The Dual Alliance (German: Zweibund, Hungarian: Kettős Szövetség) was a defensive alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary, which was created by treaty on October 7, 1879, as part of Germany´s Otto von Bismarck´s system of alliances to prevent or limit war. The two powers promised each other support in case of attack by Russia. Also, each state promised benevolent neutrality to the other if one of them was attacked by another European power (generally taken to be France, even more so after the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894). Bismarck saw the alliance as a way to prevent the isolation of the German Empire, which had just been founded a few years before, and to preserve peace, as Russia would not wage war against both empires.
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