TheTriple Alliance was a defensivemilitary alliance betweenGermany,Austria-Hungary, andItaly. It was formed on 20 May 1882[1] and renewed periodically until it expired in 1915 duringWorld War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had beenclosely allied since 1879. Italy was looking for support againstFrance shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French. Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any othergreat power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation. In turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France without provocation. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary andRussia, Italy promised to remain neutral. After the Austro-Hungarian empire and Germany declared war without first being attacked by other nations,Italy did not take part in World War I on the side of the Central Powers and later joined on the side of theAllied Powers.
When the treaty was renewed in February 1887, Italy gained an empty promise of German support of Italian colonial ambitions in North Africa in return for Italy's continued friendship. Austria-Hungary had to be pressured by German chancellorOtto von Bismarck into accepting the principles of consultation and mutual agreement with Italy on any territorial changes initiated in the Balkans or on the coasts and islands of the Adriatic and Aegean seas.[2] Italy and Austria-Hungary did not overcome their basicconflict of interest in that region despite the treaty. In 1891, attempts were made to joinBritain to the Triple Alliance, which, though unsuccessful, were widely believed to have succeeded in Russian diplomatic circles.[3]
Shortly after renewing the Alliance in June 1902, Italy secretly extended a similar guarantee to France.[4] By a particular agreement, neither Austria-Hungary nor Italy would change the status quo in theBalkans without previous consultation.[a]
On 18 October 1883Carol I of Romania, through his Prime MinisterIon C. Brătianu, had also secretly pledged to support the Triple Alliance, but he later remained neutral in theFirst World War due to viewing Austria-Hungary as the aggressor.[5][6] On 1 November 1902, five months after the Triple Alliance was renewed, Italy reached an understanding with France that each would remain neutral in the event of an attack on the other.
When the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to start a war in August 1914 with the rivalTriple Entente, Italy proclaimed its neutrality, considering Austria-Hungary the aggressor. Italy defaulted on the obligation to consult and agree to compensations before changing the status quo in the Balkans, as agreed in 1912 renewal of the Triple Alliance.[8] Following parallel negotiation with both Triple Alliance (which aimed to keep Italy neutral) and theTriple Entente (which aimed to make Italy enter the conflict), Italysided with the Triple Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary.
The man chiefly responsible for the Triple Alliance wasOtto von Bismarck, theChancellor of Germany.[2] His primary goal was to preserve the status quo in Europe after he hadunified Germany in 1871. He was particularly concerned about France finding allies to help it regainAlsace-Lorraine. By promising to aid Austria-Hungary and Italy in the event of an attack, Bismarck sought to make them somewhat dependent on Germany and therefore unsympathetic to French adventures.[9]
By the late 1870s, Austrian territorial ambitions in both theItalian Peninsula and Central Europe had been thwarted by the rise of Italy and Germany as new powers. With the decline and the failed reforms of theOttoman Empire, Slavic discontent in the occupied Balkans grew, which both Russia and Austria-Hungary saw as an opportunity to expand in the region. In 1876, Russia offered to partition the Balkans, but the Hungarian statesmanGyula Andrássy declined because Austria-Hungary was already a "saturated" state and could not cope with additional territories.[10] The whole empire was thus drawn into a new style of diplomatic brinkmanship, which was first conceived of by Andrássy, centering on the province ofBosnia and Herzegovina, a predominantly-Slav area that was still under the control of theOttoman Empire.[citation needed]
Cartoon of the Berlin satirical journalLustige Blätter. In the Triple Alliance, an adult German drags the Austrian boy along, while the Italian child throws a tantrum to stay with theFrench cockerel.
