dopted the same military system that
Germany had, and required all of her young men to serve two years in
the army and be ready at a moment's notice to rush to arms. She began
also to build up a strong navy, and to spread her colonies in Africa
and other parts of the world. This rapid recovery of France surprised
and disturbed Bismarck, who thought that never again, after the war of
1870, would she become a strong power. He had tried to renew the old
"Holy Alliance" between Germany, Russia, and Austria with the idea of
preventing the spread of republics. These were the three nations which
gave their people very few rights, and which stood for the "divine
right of kings" and for the crushing of all republics. Bismarck called
this new combination the "Drei-kaiser-bund" or three-emperor-bond. He
himself says that the proposed alliance fell to pieces because of the
lies and treachery of Prince Gortchakoff, the Russian Minister of
Foreign Affairs.

[3] The first republic began in 1792, when King Louis XVI was beheaded,
the second in 1848 when Louis Philippe, the "citizen king," was driven
out.

An incident which happened in 1875 helped to estrange Germany from
Russia. As was previously said, Bismarck was astonished and alarmed
when he saw how quickly France was getting over the effects of the
war. In 1875, some trouble came up again between France and Germany,
and Bismarck a second time planned to make war on the republic
and--complete the task that he had left unfinished in 1871. He wanted
to reduce France to the rank of a second class power, on a par with
Spain and Denmark. This time, however, England and Russia growled
ominously. They notified Bismarck that they would not stand by and see
France crushed--not from any love of France, but because they were
jealous of Prussia and afraid that the Germans might become too
powerful in Europe. Accordingly, Bismarck had to give up his idea of
war. Prussia was strong, but she could not fight England, Russia, and
France combined. However, he remembered that England and Russia had
spoiled his plans and waited for a chance to get revenge.

[Illustration: Peter the Great]

The great object of all European diplomats was to maintain what they
called "the balance of power." By this they meant that no one country
was to be allowed to grow so strong that she could defy the rest of
Europe. Whenever one nation grew too powerful, the others combined to
pull her down.

In the meantime,