The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that killed millions and set the continent of Europe on the path to further calamity two decades later. But it. Australias Day on WorldAtWar During this celebration of Australias Day, the World at War is proud to announce the publication of a selection of works from Down. Wellassembled site by Kelley L. Ross, Ph. D. listing Islamic rulers prior to and including the Ottoman Turks. Includes maps of the Ottoman Empire throughout the ages. World War 1913 Game' title='World War 1913 Game' />World War 1 Allies. World War 1 Allies. World War 1. Allies                                                                                                            Some wars make strange bedfellows. Countries that had been traditional enemies Russia and Japan, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, and even France and Great Britain were scrapping old enmities. Although long before victory against the Central Powers was assured, Britain and France were diplomatically at odds over the division of the spoils. For some countries joining forces in past wars,  it was similar ideology, for others, common interests or culture, or simply that an enemy of my enemy is my friend. World War 1 broke the mold. In this war, partners simply chose all of the above. Commenting on the vagaries of alliances the famous,  T. E, Lawrence, who was intricate in  the history of the Middle East said, All is fair in love, war, and alliances. Triple EntenteAlliesvs. Triple AllianceCentral PowersGreat Britain, a limited monarchy, France, a republic and Russia, an. Triple Entente. They formed a mutual military alliance to counter the. Germany and its Austria Hungary ally and their Triple Alliance that included Italy. The sophisticated diplomats wrongly believed they had achieved a balance of power that would prevent conflict. There were different roads. Triple Entente. Many of those byways crossed each other in the form of treaties and secret agreements that formed a tangled web, without an agreed starting point, that surprisingly found a common end point as World War 1 allies. However, France seems to have always been central. After all, French was the language of diplomacy, and its purposes always haunted by the the political machinations of the Renaissance  Italian,  Machiavelli. World War 1 Allies                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         World War 1 Allies. Russian Monarch,Tsar Nicholas British Monarch,George V                          French President, Raymond Poncaire. Look alike They were cousins. As in the case of Germany, each of its future enemies, the entente. A somewhat paranoid Kaiser Wilhelm Kaiser from the Latin Caesar felt surrounded by three nations, Russia, France and Great Britain. His natural disposition to reject diplomacy as a solution would lead him into a world war which he  seemed to welcome. However, before that war, Germany was exhibiting its desire to expand at the expense of France. Through a series of secret as well as published agreements in late 1. European nations  arranged to avoid stepping on each others toes by establishing and respecting spheres of influence in Africa and Asia. Germany was noticeably an absent partner preferring to act with a smaller group of like minded nations. Germany openly displayed disdain for the rights of  its European neighbors. This was evident in their hostile attack on France in July 1. German states, marshaled by the Prussian monarchy, struck France. France was forced to cede a rich prize, Alsace Lorraine and Chancellor Bismark would pull the various Germanic states into a unified nation that was more of a threat to its continental neighbors. As planned by German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismark Iron Chancellor, France was left defeated and diplomatically isolated. Disclosure Settle. It had no mutual defense treaties excepting those non military arrangements dealing with dispositions of influence on other continents. However, Germany was taking no chances that a potential Russian French alliance would force Germany into a two front war. In 1. 88. 1 Germany and Russia secretly agreed to respect the then current territories of each. The quid pro quo was Germany recognizing Russian sphere of influence in Bulgaria. Six years later, 1. Reinsurance Treaty  scheduled to run three years. This left the French  desperate for an ally. A treaty with Russia would be a diplomatic coup. However, the French Constitution required that a treaty be approved by its Chamber of Deputies. The possibility existed that a treaty with Russia would be defeated by that body. Thus, The French Foreign Minister called the agreement a convention and avoided a confrontation with the Deputies. Russia approved, and in an about face, did not renew the Reinsurance Treaty with Germany. These were the safe years that Germany used to build a war machine and duplicitously  engage other European countries in diplomatic gamesmanship. They had betrayed Bulgaria to empower Russia. Nevertheless, Bulgaria would ultimately choose joining the Central Powers as a wartime partner because Russia was more of a menace to a free Bulgaria than another German ally, the Ottomans, with their loose footprint in the Balkans. Wilhelm had courted the Ottomans and his bellicosity toward Russia must have charmed the Turks. The seat of the Ottoman Empire sat astride Europe and Asia and a natural block to Russian ambitions for a southern passage into the Mediterranean Sea. During this era, Ottoman and Turkey were names used interchangeably as did  its major city known to the world as Constantinople or Istanbul. Wilhelms Chancellor, Bismark, had trounced the French in 1. German ambitions as Wilhelm ascended to. However, the Kaiser forced Bismark from government leaving. Wilhelm unchecked to deal on the international stage. Threats against European neighbors were common place through the reign of German Kaiser Wilhelm II 1. He found  mutual interests with Emperor Franz Joseph Austria Hungary 1. Their peoples shared a common culture and language. Both of these men had displayed little compunction about extending their realms at the expense of adjacent countries. In point of fact, even their countries had been at war with each other in mid 1. Austrians unsuccessfully attempted to impose Hapsburg succession over Prussia and the German confederation of states. Each of these monarchs, and their predecessors, were no strangers to wars of conquest. In 1. 87. 9, they formed an alliance to defend against potential Russian aggression that was a challenge to Austrian ambitions in the Balkans. Together they formed the core 1. Triple Alliance until Italy joined the group in 1. At that time, Italy was embroiled in a dispute with France over Tunisia. Essentially, the ambitions of the  Triple Alliance became an invitation for a war. Russia was feeling the heat of the German Austrian agreement despite its secret agreement with Germany. The reality on the ground in Serbia, allied with Russia, pointed to a conflict with Austrian ambitions and hence a clash with Germany the tight partner of Austria. Russia then allowed the Reinsurance Treaty to expire in 1. Germany and Austria. In turn, this led to Russian rapprochement with France. The diplomatic wheel was spinning and turning in the direction of conflict. Lightwave 3D Plugins. France then saw an opening and offered Russia financial and technological assistance in exchange for a military agreement 1. Central Powers, Germany and Austria Hungary. This beneath the table agreement went unnoticed by the world for two years. The table was set for an eventual war and a pairing of potential World War 1 allies. Britain had remained aloof from the German problems that had beset France. There was no love lost between these nations with a 5.