ABSTRACT
The Triple Alliance, described by Prince Bulow as "a mighty fortification dividing the Continent into two", had now received its counterpart in the Triple Entente. The British Foreign Secretary spoke of the enlarged accord as merely a "diplomatic group". It was, however, from the first more than that, and as time passed it became very much more. The British treaties with France and Russia were supplemented by other agreements of a minor yet important character, the effect of which was to strengthen the Triple Entente. Negotiations with France and Russia having led to a satisfactory agreement—Syria being reserved as the special sphere of French influence and Armenia as that of Russian—all that remained in June, 1914, in order to the completion of the final and crowning Bagdad Railway convention was the settlement of certain points in which Turkey was specially interested. In that month, however, events occurred which changed the entire European situation, and the convention was not signed.
