> Bismarck tried to freeze Europe in that situation
No he didn't, he was quite flexible in his approach as for what was needed at any point in time.
> it failed and left Germany in a bad diplomatic situation when WW1 started.
Not really. Germany was in a fantastic situation when he left. And even by WW1 Germany wasn't in a bad situation. Relationship with Britain had been improving for years. Relationship with the Ottoman had also been improving. British French relationship wasn't that close. And British Russian relation were a disaster.
The reality is Bismark did brilliantly and the people that came after him were idiots.
- Building a huge North Atlantic Navy, rather then a smaller Baltic Navy.
- Instead of Balancing Russia and Austria going all in on Austria
- Creating international crisis over irrelevant issues to bring France/Britain, Russia/Britain closer together.
And then to start the War did the dumbest possible things and instantly made sure Britain was on the other side.
> Instead of Balancing Russia and Austria going all in on Austria
That was already Bismarck's choice : he signed a secret deal aligning Germany with Austria in case of conflict, and jeopardized his relations with Russia at the Berlin conference.
> And then to start the War did the dumbest possible things and instantly made sure Britain was on the other side.
Britain would have been on the other side regardless, already in 1875, Britain and Russia were more likely to align with France if Germany sought a preventive war.
No he didn't, he was quite flexible in his approach as for what was needed at any point in time.
> it failed and left Germany in a bad diplomatic situation when WW1 started.
Not really. Germany was in a fantastic situation when he left. And even by WW1 Germany wasn't in a bad situation. Relationship with Britain had been improving for years. Relationship with the Ottoman had also been improving. British French relationship wasn't that close. And British Russian relation were a disaster.
The reality is Bismark did brilliantly and the people that came after him were idiots.
- Building a huge North Atlantic Navy, rather then a smaller Baltic Navy.
- Instead of Balancing Russia and Austria going all in on Austria
- Creating international crisis over irrelevant issues to bring France/Britain, Russia/Britain closer together.
And then to start the War did the dumbest possible things and instantly made sure Britain was on the other side.