Atlanta World War I. Military-political coalitions on the eve of the First and Second World Wars: comparative analysis

The expression l’entente cordiale (“cordial agreement”) was also used in memory of the short-lived Anglo-French alliance in the 1840s. The creation of Austria was a reaction to the creation of the Triple Alliance in 1882 and the strengthening of Germany and an attempt to prevent German hegemony on the continent. The aggravation of Anglo-German contradictions at the beginning of the twentieth century. pushed into the background the colonial rivalry of Great Britain, France and Russia. Great Britain, forced to abandon the policy of “splendid isolation,” switched to a policy of blockade against the strongest power on the continent. An important incentive for this choice was the German naval program, as well as Germany's colonial claims. The formation of Austria was preceded by the conclusion of the Russian-French alliance in 1891-1893 in response to the creation of the Triple Alliance led by Germany. The Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 was signed. This agreement dealt with the delimitation of spheres of influence in Asia and Africa and did not say a word about an alliance against Germany. However, it was the first step towards Great Britain joining the Franco-Russian alliance. In 1907, a Russian-British agreement was concluded on the division of spheres of influence in Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet. North Persia fell into Russia's zone of influence, Afghanistan was declared outside the sphere of Russian influence, but Great Britain also pledged not to interfere in its internal affairs. The sovereignty of the Chinese Qing dynasty over Tibet, occupied by the British in 1904, was also recognized. In the face of growing contradictions between France and Germany (on the problems of the colonies and Alsace and Lorraine) and Great Britain and Germany (on the problems of colonies and markets), Russia did its best to delay the world war , because I felt unprepared for it. In addition, the Anglo-Russian rapprochement was facilitated by France, which used financial leverage (loan of April 1906). However, if Russia and France were bound by mutual military obligations, then the British government, despite the contacts established between the British and French general staffs and the naval command, did not accept certain military obligations. However, since 1912, Russia, previously burdened by the rigidity of the terms of the military convention with France, has, on its own initiative, begun to develop these obligations. Thus, in February, Russia agreed to a long-standing proposal to seal the minutes of meetings of the chiefs of general staff of countries with the signatures of ministers, which gave them the character of government documents. In June, a maritime convention was signed, which provided for joint actions of the naval forces of states in all cases when ground forces were supposed to act together. Russia also stopped avoiding general political rapprochement with Great Britain and began to strive to enlist British support in the event of a pan-European conflict. Under pressure from France and in connection with the aggravation of the situation in the Balkans, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov decided in September 1912 to visit England, where he managed to secure the consent of Foreign Minister E. Gray and King George V to conduct naval operations against the German fleet in the North Sea in case of war. From the end of 1913, Russia initiated the transformation of the Triple Entente into an open defensive alliance, in which Great Britain became a welcome ally. But Great Britain and France gave a negative response to this proposal. Moreover, France proposed limiting itself to a secret Russian-English treaty similar to the Russian-French one, and the British cabinet announced its intention to seek a revision of the terms of the 1907 convention. The Russian side was forced to accept the allied option. In April 1914, the Foreign Office handed over to the Russian Foreign Ministry a draft of a new convention on Tibet, which actually provided for the establishment of a British protectorate over it. In addition, Great Britain opposed the decision of the Russian government to increase the number of Cossack brigades in the “Russian zone” in northern Persia. In May-June 1914, maritime negotiations with Great Britain began, which stalled, but after Russia agreed to make concessions on the Tibetan and Afghan issues, a draft maritime agreement was developed in July. True, they did not have time to approve it. If a common line of behavior with France was finally established during the visit of President R. Poincaré and Prime Minister A. Viviani to Russia in July 1914, then with Great Britain it had to be clarified through diplomatic channels. In August 1914, the African states entered World War I against Germany and its allies. In September 1914, in London, an agreement was signed between Great Britain, France and Russia on the non-conclusion of a separate peace, which replaced the allied military treaty. In October 1915, Japan joined this agreement. From the first days of the war, Great Britain, France and Russia entered into secret negotiations on the redistribution of the post-war world: the Anglo-French-Russian agreement of 1915, which provided for the transfer of the Black Sea straits to tsarist Russia; The London Treaty of 1915 between Austria and Italy, which determined Italy’s territorial acquisitions in Austria, Turkey and Albania; Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916 on the division of the Asian possessions of Turkey between Great Britain, France and Russia, etc. The political and military leadership of Azerbaijan was carried out by the Inter-Allied Conferences (1915-1918), the Supreme Council, the Inter-Allied Military Committee, the Supreme Commanders of the Allied Forces and their General Staffs. In addition, such forms of cooperation as bilateral and multilateral meetings and consultations, contacts between commanders-in-chief and general staffs through representatives of the allied armies and military missions were used. However, due to differences in military-political goals and the remoteness of the theaters of military operations, it was not possible to create a unified and permanent leadership of the bloc. By the end of World War I, the anti-German coalition united, not counting Russia, 28 states: Great Britain, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Greece, Italy, China, Cuba, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, San Domingo, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, USA, France, Uruguay, Montenegro, Hijaz, Ecuador and Japan. Moreover, the United States, having entered the war in May 1917, did not join the Entente, acting independently in the war against Germany. After October 1917 and the adoption of the decree on peace, Russia actually left Armenia, which was confirmed by the conclusion of the separate Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty of 1918. On December 22, 1917, a conference of representatives of the African countries in Paris supported the anti-Bolshevik governments of Ukraine, Cossack regions, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Finland; On December 23, an Anglo-French agreement was concluded on the division of spheres of influence in Russia. The Caucasus and Cossack regions were included in the English zone, and Bessarabia, Ukraine and Crimea were included in the French zone. Siberia and the Far East were assigned to the zone of influence of the United States and Japan. The Entente declared non-recognition of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the troops of its states took part in the Intervention in the Civil War in Russia and other regions of the former Russian Empire, but did not take military action against the Soviet regime. After the victory over Germany in November 1918, the Supreme Council of Armenia actually performed the functions of a “world government.” The heads of Great Britain, France and the USA led the Paris Peace Congress of 1919. The results of the congress, enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles (see Versailles system), the failure of the Entente's policy towards Russia and Turkey led to an aggravation of contradictions between the participants of the “Concord of the Heart”. Belgium returned to a policy of neutrality, Italy, disappointed by the Treaty of Versailles, distanced itself from the policies of Great Britain and France. In the first half of the 20s, A. ceased to exist.

Russian Historical Encyclopedia

Introduction

The course towards the formation of aggressive military blocs, pursued by states at any time, is a direct continuation of the “traditional” policies of some countries. This concerns, first of all, aggressive, aggressive goals, as well as the conditions for the participation of individual powers in these blocs. These conditions were and are determined by the strength of each participant in the aggressive bloc, the power of its capital, its military machine. At the same time, the pre-war course also has a number of significant features. The most characteristic thing is that within the framework of military blocs, states were divided into opposing groups. Military camps arose, uniting all the major countries and directed against each other.

Military blocs Entente, Triple Alliance, etc. were created in opposition to each other. They formed a system of imperialist military blocs. The interconnection of all links of this system was determined by the fact that the leading role in them from the very beginning belonged to the great powers.

The creation of a system of military blocs did not mean, of course, the elimination of imperialist contradictions between their participants. However, if in the past these contradictions led to the emergence of opposing military blocs, now inter-imperialist contradictions, developing within the framework of military blocs, were limited to a certain extent by the common interests of the main capitalist powers.

Entente

The Entente - an alliance of Great Britain, France and Russia, took shape in 1904-1907 and united more than 20 states, including the USA, Japan, and Italy, during the First World War (1914-1918) against the coalition of the Central Powers.

