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Time for some early 20th century gossip what were these alliances

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that dragged the world into the great war who was dating whom and what were [Girls in bathroom combing hair]

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they wearing at the time it actually kind of got started in the 1860s when

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Prussian Chancellor Bismarck got busy bringing together a bunch of little

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states to form what we now know as Germany as a new kid at school Germany [Boy with Germany flag t-shirt on playground]

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needed to make some friends to avoid total social and political suicide so it

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reached out to the austro-hungarian and Russian empires while the three

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officially allied in 1873 calling themselves three Emperor's League this

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is a pretty impressed name for a clique if they were being honest there we'd be [Girls whispering to each other]

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intimidated but then in 1879 Russia went and ditched the other two leaving

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Germany and austria-hungary as the dual Alliance and not nearly as intimidating

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music never fear Italy joined the party in 1881 and the [Italy joins group of boys]

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new alliance was uncreated Lea renamed the Triple Alliance the rules of the

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Alliance were simple if any of the three member countries were ever at war with [Green man bashing on mans head]

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two or more other countries the rest of the alliance would support them with

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like you know armies not fruit basket well the creation of the Triple Alliance

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was a little shady on the part of Germany and austria-hungary [Germany and Austria-Hungary peering through blinds]

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neither was especially interested in the support of Italy but they did want to

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make sure Italy didn't attack them in the future

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Germany and austria-hungary were pretty much just using Italy which is why it's

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hard to feel bad for them when Italy later decided to switch sides and team

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up with Britain and France sorry were getting ahead of ourselves here but this [French man with baguette appears]

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is all good gossip right in 1888 Chancellor Bismarck was replaced by

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kaiser wilhelm ii as emperor of the german empire well germany's complicated

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web of alliances had mostly held because bismarck was good at his job but Kaiser [Girl caught in a web]

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was not quite as smooth as the old Emperor in the years leading up to World

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War one Germany was seen as increasingly aggressive and militaristic which made [Soldiers running and explosions occur]

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it very challenging for it to make any new friends on the playground nobody

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really likes a bully you know forced to like that Billy yeah but by

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the start of World War one Germany austria-hungary and the Ottoman Empire

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were allied as the central powers they were later joined by Bulgaria for the [Bulgarian man appears in a vest]

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weightlifting team like we said this whole alliance was a little wonky and

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there were plenty of secrets and promises made behind closed doors but

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for the most part these guys represented one side of World War one meanwhile [Germany and Austria-Hungary hiding behind a door]

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Britain was doing its equivalent of hiding in the bushes its policy was

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called splendid isolation nothing like the bridge the name of policy splendid

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like the US it was doing its best to avoid all the hubbub this worked for a [Man hiding behind a bush]

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little while but by the time Germany was putting together complicated alliances

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in Central Europe Britain started to get nervous if Germany decided to attack who

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had Britain's back is that not so it's signed an alliance with France called [British man screaming]

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the auntaunt cordial Russia also wanted to team up with France and eventually

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all three countries ended up forming the triple on Tom this alliance was also a

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little loosey-goosey but the main idea was that Russia Britain and France would [Geese appear on a field]

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support each other in some way if any of them were attacked within the triple arm

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tanto were some tensions over colonies in Africa and India so the relationship [French man and British man appear]

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was a little bit rocky again contributing to the complicated and

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strained alliances that helped which all these countries into World War one well

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as the war gained steam another 100 or so countries piled in including Italy [Italian man appears by Eiffel Tower]

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which decided to pull a switcheroo and join team on Tom which the Central

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Powers probably said something like well we're not allowed to say what they

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probably said on this website so oh well [Germany boy speaking and censored sign appears over mouth]

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