Formation of the Triple Alliance and the Entente. Epicenters of contradictions and military-political blocs of the Entente and the tripartite alliance
The beginning of the last century was marked by a sharp exacerbation of contradictions between the world's major powers. The main rivalry broke out between England and Germany, who headed the opposing military-political blocs: the Entente and the Triple Alliance.
Back in 1904, an agreement was reached between Paris and London, which dealt with the elimination of disputed territorial issues between them, - on the delimitation of their spheres of interest in Africa. Although it did not say anything about Germany, the agreement was essentially directed against her, since Berlin began to openly declare the need to redistribute the world. And this created a threat to the colonial possessions of London and Paris. German claims to England and France pushed Paris to strengthen ties with Russia and forced British diplomacy to achieve the same, especially since St. Petersburg's mediation was required in settling disputes in the Asian region to delimit spheres of influence.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND GERMANY
Other problems have become aggravated in the world as well. Japan expressed its claims to the terms of the Portsmouth Peace. Austro-Hungarian and German capitals broke through to Turkey. Berlin strove to undermine the rule of England in the sea and intensively strengthened the power of its naval forces. The arms race unfolded.
In 1907, at the initiative of Russia, the second international Hague conference was held, in which 44 states took part. It adopted 13 conventions, including: on the limitation of armaments, on the introduction of an arbitration tribunal for the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, on the laws and conditions of warfare, etc.
In the ruling circles of Russia, the assessment of the current events (especially in relation to Germany) was contradictory. It should be noted that Berlin actively sought to draw Russia into the channel of its policy, to split its international alliances. So, in 1905, during the meeting of Nicholas II with Wilhelm II in Bjork, the Kaiser persuaded the tsar to sign (secretly from the then Minister of Foreign Affairs V.N. contracting parties of any European power. Despite the extreme indignation of Wilhelm II, the Bjork agreement, which was in conflict with the allied treaty with France, did not have any practical results and in the fall of 1905 it was essentially annulled by Russia. The logic of the development of international relations ultimately pushed the autocracy towards the Entente.
The transition of Russia to the camp of Germany's opponents became evident, but not immediately. A. P. Izvolsky, who was appointed foreign minister, strove to achieve rapprochement with Britain without breaking off relations with Germany. For this, he planned to conclude agreements on the most pressing issues with both Germany and Austria-Hungary, and with England. Simultaneously, Izvolsky intended to settle relations with Japan. Such a policy allowed Russia to get the respite necessary to resolve internal problems, restore military potential, and was supposed to provide it with an advantageous position in the emerging Anglo-German conflict.
JAPAN'S CLAIMS
After the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, relations between Russia and Japan remained tense. Tokyo made a number of demands aimed at expanding its influence in the Far East to the detriment of Russian interests. The militarist circles of Japan believed that "the peace was concluded prematurely" and strove for new seizures in the Far East, primarily for the complete annexation of Korea and South Manchuria. They began to increase the army and navy. In Russia, calls for revenge were also heard. And Germany fueled these sentiments and pushed both countries to a new military conflict. At the same time, Berlin promised Russia its help and put forward the idea of a German-Russian-American coalition against Japan. Having entered into negotiations with Russia, Tokyo presented it with demands to expand its sphere of influence along the Songhua River in Manchuria, right up to the inclusion of the Chinese Eastern Railway in this sphere, as well as free shipping along the Amur of preferential transportation of goods across Siberia and virtually unlimited freedom of fishing along the Far Eastern coast of Russia.
In 1907, a Russian-Japanese agreement on political issues was signed. The parties agreed to maintain the "status quo" in the Far East. Northern Manchuria and Outer Mongolia were recognized as the sphere of influence of Russia, and South Manchuria and Korea - Japan.
BOSNIAN CRISIS
In 1908, Izvolsky, during negotiations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary, A. Erenthal, agreed to annex to Austria-Hungary Bosnia and Herzegovina, occupied by the Austrians after the Berlin Congress. In exchange, he received Erenthal's promise not to object to the opening of the Black Sea straits for Russian military vessels. However, England and France did not support the claims of the tsarist diplomacy. Izvolsky's attempt to solve the problem of the straits failed. Austria-Hungary, meanwhile, announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia in March 1909, demanding the recognition of this act. The tsarist government, realizing that it was not ready for a decisive objection, was forced to yield.
