of Anglo-French relations. If he brings Russia and Britain together, France will alienate Russia. If Russia refuses to leave France, Britain will be forced to stand with Austria-Hungary. In any case, it can reduce the pressure on Germany. Therefore, 1876 65438+ 10, Bismarck, when meeting with British ambassador Oddo Russell, suggested that Britain and Germany should cooperate in the Near East, pointing out that Germany "can support Britain's interests there by exerting beneficial influence on Vienna and St. Petersburg" [4] P.40. disraeli also knows that Britain is a naval power, but it needs a strong army to fight against Russia. Therefore, he decided to seize the opportunity to win over Germany, use its powerful army and, more importantly, destroy triple alliance. 1876 10, disraeli tried to establish an "alliance to maintain the status quo" with Germany, but the wily Bismarck offered an exchange, and Britain and Germany formed an alliance against France. 1877 65438+ 10 In October, the situation on the border between France and Germany was tense, and Bismarck sought "neutrality" in his actions in Germany. In February, Bismarck further proposed to form an anti-French secret alliance with Britain, but it was rejected by Britain because Britain believed that the so-called French aggression and anti-German alliance did not exist. Bismarck's alarmism aims to make use of the chaotic situation after the failure of Constantinople Conference, create discord between Britain and Russia, induce Russia to go to war against Turkey, and give Germany the freedom to completely defeat France. [4] p.9 1 The British did not want Germany to be stronger because it defeated France again, and rejected Bismarck's suggestion. The alliance between the two sides broke up in discord. In addition, Bismarck also tried to promote the coordination between Britain and Austria in the Balkans, so as to enhance its confrontational position with Russia. In the negotiation of understanding between Britain and Austria, Andrasi adhered to the strategy of cooperation and independence, and revealed the contents of the negotiation to Germany. Bismarck said that "Austria can rely on the support of Germany" [4] p. 1 10. After three months of negotiations, the two sides reached a limited understanding through the exchange of statements. It was not until a week before the Berlin Conference that Yin Gao signed a "gentleman's agreement" with limited content, and the two sides agreed to adopt a common line in solving the problem of the future system of the East. However, under the conditions of the existence of the Lechstadt Agreement and the Budapest Special Agreement, it can only be a blank check given by Britain and Austria. 1April 3, 878, the Anglo-Austrian negotiations resumed. Bismarck exerted influence on London at Andrasi's request and supported Austria's interests. Britain and Austria quickly reached a tacit understanding and concluded a new Britain-Austria agreement in June 1978, limiting the period of Russian occupation of Bulgaria to six months. This agreement became the blueprint of the Berlin Treaty. In a word, during the crisis in the Near East, Bismarck intended to cooperate with Britain, but Britain had no intention of forming an alliance with Germany because it did not conform to Britain's foreign policy of balance of power. For Britain, cooperation is one thing, and alliance is another. Alliances will only tie your hands and feet. The signing of the Anglo-Austrian agreement is only a step for Britain to disintegrate the Huang San League. Three. Evaluation of Germany's Near East Policy During the Near East crisis, Bismarck claimed to be an "honest middleman", and his seemingly impartial neutral position was essentially to unite Britain and Austria to suppress Russia, which cast a shadow over the relationship between Russia and Germany. After the Berlin Conference, German-Russian relations deteriorated. Russia's hatred has not been transferred to its old enemy Britain, but to a big German country that used to be a friend and ally. [8]p. 16 1 It is precisely because of the deception and betrayal of Berlin, an "honest middleman", that Russia was defeated after a successful war against Turkey and won a "decent peace" between Britain and Austria [9] p.5 1. After that, the two countries launched the war between the two prime ministers and the war of public opinion. In terms of German-Austrian relations, the Near East crisis made Germany realize that "it is necessary to choose between Russia and Austria, not both" [1] p.30, and an alliance with Austria is more beneficial to Germany. Therefore, Germany stepped up diplomatic contacts with Austria-Hungary, trying to make up for the split between the Three Emperors Alliance and Germany-Austria, and began to build Bismarck's continental alliance system. As Engels pointed out, "If the annexation of alsace-lorraine made France fall into the arms of Russia, then the March into Constantinople and the Berlin Peace Treaty made Austria fall into the arms of Bismarck." [10] Since the Franco-Prussian War, the strength of Germany has been rising. The crisis in the Near East has given Germany a chance to show off and made other big countries realize that a rising Germany has stood in the middle of Europe. The long-term stalemate between Britain, Austria and Russia in the Near East established by the Berlin Conference has created favorable conditions for Germany to dominate European affairs. No big country can care about Berlin's position as the political center of Europe alone. A new balance of power centered on Germany already exists, and Germany's image and responsibility as a big European country have been formally established. Refer to Dr. Charles Seymour's Diplomatic Background of War (1 870-1914), Yale University Press. London. 19 16 [2] Karl ehrlich Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany: German History, Volume III, Commercial Press, 199 1 Edition [3] Paul M. Kennedy, England, the rise of the opposition between Britain and Germany/. [4] Zhu Yingquan: The Near East Crisis and the Berlin Conference, Nanjing University Press, 1995 [5] Richard Shannon: The Crisis of Imperialism 1865- 19 19. Collins publishing group. London 1974. [6] Quoted from Xiao Hansen and Huang Zhengbai, Division, Unification and International Relations of Germany, Central China Normal University Press, 1998 [7] Su Khvostov, Diplomatic History, Volume II, Volume I, Joint Publishing Company, 1979 [8] American Barbara Glavic: Russian foreign policy in a century (1814-1914), Commercial Press, 6544814.