<P> Britain abandoned the policy of holding aloof from the continental powers, so called "Splendid Isolation", in the 1900s after being isolated during the Boer War . Britain concluded agreements, limited to colonial affairs, with her two major colonial rivals, the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and the Anglo - Russian Entente of 1907 . Some historians see Britain's alignment as principally a reaction to an assertive German foreign policy and the buildup of its navy from 1898 which led to the Anglo - German naval arms race . Other scholars, most notably Niall Ferguson, argue that Britain chose France and Russia over Germany because Germany was too weak an ally to provide an effective counterbalance to the other powers and could not provide Britain with the imperial security achieved by the entente agreements . In the words of British diplomat Arthur Nicolson it was "far more disadvantageous to us to have an unfriendly France and Russia than an unfriendly Germany". Ferguson argues that the British Government rejected German alliance overtures "not because Germany began to pose a threat to Britain, but, on the contrary because they realized she did not pose a threat". The impact of the Triple Entente was therefore twofold, to improve British relations with France and her ally Russia and to demote the importance to Britain of good relations with Germany . It was "not that antagonism toward Germany caused its isolation, but rather that the new system itself channeled and intensified hostility towards the German Empire". </P> <P> The Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia is often compared to the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria--Hungary and Italy, but historians caution against the comparison . The Entente, in contrast to the Triple Alliance or the Franco - Russian Alliance, was not an alliance of mutual defence and Britain therefore felt free to make her own foreign policy decisions in 1914 . As British Foreign Office Official Eyre Crowe minuted: "The fundamental fact of course is that the Entente is not an alliance . For purposes of ultimate emergencies it may be found to have no substance at all . For the Entente is nothing more than a frame of mind, a view of general policy which is shared by the governments of two countries, but which may be, or become, so vague as to lose all content ." </P> <P> A series of diplomatic incidents between 1905 and 1914 heightened tensions between the Great Powers and reinforced the existing alignments, beginning with the First Moroccan Crisis . </P> <P> The First Moroccan Crisis (also known as the Tangier Crisis) was an international crisis between March 1905 and May 1906 over the status of Morocco . The crisis worsened German relations with both France and the United Kingdom, and helped ensure the success of the new Anglo - French Entente Cordiale . In the words of historian Christopher Clark "The Anglo - French Entente was strengthened rather than weakened by the German challenge to France in Morocco". </P>

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