Game of the Goose, The Franco-Russian Alliance (Le Journal illustré, n°1, January 3, 1892)

The Franco-Russian alliance was a political, military and economic alliance drawn up in the years 1891-1894 and remained in force until the Russian Revolution of 1917. France sought allies against Germany, while Russia needed French capital to finance its industrialization. The French and Russian militaries signed an agreement (1892), the clauses of which remained secret, providing for their defensive alliance in the event of an attack by Germany or Austria. The agreement was not ratified by Alexander III until December 1893. Russian government bonds were placed on the French market from 1888 to 1913.

For France, it was first a question of recovering Alsace and Lorraine, mentioned in boxes 2 and 3.
In July 1891, Admiral Alfred Gervais' French fleet made an official visit to Kronstadt and was welcomed by Tsar Alexander III. This event is evoked in box 29.