Can you inform me why Italy didn't join the central powers?

Germany was dependent on imported resources as well. That's why the British blockade of the North sea was such a huge factor. The Germans gambled that they could knock their enemies out and end the war before the resource crunch collapsed their economy. Four years later, it turned out they really couldn't.

>when AH colapse

lol@retards that believe this

The balance of power was against them and yet they still wanted war. Strange in normal life they seem like they are not risk takers but they took this ultimate gamble which was a long shot at best.

>Italy seemed real spiteful towards Austria for some reason.
They have some history.

That was because Russia was a power in the rising. They believed if not know they would be completely helpless a some years further the line. What does Veeky Forums think, could they have brought the British and even the French on their side with Russia as the strongest empire in the world?

So then why did they agree to be allies in the first place?

Didn't Italy have some agreement with the UK about the Mediterranean?

Well they claimed the alliance was defensive and Italy wasn't consulted first about territorial changes in the balkans according to their agreements. Also the triple alliance was secret unlike the entente which was public. Likely Italy didn't want to be part of such an aggressive and large war that brought in the UK.

If they consulted Italy first they would at least found if they were willing to support any plan of action

>They were promised alot of land and just got 1 Austrian province
They got several. Gorizia and Gradisca (with the port city of Trieste and the Istrian peninsula), South Tyrol, parts of Dalmatia, parts of Carniola and even a small part of Carinthia (Treviso).

They lost most of it after 1943 (and 1945 and 1954) except for South Tyrol, the port city of Trieste, with a land bridge connecting it to Italy, small parts of Gorizia and Gradisca (but with most of the city of Gorizia remaining in Italy) and Treviso.

It was precisely because the balance of power was against them that they wanted war. Russia was modernizing and Germany thought that unless they did something to about Russia in the very near future, Russia would become an unstoppable behemoth. The biggest advantage that Germany held over Russia was railroads. Germany had a full-blown railroad network before most other countries had even connected two cities together. Germany could rapidly deploy soldiers and strike much faster than Russia could. But in the 1900's, that was rapidly changing. Russia was building railroads and soon they would be able to deploy their soldiers just as fast as Germany, and in far greater numbers.

In 1890, Russia had 19,011 miles of track. By 1905, Russia had 31,623 miles of track. Literacy rates in Russia were also rising steadily. Soon, Russia would no longer be a rural backwater, but a modern state with an enormous army. For the General Staff of Germany, this was an absolute nightmare. Their one critical advantage was dissolving right in front of them. The only solution was to pre-emptively attack and annex Russia's industrial centers into the German Empire. And it almost worked. The only problem is that they waited too long. If Germany had declared war in 1907, they almost certainly would have won. But by 1914, Russia was too strong.

So, why can't Italy's navy help Germany destroy the British blockade?

If Italy had joined the Central Powers, then Britain and France would have been forced to divert many naval assets to the Mediterranean. This would mean that there would be fewer ships available to maintain the blockade in the North Sea. The problem here is that Italy only possessed 6 dreadnoughts. The Entente had a total of 43 dreadnoughts at the start of the war. The Central Powers had 20 dreadnoughts. So, Italy joining the war would bring the Central Powers up to 26 dreadnoughts. The disparity is still too great. The Central Powers need at minimum 29 dreadnoughts in order to have any hope of breaking the blockade. And I must stress that 29 is the absolute minimum number.

Why can't they just bomb them?

You mean, bomb the blockading warships to break the blockade? They actually tried to do that with Zeppelins, usually by dropping naval mines into areas where they expected the Royal Navy to operate. The first aircraft carrier in history was actually created for the explicit purpose of countering these zeppelins.

>slavic allies of russia
What kind of term is that?

On the other hand, the opposite was happening in the west. Germany was growing faster than Britain, and the longer they waited, the more they'd be able to challenge Britain's naval supremacy. There was really never a time where Germany stood a good chance of winning the war.

The alliance was 100% defensive so there was literally no reason to join, except to be invaded by France and blockaded by Britain.

So declaring war because the heir was shot was not defensive?