TRIPLE ALLIANCE 



5881 



TRIPOLI 



upward and downward motion. The hammer 

 is raised by the action of a revolving cylinder 

 with cams, and is released when it has reached 

 the highest point within the range of lift of the 

 cams, falling by its own weight. Unlike the 

 action of the steam hammer, the stroke of the 

 trip hammer cannot be controlled. When the 

 hammer drops it does so with full weight. It 

 may, however, be released before it is raised 

 to its extreme height, which lessens the force 

 of the blow. 



A form of speech commonly heard refers to 

 trip-hammer blows, meaning that the blows are 

 delivered with every ounce of force available. 



TRIPLE ALLIANCE, trip "I ali'ans, a name 

 given at various times to a union by treaty of 

 three powers of Europe for stated periods of 

 time, to assure protection for each member 

 against outside powers and to preserve the bal- 

 ance of power between European states. The 

 first treaty of this kind was signed in 1668 by 

 England, Holland and Sweden to prevent Louis 

 XIV of France from taking possession of the 

 Low Countries (now Holland and Belgium). 

 Another alliance for the purpose of checking 

 the power of Spain was made in 1717 between 

 Great Britain, France and Holland. 



The Last Triple Alliance. In 1882, Germany, 

 Austria-Hungary and Italy allied themselves by 

 treaty to prevent the acquisition of territory in 

 the Balkans by Russia and to prevent France 

 from declaring war upon Germany. This treaty 

 was broken by Italy in 1915 when that country 

 not only refused to aid Austria and Germany in 

 the War of the Nations, but declared war upon 

 Austria in 1915 and did not remain in a cordial 

 mood toward Germany. Italy claimed that 

 Germany first violated the terms of the Alli- 

 ance by declaring war upon its enemies without 

 consulting the Italian power at Rome. This 

 omission of a clear obligation Italy resented, as 

 it seemed to indicate that the Germanic powers 

 considered the Italians a minor factor, or that 

 Italy was not greatly above the position of a 

 vassal state. Moreover, the alliance was en- 

 tered into for defensive purposes, and in the 

 War of the Nations Germany assumed the of- 

 fensive. Thus Italy was justified in refusing 

 its assistance. See WAR OF THE NATIONS. 



TRIPLE ENTENTE, ahntahnt', the French 

 term for triple alliance. The outbreak of the 

 War of the Nations in 1914 found the chief 

 powers in Europe divided into two opposing 

 groups tlie Triple Alliance, consisting of Ger- 

 many, Austria-Hungary and Italy; and the 

 Triple Entente, composed of England, France 



and Russia. The Triple Alliance had been 

 formed in 1882, and to offset its influence 

 France and Russia had concluded a dual alli- 

 ance in 1895. In 1904 England settled out- 

 standing differences with France and in 1907 

 came to an understanding with Russia about 

 their respective policies in Persia, Afghanistan, 

 Tibet and other regions where their interests 

 conflicted. These arrangements resulted in the 

 formation of the Triple Entente. In the be- 

 ginning the league was nothing more than an 

 informal alliance, but after the outbreak of the 

 great war closer consolidation was deemed 

 necessary, and on September 5, 1914, each of 

 the Entente powers joined the others in a 

 definite agreement and promised not to con- 

 clude a separate peace with the Central Pow- 

 ers. The Triple Alliance came to an end in 

 1915, when Italy declared war upon Austria- 

 Hungary and joined the Entente allies. The 

 entrance of Italy into the war changed the 

 original league into the Quadruple Entente. 

 See WAR OF THE NATIONS. 



TRIP'OLI, the name commonly applied to 

 one of the Barbary states, an Italian depend- 

 ency on the northern coast of Africa, lying 

 between the Libyan Desert on the east and 

 Tunis and the Sahara Desert on the west (see 

 map, page 588). The southern boundary is in- 

 definite, but the southern part includes Fezzan, 

 which is bounded on the west by the French 

 Sahara. The total area is estimated to be 406,- 

 000 square miles; the population, according to 

 the census of 1911, is made up chiefly of 523,000 

 natives (Berbers) and about 6,000 Europeans. 

 There are also large numbers of Jews. When 

 the region was annexed to Italy in 1911, the 

 Italian government announced that Libya, the 

 ancient name of the country, was to be re- 

 stored. Hence the official Italian name of 

 Tripoli is Libya Italiana. 



For administrative purposes the dependency 

 is divided into the independent districts of Tri- 

 politania and Cyrenaica; the city of Tripoli 

 (73,000 inhabitants) is the capital of the former, 

 and Benghazi (35,000) of the latter. The loca- 

 tion of these cities is shown on the map of 

 Africa, opposite page 81. Italian is the official 

 language, but Arabic is spoken by the majority 

 of the people. 



Much of the country is a barren, elevated 

 plateau, with occasional oases along the water- 

 courses, which are filled with water only in the 

 rainy season. There are no permanent streams, 

 but springs frequently occur. There is a stretch 

 of fertile country about Tripoli city. Wheat, 



