The First World War, which until 1939 remained the largest military conflict in history, was a confrontation between two associations: the Triple Alliance and the Entente. The compositions of these blocks were unstable, they changed during the war and at the time of its end involved most of the civilized countries of the world. It is for this reason that the war became known as the First World War.
Triple Alliance
The basis of the Triple Alliance was formed in two stages, from 1879 to 1882. The first participants were Germany and Austria-Hungary, which entered into an agreement in 1879, and in 1882 Italy was also included in it. Italy did not completely share the policy of the union, in particular, it had a non-aggression agreement with Great Britain, in the event of a conflict between the latter and Germany. Thus, the Triple Alliance included most of Central and Eastern Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean seas, some countries of the Balkan Peninsula, as well as western Ukraine, which was then part of Austria-Hungary.
Almost two years after the start of the war, in 1915, Italy, which was suffering huge financial losses, withdrew from the Triple Alliance and went over to the side of the Entente. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary. After their accession, the bloc was renamed the Quadruple Alliance (or Central Powers).
Entente
The military-political bloc of the Entente (from the French "consent") was also not formed immediately and became a response to the rapidly growing influence and aggressive policy of the countries of the Triple Alliance. The creation of the Entente can be divided into three stages.
In 1891, the Russian Empire entered into an alliance agreement with France, to which a defensive convention was added in 1892. In 1904, Great Britain, seeing a threat to its policy from the Triple Alliance, entered into an alliance with France, and in 1907 with the Russian Empire. Thus, the backbone of the Entente was formed, which became the Russian Empire, the French Republic and the British Empire.
It was these three countries, as well as Italy, which joined the Republic of San Marino in 1915, that took the most active part in the war on the side of the Entente, but in fact another 26 states entered this bloc at different stages.
From the countries of the Balkan region, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Romania entered the war with the Triple Alliance. Other European countries to join the list are Belgium and Portugal.
The countries of Latin America, practically in full force, sided with the Entente. It was supported by Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Cuba and Panama. The northern neighbor, the United States, was not a member of the Entente, but took part in the war on its side as an independent ally.
The war also affected some countries in Asia and Africa. In these regions, China and Japan, Siam, Hejaz and Liberia took the side of the Entente.
