wwI alliance system
The importance of the alliance system that developed in Europe in the decades before World War I as a cause for it is still an important topic of debate and argument between modern historians. Some argue that the alliance system was a direct cause of the outbreak of war between all major countries in Europe while other historians prefer to state that the alliance configuration we observe before the war started was simply a symptom of the conflicts and disagreements, fears and envies that had been accumulating since the Bismarck system of alliances collapsed, and even before then. This last opinion is becoming more accepted as the one that describes the true importance of the actual alliance system as a cause of the war. In order to determine the importance of the alliance system as a cause for the war we must first explore the origins of these alliances. We will take high-point of the Bismarck system in 1878 as our starting point as the Franco-Prussian war is a key factor for the development of this system. The alliance system ideated by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck kept peace in Europe but its main aim was, however, to forestall the possibility that, in the event of war, Germany would have to fight it on two fronts (basically France and Russia). ... The following year, the Triple Alliance between Germany, France and Italy was renewed. This alliance originated as the Dual Alliance in 1879 between Germany and Austria Hungary when Germany had a dispute with Russia so to get protection against an eventual Russian attack both countries promised to help each other if any of them was attacked. Three years later, in 1882 Italy joined the Dual Alliance. The breakage of the Russo-German relationship in 1890 together with the renewal of the Triple Alliance caused fear in both France and Russia. So in 1892 France and Russia formed the Franco-Russian alliance. ... We can see that disintegration of the Bismarck system led to a series of events that formed the two main fronts that would combat in the Great War the following century, the Dual (afterwards Triple) Alliance and Franco-Russian alliance that later evolved into the Triple Entente. ... Eyck argues that the Bismarck system started to disintegrate after the Berlin Congress (a congress that took place to solve a disagreement between Russia and Austria-Hungary), even though it is considered as a high point is Bismarck’s diplomatic career.