ervices of England (then about to frame an _entente_ with Russia); and
in part to the suspicion of the statesmen of Petrograd and Tokio that
German influences had secretly incited Russia to the policy of reckless
exploitation in Korea which led to war and disaster.

[Footnote 509: Hayashi, _op. cit._ ch. viii. and App. D. On June 10,
1907, Japan concluded with France an agreement, for which see Hayashi,
ch. vi. and App. C.]

The chief results of the Russo-Japanese War were to paralyse Russia,
thereby emasculating the Dual Alliance and leaving France as much
exposed to German threats as she was before its conclusion; also to
exalt the Triple Alliance and enable its members (Germany, Austria, and
Italy) successively to adopt the forward policy which marked the years
1905, 1908, 1911, and 1914. The Russo-Japanese War therefore inaugurated
a new era in European History. Up to that time the Triple Alliance had
been a defensive league, except when the exuberant impulses of Kaiser
William forced it into provocative courses; and then the provocations
generally stopped at telegrams and orations. But in and after 1905 the
Triple Alliance forsook the watchwords of Bismarck, Andrassy and
Crispi. Expansion at the cost of rivals became the dominant aim.

We must now return to affairs in France which predisposed her to come to
friendly terms, first with Italy, then with Great Britain. Her internal
history in the years 1895-1906 turns largely on the Dreyfus affair. In
1895, he, a Jewish officer in the French army, was accused and convicted
of selling military secrets to Germany. But suspicions were aroused that
he was the victim of anti-Semites or the scapegoat of the real
offenders; and finally, thanks to the championship of Zola, his
condemnation was proved to have been due to a forgery (July 1906).
Meanwhile society had been rent in twain, and confidence in the army and
in the administration of justice was seriously impaired. A furious
anti-militarist agitation began, which had important consequences.
Already in May 1900, the Premier, Waldeck-Rousseau, appointed as
Minister of War General Andre, who sympathised with these views and
dangerously relaxed discipline. The Combes Ministry, which succeeded in
June 1902, embittered the strife between the clerical and anti-clerical
sections by measures such as the separation of Church and State and the
expulsion of the Religious Orders. In consequence France was almost
helpless in the firs