The short and quick definition of realpolitik is a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations. While realism should be supported as a wise and prudential basis for foreign policy, negating the importance of morality in policy is imprudent and unrealistic. Immoral decisions have consequences, sometimes devastating ones. When we look back at the Triple Entente that opposed Austria-Hungary in early August 1914, one is tempted to ask what the alliance's moral logic was and if the absence of moral logic led to strategic miscalculations and escalation. The partnership between Britain - and its empire -, France, and Russia based on paranoia about Germany and a desire for revenge led to a strange alliance between the supposed liberal empire of Britain, secularist France, and the most oppressive government in Europe, the Russian Empire.
