Franco-Russian Alliance
The French-Russian alliance (more rarely a two-band or two-band ) was the result of an initially secret defensive treaty between Russia and France , which came into force on January 4, 1894.
Since Russia suddenly found itself without an international partner as a result of the non-renewal of the reinsurance treaty with the German Reich and the German-Russian relationship cooled down more and more, it approached isolated France in search of new allies.
The new relationship between the two states was initiated by the visit of a French naval squadron under the command of Admiral Alfred Albert Gervais to Kronstadt, Russia on July 23, 1891, and on August 5, 1892, both states concluded an initially secret military convention. In it they undertook to support each other with all their might if one of the parties were attacked by a Triple Alliance power and at the same time the German Reich took part in this war.
In 1893 a Russian naval squadron made a return visit to the French fleet in Toulon . After the military convention was ratified, it entered into force as a formal alliance treaty on January 4, 1894. The new Russian Tsar Nikolai II then visited Paris in 1896, and the French President Félix Faure in 1897 in St. Petersburg. In 1901 Nicholas II visited Paris again and in return, Faure's successor Émile Loubet also visited Petersburg in 1902.
The two-front position , which Bismarck had always feared, stood up for the German Reich; France was able to end its diplomatic isolation of around twenty years and the foundations of the powerful political blocs in World War I were laid.
During the Doggerbank Incident of 1904, the alliance was exposed to considerable tensions as the Russian Tsar expected France to position itself clearly against Great Britain. The joint settlement of the crisis accelerated understanding between France, Russia and Great Britain and led to the informal formation of the Triple Entente by 1907 .
literature
- DN Collins: The Franco-Russian Alliance and Russian Railways, 1891-1914. In: Historical Journal , 16, 1973, pp. 777-788, JSTOR 2638282 .
- George F. Kennan : The Fateful Alliance. France and Russia on the eve of the First World War . Cologne 1990.
- William L. Langer: The Franco-Russian Alliance 1890-1994 . New York 1967.
- Georges Michon: The Franco-Russian Alliance 1891-1917 . London 1929.
- Ilja Mieck (Ed.): Germany - France - Russia. Encounters and confrontations . Munich 2000.
- Laurence B. Packard: Russia and the Dual Alliance. In: The American Historical Review , 25 (1919/1920), pp. 391-410, JSTOR 1836878 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Hildermeier : History of Russia: From the Middle Ages to the October Revolution . Beck 2013, p. 1100 ( online ).