Alliance equality constrained German and British freedom

Britain considered cooperation with Germany while facing pressure from Russia, but German leaders did not want an alliance of equals that could resist direction from Berlin. The later Anglo-Japanese Alliance shows the same problem from another angle: Japan's rising strength made the partnership less predictably useful to Britain. The postwar naval treaty system then offered London a face-saving reason to end the alliance without presenting the decision as a direct rejection of Japan. Tirpitz's insistence on controlling a partner made his naval solution self-defeating.