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The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and France which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations.
The agreement was a change for both countries. France had been isolated from the other European powers, in part because of the destruction of the Napoleonic Wars, threat of liberalism and perceived recklessness in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck also managed to estrange France from potential allies, taking advantage of fears France might seek revenge for its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, reverse its territorial losses and continue to press for the conquest of the Saarland and territories in the Ruhr. Britain was maintaining a policy of "splendid isolation" on the European continent, ceasing to be concerned with the balance 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.Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) ch 15–16
The change had its roots in a British loss of confidence after the Second Boer War and a growing fear of the strength of Germany. As early as March 1881, the French statesman Léon Gambetta and the Prince of Wales, Edward VII, met at the Château de Breteuil to discuss an alliance against Germany.
The Scramble for Africa prevented the countries from coming to terms. A colonial dispute in 1898 between France and Britain came to boiling point in the Sudan with the Fashoda Incident, in which both countries sought to gain control of the Nile. 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 Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, there were three rounds of British-German talks between 1898 and 1901. The British decided not to join the Triple Alliance, broke off the negotiations with Berlin, and revived the idea of a British-French alliance.Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) ch 17
When the Russo-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 the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In order to avoid going to war, both powers "shucked off their ancient rivalry" and resolved their differences in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific. Toward this end, French foreign minister Théophile Delcassé, and Lord Lansdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, negotiated an agreement on colonial matters, and Lord Lansdowne and Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador to the Court of St James's, signed the resulting convention on 8 April 1904.C. J. Lowe and M. L. Dockrill, The Mirage of Power. Vol. 1: British Foreign Policy 1902–14 (1972) pp 1–28
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 of World War I in 1914.Margaret Macmillan, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (2013) ch 6 The main colonial agreement was the recognition that Egypt was fully in the British sphere of influence and likewise French Morocco, 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 Colonial 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 Colonial Burma 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.A. J. P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) pp 408–17 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 Empire 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 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 were initiated. Franco-British solidarity was confirmed at the Algeciras Conference (1906) and reconfirmed in the Agadir Crisis (1911).
Such commentary however proved spurious, for the Triple Alliance collapsed as a result of Italy remaining neutral at the outbreak of World War I, while the Entente endured.
At both London Waterloo International and Paris Gare du Nord, the flags of United Kingdom and of France were depicted, connected with the words 'Entente cordiale' superimposed on posters. Some French political leaders had complained about the name "Waterloo" for the destination of trains from Paris, because the London terminus is named after the 1815 battle in which a British-led alliance defeated Napoleon's army, and in 1998 French politician Florent Longuepée wrote to British Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding, without success, that the name be changed. However, in November 2007 St Pancras International became the new London terminus for the Eurostar service.
In April 2024, to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, France's Gendarmerie's Garde Républicaine took part in the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
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