Delcassé becomes French foreign minister

On 26 August 1914, in René Viviani’s reshuffled government, Théophile Delcassé became French Minister of Foreign Affairs. He replaced Gaston Doumergue, who had directed diplomacy only since 3 August and now moved to the Ministry of the Colonies. This was part of a wider government change in which the Minister of War, Messimy, also lost his post.

Architect of the understanding with Britain

Delcassé, a Radical deputy for the Ariège department, had already been foreign minister from 1898 to 1905. He began at a difficult moment: the Fashoda Incident had brought France and Great Britain to the brink of war. Delcassé backed down in that dispute and then steadily drew France closer to London. In 1904 he brought about the Entente Cordiale, an agreement ending the colonial disputes between the two countries. He also sought Italy’s recognition of French interests in Morocco. In 1905, during the First Moroccan Crisis, he had to resign under German pressure. He was later Minister of the Navy, and in 1913–1914 ambassador in St Petersburg.

Wartime diplomacy

Delcassé’s return was a clear signal that France was committed to close cooperation with Great Britain and Russia. As early as 5 September 1914 the three powers signed an agreement in London in which they undertook not to conclude a separate peace with Germany. Delcassé also worked to bring Italy over to the Entente side, which was achieved in the spring of 1915 with the Treaty of London. He failed, however, to prevent Bulgaria from entering the war on the side of the Central Powers, and in October 1915 he resigned.