The creation of the Entente was preceded by the conclusion of a 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 disengagement of the great powers at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, caused by a new balance of power 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 intensification of Anglo-German rivalry, caused by Germany's colonial and trade expansion in Africa, the Middle East and other areas, and 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 Russo-British agreement (1907). These treaties actually formalized the creation of the Entente.

Russia and France were allies bound by mutual military obligations determined by the military convention of 1892 and subsequent decisions of the general staffs of both states. The British government, despite contacts between the British and French general staffs and naval commands established in 1906 and 1912, did not make specific military commitments. The formation of the Entente softened the differences between its participants, but did not eliminate them. These differences were revealed more than once, which Germany took advantage of in an attempt to tear Russia away from the Entente. However, strategic calculations and aggressive plans of Germany doomed these attempts to failure.

In turn, the Entente countries, preparing for war with Germany, took steps to separate Italy and Austria-Hungary from the Triple Alliance. Although Italy formally remained part of the Triple Alliance before the outbreak of World War I, the ties of the Entente countries with it strengthened, and in May 1915 Italy went over to the Entente side.

After the outbreak of the First World War, in September 1914 in London, an agreement was signed between Great Britain, France and Russia on the non-conclusion of a separate peace, replacing the allied military treaty. In October 1915, Japan joined this agreement, which in August 1914 declared war on Germany.

During 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 participants 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. The Sykes-Picot Treaty (1916) divided Turkey's Asian possessions between Great Britain, France and Russia. entente triple alliance expansion

During the first three years of the war, Russia drew off significant enemy forces, coming quickly 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 Entente’s victory over the German bloc, because Russia fully fulfilled its allied obligations, unlike England and France, who more than once broke their promises of help. Russia gave England and France the opportunity 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 intervention began, but the campaigns against Soviet Russia ended in failure. The goals that the Entente set for itself 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 various periods was carried out by: Inter-Allied Conferences (1915, 1916, 1917, 1918), the Supreme Council of the Entente, the Inter-Allied (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 at individual theaters of military operations. Such forms of cooperation were used as bilateral and multilateral meetings and consultations, contacts between commanders-in-chief and general staffs through representatives of the allied armies and military missions. 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 the theaters of military operations, and the approach to the 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 Franco-Prussian War and its consequences brought profound changes to the system of international relations in Europe. Firstly, the contradictions between France and Germany not only were not overcome, but, on the contrary, became even more acute. Each article of the Frankfurt Peace of 1871 concealed the danger of a new war, giving rise to revanchist sentiments in France and, at the same time, Germany’s desire to get rid of this danger by the final defeat of its western neighbor.

On the other hand, the consequences of the war and Franco-German contradictions had a fairly noticeable impact on the relationships of other European states. Intensifying its foreign policy expansion, Bismarck's Germany took into account that in the event of a conflict with any European state, France would certainly take advantage of the opportunity for revenge, and therefore sought to leave it in international isolation. France, weakened after the war, sought to gain time to restore its military potential and was actively looking for allies on the continent.

From 1871 until his resignation (March 17, 1890), the de facto ruler of the German Empire was Chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck. The Chancellor understood that Germany, with all its strength, was surrounded by terrible dangers from the outside, that for her, losing a big war due to geographical and economic conditions was always more dangerous than for any other power, and that defeat for her could be tantamount to the destruction of a great power.

His entire policy was aimed at preserving what he had extracted, and not at acquiring new things. Even when he intended to attack France in 1875, it was due to Otto von Bismarck's fear of a certain future war. He deliberately tried to discount everything that in any way increased the likelihood of Germany going to war with any great power or coalition of powers. “The nightmare of coalitions” - this is how Otto von Bismarck’s state of mind was defined.

After 1871, a new balance of power emerged in Europe. During the Franco-German War, the unification of the country of Germany was completed, the German Empire arose, the regime of the Second Empire collapsed in France and the Third Republic emerged.

The peace treaty was signed on February 26, 1871 in Versailles. The French provinces of Alsace and Eastern Lorraine were transferred to Germany. In addition, a huge indemnity of 5 billion francs was imposed on France. Then negotiations between Germany and France in Frankfurt am Main led to the signing of a final peace on 10 May.

The Frankfurt Peace Treaty confirmed the annexation of Alsace and Eastern Lorraine to Germany. In addition, Germany additionally annexed the iron ore region west of Thionville, returning the minor fortress of Belfort to France. Thus, the treaty established a new Franco-German border. He also determined the procedure for paying the 5 billion indemnity. France assumed the costs of maintaining the German occupation forces, which remained on its territory until the final payment of the indemnity.

Russia viewed France as a counterweight to a united Germany, but having deep contradictions with England in Central Asia, the Near and Middle East, it valued Germany’s favorable position on the Eastern Question. Austria-Hungary also counted on German support in Southeastern Europe. Otto von Bismarck sought to play the role of mediator in resolving controversial issues between Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans.

Thus, after the Franco-German war, the diplomatic and military-strategic situation changes dramatically: France loses its leadership role in European affairs, Italy is unified, Russia strengthens its position, and most importantly, another new state is created - the German Empire, which very quickly begins to strengthen their positions and claim hegemony in Europe.

The foreign policy line of Otto von Bismarck, which most contributed to the formation of the Triple Alliance, is a very interesting question. Otto von Bismarck himself believed that his main task as Imperial Chancellor was to constantly protect the German Empire from outside danger. Accordingly, he assessed internal political conflicts mainly in relation to the sphere of foreign policy, that is, to a possible threat to the empire from international revolutionary movements. The uprising of the Paris Commune in the spring of 1871, which was perceived throughout Europe as the dawning of social revolutions, helped Otto von Bismarck to convince Europe of the danger, not for the first time since 1789, emanating from France, and of the need to unite all conservative forces in the face of the coming revolutionary upheavals.

The implementation of policies according to the logic of Otto von Bismarck is closely linked to the existence of a strategic alliance of Germany, Austria and Russia. Moreover, Otto von Bismarck emphasizes its significance precisely as an alliance based on the objective awareness of each of the participating powers of its necessity, and not on the thesis of monarchical and dynastic solidarity (on the contrary, in a number of places Otto von Bismarck complains about the too strong dependence of the foreign policy of monarchical countries on the personal will of the emperors and the presence of certain dynastic interests).

After the Russian-Turkish War, England for a time actually became the master of the Black Sea straits. She received the island of Cyprus, and her squadron was stationed in the Sea of ​​Marmara. British warships could easily enter the Black Sea and threaten the southern shores of Russia, which did not yet have a fleet there. Despite the contradictions, Russia and Germany were connected by economic interests, the kinship of the Romanovs with the Hohenzollerns, monarchical solidarity and fear of revolution. Petersburg hoped, with the support of Berlin, to neutralize Vienna in the Balkans and prevent the British occupation of the Black Sea Straits.

Even when the immediate "alliance of the three emperors" collapsed, Otto von Bismarck made a lot of effort to ensure Germany's bilateral relations with Austria and Russia. Otto von Bismarck considers wars between these three powers to be contrary to any logic and to their own interests. Moreover, by maintaining good relations with both Austria and Russia, Germany is able to overcome the danger of isolation on the continent, as well as the equally formidable danger of the “Kaunitz coalition” between Austria, France and Russia. And the fact that in 1879 Otto von Bismarck was inclined to conclude a separate treaty with Austria directed against Russia does not mean, according to Otto von Bismarck, a rejection of the strategy of “wire to Russia.”

On the contrary, it is the alliance with Russia (and not with Austria, the progressive decline, the inconsistency of the internal political system and the growing social contradictions within which Otto von Bismarck was well aware of) that he pays the main attention within the framework of his foreign policy doctrine, and if an anti-Russian agreement was signed, then, as Otto von Bismarck emphasizes, it was determined, first of all, by the aggressively pan-Slavic foreign policy of Russia, which did not correspond to genuine Russian interests, and was of an emphatically temporary, rather than durable, nature. Otto von Bismarck repeatedly emphasizes that “between Russia and Prussia-Germany there are no such strong contradictions that they could give rise to a rupture and war.”

