The war between Britain and France was virtually over. King Edward VII visited France in 1903 and won the hearts of the French people by speaking great French and acting graciously everywhere he went. He even gave a famous actress gallant compliments in her native tongue (this kind of thing goes a long way in France). The Anglo-French Entente was ratified in less than a year. The hatred of Edward by Kaiser Wilhelm was another cause (who was his uncle). In truth, the English had already proposed an equivalent entente to Germany in 1899 and 1901, but the Germans had rejected it because they thought it was a ruse. At a dinner with 300 guests in Berlin, the Kaiser made a public statement "He is the devil! You simply cannot comprehend what a Satan he is!" He was irate that he couldn't intimidate or win Edward over, envious of his fame, and worried about what he thought were English designs to "encircle" Germany. But it was for the Belgians, not the French, that Britain allied with France in World War I. Britain had committed to defend Belgium in return for its Continent-wide neutrality. The British intervened to defend them when Germany invaded Belgium without cause (Belgium had done nothing to deserve it) and started massacring civilians.
The Union strategy to win the war did not emerge all at once. This strategy, known as the Anaconda Plan, would eliminate the possibility of Confederate help from abroad.
