Otto von Bismarck, the Imperial Chancellor 1871–1890, was annoyed by military interference in foreign policy affairs – in 1887, for example, they tried to convince the Emperor to declare war on Russia; they also encouraged Austria to attack Russia. Bismarck never controlled the army, but he did complain vehemently, and the military leaders drew back. In 1905, when the Morocco affair was roiling international politics, the chief of the General staff Alfred von Schlieffen called for a preventive war against France. At a critical point in the July crisis of 1914, Helmuth von Moltke, the chief of staff, without telling the Emperor or chancellor, advised his counterpart in Austria to mobilize against Russia at once. During the First World War, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg increasingly set foreign policy, working directly with the Emperor—and indeed shaped his decision-making—leaving the chancellor and civilian officials in the dark. Historian Gordon A. Craig says that the crucial decisions in 1914, "were made by the soldiers and that, in making them, they displayed an almost complete disregard for political considerations."