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 glove with England. But the Kaiser played a leading part in the Balkans, and his paths diverged widely from those of England. The Kaiser's Balkan policy was not even identical with that which Austria and Hungary had pursued since the days of Andrassy. His main object was no longer the protection of the Christian peoples of the Balkans, the pacification of the various nations by means of reforms and autonomies, but his aims were rather, firstly, to secure a military alliance with Turkey, and secondly, to exploit the whole of the Balkans as well as Asiatic Turkey. The Turkish military power, which had been called into existence under the supervision of German instructors, was to be given the task, in case of need, of threatening Egypt and the Suez Canal.

Such a policy would not even have been compatible with England's previous policy, that is to say, the policy of Beaconsfield.

The ideas of Andrassy and Beaconsfield were mutually complementary; the principles of establishing a balance of power in the Balkans and the predominance of England in Asiatic Turkey worked together admirably. But the Near Eastern and Balkan policy of the Kaiser precluded Beaconfield's policy completely, because they both attempted to acquire the protection of the Mussulman world.

This new tendency of German policy would have made England nervous at all times, but this was especially so in the existing circumstances, because the economic competition between England and Germany