Question: When did Germany form an alliance with the country the Allies attacked, after their victory in the region that the WINEP bundles the countries of Northwest Africa under?

<P0-S0> The Triple Alliance was a secret agreement between Germany, Austria - Hungary, and Italy. <P0-S1> Italy sought support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French. <P0-S2> Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. <P0-S3> The treaty provided that Germany and Austria - Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation. <P0-S4> It was formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until it expired in 1915 during World War I. Germany and Austria - Hungary had been closely allied since 1879. <P0-S5> In turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. <P0-S6> In the event of a war between Austria - Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral. <SEP> <P1-S0> The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) is a non-profit organization for research and advice on Middle Eastern policy. <P1-S1> It regards its target countries as the Middle East but adopts the convention of calling them the Near East to be in conformance with the practices of the State Department. <P1-S2> Its views are independent. <P1-S3> The WINEP bundles the countries of Northwest Africa together under "North Africa." <P1-S4> Details can be found in Policy Focus #65. <SEP> <P2-S0> the republic of the congo (french: république du congo), also known as congo, congo republic, west congo[citation needed], or congo-brazzaville, is a country located in central africa. <P2-S1> it is bordered by five countries: gabon to the west; cameroon to the northwest; the central african republic to the northeast; the democratic republic of the congo to the east and south; and the angolan exclave of cabinda to the southwest. <SEP> <P3-S0> at the start of the war on 1 september 1939, the allies consisted of france, poland and the united kingdom, as well as their dependent states, such as british india. <P3-S1> within days they were joined by the independent dominions of the british commonwealth: australia, canada, new zealand and south africa. <P3-S2> after the start of the german invasion of north europe until the balkan campaign, the netherlands, belgium, greece, and yugoslavia joined the allies. <P3-S3> after first having cooperated with germany in invading poland whilst remaining neutral in the allied - axis conflict, the soviet union perforce joined the allies in june 1941 after being invaded by germany. <P3-S4> the united states provided war materiel and money all along, and officially joined in december 1941 after the japanese attack on pearl harbor. <P3-S5> china had already been in a prolonged war with japan since the marco polo bridge incident of 1937, but officially joined the allies in 1941. <SEP> <P4-S0> Information gleaned via British Ultra code - breaking intelligence proved critical to Allied success in North Africa. <P4-S1> Victory for the Allies in this campaign immediately led to the Italian Campaign, which culminated in the downfall of the fascist government in Italy and the elimination of Germany's main European ally.