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Paragraph 2
Britain, for example, wanted to maintain the balance
of the power in Europe so that it could get on with
governing and exploiting its huge world empire. The
rise of any dominant power in Europe would threaten,
in Britain’s eyes, European stability and its own
security. Germany was that power. The militaristic
dictatorship, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the army, that
was, in essence, in control of power in Germany, had
been taking a more aggressive stance in the decades
leading up to the outbreak of the war. From Britain’s
perspective, an over-dominant Germany would upset
the natural balance in Europe and threaten its
empire and even its own territorial integrity. 
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.
Paragraph 4
In addition, British alarm grew when Germany
started to build up its navy. Traditionally, Britain
prided itself on ‘ruling the waves’, the basis of its
‘island fortress’ reputation. Because of its sea power,
Britain as an island power could protect its shores
and patrol its huge empire. The method of
diplomacy used to resolve conflicts in its empire was
basically a ‘send a gunboat’ approach and this
reliance on its naval power was still very much at
the forefront of British policy, so that Germany’s
ambitions to build a navy that would at least rival
Britain’s was a like a red rag to the British bulldog.
Not since Napoleon and the battle of Trafalgar had
British sea power been seriously threatened and now
Germany was doing just that.