By 1903, Britain and France had been rivals and even bitter enemies for most of the previous two centuries. As the 20th century dawned, both countries were fiercely criticising each other: France for the Dreyfus affair and Britain for its conduct during the Boer War.
However, in May 1903, the Francophile Edward VII visited Paris on his own initiative. The French had been quietly seeking an alliance with the British, worried about German expansion, but Edward's subjects had remained cool towards their overtures. Now the success of his visit to the French capital was widely covered in the British papers and paved the way for a return visit by President Emile Loubet.
This, in turn, led to serious negotiations, which lasted nine months and covered every arena in which the two countries had or might come into conflict. At the end of the talks, what came to be known as the Entente Cordiale was signed, which among much else secured the recognition of French claims in Morocco in exchange for their non-interference with the British occupation of Egypt.
According to the Guardian (5 April 2004), marking its centenary, the Entente still 'resonates' for two reasons:
The first – is that the treaty was a lasting victory for the principle that disputes between states are better settled by diplomacy than by war. Britain and France had fought bloody conflicts against each other for centuries before 1904. They have not fought one since, though they have been on different sides in many arguments, from reform of the common agricultural policy to Iraq.
and
The second lesson – is that Britain and France are nations with shared problems, interests and values ... A British official ... says Britain and France are 'condemned to work together'.
|
|
 The Entente Cordiale
http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_Ent
ente_Cordiale_Between_The_United_Kingdom
_and_France
The text of the agreements.
Entente Cordiale 1904?2004
www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects
/entente/entente.html
A website created by the Bodleian Library to commemorate the centenary of the agreement, with a selection of the documents related to it held by the library.
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of third-party sites. |
|