Italy had several motives for joining the existing Austro-German alliance. The Italian government at that time was controlled by conservatives, who sympathized ideologically with the two monarchies. Also, Catholic Austria was a traditional protector of thePapacy, which Italy had poor relations with. However, perhaps most importantly, Italy was seeking potential allies against France. The Kingdom of Italy, like most of the other European powers, wanted to set up colonies and build up an overseas empire. Although France had supported Italian unification, Italy's colonial ambitions in Africa quickly brought it into a rivalry with France.[11] That was reflected in anger at theFrench conquest of Tunisia in 1881, the so-calledSlap of Tunis by the Italian press, which many Italians had seen as a potential colony. By joining the Alliance, Italy hoped to guarantee itself support in case of foreign aggression. The main alliance compelled any signatory country to support the other parties if two other countries attacked. Germany had won a war against France in 1870 and was a natural ally for Italy. Thus, Italy found itself coming to terms with its historical enemy, Austria-Hungary, against which Italy had fought three wars in the 34 years before the signing of the first treaty.[b]
However, Italian public opinion remained unenthusiastic about their country's alignment with Austria-Hungary, a past enemy ofItalian unification and whose Italian-populated districts in theTrentino andIstria were seen as occupied territories byItalian irredentists. In the years beforeWorld War I, many distinguished military analysts predicted that Italy would attack its supposed ally in the event of a large scale conflict. On its own hand, theAustro-Hungarian General Staff maintained at least from 1903 plans for a possible war against Rome.[12] Mutual suspicions led to reinforcement of the frontier and speculation in the press about a war between the two countries into the first decade of the 20th century.[13] As late as 1911, CountFranz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, was advocating apreemptive strike against Austria's supposed Italian ally.[14] That prediction was strengthened by Italy'sinvasion and annexation ofLibya, bringing it into conflict with the German-backed Ottoman Empire.
Romania, which had since 1866 been ruled byCarol I, a member of theGermanicHohenzollern Dynasty, naturally veered towards the Germansphere of influence, which included allying with the Triple Alliance. Other motives that led to Romania's alignment with the faction included Germany's military prowess on the continent and fears of further Russian expansion into historically Romanian-inhabited regions, such as the Russian annexation of Bessarabia in 1812. These motives led Romania to secretly join the Triple Alliance on 18 October 1883. Only the King and a select handful of senior Romanian politicians knew about the political manoeuvre. Despite being allies on paper, the relations between Romania and Austria-Hungary weren't particularly cordial, as the two incongruous neighbours withheld various points of contention with each other, most notably the status and representation of the Romanians inTransylvania, a region owned by theHungarian Crown but inhabited by aRomanian majority. Romania managed to develop into aregional power in the aftermath of theSecond Balkan War and the1913 Treaty of Bucharest, however a year laterWorld War I broke out. Although Romania was invoked by Austria-Hungary to join the war under the guidance of being a member of the Triple Alliance, it followed Italy's example ofneutrality due to the fact that Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive by starting the war against Serbia, and thus was fighting an offensive not defensive war.[15] Following Italy's withdrawal from the alliance in 1915 and acceptance into theEntente and the consolidation of theCentral Powers, the alliance was rendered virtually meaningless, and eventually Romania would take up arms against all member states of the Central Powers in 1916.
^"However, if, in the course of events, the maintenance of the status quo in the regions of the Balkans or of the Ottoman coasts and islands in the Adriatic and in the Aegean Sea should become impossible, and if, whether in consequence of the action of a third Power or otherwise, Austria-Hungary or Italy should find themselves under the necessity of modifying it by a temporary or permanent occupation on their part, this occupation shall take place only after a previous agreement between the two Powers, based upon the principle of a reciprocal compensation for every advantage, territorial or other, which each of them might obtain beyond the present status quo, and giving satisfaction to the interests and well founded claims of the two Parties."[1]
Conybeare, John A. C., and Todd Sandler (December 1990). "The Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance 1880–1914: A Collective Goods Approach" (PDF).American Political Science Review.84(4): 1197–1206.doi:10.2307/1963259.
Conybeare, John A. C. (March 1992). "A Portfolio Diversification Model of Alliances: The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, 1879–1914".Journal of Conflict Resolution 36.1: 53–85.JSTOR174505.
Langer, William L. (1951).European Alliances and Alignments, 1871–1890 (2nd ed.). pp. 217–50. A standard scholarly history.
Lutz, Ralph Haswell (ed.)(1932).Fall of the German Empire, 1914–1918 (Documents of the German Revolution, volumes I and II). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. Online review. Primary sources.
Macmillan, Margaret (2013).The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. Chapter 8.
Pribram, Alfred Francis (ed.)(1921).The Secret Treaties of Austria-Hungary, 1879–1914 Vol. 2. The most thorough history of the Triple Alliance, with text of major documents.
Schmitt, Bernadotte E. (1924). "Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, 1902–1914".American Historical Review. 29#3: 449–473.JSTOR1836520.
Sontag, Raymond James (1933).European Diplomatic History, 1871–1932. Century Historical Series. New York: Century Company. pp. 99–152.OCLC503861831. Online review.
