“Yes there was a buildup”
Exactly. Everyone saw the “Germany problem” rising. France, obviously, but also Britain. Which is why they tried to stop them from building a navy. But they didn’t try very hard, and all along the line Germany smelled their weakness. And that is why they pounced, because they thought everyone was too weak to stop them. They should have been convinced otherwise.
“The Kaiser screwed that all up by pushing the Russians to ally with France. Prior to that Germany and Britian had been allies against France.”
Don’t drown in diplomatic tangles and geopolitical confusions. The bare facts are that Germany was seen as a lesser power, desperately wanted to alter that condition, and eventually went to war in order to control the European continent. The deals they made along the way are historical curiosities, but only serve to make the larger story fuzzy.
It would be as we explained the Soviet Empire of the Cold War period in terms of their shifting alliances with Poland and China, or whatever, ignoring completely their intent to dominate the globe. Germany’s cannot be understood outside of power politics, and were in no way amenable to normal diplomatic relations.
Ridiculous. Britain practiced Splendid Isolation after Crimea. Their best allies were the Germans on the continent, to contain France on the continent.
It’s only after the Russians and the Germans fell out that Germany felt ‘trapped’, and diplomatically isolated. Even after the buildup their navy was nothing compared to Britain, which is why the naval war was a mere sideshow.
Germany didn’t smell any weakness. They fought in 1914, after Russia mobilized, because they had no choice. Once the Entente was put together between Britain and France and Russia (the three world powers at the time), that left Germany allied with Austria. This was a drastic upset in the balance of power.
Russia invaded them in East Prussia, and it was Lundendorff and Hindenburg who destroyed them at Tannenburg and the Masurian Lakes.
Despite being massively outnumbered, the Germans fought for 4 years on the continent and it took bringing the US, to end the war. Germany managed to fight the three world powers at the time to a standstill. Sure they lost, but they destroyed Russia (far larger and more powerful at the time), and came within a hair’s breadth of destroying France. Had France surrendered in 1917, the war would have ended, with Germany defending her possessions in the west, and owning most of former Poland and Lithuania in the east.
The typical balance under Metternich was France + Austria + Spain, vs Prussia, Russia and Britain. Austria and Germany were natural rivals, as were France and Russia, as were Britain and Spain. Once the Russian and German alliance fell out, the only natural partner was Austria.