Abstract

The quest to maintain a balance in interstate relations, achieve collective security, and mutual support in case of war led to the formation or the emergence of the alliance system. As such, the alliance system was an unsteady and delicate system of interstate relation which started in Europe during the period of the evolution of state formation roughly between 1500 and early 1900. Although the alliance system sometimes prevent war, it was used most times to tilt the balance of power in favour of the allies. Consequently, the alliance system began to define several activities in the world ranging from economic, social, political, to cultural life. Attempts have been made to examine the alliance system and its effective attraction in conducting modern diplomacy. The study was carried out with the aid of secondary sources and internet materials. The result of the findings in this study shows that the main idea underpinning the alliance system was collective security for it was believed that since all the major European powers had strong allies, a major war could not break out since an attack on one power would lead to a counterattack not only by that country, but their allies. The paper concludes that the alliance system has had an effective attraction in conducting modern diplomacy.

Keywords

  • Alliance System
  • Europe
  • Entente
  • Diplomacy

References

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