Declaration of Sainte-Adresse

On Monday 14 February 1916 the ministers of France, Great Britain and Russia accredited to the King of the Belgians came to the Belgian foreign ministry at Sainte-Adresse, a seaside suburb of Le Havre, where since the autumn of 1914 the Belgian government in exile had been based. The Russian minister, Prince Kudashev (Koudacheff), spoke on behalf of all three. He addressed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Eugène Beyens, and read out the solemn declaration of the three powers.

The text of the declaration

According to the text published in the press, the Allied powers, signatories of the treaties guaranteeing the independence and neutrality of Belgium, had decided “to renew today by a solemn act” their engagements towards a country that had remained “heroically faithful to its international obligations”. They declared that when the time came the Belgian government would be invited to take part in the peace negotiations, and that they would not end hostilities until Belgium had regained its political and economic independence and received generous compensation for the damage it had suffered. They also promised help in restoring its trade and finances. Beyens replied that the King’s government was deeply grateful to the three guarantor powers for their “generous initiative”.

Since the Treaty of London of 1839 the guarantors of Belgian independence and neutrality had been Great Britain, France, Russia, Austria and Prussia. The last two were now Belgium’s enemies, and Germany, Prussia’s successor, had occupied almost all of its territory in 1914. Italy was not one of the guarantors. Its minister told Beyens that his government had no objection to the declaration made by the Allies. The Japanese government made a similar statement.

Why Belgium sought it

The Belgian government feared that the fate of the country would be decided by the great powers without its participation. Belgium had not acceded to the Allies’ London agreement not to conclude a separate peace, because it wanted to remain in the war a neutral state whose neutrality had been violated, rather than an ordinary member of the coalition. This stance, however, carried the risk that there would be no place for it at the negotiating table. According to the American historian Sally Marks, in December 1915 the Belgian cabinet instructed Beyens to seek a promise of participation in the peace conference. The British themselves proposed a formal declaration, and France agreed. London wanted in this way to sustain morale in occupied Belgium and the fighting spirit of King Albert I. Russia hesitated, because it feared similar demands from Serbia, but was persuaded that Belgium was a special case. At France’s demand a reference to Belgium’s “legitimate aims” was removed from the draft, and the declaration announced no territorial acquisitions. In return Belgium, according to the American historian Michael Palo, again assured the Allies that it would not conclude a separate peace with the Central Powers.

Significance

The French press wrote that the declaration cut short all German manoeuvres concerning Belgium. For the government at Sainte-Adresse it was one of the most important undertakings it obtained during the war. From then on the restoration of an independent Belgium and compensation formally became one of the war aims of the three great Entente powers. On 29 April 1916 the powers extended the undertaking to the Belgian Congo, whose integrity Great Britain and France had already assured Belgium of in 1914. After the war Belgium took part in the Paris Peace Conference, albeit as one of the smaller states, and received priority in the payment of German reparations.