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The Triple Alliance was made up three countries that were all allies. The countries were, Germany, Italy, and Austria Hungary.
Bismark, ruler of Germany, wanted to isolate France because he thought that France wanted revenge, so he made a dual alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879. In 1882, Italy joined and formed the Triple Alliance -
In 1888, Kaiser Wilhelm II became the ruler of Germany. This is because he forced Bismark out of the throne. The Kaiser did not want to share power with anyone and wanted to show that he was a powerful ruler.
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As result of the fail of the Germans to respond to the treaty with Russia, Russia made an alliance with France. This move by the Russians threatened the Germans. This was one of Bismark's fears before.
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Europeans believed if they wanted to be a strong country, they needed have a strong military. At this time there were many new advancements in weapons. The countries had strong militaries, except for Britain, so they were prepared in case that there was a war
Militarism made the people of the country feel patriotic, although others felt scared because of the power -
Before, an alliance was made between the Russians and the French. In 1907, the British joined the Alliance because the Germans decided to create a navy like theirs.
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In 1908, Austria took over Bosnia and Herzegovina because the Serbs had a large population of Slavs and the Serbians wanted to make a Slavic State. The Austrio-Hungarian area had a population of Slavs. The Slavic state would start a rebellion in Austria Hungary if there was one.
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The Serbians were enemies with the Austria-Hungary. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Ferdinand, who was an heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia, with his wife
was having tour. While on his tour he was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip,19 year old nationalist for Serbia. Gravilo was part of the Black Hand. -
On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declined the Serbian negotiations of peace and declared war. On the same day, the Russians decided to help the Serbians.
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Since Germany declared war on France, the British declared war on Germany. France and Great Britain were allies; this happened in the beginning of August.
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With all the allies put into play, there were two sides, the Central Powers and the Allies.The Central Powers were Germany and Austria-Hungary, later Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire,
The Allies consisted of Russia, France and Britain, later Japan and then Italy joined.
Italy joined because the the Triple Entente were accused of starting war unfairly