But after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Relations between Russia and Germany deteriorated. Berlin supported Vienna in European commissions to establish new borders for the Balkan states, and in connection with the global agrarian crisis began to pursue protectionist policies. It consisted, in particular, in an almost complete ban on the import of livestock and the establishment of high duties on bread from Russia. Germany also protested against the return of Russian cavalry to the Baltic provinces after the war with Turkey. To the “customs war” a “newspaper war” was added. Throughout 1879, Slavophiles accused Germany of “black ingratitude” for Russia’s benevolent neutrality during the Franco-German War, and Berlin recalled its role in the partial preservation of the Treaty of San Stefano.

In St. Petersburg, sentiment in favor of rapprochement with France intensified, but in the late 1870s and early 1880s. there were no conditions for the implementation of this course. Russia, which was on the brink of war with England in Central Asia, was interested in the security of its western borders, and France, which pursued an active colonial policy in Africa and Southeast Asia, in turn, did not want complications with London and Berlin.

Otto von Bismarck, in conditions of cool relations with Russia, prepared the conclusion of the Austro-German alliance, the treaty of which was signed on October 7, 1879 (Appendix 1)

Initially, Otto von Bismarck sought from D. Andrassy an agreement that would be directed both against Russia and France, but failed. According to the agreement, in the event of an attack by Russia on one of the parties, the other was obliged to come to its aid, and in the event of an attack by another power, the other party had to maintain benevolent neutrality if Russia did not join the attacker.

Otto von Bismarck, who was familiar with the terms of the treaty, made it clear to Alexander II that Russia should not count on German support in the event of an Austro-Russian conflict. The Chancellor insisted on a tripartite alliance between Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary.

The Austro-German Treaty of 1879 continued to exist independently of the Alliance of the Three Emperors. The Austro-German Treaty of 1879 is an event that is called a milestone in the foreign policy of the German Empire. The Austro-German Treaty turned out to be the most durable of all the treaties and agreements concluded by Otto von Bismarck. He marked the beginning of a “dual alliance” that lasted until the First World War. So, the initial link in the system of imperialist coalitions that strangled each other in the world battle was created by Otto von Bismarck 35 years before it began.

In 1882, Italy joined him, dissatisfied with the transformation of Tunisia into a French protectorate.

Here the best diplomatic skills of Otto von Bismarck showed themselves. By encouraging the French government to seize Tunisia, Otto von Bismarck performed a clever diplomatic maneuver. He drew Italy and France into a bitter fight over this piece of North Africa. As paradoxical as it may sound, by providing France with diplomatic support against Italy, Otto von Bismarck made the Italians his allies. He, one might say, drove the small Italian predator into his political camp. At the time of the capture of Tunisia by the French, the ministry of B. Cairoli was in power in Italy. B. Cairoli was an ardent advocate of the annexation of Trieste and Tretino, which remained under Habsburg rule.

Shortly before the invasion of French troops in Tunisia, Cairoli publicly assured the alarmed Parliament that France would never commit such a treacherous act, but when this step was finally taken, B. Cairoli resigned. As he left, he declared that in his person the last Francophile ministry in Italy was leaving the stage. The conflict with France prompted Italy to seek rapprochement with the Austro-German bloc. The severely rugged coastline of Italy made it especially vulnerable to the English fleet, so allies were needed, especially in view of the possible deterioration of relations with England, with the beginning of Italy's African colonial policy. Italy could only make up elsewhere for what it had lost in Tunisia by relying on a strong military power. Otto von Bismarck dismissively but aptly called the Italians jackals who stalk larger predators.

In January 1882, the Italian ambassador Beauvais approached Otto von Bismarck with a wish on behalf of his government to strengthen Italy's ties with Germany and Austria-Hungary. For Germany, Italy was in the past an ally, but for Austria an enemy. This circumstance was taken into account by Otto von Bismarck when he formulated his response to the ambassador. Bismarck expressed doubts about the possibility of formalizing friendly relations between the three countries in the form of a written treaty and rejected the ambassador's request to draft one, but he did not completely reject the idea. They especially persistently sought an alliance with the Italian king Humbert I and the industrial bourgeoisie of Italy, who sought to protect themselves from French competition, advocated an alliance with Germany, but Otto von Bismarck let them know that “Italy can only find the keys to the German doors in Vienna.” Russia Germany Emperor Entente

No matter how difficult it was for him, the Italian government decided to make an attempt to get closer to Austria. In January 1881, an Italian secret agent also came to Vienna. The preference for secret agents instead of the usual methods of diplomatic relations was not an accident. It testified to the weakness of Italy; From this weakness arose the Italian government's self-doubt and fear of embarrassment if its advances were rejected. In view of this, it sought to act in the least official ways possible.

For Austria, rapprochement with the Italians promised to provide a rear in case of war with Russia. Therefore, Vienna, after a series of delays, agreed to an alliance with Italy, no matter how much the Austrian court despised this country. Otto von Bismarck needed Italy to isolate France. All this led to the signing of an alliance treaty between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (Appendix 2).

A secret treaty between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was signed on May 20, 1882 and was called the Triple Alliance. Concluded for five years, it was extended several times and lasted until 1915. The parties to the treaty pledged not to take part in any alliances or agreements directed against one of them. Germany and Austria-Hungary pledged to provide assistance to Italy if it were attacked by France, and Italy pledged to do the same in the event of an unprovoked French attack on Germany. As for Austria-Hungary, it was exempt from providing assistance to Germany against France; it was assigned the role of a reserve in case of Russia's entry into the war.

If there is an unprovoked attack on one or two parties to a treaty by two or more great powers, all three states go to war with them. If one of the powers that attacked Italy's partners was England, then Rome was freed from military assistance to its allies (the coasts of Italy were easily vulnerable to the English navy).

In the event of an unprovoked attack on one of the parties to the treaty by one of the great powers not participating in this treaty (except France), the other two parties pledged to maintain benevolent neutrality towards their ally. Thus, Italy's neutrality was guaranteed in the event of a Russian-Austrian war. Following the signing of the treaty, Germany and Austria-Hungary took note of Italy's statement, according to which Italy refused military assistance to its allies in the event of a war with Great Britain. In 1887, additions were made to the treaty in favor of Italy: it was promised the right to participate in resolving issues relating to the Balkans, Turkish coasts, islands in the Adriatic and Aegean seas. In 1891, a decision was recorded to support Italy in its claims in North Africa (Cyrenaica, Tripoli, Tunisia).

The powers were obliged, in the event of common participation in the war, not to conclude a separate peace and to keep the treaty secret. The Treaty of 1882 existed in parallel with the Austro-German Alliance of 1879 and the Alliance of the Three Emperors of 1881. By becoming the center of the three alliances, Germany was able to exert enormous influence on international relations. Romania also joined the Austro-German bloc. In 1883, she concluded a secret treaty with Austria-Hungary, according to which Austria-Hungary pledged to provide assistance to Romania in the event of an attack by Russia. The Romanian ruling elite associated themselves with the Triple Alliance, on the one hand, because of the fear of Russia’s seizure of the Black Sea straits, which could lead to Russian domination over the economic life of Romania, on the other, because of the desire to increase the territory of the Romanian state at the expense of Bessarabia, and also Silistria, Shumla and other Bulgarian cities and regions. The formation of the Triple Alliance marked the beginning of the formation of those military coalitions that later clashed in the First World War. The German military clique sought to use the Triple Alliance to carry out its aggressive plans against France. Such an attempt was made at the end of January 1887, when in Germany it was decided to call up 73 thousand reservists for training camps. Lorraine was appointed as the gathering place. Inspired articles appeared in newspapers about France's supposedly intensified preparations for war with Germany. Crown Prince Friedrich, the future Emperor Frederick III, wrote in his diary on January 22, 1887 that, according to Otto von Bismarck, war with France was closer than he expected. However, the German Chancellor failed to secure Russia's neutrality in the event of a Franco-German conflict. And Otto von Bismarck always considered a war with France without confidence that Russia would not intervene in the conflict as dangerous and risky for Germany.

