diplomacy

On 9 May 1386, England and Portugal ratified the Treaty of Windsor, beginning the oldest diplomatic alliance still in force. Six centuries later, it was still working - helping to win the Second World War.

On 8 April 1904, Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale, ending nearly a millennium of rivalry with a series of colonial bargains. The agreement did not just settle old disputes — it eventually helped ignite a world war.