Abandonment
Britain's isolation was formally ended by the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Britain began to normalise its relations with European countries that it had disputes with, and the Entente cordiale and the Anglo-Russian Entente were signed in 1904 and 1907 respectively. The Alliance System was finally formed in the same year as the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, and is considered an important factor in the outbreak of World War I.
Salisbury never used the term to describe his approach to foreign policy, and even argued against its use. It could be claimed that Britain was not isolated during this period owing to her informal alignments such as the two Mediterranean Agreements as well as the fact that it still traded with other European powers and remained heavily connected with the Empire. In addition, Salisbury never thought isolation to be "splendid" as he considered it dangerous to be completely uninvolved with European affairs. As such much modern historiography now discounts Splendid Isolation as a conscious policy choice.
Read more about this topic: Splendid Isolation
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