German Weltkrieg propaganda. The subtitle translates to The flags high!
The Central Powers (German: Mittelmächte, Hungarian: Központi hatalmak, Turkish: İttifak Devletleri, Bulgarian: Централни сили) were one of the two main alliances during the Weltkrieg. They faced and defeated the Entente in the greatest armed conflict in history between 1914 and 1919. Despite emerging victorious after the Weltkrieg, the alliance was dissolved after the war, due primarily to Germany's egocentric political interests which alienated and enraged their own allies; Austria-Hungary was prevented from expanding their influence into Ukraine while the Ottoman Empire was betrayed in the Caucasus (via the Caucasus Conference) and in Palestine (via the Jerusalem Accords).
The alliance was partially replaced by the German-aligned Reichspakt, which mainly consists out of the German puppet states in the East, and the German-dominated economic union of Mitteleuropa, which also encompasses nations from Northern and Western Europe. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire are nominally unaligned, but maintain their own spheres of influences (even though comparably small ones, with Austria asserting their influence to a certain degree over the Balkans and Northern Italy and the Ottomans being the dominant power on the Arab peninsula). Bulgaria, while often dubbed the "Hegemon of the Balkans", suffers from severe domestic problems and is still closely aligned to the German economy.
A postcard depicting the four main members of the Central Powers: The German Empire led by Wilhelm II, Austria-Hungary led by Franz Joseph I, the Ottoman Empire led by Mehmed V and Bulgaria led by Ferdinand I.
Members[]
- German Empire
- Austria-Hungary
- Ottoman Empire
- Bulgaria (from 1915)
- The Senussi Order (from 1915)
- Abyssinian Empire (limited membership during the final stages of the Weltkrieg)
- The Dervish State (dissolved shortly after the Weltkrieg and absorbed into Somalia )
- Siam (limited membership during the final stages of the Weltkrieg)
History[]
WIP
Dissolution[]
The alliance broke apart shortly after the signing of the Jerusalem Accord in April 1920, when the Ottoman–German alliance was declared to be dissolved by Ottoman Grand Vizier Ahmed Izzet Pasha, enraged about their own ally's betrayal. Austria-Hungary would follow a few months later, after the end of the Italian Civil War and the subsequent signing of the Treaty of Trieste. The Austrian public largely blamed Germany for dragging Austria-Hungary into the bloodiest war the planet had ever seen and therefore the ruling liberal government under Josef Redlich was more than happy to annul the alliance with Germany. Bulgaria however was reluctant to leave the Central Powers; The government, mainly consisting of pro-German liberals, saw Bulgaria's future with Germany (even though Germany had basically exploited Bulgaria throughout the Weltkrieg), hoping to profit from their ally's glorious victory to manifest their own newly-gained hegemonic position in the Balkans.
Germany, though, was not interested in a continued alliance with Bulgaria, viewing it as strategically irrelevant and as nothing more than a powder keg for future conflicts in the Balkans. In mid-October 1920, the Central Powers were officially dissolved by Reichskanzler Paul von Hindenburg on behalf of Germany's shadow dictator Erich Ludendorff and replaced with the more informal Reichspakt alliance, consisting out of Germany's new puppets in Eastern Europe. The Bulgarian liberal government would be ousted shortly after, leading to the end of Pro-German politics in Bulgaria and plunging the country into political chaos.