Results of World War I (a) Causes European Alliances and Counter-Alliances In five of the European Great Powers were divided into two armed camps. One camp consisted of the Central Powers-Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Under the guidance of Bismarck, they had formed the Triple Alliance in . The understanding was that Germany and Austria would help each other.
The other camp consisted of France and Russia. Their alliance was formed in with the promise of mutual help if Germany attacked either of them. An isolated Britain wanted to break her isolation and approached Germany twice but in vain. As Japan was increasingly hostile towards Russia, as France was the ally of Russia, it preferred to ally with Britain ( ).
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance prompted France to seek an alliance with Britain to resolve colonial disputes over Morocco and Egypt. This resulted in the Entente Cordiale ( ). In return for letting the French have a free hand in Morocco, France agreed to recognize the British occupation of Egypt. Britain subsequently reached an agreement with Russia over Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet.
Outbreak of World War I and Its Aftermath and Russia with the opportunity to resume their activities in the Balkans. Austria and Russia met and agreed that Austria should annexe Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Russia should have freedom to move her warships, through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, to the Mediterranean. Soon after this, Austria announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria’s action aroused intense opposition from Serbia.
Germany gave Austria firm support. Germany went to the extent of promising that if Austria invaded Serbia and in consequence Russia helped Serbia, Germany would come to Austria’s assistance. The enmity between Austria and Serbia led to the outbreak of war in . The Balkan Wars Turkey was a powerful country in the south west of Europe in the first half of eighteenth century.
The Ottoman empire extended over the Balkans and across Hungary to Poland. The Empire contained many non-Turkish people in the Balkans. Both the Turks and their