-- Otto von Bismarck to the Russian Ambassador in Berlin, 1873.
13 April 1880 - First son, Richard Thomas Wood, born in Exeter.
Frederick leaves the Army, and takes his new wife and baby back to his native Kent. Finds work as a journeyman bricklayer in Chatham.
19 November 1881 - Second son, Louis Robert Wood, born in Exeter.
21 February 1883 - Third son, Joseph James Wood, born in Chatham.
The Woods move into No.22 Chatham Hill, Chatham. Their neighbour across the road is Charlotte Susan Fullman, a laundress.
27 October 1884 - Fourth son, William Walter Wood, born in Chatham.
1 November 1885 - Fifth son, Arthur Abraham Wood, born in Chatham.
29 July 1887 - Sixth son, James Alfred Wood, born in Chatham.
Frederick and Elizabeth Wood and their sons move to Greenwich, Kent (now London).
4 March 1888 - Elizabeth Wills Luxton dies, age 28.
21 October 1888 - Frederick Wood marries his former neighbour, Charlotte Fullman, in Greenwich.
8 August 1889 - First (and only) daughter, Ellen Beatrice Wood, born in Greenwich.
The Woods move back to Chatham. They live at 1 Seymour Road, next door to Frederick Wood's brother, William.
I have had a certain sympathy for England and its inhabitants, and even now I am not altogether free of it; but they will not let us love them, and as far as I am concerned, as soon as it was proved to me that it was in the interests of ...Prussian policy, I would see our troops fire on French, Russians, English or Austrians with equal satisfaction".
-- Bismarck
In European affairs, Great Britain is as isolated as France, but Britain's isolation from continental Europe is long-standing and voluntary. Britain does not enter into peacetime alliances, to avoid becoming embroiled in continental disputes. Lord Granville, British Foreign Secretary, explains in September 1882: "England does not need an alliance with a European power and we do not pursue a policy of alliances. Even quite different circumstances than the present ones would never lead me to establish an alliance with a European Power". In 1887, and again in 1889, Bismarck invites Great Britain to enter into a defensive alliance with Germany, but British Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, simply reiterates that British policy is to not enter into peacetime alliances. Bismarck is unconcerned by Salisbury's refusal, as he thinks it impossible that Britain could ever ally against Germany with her two traditional enemies, France and Russia.
No differences exist between England and Germany. I am not using a diplomatic term if I speak of England as our ally.
We have no alliance with England. However, I wish to remain in close contact with England."
-- Bismarck, 26 January 1889.
This estrangement with Russia leaves Austria-Hungary as the Germany's only potential ally among the Great Powers. Bismarck regards Austria-Hungary as a secondary power among the Five, and as early as 1854 had rejected the possibility of alliance with her, which would amount to "tying our neat sea-worthy Prussian frigate to Austria's worm-eaten old galleon". But now alliance with Austria appeals to Bismarck, as it secures Germany's long southern border from attack in the event of a war with Russia. The Austro-German Alliance of 1879 is a defensive alliance, in which both countries guarantee to come to the other's aid in the event of Russian attack. Germany's alliance with Austria-Hungary will be the cornerstone of German foreign policy for the next thirty-five years, right through to the defeat of both powers in 1918.
On 20 May 1882, the Austro-German Alliance expands to become the Triple Alliance, through the adherence of Italy to the agreement. Italy hopes that a defensive alliance with Germany, the strongest of the autocratic monarchies, will help her stamp out the growth of republicanism within her borders. She also hopes that an alliance with the most powerful nation in Europe will strengthen Italy's position against the Papacy (which is still at this time a political, as well as spiritual, power, with unresolved political and territorial claims against Italy arising from the recent unification of the nation).
Italy is not a natural ally of Austria-Hungary, whose territorial aspirations in the Balkans threaten unrest in the Adriatic, which Italy regards as her sphere of influence. The Italians would prefer an alliance with Germany alone, but when Berlin insists that an agreement can be reached by the two countries only within the context of the Dual Alliance, Italy reluctantly becomes the ally of both Germany and Austria-Hungary. (German is aware of Italy's reluctance to fully embrace the alliance with Austria-Hungary, and does not expect that Italy will prove a reliable ally. Germany's doubts about Italy will be confirmed on 1 November 1902, when Italy publicly renews her commitment to the Triple Alliance but at the same time signs a secret understanding with France, assuring the French government that should France declare war on Germany, Italy will not fulfil her Treaty obligation to go to war in support of her German ally).
Although Germany has chosen Austria-Hungary (Russia's chief rival for influence in the Balkans) for her principal ally, Bismarck remains hopeful that Russia might still be drawn into an alliance with Germany, or at least should not become Germany's enemy. He tells the German Ambassador to Vienna in 1888: "The most brilliant victories would not avail; the indestructible empire of the Russian nation, strong because of its climate, its desert, its frugality, strong also because of the advantage of having only one frontier to defend, would, after its defeat, remain our sworn enemy, desirous of revenge, just as today's France is in the West".
So as soon as the alliance with Austria is secured, Bismarck tries to be more inclusive to Russia. The League of the Three Emperors is resurrected in 1884, when all three members agree to remain neutral if any is attacked by France or Britain. In 1887, Germany goes one step further, and signs the "Reinsurance Treaty" with Russia, which requires both signatories to stay neutral in each others' wars. This requirement is barely compatible with the terms of Germany's defensive alliance with Austria, and the Reinsurance Treaty is therefore kept secret. By the end of 1887, Germany is the ally of two Great Powers (Austria-Hungary and Russia) and the natural, if not the formal, ally of a third (Great Britain); Bismarck's system of safeguarding German security through a network of interlocking alliances is in place.
railway station. [Bismarck] thinks he can click everything into its proper place and hopes
particularly that the greater the confusion, the more indispensible he is".
-- Friedrich von Holstein, German Foreign Ministry, 1887.
William II is very much the Bismarck's protege, and for the first year of his reign he remains on good terms with his Chancellor. But Bismarck soon has cause to regret the years he has spent encouraging William's autocratic tendencies, as the new Emperor makes it clear that he will not settle for the passive political role of his predecessors. For his part, Bismarck finds William too inexperienced and volatile to be actively involved in government: he undermines the new Emperor's first political initiatives, and blocks fellow ministers from direct access to the Kaiser. William begins to push for the Chancellor's resignation, and on 18 March 1890 Bismarck complies. It remains to be seen how the Bismarckian system of European security will work hold together in the absence of its creator.
