European Alliances before World War One
Institution
As the nineteenth century came to a close, the most powerful European nations schemed to build alliances. Leaders thought military defensive agreements and pacts might favor them in terms of power. In addition, the leaders thought these alliances would enhance peace through strength since attacking one nation would lead to a scaling response from its allies. Resultantly, European countries developed partnerships that led to a tense balance of power, leading to a small crisis turning to a massive war. Prior to World War One, Europe’s great powers were divided into two notable groups: The Triple Alliance consisting of Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, and the Triple Entente consisting of Russia, France, and Britain.
The founding of the Triple Alliance can be attributed to Prussia’s defeat of Austria-Hungary during the war in 1886. Leaders from both nations, later on, saw the mutual advantage of joining together the two adjacent German-dominated nations. Italy, later on, joined aiming to take territory from France. In 1882, a defensive alliance was agreed upon by the three states in which the nations swore to support each other’s military in the event of attacks. Resultantly, the Triple alliance built a massive wall running from the north to the south tip of Central Europe.
The Triple Entente, on the other hand, was more of an alliance among old rivals. The French and British had been rivals for ages with a chronology of wars against one another. The late nineteenth century sees the two nations almost clashing over colonial dominion in Africa as well as India (Wasson, 2015). The two nations, however, overlooked their old differences and signed an agreement of mutual understanding in 1904. Despite not being a military pact, the agreement settled previous conflicts, including colonial disputes, and recognized the special partnership that existed between the two old enemies. Russia’s partnership with Britain in the Triple Entente alliance is also a collaboration between former foes. Following their recent humiliation in war with Japan, Russia became aware it requires allies. Britain allowed Russia control of northern Persia while Russia permitted the British access to Afghanistan.
References
Wasson, E. (2015). A History of Modern Britain: 1714 to the Present