Why? It seems like such an unlikely alliance considering the

>>1539271

Huh? How so? Austria-Hungary and Germany were natural allies due to rising Pan -isms. Ottoman Empire was routinely getting ass raped by Russia, Britain, and France; so they clung to Germany. The only surprising one is Bulgaria, but I guess they wanted to fuck the Serbs up after losing so much territory in the Second Balkan Wars.

Turks opposed the russians, bulgarians claimed parts of serbia, and austria always wanted the balkans

Only germany was being retarded

>>1539286
What were the German supposed to do? After the end of the "Great Game" in central Asia, Russia and Great Britain started to normalise their relationship, while France had always been anti-German. This leaves only Italy and Austria-Hungary as possible allies for Germany.

Had Wilhelm II not sakced Bismarck, the Germans might have been able to strike a deal with Great Britain, especially since they and France were involved in numerous colonial races. But that opportunity was thoroughly gone by 1914.

>>1539271
It is literally an alliance of whoever was left.
The other people got together, and Germany collected the leftovers.

>>1539281
>Huh? How so? Austria-Hungary and Germany were natural allies due to rising Pan -isms.

Not sure. A possible alternative strategy for Germany would be allying with Russia to dismantle A-H together. Germany would get Austria, Bohemia and perhaps Slovenia while Russia would get Galicia and a South Slavic client state (and as a result hegemony over the Balkans).

>>1539271
Hapsburg dynasty trying to prolong the existence of their country, even though it was created and maintained for the very purpose of acting as a buffer state against the Turks.

>>1539317
>What were the German supposed to do?
>explains what the Germans could have done

Very simply, if they didn't have France or Britain on their side, they really shouldn't have gotten into a war.

>>1539404
>even though it was created and maintained for the very purpose of acting as a buffer state against the Turks.
By whom?

>>1539476
Except that this would only have made Russia stronger, until they would have initiated hostilities themselves. At least that was the prevalent thinking amongst the German general staff.

You underestimate just how scared the Germans were of a fully modernised Russia, propped up with cheap French loans. Sure, in retrospective it is easy to see that the Russian army was a badly equipped and poorly lead paper tiger, but the German planners didn't know that. They only saw the numbers and the potential.

There was a "now or never" attitude throughout the entire military leadership of the German Empire. In fact, many would have preferred to initiate hostilities even earlier.

Germans and Austrians is a pretty natural rising from the Triple Alliance.

the Bulgarians wanted to carve up Serbia and restore the borders laid out in the treaty of San Stefano.

and the Ottomans wanted to retake control of Egypt and Libya from Britain/Italy, and take back the Caucasus from Russia.

>>1539271
People don't make alliances based on shit 1600 years ago.

>>1539492
I understand that, I'm just saying that Kaiser Wilhelm was an absolute scrub to let Germany become totally isolated on the world stage.

>>1539507
"Let" is putting it mildly - he *actively worked towards* isolating Germany!

If anything, Germany's WWII alliances are remarkable:

>Hungary and Romania have territorial disputes
>Hungary and Slovakia have territorial disputes
>Hungary and Croatia have territorial disputes
>Italy and Croatia have territorial disputes

Yet Hitler managed to make them all join his ranks

>>1539482

Mainly by the Hapsburg dynasty, the Papal State and the Holy Roman Empire.

>>1539271
Outside of Turkey it was very likely alliance.

>>1539492
>Sure, in retrospective it is easy to see that the Russian army was a badly equipped and poorly lead paper tiger, but the German planners didn't know that.
While majority of Russian army was as you've said - badly led and poorly equipped, during WW1 there was an episode when they've shown what would happen if Germans gave Russians some more time.

Ofc. I'm talking about Brusilov offensive which was only surpassed by Barbarossa in death toll.

>>1539521
>Hitler bullies Romania into giving territory to both Hungary and Bulgaria
>Romania still fights for Germany

>>1539271
One thing I don't get is why the German didn't try to get the Japanese on their side. If Russia was always seen as the biggest potential danger, and Japan was proven to be able to fend off the Russians, wouldn't it make sense to get the Japanese on your side to push Russia into a two front war?

>>1540532
Because Japan was allied and friendly with Britain and declared war on Germany to get sweet easy picking Germany colonies in Asia.

>>1540550
So the Germans didn't even see it as worth trying?

>>1540560
Japan was literally occupying German ports.

>>1540582
No they weren't...

>>1540628
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tsingtao

Yes, they were. Before WW1 Japan were very close to Britain, and Germany was not going to be able to break that relationship.

>>1540633
Well yeah no shit during WW1 they had multiple run-ins, I'm obviously not talking about Germany trying to get Japan to switch sides in the middle of the war. Based on what I've read Germany and Japan started to drift apart when German declared support for Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, which kind of calls into question when that past few people have talked about as far as Germany seeing Russia as the ultimate threat. If Wilhelm hadn't been retarded he probably could have gotten a Japanese alliance based on mutual anti-Russian fears.

>>1539384
/thread

Bismarck was right. Wilhelm was a spiled brat and fucked up everything in his cockmeasuring contest with Georgie.

The worst people of Europe and maybe human civilization. They ruined everything.

>>1539271
>It seems like such an unlikely alliance considering the 1600 preceding years

You could say the same thing using a pic that only shows the German Empire

>>1540099
>I'm talking about Brusilov offensive

Not necessarily. The Brusilov offensive was successful due to the lessons learned during WW1. If those lessons are never learned ie. WW1 never starts, there's no guarantee Russia ever reaches that level of competence.

>>1540633
They actually could have. The Army and its leadership was extremely pro-German (particularly Yamagata Aritomo) and wanted either neutrality or to side with the krauts; whereas the Navy and the Foreign Ministry (particularly under Kaato Takaaki) was Anglophile and wanted to honor the alliance arrangements with the Bongs.

It could have gone either way.

>>1539482
Don't listen to him he is a delusional slav. The habsburgs inherited most of their lands.