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Théophile Delcassé (; 1 March 185222 February 1923) was a French politician who served as foreign minister from 1898 to 1905. He is best known for his hatred of
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and efforts to secure alliances with
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and
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that became the
Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and the French Third Republic, French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Fr ...
. He belonged to the Radical Party and was a protege of
Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, ...
.


Biography

Delcassé was born on 1 March 1852, at Pamiers, in the Ariège département. He wrote articles on foreign affairs for the ''République Française'' and ''Le Temps'', and in 1888 was elected ''conseiller général'' of his native ''département'', standing as "''un disciple fidèle de
Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, ...
''". In the following year he entered the chamber as deputy for
Foix Foix ( , ; ; ) is a commune, the former capital of the County of Foix. It is the capital of the department of Ariège as it is the seat of the prefecture of that department. Foix is located in the Occitanie region of southwestern France ...
.


Colonial affairs

Delcassé was appointed under-secretary for the colonies in the second Ribot cabinet (January to April 1893), and retained his post in the Dupuy cabinet till its fall in December 1893. During this period he would push strongly for the independence of the undersecretariat, beginning with the demand that it be transferred out of the backrooms of the Ministry of the Navy, to a separate building in the
Pavillon de Flore The Pavillon de Flore, part of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France, stands at the southwest end of the Louvre, near the Pont Royal. It was originally constructed in 1607–1610, during the reign of Henry IV, as the corner pavilion between t ...
- this physical separation helped ensure it would become relatively free from naval control. Drawing upon the previous work of Faure and Etienne, he would also campaign vigorously for the establishment of a separate ministry devoted to the matter, with Faure likening his force of personality and resistance to ministerial control to that of Julius Caeser. Backed up by the resignation of the following undersecretary Maurice Lebon, he was able to speak forcefully in favor of the establishment of a Ministry, and it was largely owing to his efforts that the French colonial office was made a separate department with a minister at its head thanks to a passing of a bill by 260 votes to 239. To this office he was appointed, in the second Dupuy cabinet (May 1894 to January 1895). He gave a great impetus to French colonial enterprise, especially in West Africa, where he organized the newly acquired colony of
Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history, kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in ...
, and despatched the Liotard mission to the upper Ubangi. While in opposition, Delcassé devoted special attention to naval affairs, and in noted speeches he declared that the function of the French navy was to secure and develop colonial enterprise, deprecated all attempts to rival the British fleet, and advocated the construction of commerce destroyers as France's best reply to England.


Foreign minister

On the formation of the second Brisson cabinet in June 1898 he succeeded Gabriel Hanotaux as
Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
, and retained that post under the subsequent premierships of Dupuy, Waldeck-Rousseau, Combes and Rouvier. In 1898 Delcassé had to deal with the delicate situation caused by Captain Marchand's occupation of the town of Fashoda in the
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
(the
Fashoda Incident The Fashoda Incident, also known as the Fashoda Crisis ( French: ''Crise de Fachoda''), was the climax of imperialist territorial disputes between Britain and France in East Africa, occurring between 10 July to 3 November 1898. A French expedit ...
) for which, as he admitted in a speech in the chamber on 23 January 1899, he accepted full responsibility, since it arose directly out of the Liotard expedition; and in March 1899 he concluded an agreement with Britain by which the difficulty was finally adjusted, and France consolidated her vast colonial empire in North-West Africa. In the same year he acted as mediator (the main mediator being Jules Cambon, French ambassador in Washington) between the United States of America and Spain, and brought the peace negotiations to a successful conclusion. Delcassé was originally a moderate willing to find a compromise with Germany, but Berlin ignored his overtures. He then became very anti-German, to the point that Kaiser Wilhelm called him "The most dangerous man for Germany in France." Delcassé improved relations between France and Italy: at the same time, he adhered firmly to the alliance with Russia, and in August 1899 made a visit to Saint Petersburg, which he repeated in April 1901. In June 1900 he made an arrangement with Spain, fixing the long-disputed boundaries of the French and Spanish possessions in West Africa. Finally, in his greatest achievement, he concluded the
Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and the French Third Republic, French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Fr ...
with Great Britain, covering colonial and other questions which had long been a matter of dispute, especially concerning
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
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and
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. Suspicion of the growing entente between France and England soon arose in Germany, and in 1905 German assertiveness was shown in a
crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...
which was forced on in the matter of French policy by Delcassé personally, a sore point with Germany. The situation became acute, and Germany forced Delcassé's resignation in June 1906. He retired into private life, but in 1908 was warmly welcomed on a visit to England.


