On the Reasons Why the Reinsurance Treaty Was not Renewed in 1890

Abstract

The article is aimed at discussing the reasons for the non-renewal of the Reinsurance Treaty in 1890 between Russia and Germany. It analyses the fundamental traits of Bismarck’s foreign policy towards Russia and subsequently deals with the impact of Bismarck’s resignation. It further details the shift in attitudes towards Russia by Bismarck’s replacement in order to understand why the Treaty was not renewed. The article also determines how this shift influenced international politics and lists the reasons for French and Russian relations growing. The study uses methodological approaches of “traditional” political history, meaning history of states and diplomacy based on “the primacy of foreign policy” and research fields aimed at actions of states and their highest political representatives. Based on the methodological approaches, an analysis has been conducted of “highest policy” and a “realistic” insight into the history of foreign policy is presented in narrative form. The author agrees with the opinion that the changes in German foreign policy led to the so-called “revolution of the alliances”. Based on unpublished sources found during archival research, the study concludes that the post-Bismarck diplomacy negatively impacted Germany’s international position since its actions brought France and Russia closer and left Germany with the weakest ally, i.e. Austria-Hungary. The study further concludes that these changes symbolized a huge loss for Germany’s diplomacy. The author assesses that the new diplomacy did not prove itself, calculated falsely, analyzed incorrectly, and predicted wrongly.