In the summer and autumn of 1887, Bismarck and Salisbury extended the Mediterranean Agreement to the Balkans.

In December, Britain, Italy, and Austria exchanged notes, and the Second Mediterranean Agreement was signed, establishing an alliance for Russia's Near East.

This was an adjustment of the alliance system made by Bismarck, which contributed to the pattern of Britain, Italy, Austria, France and Russia containing each other in the Near East, and did not make France and Russia form an alliance, thus ensuring Germany's position on the European continent.

From the late eighties of the nineteenth century, the alliance of the Three Emperors gradually collapsed, but Germany still established alliances with Russia and Austria, and this period was the pinnacle of Bismarck's "king's ball does not fall" diplomacy.

After the ouster of Bismarck in March 1890, the foreign policy of his successors changed, and the system of alliances came to an end.

One of the most important of Germany's new routes is that the German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty will not be extended.

After Germany tore up the "German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty", Russia's diplomatic situation became increasingly grim. Forced to move closer to France, the two countries began to negotiate an alliance in 1891, and it was not until 1894 that the Franco-Russian alliance was formally established due to mutual distrust between France and Russia.

Under the leadership of the "new line", in July 1890, Britain and Germany signed the Treaty of Helgoland-Zanzibar, and the dispute between the two countries over the colonies was settled.

At the time it was considered a major concession on the part of Germany in order to draw Britain into the Triple Alliance.

Between 1890 and 1894, Germany repeatedly pushed Britain to extend its obligations under the Mediterranean Agreement. The demonstration of events in the Mediterranean Sea demonstrated to the world the position of the "Quad in Harmony".

In this context, Ferdinand sent Archbishop Sklimant to Russia, the main purposes of which were: first, to appease the mainstream pro-Russian faction; Second, Russian-Bulgarian relations can be improved, and you can hug your thighs without paying much price.

Time is running out, and in a few months Bismarck will be out of power, and Germany will tear up the German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty. If Russia wants to break the diplomatic deadlock, it is logical to win over Bulgaria.

In fact, since the establishment of the "Three Emperors Alliance", there have been many contradictions, especially the contradictions between Russia and Austria are difficult to reconcile.

In 1885, there was an uprising in East Rumilia, in which the people expelled the Ottoman Turkish administrators and declared a union with the Principality of Bulgaria, and Duke Alexandria was proclaimed monarch of the merged state.

What was supposed to be just a move of Bulgarian national independence was caused by the intervention of the European powers in order to gain control of Bulgaria, which caused the Bulgarian crisis that lasted for two years.

The Principality of Bulgaria was the main position in the Balkans after the Russo-Turkish War of 1878. In 1881, there was an agreement in the "Three Emperors Alliance" to unify Bulgaria, but due to changes in Russian-Bulgarian relations, Russia could not continue to control the Bulgarian puppet regime.

Grand Duke Alexander, a descendant of nobility from a small German state, was the nephew of the Empress of Russia, and in 1879 became the monarch of the Duchy of Bulgaria under the auspices of the Tsar.

After the Archduke Alexander came to power, he gradually expressed his dissatisfaction with the arrogance of the Russian officials in Bulgaria, and the negotiations between the two sides were repeated to no avail. In order to get rid of Russian control, the anti-Russian actions of Archduke Alexander became more and more obvious.

Although Austria-Hungary was an ally with Russia, it did not want to see Russia's monopoly on Bulgaria, so it began to draw closer to Alexander in the wishful thinking of each other.

After the rupture of Russian-Bulgarian relations, Russia, seeing that it could no longer control the Bulgarian government, began to hinder the unification of Bulgaria, and threatened to withdraw its officers and disintegrate Bulgaria's military power.

At the same time, he asked other great powers to jointly put pressure on Bulgaria and force Archduke Alexander to dissolve Bulgaria.

At the conference of the great powers, Austria-Hungary sided with Russia under the mediation of Germany, but it was resisted by the British, because Germany and Austria did not take a firm position.

In the end, a compromise was reached, with Archduke Alexander as governor of East Rumilia, Bulgaria completed de facto unification, and Turkey retained nominal sovereignty.

And that's not all, the annexation of Bulgaria has caused small countries such as Greece and Serbia to peep in the hope of territorial compensation.

The Serbian king of Milan visited Vienna in September, hoping that the territory would be supported by Austria-Hungary. When seen at the meeting of the great powers, can not get support later.

In November, Serbia sent troops to invade Bulgaria, but the outcome was unexpected, the Serbian army, which had absolute superiority, was defeated by Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian army took the opportunity to occupy some important Serbian towns and approached its capital.

Austria-Hungary, in order to safeguard its interests in the Balkans, intervened in the Protectorate War. Bulgaria was forced to withdraw, but Russia was excluded. At the same time, the defeat of Serbia also led to the coming to power of the pro-Russian faction, which laid a hidden danger for the Russian-Austrian contradictions.

Russia, unwilling to accept defeat, orchestrated a coup d'état and overthrew the rule of Archduke Alexander. However, due to the intervention of Britain and Austria, the situation was beyond the control of Russia, Ferdinand was proclaimed the new Grand Duke, and Russian-Austrian relations deteriorated.

Relations between Germany and Russia were not as good as they had hoped, and a conflict broke out between the two sides over trade. The entry of cheap Russian agricultural products into the German market affected the interests of the Junker aristocracy, who, with their intervention, imposed heavy taxes on Russian agricultural products; Russia also retaliated by imposing heavy taxes on German industrial products, and the German-Russian trade contradiction broke out.

In November 1887, Germany banned Russian securities from domestic banks, and the German capital market was closed to Russia, prompting Russia to turn its attention to France, and the German-Russian alliance began to come to an end.

At the end of November 1889, the Bulgarian diplomatic mission arrived in St. Petersburg. The following month, Archbishop Skritment was received by Alexander III, and the four-year diplomatic impasse between Russia and Russia began to see the light of day.

At the same time, Ferdinand, who was familiar with the faces of the great powers, was forced to recognize the Stam government and signed secret treaties with Britain and Austria-Hungary.

Britain and Austria were granted preferential foreign trade concessions to Bulgaria, and both sides only had to pay very low tariffs, which was unfair to Bulgaria given the industrial gap between the two sides.

At the same time, due to the mortgage of tariffs, the forces of Britain and Austria began a new round of penetration into Bulgaria. At a terrible cost, Ferdinand's government gained the support of Britain and Austria, and relations between the two sides were further developed.

In the long run, Britain and Austria, by virtue of their industrial superiority, gained an advantage in Bulgarian trade and dealt a blow to the development of the Bulgarian national bourgeoisie.

Fortunately, Ferdinand was prepared to develop state capitalism from the beginning, relying on policy tilt and resource pooling to compete with the great powers. There is no intention to become a bourgeois power, otherwise it will be difficult for Bulgaria to develop.