The emergence of the Triple Alliance in the center of Europe and the continuing deterioration of Franco-German relations, which reached their greatest tension by 1887, required the French government to quickly find ways to break out of the political isolation created for France. For a weakened France, in need of peace and at the same time never abandoning the thought of revenge, time was needed to eliminate the consequences of the war of 1870-1871. French politicians clearly understood that if a new war broke out with Germany (and the danger of new aggression from Germany was quite real), then France needed to have reliable allies, because combat with the German armed forces would not bring success. And France saw such an ally primarily in the largest state located in the east of Europe - in Russia, with which France began to seek cooperation the very next day after the signing of the Frankfurt Peace.

At the end of 1870 The struggle between the great powers and their allies for the final division of spheres of influence in the world is becoming more acute. The main reason for the strengthening of colonial expansion was the rapid growth of industrial production in Western countries caused by the emergence of new technologies, which determined the desire of governments to find new markets for the export of capital and the sale of finished products. An equally important task was to seize sources of raw materials, the free exploitation of which allowed the industry of these countries to constantly increase production volumes without attracting additional funds.

Having gained the opportunity to solve economic problems through the unlimited exploitation of colonies and dependent countries, the governments of many European powers were able to mitigate internal social contradictions by redistributing the income received. This allowed the most economically developed metropolitan countries of Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium to subsequently avoid the social upheavals that Russia, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Spain and Portugal faced. The latter, for a number of reasons, were never able to economically develop and effectively exploit the markets of their no less extensive territorial possessions. At the same time, most of these states, compensating for economic weakness with military force, managed to take an active part in the struggle for the final division of spheres of influence in the world at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

For this reason, despite the differences in methods of expansion, all these countries can be classified as colonial empires, because their policy was based on the desire to seize or take control of as wide a territory as possible, towards the population of which the Europeans pledged to carry out a “civilizing mission” .

Thus, the active trade, economic and military-political penetration of Western states into all regions of Asia and Africa was the final stage in the formation of the world economic system, within the framework of which competition continued between the great powers for control over the most profitable ones, both economically and militarily. strategically the territories. By the end of the 19th century. a significant part of the Southern Hemisphere was divided between the great powers and their allies. Only a very few countries managed to maintain formal sovereignty, although they also became completely economically dependent on the colonial empires. This happened with Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, China, Korea, Siam, Ethiopia, which, thanks to strong centralized power and tough government policies towards national minorities, managed to avoid the fate of India, Burma, Vietnam and other feudal states that fell into separate parts and were captured colonialists. The sovereignty of individual countries (Liberia, Uriankhai region) was guaranteed by the great powers (USA, Russia).

Particularly important in this regard are the aggravated contradictions between Germany and Great Britain - by and large the main factor in the international situation.

The alliance between Russia and France was dictated not only by the common military-strategic interests of both powers, but also by the presence of a threat from common enemies. By that time, the union already had a solid economic basis. Russia since the 70s was in dire need of free capital to invest in industry and railway construction; France, on the contrary, did not find a sufficient number of objects for its own investment and actively exported its capital abroad. It was from then on that the share of French capital in the Russian economy gradually began to grow. For 1869-1887 17 foreign enterprises were founded in Russia, 9 of them French.

French financiers very productively used the deterioration of Russian-German relations. The economic prerequisites of the union also had a special military-technical aspect. Already in 1888, the brother of Alexander III, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who came to Paris on an unofficial visit, managed to place a mutually beneficial order with French military factories for the production of 500 thousand rifles for the Russian army.

The cultural prerequisites for the alliance between Russia and France were long-standing and strong. No other country had such a powerful cultural impact on Russia as France. The names of F. Voltaire and J.J. Rousseau, A. Saint-Simon and C. Fourier, V. Hugo and O. Balzac, J. Cuvier and P.S. Laplace, J.L. David and O. Rodin, J. Wiese and C. Gounod were known to every educated Russian. In France they always knew less about Russian culture than in Russia about French culture. But since the 80s. The French, like never before, are becoming familiar with Russian cultural values. In the context of growing rapprochement between Russia and France, an alliance was advocated in both countries by advocates of an active offensive policy against Germany. In France, as long as it maintained a defensive position towards Germany, an alliance with Russia was not a burning need. Now, when France recovered from the consequences of the defeat of 1870 and the question of revenge arose on the order of the day for French foreign policy, the course towards an alliance with Russia sharply prevailed among its leaders (including President S. Carnot and Prime Minister C. Freycinet).

In Russia, meanwhile, the government was being pushed towards an alliance with France by the landowners and bourgeoisie, who were hurt by Germany’s economic sanctions and therefore advocated a turn of the domestic economy from German to French loans. In addition, wide (politically very different) circles of the Russian public were interested in the Russian-French alliance, which took into account the entire set of mutually beneficial prerequisites for this alliance. A “French” party began to take shape in society, in the government, and even at the royal court. Its herald was the famous “white general” M.D. Skobelev.

True, the “German” party was also strong at court and in the Russian government: Foreign Minister N.K. Gire, his closest assistant and future successor V.N. Lamzdorf, Minister of War P.S. Vannovsky, ambassadors to Germany P.A. Saburov and Pavel Shuvalov. In terms of influence on the tsar and the government, as well as in the energy, persistence and “caliber” of its members, the “German” party was inferior to the “French” one, but a number of objective factors that hindered Russian-French rapprochement were in favor of the first.

The first of these was the geographical factor of remoteness. What hampered the union between Russia and France more were differences in their state and political systems. Therefore, the Russian-French alliance took shape, although steadily, but slowly and difficultly. It was preceded by a number of preliminary steps towards rapprochement between the two countries - mutual steps, but more active on the part of France.

Otto von Bismarck entered into an alliance with Austria in 1879, an alliance with Italy in 1882 (thus creating the Triple Alliance) in order to have support in case of war with Russia or France. He strongly encouraged France's policy of conquest in Africa and Asia, firstly, in order to distract the French from the thought of revenge - about the reverse conquest of Alsace and Lorraine, and secondly, in order to thereby contribute to the deterioration of France's relations with England and Italy. Finally, he was very stingy and reluctant to create German colonies, so as not to get involved in dangerous quarrels with the great maritime power - England. This policy of abstinence and caution required many sacrifices, which irritated the ruling circles of Germany. But Otto von Bismarck, while yielding to them, still tried to yield as little as possible.

Using the idea of ​​monarchical solidarity in maintaining “order” in Europe, in 1873 Otto von Bismarck managed to create the “Union of Three Emperors” - Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. The agreement was consultative in nature, but Germany's role in international relations immediately increased. However, the Soyuz was not, and could not be, stable. The contradictions between its participants were too significant. And although in 1881 the agreement was renewed, and in the form of a neutrality treaty, by the mid-80s. The Soyuz has completely exhausted its capabilities.

After the Russo-Turkish War, at the Berlin Congress of 1878, Germany did not support Russia's claims in the Balkans. In turn, Russia refused to remain neutral in the event of war between Germany and France. This kept Otto von Bismarck from attacking France again three times (in 1875, 1885 and 1887). In addition, after the mutual increase in customs duties on the import of goods between Germany and Russia in the late 70s. a real customs war began.

