Do international alliances always make the world safer, or can they sometimes lead to more tension?

Nowadays some people claim that international alliances can provide peace and make the world safer, which it is their main function. In this alliances the countries want to provide the security of their citizens and help others in case there is any problem or war with other countries as well as they would want them to receive support. Nevertheless, others might disagree since they think that international alliances create more tension between countries. Honestly, I believe both of them can be possible and true, so in the following paragraphs I will explain it.

First and foremost, it cannot be denied the fact that alliances are a tool for providing security to the population. Moreover, a big alliance can lead to make the world safer since they can afraid other isolated countries. Therefore, this isolated countries wouldn't be able to fight with this alliance and they would keep in peace. For instance, according to National Geographic, NATO was created in 1949 for the deterrence of the threat of the Soviet Union expansion in Europe after the Second World War. With this alliance, countries can guarantee security for their inhabitants from the different problems and disagreements that the governments of two or more countries can have.

Furthermore, alliances can also lead to more tension in our world. Instead of preventing wars, they can intensified them. This can be exemplified by the alliances of the First World War as Triple Entente or Triple Alliance which lead to a world war. Firstly, it was a national conflict between some countries but as all of them wanted to guarantee security for their country, they created alliances that maybe were the cause of a tension leading to a world war. Even though this happened in Europe, also exists the possibility in which the international alliances create tensions between countries.

In light of the above, I strongly believe that not only can international alliances make the world safer, but can they also lead to more tension. Both of them can be seen as true since each country can interpret this kind of signs from a different perspective. In particular, some countries can think that others are creating alliances because they are kind of giving warning them and the others could see it as a threat. Nontheless, others might think that they are more vulnerable due to the fact that other countries have created an alliance which is more powerful that this country on their own. Needles to say, I also reckon that it depends on the objectives of each alliance and it final effect will depend on how they are created and the perspectives of each country.