The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1914-08-12
The Triple Entente
Great Britain, Russia and France Allied
For Joint Armed Action to Pro-
tect Common Interests

lance that Lord LansdoWne said on one
occasion in the house Of lords, eff
the status quo in the Mediterranean
should be disturbed, this country might
find itself acting in cooperation with
Italy" The bearing of that remark
upon the Italian relations with Ger
many and Austria, the other two
parties to the triple alliance, was made
plain by the italian prime minister in
1905, when he said that, Cordially
faithful to the triple alliance we shall
maintain our traditional intimacy with
Great Britain and our sincere friend
ship with France, thus continuing the
policy which in carefully fostering the
harmony of international relations,
permits us to exercise rule Of con-
cord and peace in the council Of ma
TONS"
The Entente's Rival.
The triple entente appears to have
sprung from a desire on the part OF
England to check Russian and French
aggressiveness-tha Is to say, by ally
-tEg itself wffttifr-tthese two powers and
securing a balance Of power in the
entente 1t might be able to hold its co
partners within bounds. For instance
in any quarrel in which either France
or Russia, or both combined, might
engage. England would not consider it.
self bound to join with them, but
would as matter of justice or policy
seek to restrain them For this reason
the position that the triple entente az
q whole may take, or that the ind1-
vidual powers to the agreement may
take in a crisis like that of quarrel
between a member Of the triple ALI
ance and a petty power, Is usually
matter for slow deliberation.
However. In any event the attitude
of the two combinations, the triple
alliance and the triple entente, toward
each other. in q crisis makes 1mpOr-
tant the relative strength Of each. 1t
is estimated that the war footing of
the triple alliance-that is, Austria.
Germany. Italy-is 100000 men IN
round numbers. To offset this mill
tary strength Of the nations which
Austria may call to her assistance In
case Of aggression by any one of the
three powers in the triple entente
there are approximately 100000 men.
The troops of the Balkan states, Ser
via, Roumania, Montenegro and Bull
garia, as we'll as of Greece, are trained
veterans today, having emerged re-
Gently from arduous campaigns against
Turkey.
Relative Fighting Strength.
Assuming that the war must spread
from the local field to other strategic
points, the strength of the three great
powers of the entente is Of vital mo-
ment Russia is believed to have at
least 100000 soldiers in its army
when the full war strength Of its es-
tablishment is called out. The esti-
mate for France is 100000 to 4,OOO.-
600, while that of Great Britain Is less
than a fifth Of that Of Russia and less
than one-half Of the minimum OF
France, being about 100000 men. In
clash between the three great powers
Of the triple alliance and the three of
the triple entente the nayies must nee
essarily play a great part, If not the
chief part.
Just what the objective will be when
the great forces are launched forth
upon foreign soil can only be deter
mined by the exigencies Of the cam