The deterioration of relations with Russia led to a military-political rapprochement between Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1879, the governments of the two countries entered into a secret treaty of alliance, which provided for mutual assistance in the event of a Russian attack on either state and benevolent neutrality during a war with any other European country, unless Russia joined it. Defensive in form, the treaty was aggressive in nature, since it provided for a real situation in which, in the event of a military conflict between Germany and France, if the latter provided assistance from Russia, Germany would receive Austrian support, and the war would acquire a European scale.

Undoubtedly, Otto von Bismarck was the only outstanding diplomat of the German Empire. He was a representative of the Prussian Junkers and the German bourgeoisie during the struggle for the national unification of Germany, and then for the strengthening of the state he created. He lived and acted in an era when imperialism was far from being established.

A distinctive feature of Otto von Bismarck's foreign policy was its aggressive nature. When Otto von Bismarck saw the enemy in front of him, the chancellor’s first move was to find his most vulnerable places in order to hit them as hard as possible. Pressure and blow were for Otto von Bismarck a means not only to defeat the enemy, but also to make friends for himself. To ensure the loyalty of his ally, Otto von Bismarck always kept a stone in his bosom against him. If he did not have a suitable stone at his disposal, he tried to intimidate his friends with all sorts of imaginary troubles that he could allegedly cause them.

If pressure did not help, or, with all his ingenuity, Otto von Bismarck could not find any means of pressure or blackmail, he turned to his other favorite method - bribery, most often at someone else's expense. Gradually, he developed a kind of standard for bribes. He bought the British with assistance in Egyptian financial affairs, the Russians with assistance or freedom of action in one or another of the eastern problems, the French with support in the seizure of a wide variety of colonial territories. Otto von Bismarck had quite a large arsenal of such “gifts”.

Otto von Bismarck was less willing to use such a diplomatic technique as compromise. It wasn't his style. Otto von Bismarck was a great realist. He loved, when necessary, to talk about monarchical solidarity. However, this did not prevent him from supporting republicans in France, and in 1873 in Spain, as opposed to the monarchists, since then he believed that republican governments in these countries, from the point of view of the German Empire, would be the most convenient

Otto von Bismarck did not give room to feelings in his politics, but always tried to be guided solely by calculation. If some feeling sometimes interfered with his logic, it was most often anger. Anger and hatred were, perhaps, the only emotions that could sometimes divert the chancellor from the path of cold and sober calculation - and then only for a while.

Another character trait of Otto von Bismarck was exceptional activity. The first Chancellor of the German Empire was an energetic, extremely active person who literally knew no rest. Simplicity was not a feature of Bismarck's policy, despite the fact that its goal was usually expressed with the utmost clarity. Otto von Bismarck almost always clearly knew what he wanted and was able to develop an amazing amount of willpower to achieve his goal. He sometimes walked straight towards her, but more often - along complex, sometimes confusing, dark, always varied and restless paths.

Foreign policy fascinated Otto von Bismarck. One of the reasons that led directly to his resignation was disagreements between the Chancellor and the Kaiser on the issue of attitude towards Russia.

General Waldersee, who replaced the decrepit General von Moltke as Chief of the German General Staff in 1888, continued to insist on a preventive war against Russia. The young Kaiser was inclined to this point of view. Otto von Bismarck considered the war against Russia disastrous.

Sometimes in Western historiography Otto von Bismarck is portrayed as almost a friend of Russia. This is not true, he was her enemy, since he saw in her the main obstacle to German supremacy in Europe. Otto von Bismarck always tried to harm Russia, trying to drag it into conflicts with England and Turkey, but the chancellor was smart enough to understand what enormous power lay in the Russian people. Harming Russia in every possible way, Otto von Bismarck tried to do it with the wrong hands.

The lines dedicated by Otto von Bismarck to the problem of the Russian-German war sound like a terrible warning. “This war, with the gigantic size of its theater, would be full of dangers,” said Otto von Bismarck. “The examples of Charles XII and Napoleon prove that the most capable commanders only with difficulty extricate themselves from expeditions to Russia.” And Otto von Bismarck believed that a war with Russia would be a “great disaster” for Germany. Even if military luck had smiled on Germany in the fight against Russia, then even then “geographical conditions would have made it infinitely difficult to bring this success to the end.”

But Otto von Bismarck went further. He not only realized the difficulties of the war with Russia, but also believed that even if, contrary to expectations, Germany managed to achieve complete success in the purely military sense of the word, then even then it would not have achieved a real political victory over Russia, because the Russian people cannot be defeated. Polemicizing with supporters of an attack on Russia, Otto von Bismarck wrote in 1888: “This could be argued if such a war could really lead to the defeat of Russia. But such a result even after the most brilliant victories lies beyond all probability. Even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the disintegration of the main strength of Russia, which is based on millions of Russians themselves... These latter, even if they are dismembered by international treaties, will just as quickly unite with each other again , like particles of a cut piece of mercury. This indestructible state of the Russian nation is strong with its climate, its spaces and limited needs...". These lines do not at all indicate the chancellor's sympathy for Russia. They talk about something else - Otto von Bismarck was careful and perspicacious.

Bismarck was to a large extent a kind of personification of the alliance of the bourgeoisie with the Junkers. But as imperialist tendencies matured in the economy and politics of Germany, its policy increasingly became the policy of “state capitalism”

Bismarck's policy was aimed at preserving what was extracted, and not at acquiring new things. He intended to attack France, this was explained by Otto von Bismarck's fear of a certain future war. He deliberately tried to discount everything that in any way increased the likelihood of Germany going to war with any great power or coalition of powers.

Over time, using Italian-French colonial rivalry, Otto von Bismarck managed to attract Italy to the coalition. In 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy entered into a secret alliance agreement on mutual assistance in the event of war with France and common action in the event of an attack on one of the participants of two or more European countries. This is how the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy arose, which marked the beginning of the split of Europe into warring military factions.

Cleverly playing on the differences between European states, the Triple Alliance soon managed to win over Romania and Spain. However, all attempts by Otto von Bismarck and his successors to achieve England's participation in the union were fruitless. Despite acute colonial contradictions with France and Russia, England, as before, did not want to bind itself to an agreement with any European state, remaining faithful to the policy of “brilliant isolation.”

However, the likely accession of England to the German-Austrian bloc accelerated the military-political rapprochement between France and Russia. In 1891, the Franco-Russian alliance was formalized by a consultative pact, and in 1892, representatives of the general staffs of both countries signed a secret military convention on joint actions in the event of war with Germany. The Convention, which was to remain in force for the duration of the Triple Alliance, was ratified in late 1893 and early 1894.

90s XIX century were characterized by a sharp intensification of German foreign policy and a change in its direction. The rapid development of industry, which had outgrown the capabilities of the domestic market, forced the country's ruling circles to support German trade expansion in Europe and look for “new independent territories” for the sale of goods. Having embarked on the path of colonial conquests later than other countries, Germany was significantly inferior to them in terms of the size of the captured territories. The German colonies were twelve times smaller than the English ones, and in addition they were poor in raw materials. The imperial leadership was acutely concerned about such “injustice” and, intensifying its colonial policy, for the first time raised the question of redividing the world already divided by European countries.

Germany's transition to "world politics was embodied in its claims to dominance in Europe, the desire to gain a foothold in the Near, Middle and Far East, and the desire to redistribute spheres of influence in Africa." The main direction of German expansion was the Middle East. In 1899, the Kaiser obtained consent from the Turkish Sultan to build a transcontinental railway, which was supposed to connect Berlin and Baghdad, after which the active penetration of German capital into the Balkans, Anatolia and Mesopotamia began.

The advance of the Germans to the east and Germany's overt territorial claims led to a sharp deterioration in its relations with the largest colonial state in the world - England. By the beginning of the 20th century. Anglo-German contradictions become central to the system of international relations. The economic, political and colonial rivalry between the two countries was complemented by a naval arms race. By launching the construction of a powerful navy in 1898, Germany challenged the “mistress of the seas,” threatening its intermediary trade and relations with the colonies.

