On 20 July, the French President, Premier, and other statesmen docked at Kronstadt, aboard the fittingly named France.

It began a tremendous spectacle of Franco-Russian cooperation, just as rumours were swirling of Austria's nefarious intentions. The allies could not know for sure what Vienna was planning, but they could send some strongly worded warnings. As the French President attempted to put steel into his allies, his Premier suffered something akin to a breakdown. Perhaps Rene Viviani was anxious about domestic politics, or perhaps the pacifist Premier was beginning to realise that a great war was more likely. Either way, once they returned to the sea, French policy would be in the hands of Maurice Paleologue, the French ambassador, and it was hard to see him as anything other than a hawk.

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