Franco-Russian Alliance

The French-Russian alliance ( rarely, two Association ) was the result of an initially secret defense treaty between Russia and France, which entered into force on 4 January 1894.

Since Russia as a result of non-renewal of the reinsurance contract suddenly stood with the German Reich without international partners and the German - Russian relations cooled more and more, it approached to in search of new allies the isolated France.

The new relationship between the two countries was launched by visiting one commanded by Admiral Alfred Albert Gervais French naval squadron in the Russian Kronstadt on July 23, 1891, on August 17, 1892 included both states a first secret military convention. In it, they promised, if one of the parties would be attacked by a Triple Alliance power and at the same time the German Reich were participating in this war, to support each other with all their might.

1893 made ​​a Russian naval squadron a return visit to the French fleet in Toulon. After the ratification of the military convention this occurred as a formal treaty of alliance on 4 January 1894 in force. The new Russian Tsar Nicholas II visited then in 1896 Paris, the French President Félix Faure in 1897 in return for St. Petersburg.

Thus entered the Bismarck always dreaded two-front location for the German Empire, France could finish his twenty years of diplomatic isolation and the basics of powers political blocs in the First World War were laid.

During the Dogger Bank incident, in 1904, the Alliance has been exposed to considerable tension, as the Russian tsar was expecting a clear positioning of France against Great Britain. The joint resolution of the crisis accelerated the understanding between France, Russia and Great Britain, and led to the formation of the Triple Entente in 1907.