For a long time, confident in the invulnerability of England's island position and the advantage of its navy, British diplomats considered the best foreign policy not to tie their hands with alliances with other states, to encourage conflicts between them and to benefit England from these conflicts. To maintain the “European balance,” Great Britain usually opposed the strongest continental state, preventing it from taking a dominant position in Europe.

However, the deterioration of the country's international position at the beginning of the 20th century. forced the British government to change its foreign policy course. The sharp increase in Germany's military and naval power and its overt territorial claims created a real threat to the existence of the British Empire. The policy of isolation was becoming dangerous, and British diplomacy began to look for allies on the continent in a future clash with Germany.

In 1904, after the settlement of mutual colonial claims in Africa, England entered into a military-political agreement with France, which was called the Entente ("Concord of the Heart"). In 1907, the Entente became tripartite: having signed a convention with England on the division of spheres of influence in Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet, Russia also joined it. Thus, as a result of the agreements of 1904-1907. The military-political bloc of three states, opposing the countries of the Triple Alliance, finally took shape.

The formation of the Entente in 1904 became a serious warning to Germany in its expansionist plans. On the eve of the inevitable clash with England, the Franco-Russian alliance of 1891-1893 became much more dangerous for it. Therefore, the Kaiser and German diplomacy repeatedly made attempts to break the hostile environment, inspiring the aggravation of Anglo-Russian differences and fueling the mistrust of the Russian ruling circles towards France.

After France had established a “cordial agreement” with England, all that remained was to tie up the loose ends: to convince England and Russia of the need for rapprochement. It was not an easy task.

Anglo-Russian relations after the Crimean War were very tense. Despite Russia's defeat in this war, Britain continued to be concerned about its activity in areas of British interest. The British were also worried about the prospect of the Russians taking possession of the Black Sea straits. After all, it was from the Mediterranean that the shortest route to India began - the Suez Canal. The defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War and the revolution of 1905-1907. finally convinced England that it was not Russia that now posed a danger to British interests. England, like France, needed a military alliance against Germany more than Russia. Therefore, the old Russian-English differences in the face of general German aggression were resolved. In 1907, England and Russia managed to agree on the division of spheres of influence in Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet. So in 1907 Russia joined the Entente.

The results of the development of international relations from 1871 to 1893 can be summarized in the words of Engels: “The major military powers of the continent were divided into two large camps that threatened each other: Russia and France on the one hand, Germany and Austria on the other.” England remained outside these two blocs for now; she continued to base her policy on their contradictions. Moreover, until the mid-90s. its diplomacy gravitated more towards the German group, although objectively Anglo-German antagonism had been growing for quite some time.

Therefore, in his work V.P. Potemkin - “History of Diplomacy” put it this way: “If the imperialist struggle for colonies and spheres of influence is overlooked as a factor in the impending world war, if the imperialist contradictions between England and Germany are also overlooked, if the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany is a factor in the war , is relegated to the background before the desire of Russian tsarism for Constantinople, as a more important and even determining factor in the war; if, finally, Russian tsarism represents the last stronghold of pan-European reaction, then isn’t it clear that the war of, say, bourgeois Germany with tsarist Russia is not an imperialist, not a predatory, not an anti-people war, but a war of liberation, or almost liberation?

After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, using Romanov and Hohenzollern family connections, Wilhelm II increased pressure on Nicholas II, arguing in correspondence that French neutrality during the war bordered on treason, and that the Anglo-French agreement of 1904 was aimed at against Russia. During a personal meeting in Björk (Finland) in 1905, he managed to convince the Russian emperor to conclude a secret treaty of mutual assistance with Germany, however, this diplomatic success remained inconclusive. Under pressure from the highest dignitaries of the empire, Nicholas II was soon forced to cancel this agreement. Equally futile was the attempt by German diplomacy to tear Russia away from its Entente allies during the Potsdam meeting of the two emperors in 1910.

By fueling disagreements between European states, Germany sought, among other things, to ensure unimpeded penetration into the Middle East. At the same time, it tried to establish itself in North Africa, laying claim to part of Morocco that had not yet been captured by the Europeans. However, on the European "colonial exchange" Morocco had long been recognized as a sphere of French interest, and William II's intervention in Moroccan affairs in 1905 caused a sharp deterioration in international relations. The Moroccan crisis almost led to the outbreak of a European war, but the conflict was resolved diplomatically. An international conference convened in Algeciras (Spain) in 1906, contrary to the expectations of the Germans, recognized France's preferential rights to Morocco.

In 1911, taking advantage of the unrest in the Fez region, France, under the pretext of “pacification,” sent its troops into the Moroccan capital. This caused an unexpected demarche in Germany. “After a noisy campaign in the press demanding the division of Morocco, the German government sent the gunboat Panther and then a light cruiser to its shores, provoking the second Moroccan crisis.” The French government took the "Panther Leap" as a challenge and was ready to defend its colonial "rights". However, the war, which threatened to acquire European proportions, did not begin this time either. The British government's decisive declaration of readiness to fight on the side of France forced Germany to retreat and recognize the French protectorate over most of Morocco.

The Bosnian crisis of 1908 also led to an acute international conflict. Under the terms of the Berlin Treaty of 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Austria-Hungary, but formally remained part of the Ottoman Empire. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Austrian government concluded that the moment had arrived for the final annexation of these two Slavic provinces. At the same time, Russia’s consent was secured by a promise to support its demands regarding the opening of the Black Sea straits to Russian warships. But this promise was never fulfilled, since Russia’s claims were not supported by either England or France. At the same time, the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina strengthened Austrian positions in the Balkans and dealt a strong blow to the national liberation movement of the South Slavs.

The annexation provoked a sharp protest from Serbia, which publicly declared disrespect for the rights of the Slavic peoples and demanded that Austria-Hungary grant political autonomy to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia supported her, proposing to convene an international conference to solve the Bosnian problem. However, Russia's Entente allies took a neutral position, and the German government openly invited Russia to confirm the annexation and force Serbia to do so. Having received an ultimatum warning from Berlin that in case of refusal, Germany would support Austria-Hungary in an attack on Serbia, and being left alone, Russia was forced to concede.

Italy also took advantage of the weakening of the once powerful Ottoman Empire, which had long encroached on its possessions in North Africa. Having secured the support of major European states, in 1911 it began military operations against Turkey and captured two of its provinces - Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Political isolation and the onset of a new crisis in the Balkans forced the Turkish government to make concessions, and under the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey renounced its rights to Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, which became part of the Italian possessions in North Africa called Libya. According to the treaty, Italy pledged to return the occupied Dodecanese Islands to Turkey, but never fulfilled the promise.

The aggravation of international relations at the beginning of the 20th century, the confrontation between two warring military-political blocs - the Triple Alliance and the Entente - was accompanied by an unprecedented arms race. The parliaments of European countries, one after another, pass laws on additional appropriations for the rearmament and increase in the size of armies, the development of fleets, and the creation of military aviation. Thus, in France in 1913, a law was passed on three-year military service, which increased the size of the French army in peacetime to 160 thousand people. In Germany, during the five pre-war years (1909-1914), military spending increased by 33% and accounted for half of the entire state budget. In 1913, its army numbered 666 thousand people.

Table 1

The degree of militarization of European countries in the 80s. XIX - early XX centuries

Long before the start of the war, the British government began to intensively arm the country. In the ten pre-war years, England's military spending tripled. Created in 1910, the Committee for Imperial Defense developed a strategic plan on an imperial scale. Along with strengthening the fleet, an army was created in England, ready, if necessary, for battles on the continent.

The onerous naval arms race prompted British diplomacy to make a last attempt to reach a compromise with Germany.

For this purpose, in 1912, the Minister of War, Lord Holden, was sent to Berlin, who proposed that the German government stop competition in the construction of battleships in exchange for colonial concessions in Africa.

