In our final episode looking at the Entente, we bring our story up to the eve of the July Crisis.

How had past lessons influenced the way Russia and France interpreted the world by spring 1914? Was war certain? Had new military reforms so affected the balance of power that war was now inevitable? What did the position of Britain mean for the two allies, and why was London so concerned with losing Russia as a friend? Was Germany's effort to match its rivals really sustainable in the long term?

The British strategy of balancing between the two blocs was coming to an end, but how would the Germans react to news that Russia was now courting Britain into the Entente? Was Britain truly as free as she imagined, or was the cold reality of the bloc system about to dawn in London? Still, few contemporaries believed war would come - had the peacemakers not saved Europe from war in the past? Perhaps they had, but there was no guarantee that a spark in a sensitive region would not transform the situation.

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