The alliance's realpolitik bargain over China

The alliance's defensive value came with an imperial bargain over China. Britain showed little interest in further expansion so long as Japan did not interfere with existing British holdings, while Japan gained room to pursue its own interests under an acceptable pretext. The arrangement was realpolitik: a written agreement raised the cost of attacking either partner without requiring a large permanent British deployment. An Otto von Bismarck counterfactual considers how differently European diplomacy might have developed had Germany joined the alignment or prevented it.