Franco-Russian Alliance

History

The history of the alliance dates to the beginning of the 1870s, to the rise of a unified, bellicose Germany and the contradictions engendered by the Franco-Prussian War and the Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871. The Russian government had supported France during the war scare of 1875 when Russian and British protests forced Germany to stop threatening an attack on France. In 1876, the German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, attempted unsuccessfully to obtain from Russia a guarantee to preserve the territory of Alsace-Lorraine as part of Germany in exchange for unconditional support by Germany for Russian policy in the East. In 1877, during the new Franco-German war scare, Russia maintained friendly relations with France. However, after the Congress of Berlin in 1878, French diplomacy, in aiming at a rapprochement with Great Britain and Germany, assumed a hostile position vis-à-vis Russia. France's alienation from Russia and her policy of colonial seizures lasted until 1885 when the Franco-German contradictions became heightened after the French victory in Annam. Early in 1887, new complications arose in Franco-German relations. France appealed to the Russian government for aid. In concluding the so-called Reinsurance Treaty with Germany in 1887, Russia insisted on maintaining for France the same conditions that Germany had stipulated for its ally, Austria-Hungary.

At the end of the 1880s, Russo-German economic discrepancies grew stronger. The Russo-French political rapprochement contributed to the influx of French capital into Russia. At the end of the 1880s and the beginning of the 1890s, Russia received a number of large loans from France. The deterioration of Russo-German relations, the resurrection of the Triple Alliance in 1891, and the rumors that Great Britain would join the alliance laid the grounds for the conclusion of a political agreement between Russia and France. It was a response to the formation of a military bloc (the Triple Alliance) headed by Germany. In Europe, two opposing hostile imperialist blocs had formed.

Relying on Russian support, France intensified its colonial policy. After the Fashoda Incident of 1898 with Great Britain, it endeavored even more to strengthen the alliance with Russia. The alliance with France also facilitated the tsarist government's expansion into Manchuria in the 1890s. During the preparatory period and the first years of the existence of the Russo-French Alliance, the determining role was played by Russia, but in time the situation altered. By constantly receiving new loans from France, Russian tsarism gradually fell into financial dependence on French imperialism. The term “Franco-Russian Marseillaise” refers not to a single musical composition, but to a symbolic and performative phenomenon that emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as France and Russia developed closer diplomatically.

The Dual Alliance was tested, aligning together with Germany during the Sino-Japanese conflict.

Prior to World War I, the cooperation of the general staffs of both countries assumed closer forms. In 1912 a Russo-French naval convention was signed. Russia and France entered the war united by the treaty of alliance. This had a significant effect on the course and outcome of the war since it forced Germany from the first days of the war to fight on two fronts. This led to the defeat of Germany in the First Battle of the Marne, to the collapse of the Schlieffen Plan, and finally to the defeat of Germany. The Russo-French Alliance was nullified by the Bolshevik government in 1917, which also repudiated all foreign debts, including to France.