Alliance

in a military sense, signifies a treaty entered into by sovereign states, for their mutual safety and defence. In this sense alliances may be divided into such as are offensive, where the contracting parties oblige themselves jointly to attack some other power; and into such as are defensive, whereby the contracting powers bind themselves to stand by, and defend one another, in case of being attacked by any other power. Alliances are variously distinguished, according to their object, the parties in them, . Hence we read of equal, unequal, triple, quadruple, grand, offensive, defensive alliances , .