Until the earlier couple of weeks earlier than it started in August 1914, almost no one noticed a world warfare coming. The expectation among the many generals was that due to industrial advances any future war would produce a quick victory for the side that was better-prepared, better armed, and sooner to move. No one saw that the improvements of current decades—high explosives, long-range artillery and machine guns—were defensive weapons that practically guaranteed defeat of massed infantry attacks with very high casualties. The Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia is usually compared to the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria–Hungary and Italy, however historians warning in opposition to the comparison. The Entente, in distinction to the Triple Alliance or the Franco-Russian Alliance, was not an alliance of mutual defence and Britain due to this fact felt free to make her own foreign coverage selections in 1914. Conservative peers in the House of Lords tried to cease the People’s Budget.
