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Paragraph 3
What, then, had Germany done specifically to arouse
alarm bells in the rest of Europe? In the 1890s, it
had rejected an alliance with Russia. Russia,
governed by the almost feudal system of the Tsars,
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was alarmed by the bellicose stance of the Germans
and in 1894, they signed an alliance with France.
Russia had its own huge internal problems as
demands for liberalisation grew and the feudal
aristocracy that had ruled the country for centuries
came under greater and greater pressure. The
German rulers probably sensed that Russia was a
very weakened state, especially after its 1905 defeat
at the hands of the Japanese.