Alliance System Before World War 1 Essay

The formation of Alliance systems before world war one (WW1) is significant in the changing of relationships between powers because it created vast tension between six major nations. The Triple Alliance was signed in 1882 and was an agreement between Germany, Italy and Austria. It was a defensive treaty that promised they would give one another military support in case each of the countries were threatened. It was aimed to stop anyone who might threaten the three nations. In reaction to this, the Triple Entente was created. This was an agreement that included Britain, France and Russia as a result of hearing the news of the creation of the Triple Alliance. The terms were that each country did not require to go to war on behalf of others but it stated that they had a ‘moral obligation’ to support each other. With this said, the build-up of Alliance systems created huge tension between the six powerful nations. The result meant that any small incident was more likely to result in a large scale conflict because any disagreement consisting of more than one of the major players of Europe was destined to lead to war as their allies would have to join in. The alliance systems have undoubtedly caused tension and have been attributed to being part of the reason why WW1 started.
The three most important politicians involved in the signing of the treaty were David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson of The United States of America. Each politician had different views on how Germany should be punished, USA wanted them to be treated fairly, Britain wanted harsh punishments however needed a strong Germany to trade with, and France wanted revenge on Germany. Clemenceau had seen France been invaded twice by Germany as he was 79. He wanted harsh punishments for