Naval affairs

In 1909 Delcassé was appointed chairman of a commission appointed to investigate the French navy. The report was drawn up on 24 May 1909 and concluded that the French navy was unprepared and the naval administration and organization were in disarray. Delcassé was appointed Minister of Marine on 2 March 1911 in the cabinet of Ernest Monis. Delcassé promulgated closer cooperation between the British and French fleets. This arrangement was an important factor in leading Britain to side with France against Germany when World War I started. On 25 September 1911, as the battleship '' Liberté'' was moored in
Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...
harbor, an accidental explosion in one of her forward ammunition magazines for the secondary guns destroyed the ship. 210 men died and 136 were seriously injured. The captain, Louis Jaurès, was on leave at the time. After the explosion there was a debate in the Chamber of Deputies in which the honour of Jaurès and the responsibility for the use of unstable powder by the navy was questioned. Jaurès had to face a court martial, but was acquitted unanimously on 21 December 1911. Paul Painlevé, president of the navy committee, appointed a commission of inquiry after the explosion, which followed that of the battleship '' Iéna''. Captain Antoine Schwerer was a member of the commission of inquiry and wrote a scathing "Report on Naval Powders" (1912). Delcassé ordered that all ammunition made before 1907 be replaced. The older ammunition was removed from the ships, and the remainder was steadily replaced with a new explosive containing
diphenylamine Diphenylamine is an organic compound with the formula (C6H5)2NH. The compound is a derivative of aniline, consisting of an amine bound to two phenyl groups. The compound is a colorless solid, but commercial samples are often yellow due to oxidiz ...
as a stabilizer. Continued efforts were made to improve the powders, and there were no more major disasters. It was not until 1914 that the "powder crisis" was fully resolved. Delcassé retained his position in the cabinet of Joseph Caillaux until its fall on 14 January 1912.
Raymond Poincaré Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France. He was a conservative leader, primarily committed to ...
then urged Delcassé to become prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, but Delcassé declined; however, he would later agree to remain in Poincaré's cabinet as Minister of the Navy.


Later career

President Armand Fallières' term in office expired in January 1913, and Delcassé decided to leave the Ministry of Marine and run for the presidency. He did not succeed. After the election, which was won by Poincaré, a new cabinet was formed by
Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliat ...
. Briand offered Delcassé the post of minister of marine or minister of war in the new cabinet, but Delcassé declined. He would soon be appointed ambassador to Russia, and then minister of war. On 26 August 1914 after the Germans announced successes in the north and east, René Viviani announced the resignation of the cabinet. In the new cabinet, announced within an hour, Viviani retained his post. Delcassé was minister of foreign affairs, Aristide Briand was minister of justice and Alexandre Millerand was Minister of War. Delcassé resigned from the Cabinet on 14 October 1915, partly on the grounds of differing opinions and partly because of ill health.


Honours

* : Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1900 * : Grand Cross of the Order of St. Alexander, 1902 * : Grand Cross of the
Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (, originally ; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OC3) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bes ...
, with Collar, 9 July 1900 * : Honorary Grand Cross of the
Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...
, 4 May 1903


Portrayal in media

* Portrayed by Harald Paulsen (Delcassé is credited as the "French Foreign Minister") in the 1941 German film ''
Ohm Krüger ''Ohm Krüger'' (English: ''Uncle Krüger'') is a 1941 German biographical film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Lucie Höflich, and Werner Hinz. It was one of a series of major propaganda films produced in Nazi Germany ...
'' * Portrayed by Oliver Borlen in the 2012 Filipino film, '' El Presidente''


References


Sources

* * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * (Chapter two, pp. 87–186, is about Delcassé.)


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delcassé, Theophile 1852 births 1923 deaths People from Pamiers Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) Independent Radical politicians Foreign ministers of France Ministers of marine Ministers of the colonies of France Ministers of the overseas of France Ministers of war of France Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 11th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French people of World War I Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Ambassadors of France to the Russian Empire