EUROPEA N POLITICS Ann WORLD POLITICS. Af ter 1871 Austria s:wrifieed its resentment to its interests, and entered into friendly relations with Itermany and Russia. Until 1878 the dominant feature of European polities was the co6peration of these three empires. Itepublican France was isolated. ln 1878 Russian dissatisfaction with the results of the Congress of Berlin, and with the part played by Germany. led to strained relations between these two Powers. and Germany entered into n forum] alliance with Austria. Early in the eighties Italy was admitted as a third partner.
The Triple Alliance thus established has several times been renewed, and still exists. In the nineties Russia and France drew together, and in 1897 it was announced that an alliance existed between these l'owers. From these Continental alliances Great Britain has held aloof; but ar rangements for common action in the Mediter ranean have long existed between Great Britain and Italy. Both the Triple Alliance and the Franco-Russian alliance grew out of. and are con cerned chiefly with, European politics. In world politics, Germany, which embarked in 1884 upon colonial enterprises, has from time to time acted in harmony with France and with Russia. The
partition of Africa between European States, the seizure of portions of China (see CHI NESE EMPIRE), and the division of the rest of that empire into 'spheres of influence.' are the most recent steps in that extension of European power over other continents which began with Alexander the Great, was continued by the Romans, was suspended for eleven centuries by counter-attacks from Asia, and began again in the sixteenth century. Since the unification of Italy and of Germany, Europe has attained some thing like a stable equilibrium; the Turkish ques tion is partly solved and partly postponed; the Austrian question has not yet arisen. The ag gressive energy of the great European nations must find its field outside of Europe; and world tquestiens have begun to dominate European pol ities. Since the Congo Conference at Berlin (1884-85), there has been an increasing tendency to joint European action in this wider field.