The Great Powers in World War One

Bismarck goaded napoleon the third into a war that bound the german states to prussia. Then saw this unified german army trounce the french and declare the german empire in 18 70. This is also, of course, the moment prussia stops being one of the great powers and becomes germany. After their humiliating defeat to prussia, now germany, the leaders of france wanted to make sure no such thing ever happened again. So france started courting the hek out of russia. By the late 18 eighties, franc had the upper hand diplomatically. Russia itself felt threatened by the rising immensity of german power