WWI Alliances

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WWI Alliances
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Alliance

• An agreement among people or nations to unite
• for a common cause. Each member of an
• alliance agrees to help the other members in
• case one is attacked.

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How could Germanys location in Europe be a
problem for them?
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Germany in the Middle
Germanys big problem was that it was in the
middle of Europe. That made it vulnerable if it
came to war.
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In the 19th century, Germanys brilliant
Chancellor, Bismarck, solved this problem by
keeping friends with Russia and Austria-Hungary
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Then Bismarck allied with Italy and
Austria-Hungary (the Triple Alliance).
Together with his friendship with Russia, this
kept Germany safe.
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But when Kaiser Wilhelm became Emperor, he dumped
the Russian alliance. He kept the Triple
Alliance, but this did NOT solve the problem of
Germanys encirclement.
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The Triple Entente
In 1907 Russia joined Britain and France to make
the Triple Entente. By 1914 Europe had divided
into two massive superpower blocks.
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What sparked it all?
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The events that followed

• Because of the assignation of Archduke Franz
  Ferdinand in June of 1914 by a member of a
  nationalistic secret Serbian society, the
  emperor of Austria-Hungary declared war of Serbia.

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The events that followed

• Russia sent troops to defend Serbia because
  Russia had a separate treaty with Serbia. Russia
  supported Serbia because they were both of a
  similar ethnic backgrounds.

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The events that followed

• Since Germany had a treaty with Austria-
• Hungary (the Triple Alliance), Germany declared
  war on Russia.

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The events that followed

• France had a treaty with Russia (the Triple
• Entente) so Germany declared war against France.

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The events that followed
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Things changed during the war

• The Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente turned
  into these two WWI alliances.

The Triple Entente plus more formed the Allied
Powers
The Triple Alliance plus more formed the Center
Powers
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