Part 4/11:
Germany, burgeoning as a dominant industrial and military force, felt encircled. With France to the west, Russia to the east, and Britain controlling the North Sea, German military and political leadership was anxious as external pressures escalated. The strategic alliance with Austria-Hungary, forged in 1879, was a double-edged sword, providing both support and burden. The vulnerability of Austria-Hungary made its leaders desperate, with war looming as both a solution and a tragedy.