Transcript French Foreign Policy in the Belle Epoque

French Foreign Policy in the
Belle Epoque
Dr Chris Millington
Swansea University
[email protected]
@DrChris82
frenchhistoryonline.com
Structure of the lecture
• International diplomacy during the Belle
Epoque
• French Policy
A) 1871-1889
B) 1890-1904
C) 1905-1914
Belle Epoque diplomacy:
Alliance systems
• Countries looked for alliances for security, trade,
mutual advantage
• Negotiations and agreements took place in
secret
• The Triple Alliance (Rome, Berlin, Vienna) was
agreed in 1882, but the details were published
only in 1920.
The Triple Alliance, founded 1882, and the Triple Entente, founded 1907
Belle Epoque diplomacy:
Espionage
• Enemies (and allies) spied on each other
• Germany had spies in London
• French had the cabinet noir code breakers
Belle Epoque diplomacy:
The balance of power
‘The only check on the abuse of political
predominance has always consisted in the
opposition of an equally formidable rival, or
of a combination of several countries forming
leagues of defence. The equilibrium
established by such grouping of forces is
technically known as the balance of power.’
• Sir Eyre Crowe of the British Foreign Office
Bismarck and realpolitik
• Chancellor of Germany, 1871-1890
• Based on practical considerations,
rather than moral obligation
• Influenced European diplomacy
Otto von Bismarck
1871: Prussia defeats France
Napoleon III surrenders to Kaiser Wilhelm I of Prussia at Sedan
German growth – French decline
• Germany outstrips French coal, steel and iron
production (all the things necessary to make war)
• German population dwarfs France
- 1910: 65million Germans v 39 million French
German growth – French decline
• French industrial output behind major world
powers
US:
Germany:
GB:
France
36% of global industrial output (1913)
16%
14%
6.4%
French isolation, 1871-1890
• Bismarck sought to isolate France
• He believes France will fight to regain Alsace and
Lorraine (annexed in 1871 from France to the
German Reich)
• Dreikaiserbund signed 1873 –
by Germany, Russia and
Austria-Hungary
A map of France showing the ‘lost provinces’
France and Britain – old enemies
• Centuries of hostility
• Conflict over Egypt since
1882
A British cartoon showing
John Bull (England) holding
aloft the head of Napoleon Bonaparte
Did the French want revenge?
A French army recruitment poster, showing Alsace as a woman.
She is begging the French, ‘Don’t forget us!’
• Léon Gambetta on revenge – ‘think of it always, speak of it never’
Prestige and Power: The Empire
• A means to restore French greatness
• Germany encouraged French imperial expansion
– see the 1878 Berlin Congress – but this come
from realpolitik again
• French nationalists – such as Paul Déroulède –
criticise the Empire for distracting attention
from Germany
• By 1914, the Empire rules 48 million people and covers 10
million km2
• But accounts for only 9.4% of imports – 53% come from
Europe
French isolation deepens
• Triple Alliance agreed between Italy, Germany
and Austria-Hungary in May 1882
• France and Italy had been close, but colonial
tensions over Tunisia had soured the
relationship
• Alliance strengthened in Feb. 1887
• Germany and Russia agree a treaty in
June 1887
A German-language poster
celebrating the Triple Alliance:
‘Unity is strength’
The Latin reads: ‘United
Forces’. Viribus Unitis was also
the name of the first AustroHungarian dreadnought,
launched in 1911.
1890-1904: The end of isolation
• ‘France would have to seek, through a system of
alliances, guarantees for her own security which
her own strength could no longer ensure’.[John
Keiger].
• The Franco-Russian Alliance:
An unlikely alliance, given the difference between
the two countries’ political systems, and their
political philosophies
The Franco-Russian Alliance
• St Petersburg turns to Paris in late 1880s
– for money
• Russia borrows 3.5 billion Francs during
1888-90
• 1890: Germany does no renew Russian
treaty
• Financial links provide a basis for
diplomatic and military discussions
• France gains an ally against Germany;
Russia gains more freedom in the Balkans
This picture shows French
President Loubet and the Russian
Tsar sealing the alliance.
Peace looks on.
A plate commemorating
the visit of the French navy
to Cronstadt in 1891, and
the visit of the Russian Navy
to Toulon in 1893.
Such souvenirs demonstrate the
popularity of the alliance with the
public.
Germany
• Relations with Germany helped by removal of
Bismarck in 1890…. But French Foreign
Minister Delcassé (1898-1905) wants to isolate
the Reich
Statue of Strasbourg, Paris
Britain
• Tense relations
• In 1898, French and British forces involved in a
stand off at Fashoda in Africa
• French forced into a humiliating withdrawal but
they learnt important lessons – a compromise
with Britain would have to be sought
Fashoda, 1898
A French cartoon produced
at the time of Fashoda.
France is depicted as Little
Red Riding Hood, while
Britannia, the wolf, is ready
to devour her
1904: the Entente Cordiale
• Delcassé needs Britain in order to isolate
Germany
• Britain is bruised after the Boer War and
concerned about Germany too
• The British Edward VII and the French
President Loubet make state visits in 1903
• The accord is signed on 8 April 1904 – really, it
is a settlement of past disputes, not a military
alliance
Cultural exchange – poster for an exhibition staged in 1908
The basis of wartime co-operation
1905-1914: The Road to War
• Germany is keen to test the Entente cordiale and
so provokes two incidents in Morocco
• Tangier, 1905
• Agadir 1911
Germany looks suspiciously at Britain and France
Tangier, 1905
• 1905: the Kaiser visits Tangier
• ‘a tremendous kick in the behind from the
Emperor William’
• France forced to negotiate at the Algeciras
conference in January 1906
• But actually strengthens ties with Britain and
Russia
Agadir, 1911
• French occupy Fes in May 1911
• Germany responds by sending a gunboat to
Agadir
• 4 November 1911 agreement sees France given
authority over Morocco, but concedes territory
to German Cameroon
• Again, strengthens ties between Britain and
France
A British cartoon showing that
German attempts to attack
the entente cordiale have failed:
‘It’s rock! I thought it was
going to be paper.’
Russia
• Do France and Russia really need each other?
• Russia needs French money, especially after
defeat to Japan in 1904
• Britain signs an entente with Russia in 1907,
creating the Triple Entente
• Relations with France improve by 1912 and
Prime Minister Poincaré visits Russia
• France is keen to maintain the balance of power
– and need Russia to do so
A Russian poster illustrating
the Triple Entente
Conclusions
• During the July 1914 crisis the French government
was literally ‘at sea’
Conclusions
• French security policy had not discouraged
Germany and probably increased German
feelings of insecurity
• But Germany was provocative, and its
encirclement by enemy powers was not as solid
as it thought
• The alliance system affected how countries
perceived their enemies, and how they
developed their own policies in expectation of
what their enemies would do
‘The Chain of Friendship’, US Cartoon, 1914