Practice question · Select all that apply
Why is it inaccurate to describe the Entente Cordiale of 1904 as an alliance?
Hints
- Three of these describe what the agreement was; one confuses it with the 1907 convention.
- Ask what document Britain actually cited in August 1914.
Show the answer
- A. Britain entered the war in 1914 over the invasion of Belgium, not over any obligation to France
- B. It settled colonial disputes over Egypt and Morocco rather than creating military obligations
- D. It contained no commitment for Britain to fight on France’s behalf
Why
The precision matters because it undermines the automatic-machinery account of 1914. Britain had no treaty duty to France, staff talks notwithstanding, and the cabinet argued about intervention until the invasion of Belgium, a commitment from 1839, settled it. A power with no alliance still went to war; a power with one, Italy, did not.
Practise From 1870 to 1914: Towards the First World War
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