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Prior to the outbreak of World War One there were already problems in Europe. From the accession of the German Emperor, and the dismissal of the German Chancellor Bismarck, there was an increase in tensions between European powers, who eventually split between two hostile alliances. These differences were exacerbated by colonial rivalries, an arms race and regular crises.
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The British were suspicious of German naval intentions: the Germans seemed to be increasing the size of their fleet, and to be more willing to deploy their naval assets into the Atlantic, which Britain regarded as her backyard. Moreover, the Germans were widening and deepening the Kiel Canal, a vital waterway between the North Sea and the Baltic, where the key naval base of Kiel was to be found
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In 1898 Britain and France almost went to war over the Fashoda Incident, when their two armies confronted each other on the Upper Nile. The 1904 agreement was intended to settle all mutual colonial claims and was not a full military alliance of the kind that France had signed with Russia eleven years before
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Germany, which had only been fully united in 1871, felt left out in the race for colonies - above all in Africa, where the 1890s saw a mad scramble by the Powers to grab what was left. France was particularly sensitive to German intrusions, as it had other issues with Germany - like the continued occupation of Alsace-Lorraine and a military arms race
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Britain's navy was her principal military asset, and Britain resented any attempt by Germany to flaunt its naval power
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Germany regarded Austria-Hungary as its staunchest ally, and she was delighted when the newly unified Italian state chose to join the treaty
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Britain was anxious to settle existing naval and colonial issues wherever they were to be found
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Russia was anxious to defend brother Slavs from the eastward advance of Austro-Hungarian forces. If the Habsburgs got away with this, Russia feared that Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and even Russia herself, could be at risk
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Turkish weakness, and possible withdrawal from their remaining land in South East Europe, could lead to a vacuum which would be disputed by Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. These tensions could further destabilize other parts of Europe
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Bosnia-Hercegovina contained many ethnic Serbs, whom the "Black Hand" organization intended to support. However, there were also Muslims, Croats and Slovenes who feared the consequences of Serb nationalism
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The British Foreign Office had done their best to avoid war: for example, proposing an international conference to settle the issue of Franz Ferdinand's assassination. This ploy had helped to solve the 1905 crisis but there was little enthusiasm for it in 1914
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