Central Powers

The Central Powers, also Central Empires   (German: Mittelmächte; Hungarian: Központi hatalmak; Turkish: İttifak Devletleri / Bağlaşma Devletleri; Bulgarian: Централни сили,: Tsentralni sili), consisting of Germany,Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria - hence also known as the Quadruple Alliance   (German: Vierbund)—was one of the two main coalitions that fought World War I (1914–18).

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 nominally joined the Triple Alliance before, Italy did not 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.