But England's desire to maintain its naval superiority at any cost doomed Holden's mission to failure. Germany was not going to yield to the “mistress of the seas” in anything, and by the beginning of 1914 it already had 232 new warships at its disposal.

ENTENTE (French - Entente, literally - agreement), a military-political alliance of states in 1904-22. International contradictions in connection with the struggle for the redivision of the world led at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries to the formation in Europe of two military-political groups opposing each other. In 1882, after Italy joined the Austro-German Treaty of 1879, the Triple Alliance was formed. In contrast to it, the Russian-French alliance emerged, formalized by the agreement of 1891 and the military convention of 1892. Of the major European powers, only Great Britain remained outside the military blocs until the beginning of the 20th century, adhering to the traditional course of “splendid isolation” and counting on playing on the contradictions between rival factions to achieve its goals while retaining the role of an international arbiter. However, the growing antagonism with Germany forced the British government to change its position and seek rapprochement with France and Russia.

The first step towards the creation of the Entente was the signing of the Anglo-French agreement of 1904, called the Entente cordiale. With the conclusion of the Russian-English agreement in 1907, the process of forming a union of three states - the Triple Entente - was generally completed. The resulting alliance was also abbreviated as the Entente.

Unlike the Triple Alliance, whose participants from the very beginning were bound by mutual military obligations, in the Entente only Russia and France had such obligations. The British government, although it maintained contacts with the General Staff and the French naval command, refused to sign military conventions with its allies in the bloc. Disagreements and friction repeatedly arose between the Entente members. They manifested themselves even during periods of acute international crises, in particular the Bosnian crisis of 1908-09 and the Balkan wars of 1912-13.

Germany tried to exploit the contradictions within the Entente, trying to tear Russia away from France and Great Britain. However, all her efforts in this direction ended in failure (see Bjork Treaty of 1905, Potsdam Agreement of 1911). In turn, the Entente countries took successful steps to separate Italy from Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Italy formally remained part of the Triple Alliance until the outbreak of the First World War of 1914-18, its ties with the Entente countries strengthened. In May 1915, she sided with the Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary. At the same time, she broke off diplomatic relations with Germany (she declared war on August 28, 1916).

In 1914-18, along with Italy, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Greece, China, Cuba, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, San Domingo, San Marino, Serbia joined the Entente , Siam, USA, Uruguay, Montenegro, Hijaz, Ecuador and Japan. The Entente turned into a military-political alliance on a global scale, in which the leading role was played by major powers - Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, the USA and Japan.

With the outbreak of World War I, cooperation between the participants of the Triple Entente became closer. In September 1914, Great Britain, France and Russia signed a declaration in London on the non-conclusion of a separate peace with Germany and its allies, which replaced the allied military treaty. Political and military conferences of the Entente began to be held, its political and military bodies were formed - the Supreme Council and the Inter-Union Military Committee, whose task was to coordinate the actions of the Entente participants.

Like Germany and its allies, who developed a program for redividing the world, the leading powers of the Entente, at the beginning of the war, entered into secret negotiations at which plans to seize foreign lands were discussed. The agreements reached were enshrined in the Anglo-Franco-Russian agreement of 1915 (on the transfer of Constantinople and the Black Sea straits to Russia), the London Treaty of 1915 (on the transfer to Italy of territories that belonged to Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Albania), the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 (about the division of Turkey's Asian possessions between Great Britain, France and Russia). Plans to seize German colonial possessions were hatched by Japan, the USA and Portugal.

By mid-1917, the Entente countries managed to undermine the military power of the group opposing them. The actions of the Russian army played an important role in this. In November 1917, the socialist revolution was victorious in Russia; in December 1917, Russia actually left the war. The Soviet government's proposal to conclude a democratic peace without annexations and indemnities was rejected by the warring countries. In 1918, the Entente powers began a military intervention in Soviet Russia under the slogan of forcing it to fulfill allied obligations (in reality, counter-revolutionary and colonial goals were pursued). The activities of the Entente, along with anti-German activity, also acquired an anti-Soviet orientation.

With the surrender of Germany in November 1918, the Entente's main military goal was achieved. In 1919, in the process of preparing peace treaties with Germany and its allies, contradictions within the Entente sharply worsened, and its collapse began. In 1922, after the final failure of plans for the military defeat of Soviet Russia, the Entente as a military-political alliance actually ceased to exist. Cooperation between its former participants was subsequently carried out along the lines of maintaining the Versailles-Washington system, created by them after the 1st World War to ensure their world leadership.

During World War II, the geopolitical structure of the Triple Entente was revived and became the basis for the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Lit.: Schmitt V.E. Triple entente and triple alliance. N. Y., 1934; Tarle E.V. Europe in the era of imperialism. 1871-1919 // Tarle E.V. Op. M., 1958. T. 5; Taylor A. J. II. The struggle for dominance in Europe. 1848-1918. M., 1958; History of the First World War. 1914-1918: In 2 vols. M., 1975; Manfred A. 3. Formation of the French-Russian Union. M., 1975; Girault R. Diplomatie europeenne et imperialisme (1871-1914). R., 1997.

Questions 42-43.The formation of the Triple Alliance and the Entente and their military-political confrontation at the beginning of the 20th century.

Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 greatly changed international relations in Europe and determined the rise of Germany as one of the leading players on the international stage. After this war, Germany set out to establish its hegemony in Europe. She considered France to be the only obstacle. Ruling circles believed that France would never come to terms with the loss of Alsace and Lorraine and would always strive for revenge. Bismarck hoped to strike a second blow at France in order to reduce it to the level of a minor power. Bismarck begins to isolate France, to make sure that it has as few sympathetic countries as possible that would come to its aid. Bismarck pursues an active policy to create an Anti-French Alliance, choosing Russia and Austria-Hungary. For Russia, there was an interest in getting rid of the consequences of the Crimean War (as a result, Russia was prohibited from having a Black Sea Fleet). In the 1870s. Russia's relations with Great Britain regarding problems in the East are becoming more complicated. Austria-Hungary sought to gain German support in order to dominate the Balkans.

IN 1873 is created Alliance of Three Emperors(If one of the states is attacked, the other two will help it in the war).

Bismarck began putting pressure on France - in 1975 he provoked Franco-German alarm 1975(in France, a number of priests promoted revenge on E. and Lot. Bismarck accused the French authorities that this was their initiative, and began to prepare a war against the French). Alexander 2 specially arrived in Berlin to personally tell Wilhelm that he did not support Germany in its war with France. This was one of the first blows to S3imp. It was also undermined by contradictions between Russia and Austria-Hungary over rivalry in the Balkans. And in 1879, a customs war broke out between Russia and Germany.

Formation of the Triple Alliance began with registration in 1879 Austro-German Confederation. This rapprochement was facilitated by the deterioration of Russian-German relations (Russia stood up for France during the war of alarm in 1875. And in 1879, after the introduction in Germany of high duties on grain imported from Russia, the latter followed up with retaliatory measures, which led to Russian- German customs war).

On October 7, 1879, in Vienna, the German Ambassador Reis and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary Andrássy signed a secret treaty of alliance. This treaty obliged each of its participants to assist the other with all military forces in the event of an attack by Russia and not to enter into separate negotiations with it. If the attack was carried out by some other party, then neutrality. However, if the attacking power was supported by Russia, then the parties must act together and with all their might. The alliance was concluded for 5 years, but was subsequently extended until the World War.

The next stage in the creation of a military-political bloc of Central European powers was joining Austro-German Union of Italy (1882). The latter was prompted to sign the treaty by the deterioration of relations with France (in 1881, France established a protectorate over Tunisia, which was perceived negatively in Italy).

