War 1870 - 1949 How Empires Rise and Fall Alliances: Promises That Become Traps

Hello and welcome back. This is WAR 1870–1949: How Empires Rise and Fall. We’ve walked through nationalism as faith, empire as prestige addiction, and the naval race as fear made visible. And now we come to the architecture that ties all of it together—the thing that turns anxiety into obligation, and obligation into catastrophe.

Alliances.

At first glance, alliances look like common sense. If you are a state that fears a stronger neighbor, you find friends. If you are a state that fears isolation, you bind yourself to another power so your rival has to think twice. Alliances are sold as deterrence. They’re sold as stability. They’re sold as the rational answer to insecurity.

And in the short term, they often are.