Three Emperors' League

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The Three Emperor League was on the 18. June 1881 concluded secret neutrality agreement between the German Reich, Austria-Hungary and Russia.

The failure of the Three Emperor Agreement at the Berlin Congress
The Three Emperor League continued the intermittently broken Three Emperor Agreement of 1873 and was part of Bismarck's rebuilding of his alliance system after the Berlin Congress of 1878. This rebuilding had become necessary when the Russian Chancellor Gorchakov terminated the three-emperor agreement. He was disappointed that the German Reich had not taken sides with the Russian demands at the Berlin Congress and that the peace of San Stefano had been largely revised (politically in favor of Austria-Hungary).

In fact, Russian relations with Great Britain and France were considerably burdened by the forced revision of San Stefano and the only alternative seemed to be a renewed merger with the German Reich and Austria-Hungary. Gorchakov made a mistake at the Berlin Congress when he continued his cooperation with British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. On the part of the United Kingdom, there was no compensation for the termination of the tripartite emperor agreement.

In order to fully enforce the revision of San Stefano, British troops attacked the Emirate of Afghanistan in November 1878 on Disraeli's orders. In return, Britain received the island of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire at the Berlin Congress. From Afghanistan, British troops should “threat” the Bukhara Emirate, which is under Russian protectorate, if Russia wants to attack the Ottoman Empire again or enforce the Treaty of San Stefano. However, it took British troops two years in the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War to bring Afghanistan under control.

Contents of the Three Imperial League
On 18 June 1881, Russia, the German Reich and Austria-Hungary closed the Three Imperial League. The contracting parties pledged to benevolent neutrality in a potential war with a fourth party for three years and agreed on a consultation obligation for their activities in the Balkans. The German Reich could thus be sure of Russian neutrality in a possible Franco-German war, while Russia was secured with Reich German and Austro-Hungarian neutrality in the event of a war against Great Britain on the straits question or against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans (Oriental question).

Consequences of the Three Emperor League

Through the Three Emperor League, Russia got a free hand in Central Asia. In response to the occupation of Afghanistan by British troops, the Russian army began the occupation of the South Transcaspian region in 1881, which lies on the territory of what is now Turkmenistan. This process lasted until 1885, when in a military