You have to understand that your ally is only going to remain true to the alliance for as long as he thinks it is in his best interest. Your job as a diplomat is to convince him that it is in his best interest to remain true. Make sure you consider the game carefully from his point of view. If you find yourself thinking "wow if he stabbed me, he would be in a great position" then chances are a stab is on the cards, in which case you might want to consider a preemptive stab yourself.
Another way to look at it is to consider the path of least resistance. In your diploming and your moves and positioning of units make sure your ally is better off attacking your mutual enemies than attacking you.

Looking at your status your message to game ratio is quite low. You might need to talk a lot more. Talk to all the players, but make sure you talk to your ally every turn.

That should read... looking at your *stats

Also, make sure you're not too tempting a target. Ideally, an ally should have more to gain if they continue to work with you than they would gain from stabbing you.

If an "ally" can guarantee four centres from you in one turn, but won't make much progress by working with you instead, a stab is probably coming.

"If you find yourself thinking "wow if he stabbed me, he would be in a great position" then chances are a stab is on the cards, in which case you might want to consider a preemptive stab yourself."

LOL! If you are in this position in the first place then there is no chance that you are able to even consider a preemptive stab.... :)

In this game, the ideal alliance is one in which a stab is not profitable for anyone at any point. It's simple as that.

Whenever it becomes more complicated, you take risks one way or another. Sometimes it doesn't even have to become more complicated.

Then there are some nutjobs who prove you're never really safe from a stab unless everyone is your enemy.

Also, just look at the board and what makes sense for which nations. A French and German Alliance is the most ideal alliance in my opinion because once the Low Countries are handled, they expand seperately. Once they get around Switzerland as well, they can help each other with expansion. If you look at a Juggernaut, the likely result of a good Juggernaut is a strong France as well, a France who is strong enough to defend itself. Therefore, a stab in the endgame for the final centers is common in a Juggernaut.

Naturally, OP doesn't know what a Juggernaut is.

So at OP: that's a specific opening/alliance (depends on context I suppose) in which Turkey and Russia work together.

Also, there is no set best/ideal alliance. In fact, if there is one you probably don't get a solo win that way, which is the ultimate goal.

Even not counting that, there's not much special about Germany and France I'd say.

Hmm sorry, partly wrong thread. OP may very well know what a Juggernaut is.

Excusez-moi, frenchie.

It's all good Steephie. I was just pointing out a flawed alliance, in my opinion. In my experience so far on this site and in F2F games, the French German Alliance is the strongest for the longest time and has never really had any major backstabs.

I have a friend who suffers the same issue. I know his problem (because I've played with him enough) is that he just doesn't communicate enough. Most of the good players I've played with spend the early years in particular figuring out who is the best long-term ally based on board position and communication. If you don't talk enough, there's a really good chance that you won't find a solid partner and the alliances you do form will be players using you to achieve a certain goal and then turning on you once that goal has been met.

Make sure that you're talking a lot to the people in your game, and even more-so that they like dealing with you. To me, that's the single best piece of advice I could give towards maintaining an alliance--at least in a full-press game. It's especially true if you're Austria, Italy, or Germany.

Why Me = Fry Me

Damn PE, I was about to post that

I never get backstabbed. Period. Because I don't belief in alliances and most of the players with some skill do neither. Only if it is a noob will he belief in an alliance, and they usually don't backstab.

That reminds me, I wanted to post this earlier but I got banned. Have a good laugh at this end-game chat: http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=132683#gamePanel

He was raging so hard because in the end (well truth be told, I was always planning to, just stringing the dumb chap along) I stabbed him for the win. I don't get these people, this is a game, and people play to win...

thanks for the tips every1