Triple Entente
Triple Entente, an informal alliance among Great Britain, France, and Russia in the period before World War I. It opposed the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Entente was based on three bilateral agreements. The Dual Alliance (1894) between France and Russia was a political and military alliance; each nation promised to support the other in the event of an attack by one or all of the members of the Triple Alliance. The Entente Cordiale (1904) settled a number of disputes between France and Great Britain, clearing the way for closer Anglo-French cooperation. In 1907 Britain and Russia negotiated a similar agreement. After World War I broke out, the Entente powers signed a formal military alliance. They fought together until 1917, when Russia withdrew from the war.