Successor to Bismarck, Infantry General von Caprivi was appointed Chancellor of the Empire and Minister-President of Prussia on 18-Mar-1890. He was a military man of the Prussian tradition having entered the service at 18; he had risen to the position of State Secretary of the Imperial Navy by 1882. He was perceived as "meddling" in Naval affairs and resigned, in protest, from that position in 1888 and returned to his home in the army.
As Chancellor, he used the threat of resignation 10 times during his four and a half year tenure. No Bismarck himself, he would undo much the old Chancellor had spent years achieving. This is manifest in his decision not to renew ø The Russian Reinsurance Treaty. He finally decided to really resign on 26-Oct-1894 and was replaced by Prince Chodwig zu Hohenlohe, age seventy-five.
See also: ø What has Georg Leo von Caprivi done?
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