ABSTRACT

This chapter illustrates how the Triple Entente was the result of the influence of world policies which modified and then reversed the attitude of the three powers towards one another. The Entente now became a quadruple grouping, mainly because of the irredentist movement, which forced the hand of the Italian government. Italy's partnership with Germany and Austria-Hungary had lost its significance from the moment Great Britain, with whom Italy had to remain on friendly terms, formed an entente with France, Germany's enemy. World policies brought about the defection of Italy from the Triple Alliance, for it is doubtful if the irredentists alone could have forced the war. The Entente statesmen looked upon the entry of Italy into the alliance as one more link in the chain of enemies with which they were planning to encircle the central empires, and they attached much importance to the moral effect of Italian intervention upon enemies and neutrals.