Triple Alliance
Triple Alliance Dreibund (language?) 三国同盟 (language?) Тройственный союз (language?) | |
|---|---|
| 1932–1938 | |
 The Triple Alliance in 1932*:
Countries of the Triple Alliance
Colonies, protectorates, and territories of the Triple Alliance
Client states and colonies of Triple Alliance members
| |
| Status | Military alliance |
| Capital | Berlin (headquarters) |
| Historical era | Great War I |
|
1887 1929 | |
• Established | 16 April 1932 |
| 25 May 1938 | |
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*Map is currently inaccurate and will be updated | |
The Triple Alliance (German: Dreibund, Japanese: 三国同盟, romanized: Sangoku Domei Russian: Тройственный союз, romanized: Troystvennyy soyuz) was one of the three main coalitions of Great War I that primarily consisted of Germany, Russia, and Japan, along with their allies, client states, colonies, and dependencies.
Member states
German, Russia, and Japan were the main three principle powers of the Triple Alliance and is where the coalition got its name from. All three states had their own respective allies, colonies, and territories that they brought into the conflict with them either through diplomacy, common goals, or by force, especially if they were a colony of Germany or Japan. Nations like Romania and Thailand joined the war due to established deals made with Russia and Japan respectively promising territorial gains in exchange for their participation in the conflict. Others like Chile and Argentina only joined due to a desire to acquire land from Patagonia in South America which aligned them with the anti-British German Empire.
Combatants
Principle Powers
Germany
By the dawn of the 20th century, Germany was one of the most powerful nations in Europe economically, politically, and militarily. Its armed forces were among some of the most professional, best trained, and feared soldiers in Europe having inherited the military tradition from Prussia and having proved themselves on the battlefield from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and the Boxer Rebellion. The armed forces as a whole were a core instution in German society promoted by the government and reinforced through conscription and mandated national service. Due to the annexation of Alsace–Lorraine in 1871, a deep rivalry between France and Germany had emerged defined by constant hostilities and so fear of a renewed war between the two states was viewed as inevitable by Germany. As such, the German government and military spent much of their time and effort preparing for this confrontation while expanding to the point in brought them into conflict with the United Kingdom.
Russia
The Russian Republic was formed in 1924 at the end of the Russian Civil War from the ensuing Russian Revolution under the leadership of Alexander Kolchak, an admiral of the Russian Navy and general of the White movement from during the civil war. Under Kolchak, Russia was governed under a righ-wing authoritarian dictatorship with left-wing movements and opposition supressed by Kolchak and his government. The House of Romanov refused to return to Russia after the war and stayed in the United Kingdom despite requests by the Russian government to return. This combined with the loss of Russia's former territorial holdings in Eastern Europe caused great resentment by Russia towards much of Europe, a resentment Germany was willing to use by negotiating with them and later promising Russia the ability to reconquer lost territory if they sided with Germany during a major European war.
Further more, Russia sought to protect its allies in the Balkans, mainly Greece and Romania, from the Ottoman Empire and later Bulgaria as Russia had friendly relations with both countries and feared that they would be under threat from Entente forces. This fear worsened once Yugoslavia aligned itself with the Entente and Greece was surrounded by Russia's enemies on nearly all sides inspite of its decleration of neutrality.
Japan
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The Empire of Japan had emerged in the 20th century as a rising power having industrialized at the fastest rate of any nation from the Meiji Restoration of the 1960s. In 1895, Japan defeated the Qing dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War and later the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. While Japan had proven itself to be a major nation in terms of military power, it was dismissed by many western nations over their dismissal of an eastern power and low views of the Japanese people due to racist viewpoints. The London Naval Treaty of 1922 caused Japan to grow resentful of the West and accused Western powers of seeking to reduce Japan's influence to prevent them from rising as a great power and to retain their positions as great colonial powers themselves.
In May 1927, Japan invaded China and started the Second Sino-Japanese War, invading from the north in present-day Manchuria to support the First Manchu Republic against the Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek. The war was officially waged by Japan in support of Manchuria and its independence, but the Japanese had grander ambitions; the Japanese Empire to be the dominant power in all of Asia. To this end, the Japanese sought to annex all colonies held by the Entente powers while exempting Germany's overseas colonial holdings and invaded Mainland China to ensure that the Chinese nation wouldn't pose a threat to Japanese hegemony in Asia. While Western powers initially ignored their invasion, threats to Western business interests combined with reports of Japanese war crimes changed public opinion and saw foreign support to China from the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Sierra, compelling Japan to commit more towards the war in China and towards finding new resources once oil embargos were imposed upon them.
Co-belligerents, client states, and colonies
Austria
Argentina
Chile
Brazil
Czechia
Greece
Netherlands
Manchukuo
Romania
Vietnam
German Africa
Non-state combatants
Leaders
German Empire
- Wilhelm II - German Emperor (15 June, 1888 – 4 June, 1941)
- General Kurt Ferdinand Friedrich Hermann von Schleicher (3 December, 1932 – 3 December, 1938)