Arrange these developments in pre-war diplomacy, earliest first.

1. The Dual Alliance binds Germany to Austria-Hungary
2. Italy joins to form the Triple Alliance
3. France and Russia conclude an alliance
4. The Entente Cordiale settles Anglo-French colonial disputes
5. HMS Dreadnought is launched
6. The Anglo-Russian Convention settles disputes in Persia and Afghanistan

The twenty-five-year gap between the Triple Alliance and the Anglo-Russian Convention is the shape of the problem. Bismarck’s system was designed to keep France without partners; within two decades of his fall France had Russia and an understanding with Britain, and Germany faced exactly the encirclement the system existed to prevent.