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World War I, Often Abbreviated As WWI or WW1, Also Known As The First World War or
World War I, Often Abbreviated As WWI or WW1, Also Known As The First World War or
Rival military coalitions in 1914: Triple Entente in green; Triple Alliance in brown. Only the Triple Alliance was a
formal "alliance"; the others listed were informal patterns of support.
For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous balance of
power among themselves, known as the Concert of Europe.[15] After 1848, this was challenged by a
variety of factors, including Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the
Ottoman Empire and the rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. The 1866 Austro-Prussian
War established Prussian hegemony in Germany, while victory in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian
War allowed Bismarck to consolidate the German states into a German Empire under Prussian
leadership. Avenging the defeat of 1871, or revanchism, and recovering the provinces of Alsace-
Lorraine became the principal objects of French policy for the next forty years. [16]
In order to isolate France and avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck negotiated the League of the
Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. After
Russian victory in the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian
concerns over Russian influence in the Balkans, an area they considered of vital strategic interest.
Germany and Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879 Dual Alliance, which became the Triple
Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.[17] For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate
France by ensuring the three Empires resolved any disputes between themselves; when this was
threatened in 1880 by British and French attempts to negotiate directly with Russia, he reformed the
League in 1881, which was renewed in 1883 and 1885. After the agreement lapsed in 1887, he
replaced it with the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to
remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. [18]
Bismarck viewed peace with Russia as the foundation of German foreign policy but after
becoming Kaiser in 1890, Wilhelm II forced him to retire and was persuaded not to renew the
Reinsurance Treaty by Leo von Caprivi, his new Chancellor.[19] This provided France an opportunity
to counteract the Triple Alliance, by signing the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, followed by the
1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain, and the Triple Entente was completed by the 1907 Anglo-
Russian Convention. While these were not formal alliances, by settling long-standing colonial
disputes in Africa and Asia, British entry into any future conflict involving France or Russia became a
possibility.[20] British and Russian support for France against Germany during the Second Moroccan
Crisis in 1911 reinforced their relationship and increased Anglo-German estrangement, deepening
the divisions that would erupt in 1914. [21]