Bismarck's alliance with the Prussian landowning class and powerful industrialists and the parties representing their interests has profound social effects.

From this point on, conservative groups have the upper hand in German society.

The German middle class begins to imitate its conservative social superiors rather than attempt to impose its own liberal, middle-class values on Germany.

The prestige of the military becomes so great that many middle-class males seek to enhance their
social standing by becoming officers in the reserves.

The middle classes also become more susceptible to the nationalistic clamor for colonies and "a place in the sun" that is to become ever more virulent in the next few decades.

Bismarck arranges an alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879 and one with Italy in 1882.

His triumph, however, is a secret alliance he forms by means of the Reinsurance Treaty with
Russia in 1887, although its terms violate the spirit of the treaty with Austria-Hungary.

However much these agreements contributed to German security, Bismarck's plunge into the
European scramble for overseas colonies ultimately weakens it by awakening British fears about Germany's long-term geopolitical aims.

Subsequent feelers he puts out with a view to establishing an understanding with Britain are rebuffed.

Portugal and the Berlin Conference (1884–1885): The Scramble for Africa

Despite Portugal’s historical claim to the Congo region, the colonial ambitions of the great European powers—Britain, France, and Germany—led to increasing disputes over African territories. In response, Portugal proposed an international conference to resolve its contested claim.

The resulting Berlin Conference (1884–1885), convened by Germany’s Otto von Bismarck, reshaped the future of African colonization. Instead of recognizing historical rights, the conference established the principle that a claim to African territory was only valid if the colonial power could demonstrate "effective occupation." As a result, the Congo was awarded to King Leopold II of Belgium, dashing Portugal’s hopes of securing the region.

The Partition of Africa and Portugal’s Colonial Holdings

While Portugal lost its claim to the Congo, the Berlin Conference formally recognized its control over:

• Mozambique (East Africa)
• Angola (West Africa)
• Portuguese Guinea (modern-day Guinea-Bissau, West Africa)

Although Portugal retained a modest colonial empire, its holdings were now subject to the new European standard of effective control, forcing the Portuguese government to strengthen its administrative and military presence in these territories to maintain sovereignty. The Berlin Conference thus marked a turning point in European imperialism, accelerating the partition of Africa and intensifying the competition among colonial powers in the late 19th century.

The 1886 Treaties and the "Rose-Colored Map": Portugal’s Imperial Ambitions in Africa

In 1886, Portugal signed two treaties with France and Germany, formally delimiting colonial boundaries and securing international recognition of Portuguese sovereignty over vast interior territories between Mozambique and Angola. These agreements reinforced Portugal’s claim to a continuous east-west corridor across Africa, a vision that would become central to Portuguese imperial ambitions.

The "Rose-Colored Map" and Portuguese Expansion Efforts

• The Portuguese claim to this territory between Mozambique and Angola was visually represented in a map annexed to the treaty with France, where the claimed lands were colored red—a depiction that would later be known as the "rose-colored map" (Mapa Cor-de-Rosa).
• To substantiate this claim, Portugal organized successive expeditions into the interior, attempting to establish effective occupation in line with the principles set by the Berlin Conference (1884–1885).

British Rivalry and the Cape-to-Cairo Railway

While Portugal sought to consolidate its territorial ambitions, Britain had its own imperial objectives in the region. Under the leadership of Cecil Rhodes, the British were simultaneously exploring the interior from south to north, aiming to establish a British-controlled corridor from Cape Town to Cairo, linked by a transcontinental railway.

This conflict of interests between Portugal and Britain would soon escalate, leading to a diplomatic crisis that would culminate in the 1890 British Ultimatum, forcing Portugal to abandon its territorial aspirations in favor of British expansionism.

The Germans, in particular, have begun to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands, especially on the island of Upolu, where German firms have monopolized copra and cocoa bean processing.

The United States lays its own claim, based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl River in Hawaii and Pago Pago Bay in Eastern Samoa, and forced alliances, most conspicuously on the islands of Tutuila and Manu'a, which will become American Samoa.

Britain also sends troops to protect British business enterprise, harbor rights, and consulate office.

This is followed by an eight-year civil war, during which each of the three powers will supply arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties.

The Hehe people, led by Chief Mkwawa, resist German expansion between 1891 and 1894.

They are defeated because rival tribes support the Germans.

After years of guerrilla warfare, Mkwawa himself is cornered and commits suicide in 1898.

The colonial history of Kenya dates from the establishment of a German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar's coastal possessions in 1885, followed by the arrival of the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1888.

Imperial rivalry is prevented when Germany hands its coastal holdings to Britain in 1890.

This is followed by the building of the Uganda Railway passing through the country.

The building of the railway is resisted by some ethnic groups—notably the Nandi led by Orkoiyot Koitalel Arap Samoei for ten years from 1890 to 1900—however, the British eventually build the railway.

The Nandi are the first ethnic group to be put in a native reserve to stop them from disrupting the building of the railway.

During the railway construction era, there is a significant inflow of Indian people, who provide the bulk of the skilled manpower required for construction.

They and most of their descendants will later remain in Kenya and form the core of several distinct Indian communities such as the Ismaili Muslim and Sikh communities.

While building the railway through Tsavo, a number of the Indian railway workers and local African labourers were attacked by two lions known as the Tsavo maneaters.

The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru on April 16, 1888, after an agreement with Great Britain, and incorporates it into Germany's Marshall Islands Protectorate for administrative purposes.

The arrival of the Germans ends the civil war, and kingsare established as rulers of the island.

The most widely known of these is King Auweyida.

Christian missionaries from the Gilbert Islands arrive in this year.

The German settlers call the island "Nawodo" or "Onawero".

The Germans will rule Nauru for almost three decades

The Samoan crisis comes to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbor, and a larger-scale war seems imminent.

A massive storm on March 15, 1889 damages or destroys the warships, ending the military conflict.

The Reinsurance Treaty, a top secret agreement signed in 1887 between Germany and Russia—only a handful of top officials in Berlin and St. Petersburg know of its existence—is a critical component of German chancellor Otto von Bismarck's extremely complex and ingenious network of alliances and agreements, designed to keep the peace in Europe, and to maintain Germany's economic, diplomatic, and political dominance.

As part of Bismarck's system of "periphery diversion", the treaty, which is highly dependent on Bismarck's personal reputation, provides that each party will remain neutral if the other becomes involved in a war with a third great power, though this will not apply if Germany attacks France or if Russia attacks Austria.

Germany pays for Russian friendship by agreeing to the Russian sphere of influence in Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia (now part of southern Bulgaria) and by agreeing to support Russian action to keep the Black Sea as its own preserve.

After the dismissal of Bismarck in 1890, his successor Kaiser Wilhelm II feels unable to obtain success in keeping this policy, while the German Foreign Office under Friedrich von Holstein has already prepared a renunciation toward the Dual Alliance with Austria–Hungary.

When, in 1890, Russia asks for a renewal of the treaty, Germany refuses persistently.

The Kaiser believes his own personal relationship with Tsar Alexander III will be sufficient to ensure further genial diplomatic ties and feels that maintaining a close bond with Russia would act to the detriment of his aims to attract Britain into the German sphere.

Like the ongoing Austro-Russian conflict, the Anglo-Russian relations too are strained at this point due to the gaining influence of Russia in the Balkans and their aims to open up the Straits of the Dardanelles, which would threaten British colonial interests in the Middle East.