Triple Entente

Triple Entente, defense pact originally formed between France and Russia in 1890 to counterbalance the threat posed by the Triple Alliance—Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy—8 years earlier. In 1907 Great Britain joined. Each nation agreed to help the others if attacked by any or all of the Triple Alliance nations. After World War I broke out in 1914, the Triple Entente nations became known as the Allies; they signed the Declaration of London in which each ally agreed not to make a separate peace with the Central Powers, as the Triple Alliance nations came to be called.

See also: World War I.