# What was a French word used by France/Europe prior to WWI to describe national alliances that were not as solid as Entente alliances?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-french-word-used-by-france-europe-prior-to-wwi-to-describe-national-alliances-that-were-not-as-solid-as-entente-alliances/990632>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 24, 2023, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-french-word-used-by-france-europe-prior-to-wwi-to-describe-national-alliances-that-were-not-as-solid-as-entente-alliances/990632 "2023-09-24T13:19:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-a-french-word-used-by-france-europe-prior-to-wwi-to-describe-national-alliances-that-were-not-as-solid-as-entente-alliances/990632/1 "2023-09-24T13:19:14Z")

</div>

What was a French word used by France/Europe prior to WWI to describe national alliances that were not as solid as Entente alliances?