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.
In context
Also in 1882 (4 other events on record)
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Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.