BALKAN WARS
The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 became the prologue to the First World War. Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece, united as a result of active efforts of Russian diplomacy, began a war against Turkey and defeated it. The winners soon quarreled with each other. Germany and Austria-Hungary, considering the formation of the Balkan Union as a success of Russian diplomacy, took steps aimed at its collapse, and pushed Bulgaria to oppose Serbia and Greece. During the second Balkan war, Bulgaria, against which Romania and Turkey also began fighting, was defeated. All these events significantly exacerbated the Russian-German and Russian-Austrian contradictions. Turkey was increasingly subject to German influence.
THE BIRTH OF ANTANTA
The Russian government, realizing the country's unpreparedness for war and fearing (in case of defeat) a new revolution, sought to postpone an armed clash with Germany and Austria-Hungary. At the same time, in the conditions of a progressive deterioration in relations with its western neighbors, it tried to formalize allied relations with England. These attempts were unsuccessful, since London did not want to be bound by any obligations. Allied relations between Russia and France by 1914, however, significantly strengthened. In 1911-1913, at the meetings of the chiefs of the Russian and French general staffs, decisions were made that provided for an increase in the number of troops deployed against Germany in case of war. The naval headquarters of England and France concluded a naval convention, which entrusted the protection of the Atlantic coast of France to the English fleet, and the protection of England's interests in the Mediterranean to the French. The Entente as a coalition of England, France and Russia directed against the Triple Alliance was becoming a threatening reality.
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The Entente (from the French Entente, Entente cordiale - cordial agreement) is an alliance of Great Britain, France and Russia (Triple Accord), took shape in 1904-1907 and united more than 20 states during the First World War (1914-1918) against the coalition of the Central Powers , including the USA, Japan, Italy.
The creation of the Entente was preceded by the conclusion of the Russian-French alliance in 1891-1893 in response to the creation of the Triple Alliance (1882), led by Germany.
The formation of the Entente is associated with the delimitation of the great powers in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, caused by the new balance of forces in the international arena and the aggravation of contradictions between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy on the one hand, France, Great Britain and Russia, on the other.
The sharp aggravation of Anglo-German rivalry caused by the colonial and commercial expansion of Germany in Africa, the Middle East and other regions, the naval arms race, prompted Great Britain to seek an alliance with France and then with Russia.
In 1904, a British-French agreement was signed, followed by a Russian-British agreement (1907). These treaties actually formalized the creation of the Entente.
Russia and France were allies bound by mutual military obligations defined by the military convention of 1892 and subsequent decisions of the general staffs of both states. The British government, despite the contacts between the British and French general staffs and the naval commanders established in 1906 and 1912, did not assume any definite military obligations. The formation of the Entente softened the differences between its members, but did not eliminate them. These disagreements were revealed more than once, which Germany used to try to tear Russia away from the Entente. However, Germany's strategic calculations and aggressive plans doomed these attempts to failure.
In turn, the Entente countries, preparing for a war with Germany, took steps to separate Italy and Austria-Hungary from the Triple Alliance. Although until the outbreak of World War I Italy formally remained a part of the Triple Alliance, the ties of the Entente countries with it grew stronger, and in May 1915 Italy went over to the side of the Entente.
After the outbreak of the First World War, in September 1914 in London, an agreement was signed between Great Britain, France and Russia not to conclude a separate peace, replacing the allied military treaty. In October 1915, Japan joined this agreement, which in August 1914 declared war on Germany.
In the course of the war, new states gradually joined the Entente. By the end of the war, the states of the anti-German coalition (not counting Russia, which withdrew from the war after the October Revolution of 1917) included Great Britain, France, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Greece, Italy, China, Cuba, Liberia, Nicaragua , Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, San Domingo, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, USA, Uruguay, Montenegro, Hijaz, Ecuador, Japan.
