Austria was vulnerable to other nations and the Magyars, Hungarians, seceding from the nation would render Austria virtually defenseless against other powers that might want to take advantage of them. Had Hungary actually seceded from Austria their economy and capital would not have been nearly so strong, and they too, would be threatened by the overpowering nations that would take advantage of a weak country. The compromise was made to have the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary form a dual-monarchy to rule the nation. While it may not appear so, the compromise of the dual-monarchy was simply a strong alliance. The countries acted mostly independent of each other except on foreign affairs, when a foreign affairs committee would be summoned. The alliances that existed before the start of World War I operated in a very similar fashion. The alliance between Austria-Hungary was formed for the sole purpose of protection. When Austria-Hungary acted in unison on foreign affairs, as an alliance, they were able to form a stronger barrier of protection from other nations. The dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was formed so that they would not be subjected to another nation's will. Soon, other countries began to form their own alliances.
The alliances that were formed by other countries created obligations, manipulation, and exploitation between the countries. By 1882 a triple alliance between Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy was officially formed. This treaty was signed under the terms that should France attack Italy then Germany and Austria-Hungary would come to its aid, and vice versa. Each country became obligated to defend each other in the case that if two or more countries were to declare war on a country within the Triple Alliance, then the other countries within the triple alliance would have to come to their aid. This placed many obligations upon the countries in the triple alliance.
