the nation that joined germany and austria-hungary after world war i began was
Central Powers It faced and was defeated by the Allied Powers that had formed around the Triple Entente. The Powers' origin was the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879. Despite having joined the alliance before, Italy refused to take part in World War I on the side of the Central Powers; the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria did not join until after World War I had begun, even though the Ottoman Empire had retained close relations with both Germany and Austria-Hungary since the beginning of the 20th century.
World War I Between 1908 and 1914, the Balkans had been destabilised by the combination of a weakened Ottoman Empire, the 1912–1913 Balkan Wars and competing Russian and Austro-Hungarian objectives.[13] On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis.[14][15] On 23 July, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia; interlocking alliances quickly drew in all the major European powers with their respective colonial empires and the conflict rapidly spread across the globe.