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| Signed | 8 April 1904 |
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| Languages | French and English |
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TheEntente Cordiale (French pronunciation:[ɑ̃tɑ̃tkɔʁdjal];lit. 'Cordial Agreement') comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between theUnited Kingdom andFrance which saw a significant improvement inAnglo-French relations.
The French termEntente Cordiale (usually translated as "cordial agreement" or "cordial understanding") comes from a letter written in 1843 by the British Foreign SecretaryLord Aberdeen to his brother, in which he mentioned "a cordial, good understanding" between the two nations. This was translated into French asEntente Cordiale and used byLouis Philippe I in the FrenchChamber of Peers that year.[1] When used today the term almost always denotes thesecond Entente Cordiale, that is to say, the written and partly secret agreement signed in London between the two powers on 8 April 1904.
The agreement was a change for both countries. France had been isolated from the other European powers, in part because of the destruction of theNapoleonic Wars, threat ofliberalism[clarification needed] and perceived recklessness in theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–71.[citation needed] German ChancellorOtto von Bismarck also managed to estrange France from potential allies, taking advantage of fears France might seek revenge for its defeat in theFranco-Prussian War, reverse its territorial losses and continue to press for the conquest of theSaar and territories in theRuhr. Britain was maintaining a policy of "splendid isolation" on the European continent, ceasing to be concerned with thebalance of power and intervening in continental affairs only when it was considered necessary to protect British interests. The situation for Britain and France changed in the last decade of the 19th century.[2]
The change had its roots in a British loss of confidence after theSecond Boer War and a growing fear of the strength of Germany. As early as March 1881, the French statesmanLéon Gambetta and thePrince of Wales,Albert Edward, met at theChâteau de Breteuil to discuss an alliance against Germany.
TheScramble for Africa prevented the countries from coming to terms. A colonial dispute in 1898 between France and Britain came to boiling point in theSudan with theFashoda Incident, in which both countries sought to gain control of theUpper Nile river basin. France, however, recognised that she was at a severe disadvantage with Britain and backed down, suffering a diplomatic humiliation.Théophile Delcassé, the newly appointed French foreign minister, nevertheless was keen to gain Britain's friendship in case of any future conflict with Germany.
On the initiative of Colonial SecretaryJoseph Chamberlain, there were three rounds of British-German talks between 1898 and 1901. The British decided not to join theTriple Alliance, broke off the negotiations with Berlin, and revived the idea of a British-French alliance.[3]
When theRusso-Japanese War was about to erupt, France and Britain found themselves on the verge of being dragged into the conflict on the side of their respective allies. France was firmly allied with Russia, while the British had recently signed theAnglo-Japanese Alliance. In order to avoid going to war, both powers "shucked off their ancient rivalry"[4] and resolved their differences in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific. Toward this end, French foreign ministerThéophile Delcassé, andLord Lansdowne, theBritish Foreign Secretary, negotiated an agreement on colonial matters, and Lord Lansdowne andPaul Cambon, the French Ambassador to theCourt of St James's, signed the resulting convention on 8 April 1904.[5]
The Entente was composed of three documents:
On the surface, the agreement dealt with issues strictly 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 ofWorld War I in 1914.[7] The main colonial agreement was the recognition thatEgypt was fully in the British sphere of influence and likewiseMorocco in France's, with theproviso that France's eventual dispositions for Morocco include reasonable allowance for Spain's interests there. At the same time, Britain ceded theLos Islands (off French Guinea) to France, defined the frontier ofNigeria in France's favour, and agreed to French control of the upperGambia valley; while France renounced its exclusive right to certain fisheries offNewfoundland. Furthermore, French and British proposed zones of influence inSiam (Thailand), which was eventually decided not to be colonised, were outlined, with the eastern territories, adjacent toFrench Indochina, becoming a proposed French zone, and the western, adjacent toBurmeseTenasserim, a proposed British zone. Arrangements were also made to allay the rivalry between British and French colonists in theNew Hebrides.
In long-term perspective, the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years ofintermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors, and replaced themodus vivendi that had existed since the end of theNapoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement.[8] The Entente Cordiale represented the culmination of the policy ofThéophile Delcassé (France'sforeign minister from 1898 to 1905), who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security in Western Europe against anyGerman system of alliances (seeTriple Alliance (1882)). Credit for the success of the negotiation of the Entente Cordiale belongs chiefly toPaul Cambon (France's ambassador in London from 1898 to 1920) and to the British Foreign Secretary,Lord Lansdowne. In signing the Entente Cordiale, both powers reduced the virtual isolation into which they each had withdrawn. Britain had no major-power allyapart from Japan (1902). France had only theFranco-Russian Alliance. The agreement threatened Germany, whose policy had long relied on Franco-British antagonism. A German attempt to check the French inMorocco in 1905 (the Tangier Incident, orFirst Moroccan Crisis), and thus to upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it. Military discussions between the French and the Britishgeneral staffs were initiated. Franco-British solidarity was confirmed at theAlgeciras Conference (1906) and reconfirmed in theSecond Moroccan Crisis (1911).
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It is unclear what exactly theEntente meant to the BritishForeign Office. For example, in early 1911, following French press reports contrasting the virility of theTriple Alliance with the moribund state of theEntente,Eyre Crowe minuted: "The fundamental fact of course is that theEntente is not an alliance. For purposes of ultimate emergencies it may be found to have no substance at all. For theEntente is nothing more than a frame of mind, a view of general policy which is shared by the governments of two countries, but which may be, or become, so vague as to lose all content."[9]
Such commentary however proved spurious, for theTriple Alliance collapsed as a result of Italy remaining neutral at the outbreak ofWorld War I, while the Entente endured.
The 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale in 2004 was marked by a number of official and unofficial events, including astate visit to France in April by QueenElizabeth II, and a return visit by PresidentJacques Chirac in November. British troops (the band of theRoyal Marines, theHousehold Cavalry Mounted Regiment, theGrenadier Guards and theKing's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery) also led theBastille Day parade in Paris for the first time, with theRed Arrows flying overhead.
At bothLondon Waterloo International andParis Gare du Nord, the flags ofUnited Kingdom and ofFrance were depicted, connected with the words 'Entente cordiale' superimposed on posters. Some French political leaders had complained[10] about the name "Waterloo" for the destination of trains from Paris, because the London terminus is named afterthe 1815 battle in which a British-led alliance defeatedNapoleon's army, and in 1998 French politicianFlorent Longuepée wrote to British Prime MinisterTony Blair demanding, without success, that the name be changed.[10][11] However, in November 2007St Pancras International became the new London terminus for the Eurostar service.
In April 2024, to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, France'sGendarmerie's Garde Républicaine took part in the Changing of the Guard atBuckingham Palace.[12]
The name "Entente Cordiale" is used for theEntente Cordiale Scholarships scheme, a selective Franco-British scholarship scheme which was announced on 30 October 1995 by British Prime MinisterJohn Major and French PresidentJacques Chirac at an Anglo-French summit in London.[13] It provides funding for British and French students to study for one academic year on the other side of the Channel. The scheme is administered by the French embassy in London for British students,[14] and by theBritish Council in France and the British embassy in Paris for French students.[15][16] Funding is provided by the private sector and foundations. The scheme aims to foster mutual understanding and to promote exchanges between the British and French leaders of tomorrow. The programme was initiated by SirChristopher Mallaby, British ambassador to France between 1993 and 1996.[17]
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