Heligoland-Zanzibar and Britain's fragile prewar alignments

Which small or overlooked treaty from the imperial era had an unexpectedly large historical impact?

The video offers the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty as its example, linking it to German East Africa in World War I and a cautious 1914 deterrence counterfactual.

The Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty is offered as an example of a small imperial agreement with unusually large consequences. The settlement helped make German East Africa capable enough to sustain the First World War campaign there. A counterfactual, rather than a firm causal claim, suggests that British retention of Heligoland might have strengthened deterrence around the Kiel Canal and complicated Germany's choices in 1914. Britain's alignment with Russia remained fragile, with rivalries in Afghanistan, India, the Middle East, and the Far East still threatening serious conflict. France appears as the power trying to keep its partners from fighting each other because such a rupture would wreck French strategic planning.