been a great triple organisation of German domination over a mainly Slavonic population, though the extent of the German power, no doubt, varied in different parts. In this fact we have the key to the meaning of the volte-face of 1895, when was concluded the incongruous Franco-Russian alliance between Democracy and Despotism. When Russia allied herself with France against the Germans, much more was implied than merely a reshuffling of the cards on the play-table of Europe. Something fundamental had happened in East Europe from the point of view of Berlin. Prior to that great and significant event there had been long bickerings between the Russian and Austrian Governments as the result of their rivalry in the Balkans, but these were in the nature of family quarrels, no less than was the short war between Prussia and Austria in 1866. When Russia advanced to the Danube against Turkey in 1853 and Austria massed forces to threaten her from the Carpathians, the friendship of the Holy Alliance, which had subsisted since 1815, was, no doubt, suspended until Bismarck brought the three despotisms together again in his Three-Kaiser Alliance of 1872. But it so happened that, during the interval, Russia was not in a position to advance afresh against
