Entente

The name comes from the French entente, an understanding. Its core was the Franco-Russian alliance of 1892, the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale of 1904 and the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907; only the first was a military alliance, the other two settled spheres of influence, hence the name Triple Entente. On 5 September 1914 the three powers pledged in London not to make a separate peace; Japan and Italy joined the pledge in 1915.

Other states joined the coalition, among them Italy in 1915, Portugal and Romania in 1916 and Greece in 1917. The United States fought as an associated power, without a formal alliance. Russia left the war after the Bolshevik revolution. For the Polish question the key moment was the declaration of 3 June 1918, in which Britain, France and Italy recognised an independent Poland with access to the sea as a condition of lasting peace.