During his tenure as chancellor, Caprivi promoted industrial and commercial development, and concluded numerous bilateral treaties for reduction of tariff barriers.

As part of Kaiser Wilhelm's "new course" in foreign policy, Caprivi abandoned Bismarck's military, economic, and ideological cooperation with the Russian Empire, which historians consider a major mistake.

Even worse, Caprivi misjudged multiple opportunities to open good relations with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

[1] Caprivi had gained a reputation as one of the most gifted students of Helmuth von Moltke and was confirmed in his post as chief of the general staff of the X Army Corps with the rank of lieutenant colonel during the Franco-Prussian War.

"[8] According to Thomas Nipperdey, the appointment was made against the express wishes of Bismarck, who had not wanted the Prussian Army to lose one of its best officers.

[12] After his appointment, Caprivi wrote in the Berliner Tageblatt that the main task of Bismarck's successor would be "to lead the nation back after the preceding epoch of great men and deeds to an everyday existence.

With a large round head, fringe of white hair, and sweeping mustache, he was, The Times told its readers, "a typical Teuton of the hugest and most impressive type.

He might very well pass for a brother, or even a double of Prince Bismarck himself.Caprivi promised at the beginning of his tenure "To adopt what is good, wherever and whomever it comes from, if it is compatible with the national interest.

Legal restrictions of rights of association, for example, were not removed, the disciplinary rules for Beamte were strengthened, and appointments in the judiciary went to trusted conservatives.

However, this made it more difficult for him to get political policies implemented and allowed the Prussian finance minister Miquel to gain influence well beyond his area of authority.

[23] Nevertheless, he followed the decision of officials of the Foreign Office around Friedrich von Holstein not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty and focus on a more straightforward alliance with Austria-Hungary.

[24] Unaware of the Foreign Office's determination, Wilhelm II had personally assured Russian Ambassador Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov that the treaty would be renewed.

However, the German relationship with Russia had already deteriorated in the final years of Bismarck's chancellorship, especially as a result of trade disputes regarding Russian agricultural exports.

In sum, Caprivi's approach marked the end of the protectionist Schutzzollpolitik [de] of the later part of Bismarck's chancellorship, but it was far from being a policy of free trade.

He attempted not only to win the support of civic liberals and conservative forces, but also to forge a working arrangement with representatives of the Poles and the recently annexed Province of Hanover in the Reichstag.

Caprivi believed that the support of the Poles would be required in the event of a war with Russia and - more immediately - he needed the votes of their representatives in the Reichstag.

[40][41] The attempt to modify the Prussian three-class franchise was rebuffed by the traditional elites, who forced the resignation of the interior minister Ernst Ludwig Herrfurth [de] and his replacement with the conservative Botho zu Eulenburg.

In addition to the initial express support of Wilhelm II, the reforms were especially pushed by the Prussian minister of trade, Hans Hermann von Berlepsch [de].

In connection with the tax reform, new rural district regulations were passed, which extended suffrage to 200,000 people who had hitherto been excluded from political participation.

An important role in the development of right-wing opposition was played by Otto von Bismarck, who took advantage of positive statements about Caprivi from his "support parties", in order to publicly campaign against the "leftist policy" of his successor.

I suggest nothing more or less than that we join with the social democrats and earnestly form a front against the government, show it that we are not minded to allow ourselves to be so badly treated, as we have been up till now, and make our strength known to them.This proclamation in 1893 led to the establishment of the German Agrarian League.

The reason for this was an educational bill providing denominational board schools, a failed attempt to re-integrate the Catholic Centre Party into the conservative establishment after the Kulturkampf.

[53] The Centre Party was initially prepared to support Caprivi, but withdrew from him after the failure of the school reforms and as the criticism of the military plan increased.

The emperor had moved away from his initial social policy, under the influence of Carl Ferdinand von Stumm-Halberg, and now supported a law against the "revolutionary parties."

Otto von Bismarck had initially praised Caprivi, saying that he "has a clear head, a good heart, a magnanimous nature, and a great capacity for work.

In the 1920s, General von Schweidnitz, who had been ambassador to Russia under Caprivi, made a statement which has been frequently cited as evidence of Caprivi's incompetence in foreign affairs: Humble, honourable, and earnest, he explained to me that the greatest difficulty, which he now faced, was the question of the renewal of the Russian treaty, since, unlike Prince Bismarck, whom Wilhelm I famously compared to a juggler juggling five glass balls, he could only hold two glass balls at a time.This image has been nuanced in recent years.

[64] In the late 1950s, Golo Mann painted a picture of Caprivi that was almost diametrically opposed to the negative evaluations of the first half of the twentieth century, characterising him as single-minded, unbiased, and incorruptible: "among the series of German chancellors between 1890 and 1918, he was the best."

In 2006, Klaus Rüdiger Metze considered that Caprivi had understood that Germany was transforming from an agrarian economy to an industrial one and had helped this process through his social and trade policies.

[67] Thomas Nipperdey argued that Caprivi's New Course was a promising and optimistic attempt at a systematic and open re-orientation of Imperial politics and that it failed as a result of the particular party system at the time, the opposition of special interest groups, the tension between Prussia and the rest of the Empire, and the supercilious attitude of feudal agrarian conservativism and the semi-absolute military monarchy towards Caprivi's rational-bureaucratic brand of conservativism.

[68] Hans-Ulrich Wehler judged that Caprivi's New Course represented a sharp break with Bismarck's policy, but that the problems he faced were not resolvable without firm political support.