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 into an agreement with England, she could have proceeded to build a powerful fleet far more easily than during the continuation of an antagonistic relation which contained without doubt the danger of a European war.

A friendly relation to England would also have served the purpose of strengthening the Triple Alliance because Italy, on account of her long coast, was dependent upon England and would hardly have been in a position to oppose Great Britain in case of war. The interests of Austria-Hungary would also have gained considerably by such a relation, because a Triple Alliance which could lean upon England for support would have been able to pursue such a policy in the Balkans as would have satisfied all our desires there completely.

An agreement with England could be achieved far more easily than an agreement with Russia, especially since the Russo-Japanese War.

There never really was any opposition of interests between England and Germany. If there had been no naval competition between these two powers, and if England had not been convinced by her belief that she was forced, in order to protect her own position, to ally herself with Germany's enemies, Germany and England would not have been found in opposite camps. England took up a point of view which was antagonistic to Germany in Morocco, only for the sake of France, and in the Balkans only for the sake of Russia. In both cases this attitude was against England's local interests,