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Entente Cordiale

The Entente Cordiale (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃tɑ̃t kɔʁdjal]; lit. 'Cordial Agreement') comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. On the surface, the agreement dealt with minor issues related to fishing and colonial boundaries. Egypt was recognized as part of Britain's sphere of influence, and Morocco as part of France's. The Entente was not a formal alliance and did not involve close collaboration, nor was it intended to be directed against Germany. However, it paved the way for a stronger relationship between France and Britain in the face of German aggression. It should not be mistaken for the official Anglo-French military alliance, which was only established after the outbreak of World War I in 1914.[1]

This article is about Entente Cordiale. For other uses, see L'Entente Cordiale (photograph).

Signed

8 April 1904

French, English

The main colonial agreement was the recognition that Egypt was fully in the British sphere of influence and likewise Morocco in France's, with the proviso that France's eventual dispositions for Morocco include reasonable allowance for Spain's interests there. At the same time, Britain ceded the Los Islands (off French Guinea) to France, defined the frontier of Nigeria in France's favour, and agreed to French control of the upper Gambia valley; while France renounced its exclusive right to certain fisheries off Newfoundland. Furthermore, French and British proposed zones of influence in Siam (Thailand), which was eventually decided not to be colonised, were outlined, with the eastern territories, adjacent to French Indochina, becoming a proposed French zone, and the western, adjacent to Burmese Tenasserim, a proposed British zone. Arrangements were also made to allay the rivalry between British and French colonists in the New Hebrides.


In long-term perspective, the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors, and replaced the modus vivendi that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement.[2] The Entente Cordiale represented the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé (France's foreign minister from 1898 to 1905), who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security in Western Europe against any German system of alliances (see Triple Alliance (1882)). Credit for the success of the negotiation of the Entente Cordiale belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon (France's ambassador in London from 1898 to 1920) and to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne. In signing of the Entente Cordiale both powers reduced the virtual isolation into which they each had withdrawn. Britain had no major-power ally apart from Japan (1902). France had only the Franco-Russian Alliance. The agreement threatened Germany, whose policy had long relied on Franco-British antagonism. A German attempt to check the French in Morocco in 1905 (the Tangier Incident, or First Moroccan Crisis), and thus to upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it. Military discussions between the French and the British general staffs were initiated. Franco-British solidarity was confirmed at the Algeciras Conference (1906) and reconfirmed in the Second Moroccan Crisis (1911).

The first and most important document was the Declaration respecting Egypt and Morocco. In return for the French promising not to "obstruct" British actions in Egypt, the British promised to allow the French to "preserve order ... and provide assistance" in Morocco. Free passage through the Suez Canal was guaranteed, finally putting the into force, and the erection of fortifications on part of the Moroccan coast forbidden. The treaty contained a secret annex dealing with the possibility of "changed circumstances" in the administration of either of the two countries.

Convention of Constantinople

The second document dealt with and portions of West and Central Africa. The French gave up their rights (stemming from the Treaty of Utrecht) over the western coast of Newfoundland, although they retained the right to fish the coast. In return, the British gave the French the town of Yarbutenda (near the modern border between Senegal and the Gambia) and the Iles de Los (part of modern Guinea). An additional provision dealt with the border between French and British possessions east of the River Niger (present-day Niger and Nigeria).

Newfoundland

The final declaration concerned Siam (), Madagascar, and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). In Siam, the British recognised a proposed French sphere of influence to the east of the Menam (Chao Phraya) River basin; in turn, the French recognised a proposed British influence over the territory to the west of the Menam basin. Both parties eventually disclaimed any idea of annexing Siamese territory. The British withdrew their objection to the French introducing a tariff in Madagascar. The parties came to an agreement which would "put an end to the difficulties arising from the lack of jurisdiction over the natives of the New Hebrides".[8]

Thailand

The Entente was composed of three documents:

Anglo-French Supreme War Council

France–United Kingdom relations

Auld Alliance

British military history

Causes of World War I

Diplomatic history of World War I

Diplomatic history of World War II

Entente (disambiguation)

Entente frugale

Foreign relations of France

Franco-British Council

Franco-British Union

French entry into World War I

History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom

International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)

Andrew, Christopher. Théophile Delcassé and the making of the Entente Cordiale: A reappraisal of French Foreign Policy 1898–1905 (1968)

Andrew, Christopher. "France and the Making of the Entente Cordiale." Historical Journal 10#1 (1967): 89–105. .

online

Bell, P. M. H. France and Britain, 1900–1940: Entente and Estrangement (1996).

Capet, Antoine, ed. Britain, France and the entente cordiale since 1904 (Springer, 2006).

Hargreaves, J. D. "The Origin of the Anglo-French Military Conversations in 1905." History 36.128 (1951): 244–248.

online

Hargreaves, J. D. "Entente Manquee: Anglo-French Relations, 1895–1896." Cambridge Historical Journal 11#1 (1953): 65–92. .

online

Hennlichová, Marcela. "The Royal Visit to Paris and the Presidential Visit to London in 1903 — An Icebreaker of the Public Opinion or a Milestone in the History of the Entente Cordiale?" "Prague Papers on the History of International Relations" 1 (2019): 38–53.

online

Keiger, J.F.V. France and the World since 1870 (2001) pp 115–17, 164–68

Langer, William L. The Diplomacy of Imperialism, 1890–1902 (1951).

Macmillan, Margaret. The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (2013) ch 6

Rolo, P. J. V. Entente Cordiale: the origins and negotiation of the Anglo-French agreements of 8 April 1904. Macmillan/St Martin's Press, London 1969.

Šubrtová, Marcela. "Great Britain and France on the Way to the Entente Cordiale." Prague Papers on the History of International Relations 1 (2014): 79–97.

online

Šubrtová, Marcela. "The Anglo-French Rapprochement and the Question of Morocco." West Bohemian Historical Review 2 (2016): 213–241

online

Taylor, A.J.P. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954)

online free

Williamson, Samuel R. The politics of grand strategy: Britain and France prepare for war, 1904–1914 (1990).

Entente cordiale

First declaration of the Entente cordiale including secret articles

A statistical commemoration of the Entente Cordiale published jointly by the British and French Ministries of Defence (British MOD text, bilingual)

A statistical commemoration of the Entente Cordiale published jointly by the British and French Ministries of Defence (French MOD text, bilingual)