Despite the claims against Austria-Hungary, Italy concluded the so-called Triple Alliance in 1882. According to it, the parties pledged not to take part in any alliances or agreements directed against one of the parties to the treaty; Germany and Austria-Hungary provided Italy with military support in the event of a war with France. Italy assumed similar obligations in the event of a French attack on Germany. Austria-Hungary in this case remained neutral until Russia entered the war. The parties adhered to neutrality in the event of a war with anyone other than France, and the parties provided support to each other in the event of an attack by two or more great powers.

Formation of the Entente began after the Franco-Russian rapprochement. In 1893, the parties signed a secret military convention.

At the beginning of the twentieth century. Relations between France and England began to improve. England needed continental troops in case of war with Germany. France just had a large land army and acute conflict relations with Germany. It was impossible to count on Russia yet, because... Britain supported Japan in the Russo-Japanese War.

France felt the need for a strong ally. Russia's positions were weakened by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. and the beginning of the revolution.

On April 8, 1904, an agreement on basic colonial issues was signed between the governments of Britain and France, known in history as the Anglo-French Entente. According to it, the spheres of influence of the countries in Siam were established (England - the western part, France - the eastern part). The most important was the declaration on Egypt and Morocco. In fact, the colonial rule of England in Egypt and France in Morocco was recognized.

The 1904 treaty did not contain the terms of a military alliance, but still the Anglo-French Entente was directed against Germany.

By 1907, an Anglo-Russian rapprochement had begun. Russia's turn towards Great Britain is largely due to the deterioration of the former's relations with Germany. Germany's construction of the Baghdad Railway posed a direct threat to Russia. Petersburg was concerned about the German-Turkish rapprochement. The growth of hostility was largely facilitated by the Russian-German trade agreement of 1904, imposed on Russia under pressure from Germany. Russian industry began to be unable to withstand the competition of German goods. Russia wanted to raise its international prestige through rapprochement with England, and also counted on loans from the British side.

The British government viewed Russia as a double ally - in a future war with Germany and in the suppression of the revolutionary and national liberation movement in the East (in 1908, Russia and Britain acted together against the revolution in Persia).

In 1907, the Anglo-Russian agreement was signed. In the presence of the Franco-Russian (1893) and Anglo-French treaties (1904), the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 completed the creation of a military-political bloc directed against the coalition of powers led by Germany.

Military-political confrontation between the countries of the Entente and the Triple Alliance in the last thirdXIX - beginningXXV.

Germany, together with Austria-Hungary, intensified its expansion in the Balkans and the Middle East, invading the sphere of interests of Russia and Great Britain. IN 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed long occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina(In 1908 - the Young Turk revolution in Turkey, during which the liberation movement of the Slavic peoples begins. Having decided to occupy B. and Hertz., A-B buys a concession from Turkey for the construction of a railway to the city of Thessaloniki - Exit to the Aegean Sea. Then she officially declares annexation and Russia protests. However, weakened after the Russo-Japanese war, Russia cannot do anything and suffers a diplomatic defeat) and proposed that Bulgaria and Romania be divided on three Serbia. Serbia was preparing to repel any invasion, counting on Russian support. But Russia was not ready for a war with Austria-Hungary, on whose side Germany stood, which in 1909 directly pledged to help the Habsburg Empire if Russia intervened in Austro-Serbian relations. Under pressure from Germany, Russia recognized Austria-Hungary's rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Russia tried in vain to weaken the rapprochement between Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Germany was unable to tear Russia away from the Entente.

The strengthening of the alliance with Austria-Hungary and the relative weakening of Russia allowed Germany to increase pressure on France. 1st Moroccan crisis 1905-1906 In 1905, Germany proposed the division of Morocco. She stated that she would reclaim the port of Agadir. Wilhelm 2 goes on a trip to Palestine (Germany is the protector of Muslim peoples) - part of the population of Morocco is imbued with sympathy for Germany and demands the convening of an international conference on the Muslim issue. In 1906 in Spain in Alziserass A conference was held, the result of which was that no one supported Germany in its claims.

Taking advantage of the French invasion of Morocco in 1911 (suppression of unrest in the city of Fess), Germany sent its warship to Agadir (" Panther jump") and declared its intention to seize part of Morocco. The conflict could lead to war. But Germany’s claims were resolutely opposed by Great Britain, which did not want the appearance of German colonies near Gibraltar. Germany then did not dare to clash with the Entente and had to be content with part of the Congo, which it ceded to it France in exchange for recognition of its power over Morocco.But since then it has become obvious that war between the European powers could break out even over the colonies, not to mention more serious mutual claims.

Amid rising tensions, another attempt by Britain to negotiate an agreement with Germany under which each would agree not to engage in an unprovoked attack on the other failed. German leaders proposed a different formula: each side would pledge to remain neutral if the other became involved in the war. This would mean the destruction of the Entente, which Great Britain did not dare to do. In reality, mutual neutrality between Germany and Great Britain was out of the question, as economic competition became fiercer and the arms race intensified. The Anglo-German negotiations of 1912 gave hope for the settlement of only minor contradictions over spheres of influence, but created the illusion among the German ruling circles that British neutrality in the European war was not excluded.

The further weakening of the Ottoman Empire, long considered the “sick man of Europe,” led to the emergence of a bloc of Balkan states directed against it ("Little Entente"). It was created on the initiative of Serbia, supported by Russia and France. In the spring of 1912, the Serbian-Bulgarian and Greek-Bulgarian treaties were signed (followed by Montenegro), in solidarity with which Montenegro acted, which was the first to begin military operations against the Ottoman Empire on October 9. The armed forces of the Balkan states quickly defeated the Turkish army ( First Balkan War 1912-1913). In October 1912, these 4 states began a war with the Turks, with Bulgaria making a major contribution. In November 1912, Bulgarian. the army reached Constantinople. In November, Türkiye turned to the great powers for mediation.

The successes of the Balkan bloc alarmed Austria-Hungary and Germany, who feared the strengthening of Serbia, especially the accession of Albania to it. Both powers were ready to confront Serbia with force. This would cause a clash with Russia and the entire Entente, which was confirmed by Great Britain. Europe was on the brink of war. To avoid it, a meeting of the ambassadors of the six great powers was held in London. At it, the Entente patronized the Balkan states, and Germany and Austria-Hungary patronized the Ottoman Empire, but they still managed to agree that Albania would become autonomous under the supreme authority of the Sultan and Serbian troops from she will be taken out.

After long and difficult negotiations, only May 30, 1913 signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan states peace treaty. The Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its European territory, Albania and the Aegean Islands.

However, conflict broke out between the victors over these territories. The Montenegrin prince besieged Scutari, not wanting to cede it to Albania. And Serbia and Greece, with the support of Romania, which demanded compensation from Bulgaria for its neutrality, sought from Bulgaria part of the territories it inherited. Russian diplomacy tried in vain to prevent a new conflict. Encouraged by Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria turned against its former allies. broke out Second Balkan War 1913. Austro - Hungary prepared to support Bulgaria with armed force. Only warnings from Germany, who considered the moment unfortunate, and Italy kept her from speaking. Bulgaria, against which the Ottoman Empire also fought, was defeated.

Once again, the ambassadors of the great powers in London took up Balkan affairs, trying to win over the Balkan states to the side of their blocs and backing up their arguments with loans. On August 18, 1913, a peace treaty was signed between the participants in the Second Balkan War, according to which Serbia and Greece received a significant part of Macedonia, Southern Dobruja went to Romania, and part of Eastern Thrace went to the Ottoman Empire.

The Balkan Wars led to a regrouping of forces. The Austro-German bloc strengthened its influence on the Ottoman Empire, secured by sending a German military mission there, and attracted Bulgaria to its side. And the Entente retained predominant influence in Serbia, Montenegro and Greece and attracted Romania to its side. The Balkans, the center of intertwined interests and conflicts, have become Europe's powder keg.