World War I became an arena of the bloody confrontation between two major “armed camps” of the era — the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The former consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, which later switched sides and joined the Entente, while the latter was formed by Great Britain, France, and Russia (Wilde, 2020). Ironically enough, the process of Europe’s division into two hostile military alliances began with the intention of creating a balance of powers that would prevent a full-scale continental war.
The chain of events leading Europe toward World War I started in the 1870s when unified Germany emerged as a new empire. Otto von Bismarck, the famous German chancellor, feared that rivals like France and Austria-Hungary might attempt to destroy their ambitious neighbor. Consequently, Bismarck decided to form a powerful alliance in order to protect Germany and prevent large-scale wars in Europe. In the beginning, the chancellor improved relationships with Austria-Hungary and Russia by establishing the Three Emperors League. When Russia withdrew from the league, Germany proceeded to form the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1878. Finally, in 1882 two empires persuaded Italy to join the union, thus forming the Triple Alliance (Wilde, 2020). As such, Central Europe turned into one of the armed camps for future war.
At the same time, Great Britain, France, and Russia were becoming concerned about the actions of German diplomacy. In particular, Great Britain felt that the rise of the Triple Alliance might threaten its colonies (Wilde, 2020). Therefore, the British government decided to form a union to deal with a new danger. In particular, Great Britain reached out to France and Russia, other great powers that had reasons to beware Germany. Worried by Kaiser’s Wilhelm II aggressive foreign policy, Great Britain formed Entente Coridale with France in 1904 and signed a similar agreement with Russia in 1907 (Wilde, 2020). The Triple Entente, the mighty counter to the German threat, was officially born. However, as time has shown, the military alliances failed to secure peace and prevent the unprecedented war between the great powers.
Reference
Wilde, R. (2020). The major alliances of World War I. ThoughtCo.