Hamilton, Keith Alexander
(1976)
The embassy of Sir Francis Bertie in Paris during the period 1905-1914.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis is an examination of the career of Sir Francis Bertie during the period between his appointment as British ambassador to France in January 1905 and the outbreak of the first world war. As such it is concerned with Bertie's role in the development of Anglo-French relations in the decade before 1914. It is, however, in no sense a comprehensive study of the entente cordiale, and matters such as the con-versations between the British and French military and naval authorities are dealt with only in so far as they were of interest to Bertie and his colleagues. Bertie had by the time of his appointment to Paris already been engaged in the administration and conduct of foreign policy for more than thirty years. His experience had led him to conclude that Germany had expansionist ambitions which constituted a major threat to the security of the British empire. While the Anglo-Japanese alliance and Japan's victories in the Far East placed severe restraints upon Russia, the convention concluded by Lansdowne and Delcasse in April 1904 seemed to make a conflict between Britain and France unlikely. With this in mind Bertie strove to maintain and strengthen the entente. During the two Moroccan crises he encouraged first Lansdowne and then Grey to give their full support to France in resisting German pretensions. On other occasions he urged Grey to avoid any one-sided bargains with Germany, and to do nothing that might cause the French to suspect Britain's intentions. Anglo-French relations were not, however, free from friction in these years, and the efforts in which Bertie was involved to extend co-operation between the two powers beyond the strictly political sphere met with little success. Moreover, Bertie had little sympathy for France's ally, Russia, whose diplomacy in the Balkans he came to regard as a menace to the peace of Europe.
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