Triple Entente

삼국협상; 영국, 프랑스, 러시아.

제 1 차세계대전 전 영국·프랑스·러시아 3국의 협력체제. 상호간에 동맹이나 협상에 의해 맺어진 3국간 우호관계의 총칭이며 특정한 조약이 존재했던 것은 아니다. 3국동맹과 대립하였던 프랑스는 독일로부터 멀어진 러시아에 접근하여 1891∼94년에 러시아-프랑스동맹을 성립시켰다. 영국은 1904년 러·일전쟁 발발을 계기로 프랑스와 영국-프랑스협상을 맺었다. 이어서 러·일전쟁에서 진 러시아도 1907년에 영국-러시아협상을 체결하여 3국협상 체제가 성립되었다. 이 3국이 협상을 맺게 된 것은 무엇보다도 독일의 급속한 대두 때문이었다. 3국협상은 독일을 중심으로 한 오스트리아·이탈리아의 3국동맹에 대항하여 대전 전의 세계정치를 양분하였다. 또 3국협상은 제국주의 열강이 그 식민지 지배를 유지하기 위해 서로 협력하는 세계체제이기도 하였다. 즉 영국-프랑스협상에서 양국은 세계 전역에서 일어나는 양국간 대립을 해소하고, 특히 이집트와 모로코를 서로의 세력권으로 인정하였다. 또 영국-러시아협상에서도 페르시아·아프가니스탄·티베트에서 양국은 각기 세력권을 확인하였다. 협상은 처음에는 군사동맹 성격을 지니지 않았으나 모로코사건 등으로 독일과 대립이 심해짐에 따라 여러 군사협정에 의해 보강되었고 결국 제 1 차세계대전에 돌입하였다. 17년, 러시아 탈퇴로 해체되었다.

Triple Entente

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Partcipating nationsBritain

In the last decade of the 19th century, Britain continued its policy of "splendid isolation", with its primary focus on defending its massive overseas empire. However, by the early 1900s the German threat increased dramatically. Some in Britain thought it was in need of allies. For most of the 19th century, Britain had regarded France and Russia as its two most dangerous rivals, but with the growing threat of Germany, British policy began to change.

The three main reasons were:

1. France and Britain had signed five separate agreements regarding spheres of influence in North Africa in 1904. This came to be known as the Entente Cordiale. The Tangier Crisis which followed encouraged co-operation between the two countries, given their mutual fear of apparent German expansionism.
2. Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War. This display of weakness resulted in less concern over Russian imperialism and encouraged Russia to secure its position elsewhere. France was already allied to Russia in the Dual Alliance.
3. Britain was extremely concerned about the rising threat of German imperialism. Kaiser Wilhelm II had announced to the world his intentions to create a global German empire and to develop a strong navy. Britain—traditionally having control of the seas—saw this as a serious threat to its own empire and navy.

In 1907, the Anglo-Russian Entente was agreed, which attempted to resolve a series of long-running disputes over Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet, as well as helping to address British fears about German expansion in the Near East.

French Third Republic

Main article: French Third Republic

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, Prussia defeated the Second French Empire, resulting in the establishment of the Third Republic. In the Treaty of Frankfurt, Prussia forced France to cede Alsace-Lorraine to the new German Empire. Ever since, relations had been at an all-time low. France—worried about the escalating military development of Germany—began building up its own war industries and army as a deterrent to German aggression. As another measure, France developed a strong bond with Russia by ratifying the Franco-Russian Alliance, which was designed to create a strong counter to the Triple Alliance. France′s main concerns were to protect against an attack from Germany, and to regain Alsace-Lorraine.

 

Russian Empire

Main article: Russian Empire

Russia possessed, by far, the largest manpower reserves of all the six European powers, but was also the most backward economically. Russia shared France′s worries about Germany. After the Germans started to reorganize the Turkish army, Russia feared that they would come to control the Dardanelles, a vital trade artery which accounted for two fifths of Russia's exports.^[8]

This was also coupled with Russia's long history of rivalry with Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary had recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, angering Russia immensely. Russia had considered itself the leader of the Slavic world (Pan-Slavism) and viewed the invasion as another step towards annexing Serbia and Montenegro. To counteract Austria-Hungary′s aggression into the Balkans, Russia pledged to aid Serbia militarily if invaded.

Russia had also recently lost the humiliating Russo-Japanese War in 1905, resulting in a revolutionary uprising and apparent transformation into a constitutional monarchy. To counter its enemies militarily and politically, Russia sought to revive the Franco-Russian Alliance. Although it was perceived as useless during the war with Japan, in the European theatre it was invaluable. Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 with Britain to counteract the threat of the Triple Alliance.

The alignment of the autocratic Russian Empire with Europe's two largest democracies was not without controversy on both sides. Many Russian conservatives mistrusted the secular French Republic, and recalled British diplomatic maneuvers to block Russian influence in the Near East; in turn, prominent French and British journalists, academics, and parliamentarians found the reactionary tsarist regime distasteful. The mistrust persisted even during wartime, with British and French politicians expressing relief when Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in favor of a Provisional Government in 1917. An initial offer of political asylum for the Romanovs was subsequently withdrawn by the British government due to fears of a public backlash; for the same reason, the French Republic never broached the subject of asylum with the deposed tsar