Why were Russia and Germany battling each other in WWI?
The Dreikaiserbund (the three emperors league) feel apart over territorial disputes in the Balkans, as Austria-Hungary feared that Russian support for Serbia might ultimately ignite irredentist passions in its tenuously grasped Slav populations. Russian authorities likewise feared insurrection, should a Pan-Slav movement gain too much power. The body’s first conclusion in 1879 gave way to a defensive alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany to counter potential Russian aggression. In 1882 Italy joined this agreement to form the Triple Alliance. Russia was so keen to protect Serbia because Russia saw herself as ‘protector of the Slavs’ and therefore saw it as her reponsibility to protect her and her christian population (especially after the Turkish autrocities against Balkan christian states in the 1870s – like bulgaria where babies were nailed to church doors by Turkish troops etc). Wilhelm and Nicholas were also cousins with the king of England at the time of WW1 Geroge V (which
