In both the world wars, Britain was allied with France and Russia against Germany. Yet this pattern was of relatively recent origin and it represented a reversal of that which had existed until the beginning of the 20th century. For most of the 19th century, and earlier, Germany had usually been Britain’s ally whereas her most consistent enemies were France and Russia. The key years for this fundamental realignment of British foreign policy were 1904-7, the period which saw the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and the Convention with Russia in 1907. In promoting and cementing these alliances, the personal diplomacy of Edward VII, the ‘Uncle of Europe’, played a role that was both significant and helpful.

Britain’s enmities with France and Russia and her friendship with Germany – and, before German unification, Prussia – were of long-standing. In the wars against Louis XIV and later Napoleon, Britain generally co-operated with Prussia against the might of France. In the Crimean War of 1854-6, Britain even found herself in temporary alliance with France against Russia. That war reflected the long-standing British animus against Russia, and this remained evident at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. It was still apparent in the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 and during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 Britain’s sympathies were firmly with Japan. Rather than France or Russia, until the end of the nineteenth century, it was Germany that Britain – with its royal family of German descent – regarded as a natural ally.