The Entente cordiale (French for 'friendly agreement') was a number of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and France. The two countries were worried that their two growing empires would cause a war between them. The "Entente cordiale" was the end of almost a millennium (one thousand years) of intermittent war (they were not fighting all the time). The agreement led to the Triple Entente (including Russia) that fought the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) in the First World War. The "Entente cordiale" has lasted until modern times (now). This was a very important move as it was the start of the Triple Entente and it was the first step to stopping Germany, their plan was to block France from Europe with a group of countries (the Triple Alliance) but joining with Britain gave them a better chance on the Western front.