The main members of the Entente - Great Britain, France and Russia, from the first days of the war entered into secret negotiations on the goals of the war. The British-French-Russian agreement (1915) provided for the transfer of the Black Sea straits to Russia, the London Treaty (1915) between the Entente and Italy determined the territorial acquisitions of Italy at the expense of Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Albania. Sykes-Picot Treaty (1916) divided Turkey's Asian possessions between Great Britain, France and Russia.
During the first three years of the war, Russia pulled off significant enemy forces, quickly coming to the aid of the Allies as soon as Germany launched serious offensives in the West.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Russia's withdrawal from the war did not disrupt the victory of the Entente over the German bloc, for Russia fully fulfilled its allied obligations, unlike England and France, which more than once thwarted their promises of assistance. Russia made it possible for Britain and France to mobilize all their resources. The struggle of the Russian army allowed the United States to expand its production power, create an army and replace Russia, which had emerged from the war - the United States officially declared war on Germany in April 1917.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the Entente organized an armed intervention against Soviet Russia - on December 23, 1917, Great Britain and France signed a corresponding agreement. In March 1918, the Entente's intervention began, but the campaigns against Soviet Russia ended in failure. The goals that the Entente set for themselves were achieved after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, but the strategic alliance between the leading Entente countries, Great Britain and France, remained in the following decades.
The general political and military leadership of the bloc's activities in different periods was carried out by: Inter-Allied Conferences (1915, 1916, 1917, 1918), the Supreme Council of the Entente, the Inter-Union (Executive) Military Committee, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, the main headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, commanders-in-chief and headquarters on separate theaters of military operations. Such forms of cooperation as bilateral and multilateral meetings and consultations, contacts of commanders-in-chief and general staffs through representatives of allied armies and military missions were used. However, the difference in military-political interests and goals, military doctrines, an incorrect assessment of the forces and means of the opposing coalitions, their military capabilities, the remoteness of theaters of operations, the approach to war as a short-term campaign did not allow the creation of a unified and permanent military-political leadership of the coalition in the war.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
On August 31, 1907, a Russian-British treaty was signed in St. Petersburg, which completed the creation of the Entente
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Triple danger
The emergence of the Entente was inevitable: by the end of the 19th century, the expansionist policy of Germany and Austria-Hungary, which sought to significantly change the world order that had developed by that time, became too great. Realizing perfectly well that the European space is becoming a very narrow and cramped field of activity, and outside the Old World, the interests of the two powers may intersect at any time, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and the German Emperor Wilhelm II found the only possible way out: the signing of an interstate union.
The Austro-German treaty, later called the Dual Alliance (by analogy with the Triple Alliance), was signed in Vienna in 1879 for five years, but was renewed several times and was in effect until the very end of the existence of the two famous empires. The alliance that emerged had an openly anti-Russian orientation: its first article stipulated that if Russia attacked one of the empires, the second would immediately come to the rescue "with the entire aggregate of military forces"; and yet - not to conclude peace otherwise than by mutual agreement. The same order of support was in effect if the participating countries were attacked by any other power on whose side the Russian Empire would take. Obviously, the "other power" meant France - the only large European country at that time that could count on Russian support.
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Three years later, Italy joined the Dual Alliance, and it became the Triple Alliance. St. Petersburg and Paris reacted to such a development of the situation in the only possible way: they concluded their own agreement on support in the event of aggression by the new military-political bloc. However, the Franco-Russian agreement was much more than just a military alliance. Having suffered a recent defeat, France needed a strong ally more than ever. And she found him in the person of Russia, which turned Russians into almost the best friends of the French.
But big politics rarely gives you the opportunity to get what you want without an unpleasant "makeweight". And it is quite obvious that the emergence of these two alliances - the Triple and the Franco-Russian - became the starting point on the path to the creation of the Entente and the first step towards the First World War.
