Triple Alliance

May 20, 1882

Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy signed a secret defensive treaty pledging mutual support if any were attacked by France or Russia. Bismarck's alliance system was snapping into shape. It would hold, with grumbling Italian ambivalence, until 1915 - when Italy switched sides and made the Great War one state messier. The alliance divided Europe into armed camps and made a localized conflict nearly impossible, ensuring that any war would be continental.