AUSTRIA-HUNGARY was certainly the closest ally of the Kaiser and had been for some time. The bonds of language and culture that existed between Germany and the Austrian half of the Dual Empire ensured that there was a natural feeling of solidarity, somewhat the same as that which existed between Great Britain and the United States. Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph I, Austrian Kaiser through most of the war, also shared similar ideas about the traditional nature of monarchy. Relations with Kaiser Charles I were somewhat less cordial, but German support, especially on the eastern front, was largely what kept Austria-Hungary in the war to the very end.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE might seem an odd ally for Germany, so infatuated at this period with the old Holy Roman Empire, which the Turks had long opposed. However, Turkey came into the war mostly as a result of shared enemies, especially Russia, which had long been a threat to Ottoman rule of the sea routes to southern Russia and access to the Mediterranean. British rule in Egypt, which had previously been an Ottoman province, also ensured that the cause of Germany was linked to that of Turkey. Known as "the Sick Man of Europe", the Ottoman Empire had long been in a period of decline, but in the past, cooler heads had prevailed and saw to it that the Ottoman Empire survived for the sole purpose that its fall would de-stabilize southern Europe and the Middle East, a fact which is only too obvious to us now.
BULGARIA also joined the side of Germany mostly out of opportunism and common enemies. Russia had been the traditional foe of Bulgaria, but in this case it was mostly the opportunity to make advances at the expense of Serbia which cast the Bulgars into the German camp. The ruler of Bulgaria, Tsar Ferdinand was, as can be seen by his grandiose title, a very ambitious man who is said to have travelled with a costume-shop copy of the robes of a Byzantine Emperor in the hopes that he could one day take the throne as leader of a restored Eastern Empire.
JAPAN although one of the allied powers, had no real stake in the war, and joined only at the chance to grab German territories in the Pacific and China. Later on, Germany held at least some hope of luring the Japanese away from her somewhat condescending allies and throwing her lot in with the Central Powers. Part of the (half serious) "Zimmermann Telegram" which brought America into the war proposed that Mexico and Japan enter the war on the German side with the promise of eventual German aid to Japan in expanding her Far East dominions at the expense of the US and Great Britain. Nothing came of it, but the way Japan felt slighted by her allies at the end of the war ensured that the Japanese would look to Germany for support in the next one.
SWEDEN, hard as it might be to believe, was very symapthetic to the Central Powers at the wars outset, and there was at least some concern that the Swedes might decide to intervene on the side of Germany. Although often overlooked, Sweden has always had a very independent streak on the issue of her military, and could well have proved a more formidable enemy than others might give her credit for. Certainly in the past, as in the 30 Years War and the Great Northern War, Sweden had proven herself to be quite capable of holding her own on the battlefield when needed.