London in search of allies
The development of the situation in the Old World at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and the flaring colonial disputes outside of it quickly demonstrated to all the leading powers that the accumulating contradictions between them, the further, the less can be resolved exclusively by diplomatic methods. The rapid militarization of the Triple Alliance and the intensification of its colonial claims became increasingly alarming in Great Britain, which saw Germany as its new rival on the world stage. If Russia was a British rival on land, primarily in the Middle East and Central Asia, then the German colonies in the regions that England traditionally considered to be the sphere of their interests were also a challenge at sea. In addition, the German navy was rapidly building up its muscles, posing an ever greater threat to the Grand Fleet. And Great Britain, which was trying not to join any military-political alliances, had no choice but to look for official allies.
The island empire officially confirmed its rejection of "brilliant isolation", as the policy of non-joining international unions in Britain was called, in 1904, by concluding a Franco-British agreement. Formally, this was not a military-political alliance, but the terms of this treaty, which delimited the spheres of influence of the two powers in Africa and the New World, made it possible to conclude that England and France were formalizing allied relations. And the rhetoric that accompanied the agreement concluded in both countries was also allied.
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Having found a common language with its longtime rival in the European theater, Britain did not stop, but continued to search for new allies. The air smelled more and more distinctly of a big war, and London needed an additional alliance that would force Germany and Austria-Hungary to fight on two fronts in the event of hostilities. It was not necessary to count on the small states of Southern Europe: they would hardly have been able to withstand the combined military power of the Triple Alliance for a long time. So Britain had no choice but to turn its gaze to the east, to another eternal rival - Russia.
Divide and rule
It must be admitted that St. Petersburg was no less interested in reaching an agreement with London. The just ended forced Russia to look for an ally capable of exerting pressure on Tokyo, and Britain undoubtedly occupied the first place in a short series of such countries. In addition, Russia found itself in a strange position: its closest ally, France, tied itself in allied relations with the British, and now the Russian Empire had to take this fact into account when building its own relations with both powers.
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Mutual interest in concluding a Russo-British treaty turned out to be great enough to outweigh many Anglo-Russian contradictions. In addition, in 1906, the former Russian Foreign Minister, Count Vladimir Lamsdorf, known for his sympathy for the German Empire, was replaced by Alexander Izvolsky, whose views were notable for their noticeable Germanophobia. The new head of the Russian foreign policy department, by his own admission, withstood a real struggle with everyone, including his employees in the ministry, but achieved the implementation of the most important, as it seemed to him, plan: the signing of the Russian-British agreement.
Like the Franco-British agreement of 1904, the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 concerned primarily the delimitation of interests in those world regions in relation to which St. Petersburg and London could not reach agreement for more than a decade - the Middle East and Tibet. The agreement, signed on August 31 in St. Petersburg, stipulated that Russia renounces its claims to Afghanistan, which is becoming a sphere of influence of Great Britain, but gets the opportunity to directly influence the state of affairs in northern Persia. The southern part of this region became a zone of British interests, and the center, primarily the Persian Gulf coast, was decided to be considered neutral. Both powers decided to declare Tibet the same neutral, recognizing Chinese sovereignty over this region and abandoning attempts to control events in Lhasa.
Postcard depicting the flags of the main countries that joined the Entente at the beginning of the First World War
The design of the opposing blocks took place over a number of years. Their configuration changed under the influence of the dynamics of foreign policy contradictions.
Triple Alliance- the military-political unification of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy - was created back in 1882. However, distinct forms of bloc confrontation emerged in the course of local armed conflicts at the turn of the century. These were the first wars for the redistribution of territories: the Spanish-American War (1898), the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The Moroccan crises, the Balkan wars, and the national liberation revolutions in a number of colonial and semi-colonial countries exerted no less active influence on the formation of the system of block confrontation.
At the time Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale, Russia was at war with Japan. Before the signing of the treaty with France, England had already entered into a military-political alliance with Japan, directed against Russia, thus, the Anglo-French alliance was directed mainly against Germany. Under these conditions, Germany tried to take advantage of the Russo-Japanese War to weaken the political and economic positions of Russia, but at the same time took into account the danger of the emerging alliance between England and France, persuading Russia to an alliance. This was evidenced by the meeting between the Kaiser of Germany Wilhelm II and the Russian Emperor Nicholas II in the summer of 1905.
