Mediterranean Entente

a political grouping including England, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, which took shape on the basis of secret agreements concluded in 1887 and provided for the maintenance of the status quo in the basins of the Mediterranean, Black, Aegean, and Adriatic seas. It also provided for a joint political and diplomatic struggle by the participants for the preservation of the existing situation in the Black Sea straits, Asia Minor, and the Balkans, and particularly in Bulgaria. The thrust of the agreements was directed against France and Russia. In effect, the goals sought were the strengthening of England’s position in Egypt, Italy’s in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, and Austria-Hungary’s in the Balkans. German diplomacy actively aided in the creation of the Mediterranean Entente, viewing it as a means to intensify Anglo-Russian, Anglo-French, and Franco-Italian dissension. The agreement of May 4,1887, between Italy and Spain was added to the entente; it was directed against France’s North African policy. As Anglo-German antagonism and Austro-Italian contradictions sharpened, the Mediterranean Entente lost its meaning. Attempts to renew it in 1895–96 ended in failure.