The French Foreign Office and the Origins of the First World War 1898-1914

by M. B. Hayne

Overview

This is the first full scholarly history of the French Foreign Ministry—the Quai d'Orsay—in the years between the Fashoda Crisis and the First World War. In an intensively researched study, M. B. Hayne examines the bureaucratic machinery of the Quai d'Orsay, its policies, and its personnel. He explores the ideas and influence of leading diplomats and administrators, their prejudices, and their aims; and traces the often complex relationships between successive Foreign Ministers and the functionaries of the Quai d'Orsay. His analysis throws much new light on French policy and actions during the July Crisis, and makes a significant contribution to the debate over the origins of the First World War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198202707
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/27/1993
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.68(w) x 8.75(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

	Abbreviations	viii
	Introduction	1
1.	The Foreign Ministry at the End of the Nineteenth Century: Its History, Structure, and Practice	5
2.	The Quai d'Orsay and External Influences, 1898-1914	29
3.	Delcasse and the Centrale, 1898-1904	58
4.	Declasse and the Ambassadorial Elite, 1898-1904	76
5.	Foreign Policy under Delcasse, 1898-1904	95
6.	The First Moroccan Crisis, 1904-1906	116
7.	The 1907 Reforms	144
8.	Pichon's First Ministry, 1906-1909	171
9.	Internal Disarray and External Crisis: The Quai d'Orsay and the Second Moroccan Crisis, 1909-1911	199
10.	Poincare, Pichon, and Doumergue at the Quai d'Orsay, 1912-1914	229
11.	The Quai d'Orsay and the July Crisis of 1914	269
	Conclusion	302
	Bibliography	309
	Index	322

Editorial Reviews

"Students of French diplomatic history will be indebted to Haynes for his masterful analysis of the inner workings of the Quai d'Orsay and the diplomatic exploits of French diplomats, including Paul Cambon and his brother Jules, Camile Barrere, and others. The final chapter presents new insights into the outbreak of WWI."—CHOICE

"Splendid study....This is an engrossing study of the minds and relationships of France's foreign policy elite."—The Journal of Military History

"Based on exhaustive research in the diplomatic records and especially in the relevant personal papers. The author has shown much skill in arranging his material in an orderly and disciplined account."—The Historian

From the Publisher