The further exacerbation of the contradictions between Germany, France and England was served by First Moroccan Crisis 1905-1906 At the Algeciras (Spain) conference on the problem of Morocco, France received strong support not only from England, but also from Russia, which was a step towards Russia's entry into the Entente. A member of the Triple Alliance - Italy - also supported France, recognizing its claims to Morocco, thereby moving away from Germany and Austria-Hungary.
A year after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, England, given the imbalance of power in the East and the growing hostility from Germany, signed an agreement with Russia, which defined the spheres of influence of the two countries in Iran, Afghanistan, Northeast China and Tibet.
The agreement between England and Russia finalized the bloc Entente.
The steady growth of the power of the German navy led to an increase in its confrontation with the first sea power in the world - England.
The main epicenter of controversy on the eve of the First World War were Balkans, where the interests of not only the great lands of the Javas collided, but also of the small peoples inhabiting this
region. Traditionally oriented towards Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia in 1912 concluded an alliance agreement with a number of secret annexes that provided, in the event of a violation of their sovereignty, a joint armed action, as well as attempts to partition Macedonia. This treaty was directed primarily against Austria-Hungary and Turkey. It was soon joined by Greece and Montenegro, forming a broad coalition that went down in history as Balkan Union.
In the fall of 1912 began First Balkan War created a military-political alliance with Turkey. The reason for the war was the anti-Turkish uprising in Albania and Macedonia and Turkey's refusal to grant autonomy to Macedonia. Intervention in the conflict of the great powers (Austria-Hungary, Russia and
The Entente and the Triple Alliance were military-political associations, each of which pursued its own interests; they were opposing forces during the First World War.
The Entente is a political union of three friendly states - Russia, England and France, created in 1895.
Unlike the Triple Alliance, which was a military bloc even before the Entente, it became a full-fledged military association only when gun shots rang out over Europe in 1914. It was in this year that England, France and Russia signed an agreement under which they assumed obligations not to conclude with their opponents.
The Triple Alliance arose from Austria-Hungary in 1879. A little later, namely in 1882, Italy joins them, which completes the formation of this military-political bloc. He played a significant role in creating the situations that led to the outbreak of the First World War. In accordance with the clauses of the treaty signed for a five-year term, the countries participating in this agreement pledged not to participate in actions directed against one of them, to provide all kinds of support in relation to each other. According to their agreement, all three parties were to serve as so-called "insurers". In the event of an attack on Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary became its reliable protection. In the case of Germany - its supporters, Italy and Austria-Hungary, who were the trump card in the event of participation in the hostilities of Russia.
The triple alliance was concluded on a secret basis and with minor reservations from Italy. Since she did not want to enter into conflict relations with Great Britain, she warned her allies not to count on her support in the event of an attack on any of them by Great Britain.
The creation of the Triple Alliance was the impetus for the formation of a counterbalance in the person of the Entente, which included France, Russia and Great Britain. It was this confrontation that led to the outbreak of the First World War.
The Triple Alliance existed until 1915, since Italy had already participated in hostilities on the side of the Entente. This redistribution of forces was preceded by the neutrality of this country in relations between Germany and France, with which the "native" was not profitable to spoil relations.
The triple alliance was eventually replaced by a quarter alliance, in which Italy was replaced by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.
The Entente and the Triple Alliance were extremely interested in the territory of the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle and Germany wanted to seize part of France and its colony; Austria-Hungary needed control over the Balkans; England pursued the goal of weakening Germany's position, securing a world market monopoly, and preserving maritime power; France dreamed of returning the territories of Alsace and Lorraine taken during the Franco-Prussian war; Russia wanted to take root in the Balkans, to seize the western
Most of the controversy was associated with the Balkan Peninsula. Both the first and second blocs wanted to strengthen their positions in this region. The struggle began with peaceful diplomatic methods, accompanied by parallel training and strengthening of the military forces of the countries. Germany and Austria-Hungary actively took up the modernization of the troops. Russia was the least prepared.
The event that served and prompted the outbreak of hostilities was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Serbia by a student.He shot not only Ferdinand, but also his wife with a shot into a driving car. On July 15, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia ...
