These tensions revolved mainly over the Balkans where, with the rise of nationalism and the continued decline of the Ottoman Empire, many former Ottoman provinces struggled for independence. However, the League faced great difficulty with the growing tensions between the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary. The alliance was part of the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck′s plan to isolate France diplomatically he feared France had revanchist aspirations and might try to regain her 1871 losses, and to fight against progressive sentiments the conservative rulers found unsettling, such as the First International.

Russia had previously been a member of the League of the Three Emperors with Austria-Hungary and Germany, an alliance established in 1873 between Tsar Alexander II, Emperor Franz Joseph I and Kaiser Wilhelm I.