Why should Britain, France and Russia sign a tripartite agreement?

1882 The conclusion of the treaty of alliance between Germany, Austria and Italy made France more eager to break its isolation and greatly promoted the approach of France and Russia. France signed a treaty with Russia in 1893, and Britain signed agreements with France and Russia in 1904 and 1907. At this point, Britain, France and Russia finally came together and became a military group opposed to Germany, Austria and Italy. How did France and Russia come together, and how did Britain coordinate its relations with its old enemy, France and Russia?

After losing the Franco-Prussian War, France wanted to win the support of Russia to get rid of isolation. In the crisis of the German-French war in the 1970s, France had hoped to gain the support of Russia. For Russia, if France is excessively weakened or destroyed, Germany will become very powerful, thus posing a serious threat to itself, so it needs to provide support to France. In addition, in order to compete with the Austro-Hungarian Empire supported by Germany in the Balkans, Russia also hopes to get the support of France in Western Europe.

1888 12. In order to expand the army and prepare to build trans-siberian railway, the Russian government, which is in urgent need of foreign loans, obtained the first loan of 500 million francs from French bankers. Despite the threatening publicity of French bonds in German newspapers, Russia still managed to raise 654.38+0.9 billion francs. Since then, this financial relationship between French capitalists and the czar government has laid a solid economic foundation for the French-Russian alliance.

189 1 In July, the French fleet was invited to visit Russia. The czar and empress personally attended the welcoming ceremony and took off their hats to the sound of "La Marseillaise" as an exception to show their friendship with France, while "La Marseillaise" was previously banned in Russia. In August of the same year, the Russian Foreign Minister and the French Foreign Minister exchanged letters to discuss the alliance between the two sides. These two letters formed the initial foundation of the French-Russian alliance. 1893, the two sides finally signed the Russian-French agreement. The agreement stipulates that if Germany or Italy attacks France, Russia will use all its forces to attack Germany; If Germany or Austria-Hungary attacks Russia, France will use all its forces to fight Germany; If one of triple alliance or triple alliance mobilizes its troops, the French and Russians should immediately mobilize all their troops and move as far as possible to the border. The military staff of both sides often cooperate and exchange information with each other, and the two sides are not allowed to make peace separately. The agreement has the same effect as the tripartite alliance.

So far, there have been two opposing groups in Europe, one is Germany, Austria and Italy, and the other is France and Russia. Only Britain temporarily stayed out of the way and implemented the policy of "glorious isolation". With its strong industrial and trade advantages, colonies all over the world and powerful maritime power, Britain can get rid of the shackles of other countries' alliances for a long time, and it is of decisive significance to turn to any group at the same time. Britain's policy of "glorious isolation" has played a certain role in balancing the international pattern of the European continent.

Britain and France are old enemies in history and have been fighting with each other for hundreds of years. After entering the period of imperialism, although France's national strength has greatly declined, it is still an old colonial empire, and it is still in conflict with Britain everywhere in the struggle for the division of Asia and Africa. The British invasion in Africa was carried out according to the stipulated 2C plan, that is, connecting its colonies in Africa from Cape Town to Cairo. This plan is in direct opposition to France's plan to cross the African continent from Cape Verde in West Africa to Somalia in the Horn of East Africa.

The contradiction between Britain and Russia is also very sharp. In the Middle East, Russia has always hoped to open a passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea in order to expand to the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Since the opening of the Suez Canal, this area has been regarded by Britain as the lifeline to India and Asia. Russia's expansion in Central Asia, its attempt to conquer Iran and Afghanistan, and its threat to India by going south to the Indian Ocean are even more unacceptable to Britain. In the Far East, the interests of Britain and Russia in China are in the same boat. 1902 The anglo-japanese alliance Treaty was signed by Britain to support Japan, a rising imperialist country, against Russia.

However, the rapid development and intensification of the contradiction between Britain and Germany finally decided the direction of British diplomacy. /kloc-In the last 30 years of the 0/9th century, due to the rapid development of Germany, the contradiction between Britain and Germany quickly became prominent.

With the rapid development of German economy, German goods crowd out British goods in various regions of the world, and Britain's monopoly position in world trade is strongly impacted by Germany. What's more, Germany, a rising imperialist country, is increasingly showing a conflict of interest with Britain, which is known as the "Sun never sets" empire, in the struggle to carve up the world again. The German ambassador once said to the British Foreign Secretary, "As we all know, Britain has everything, but we have nothing on the contrary." The German Foreign Minister even said arrogantly: "The time when other nations carved up the mainland and the sea, and we Germans could only be satisfied with the blue sky has passed. Now we ask our territory to be in the sun. "

In Asia, the Germans occupied Jiaozhou Bay in China; In Africa, Germany annexed Tanzania and fought against Britain everywhere with France. It was the establishment of German colonies in East Africa that finally broke Britain's dream of realizing its 2C plan. Especially in the Middle East, Germany wooed Turkey and won the right to build the Baghdad Railway. To this end, the Germans once shouted with ecstasy: "The Baghdad Railway will become a sword on British India."

In addition, ambitious Germany is also preparing to compete with Britain at sea. 1898, Germany adopted the naval construction plan; It was expanded in 1900, stipulating that the German naval forces "can gain the advantage of threatening that country when fighting the most powerful naval country", aiming at the maritime overlord Britain. Since then, Britain and Germany have launched a crazy naval arms race.

The rapid development of the contradiction between Britain and Germany made it surpass the contradiction between Britain and France and the contradiction between Britain and Russia, which posed a fundamental threat to the interests of British imperialism. As a result, British diplomacy gradually tilted towards France and Russia.

Then, Britain actively took measures to adjust and improve its relations with France on the European continent. Just at this time, in order to fight against Germany, France also had the same request. 1904, Britain and France reached an understanding for the first time and signed the Anglo-French Agreement.

Then, France mediated and Britain and Russia began to contact. Especially after the 1905 revolution, tsarist Russia exposed its extremely weak nature, which had a great influence on the people of the eastern colonial and semi-colonial countries and promoted the upsurge of bourgeois democratic revolution in Asia. This not only eased Britain's concern about the threat of Russia, but also made it deeply feel the need to support Russia in order to stabilize its colonial rule in the East. In this way, Britain and Russia finally signed the Anglo-Russian Agreement in 1907, and the Anglo-French-Russian Agreement was formed.

Through 1893 Russia-France agreement, 1904 Britain-France agreement and 1907 Britain-Russia agreement, Britain, France and Russia finally came together. 1907 the anglo-Russian agreement not only marks the end of the reorganization of major capitalist countries in Europe since the end of 19, but also marks the final formation of the allied group and the allied group. From then on to the outbreak of the First World War, almost all major international events were the products of contradictions and conflicts between the two major military blocs.