PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Théophile Delcassé
Théophile Delcassé
Minister of Foreign Affairs
	In office; 28 June 1898 – 6 June 1905
President	Félix Faure; Émile Loubet
Prime Minister	Henri Brisson; Charles Dupuy; Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau; Émile Combes; Maurice Rouvier
Preceded by	Gabriel Hanotaux
Succeeded by	Maurice Rouvier
	In office; 26 August 1914 – 13 October 1915
President	Raymond Poincaré
Prime Minister	René Viviani
Preceded by	Gaston Doumergue
Succeeded by	René Viviani
Minister of War
	In office; 9 June 1914 – 13 June 1914
President	Raymond Poincaré
Prime Minister	Alexandre Ribot
Preceded by	Joseph Noulens
Succeeded by	Adolphe Messimy
Minister of Marine
	In office; 2 March 1911 – 21 January 1913
President	Armand Fallières
Prime Minister	Ernest Monis; Joseph Caillaux; Raymond Poincaré
Preceded by	Auguste Boué de Lapeyrère
Succeeded by	Pierre Baudin
Minister of Colonies
	In office; 30 May 1894 – 26 January 1895
President	Sadi Carnot; Jean Casimir-Périer; Félix Faure
Prime Minister	Charles Dupuy
Preceded by	Ernest Boulanger
Succeeded by	Émile Chautemps
Under-secretary of state for Colonies
	In office; 18 January 1893 – 25 November 1893
President	Sadi Carnot
Prime Minister	Alexandre Ribot; Charles Dupuy
Preceded by	Émile Jamais
Succeeded by	Maurice Lebon
Membre of the Chamber of deputies
	In office; 12 November 1889 – 7 December 1919
Preceded by	Charles Sans-Leroy
Succeeded by	Roger Lafagette
Parliamentary group	Radical Left
Constituency	Ariège
Personal details
Born	1 March 1852; Pamiers, Ariège, France
Died	22 February 1923 (aged 70); Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Political party	Radical

Théophile Delcassé (French: [teɔfil dɛlkase]; 1 March 1852 – 22 February 1923) was a French politician who served as foreign minister from 1898 to 1905. He is best known for his hatred of Germany and efforts to secure alliances with Russia and Great Britain that became the Entente Cordiale. He belonged to the Radical Party and was a protege of Léon Gambetta.

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". In the following year he entered the chamber as deputy for Foix.^[1]

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. It was largely owing to his efforts that the French colonial office was made a separate department with a minister at its head, and 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, 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.^[1]

Foreign minister

On the formation of the second Brisson cabinet in June 1898 he succeeded Gabriel Hanotaux as Foreign Minister, 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 (the Fashoda Incident) 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.^[1]

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 with Great Britain, covering colonial and other questions which had long been a matter of dispute, especially concerning Egypt, Newfoundland and Morocco. Suspicion of the growing entente between France and England soon arose in Germany, and in 1905 German assertiveness was shown in a crisis which was forced on in the matter of French policy by Delcassé personally, a sore point with Germany.^[1] The situation became acute, and Germany forced Delcassé's resignation in June 1906.^[2] He retired into private life, but in 1908 was warmly welcomed on a visit to England.^[1]

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.^[3] Delcassé was appointed Minister of Marine on 2 March 1911 in the cabinet of Ernest Monis.^[4] 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 harbor, an accidental explosion in one of her forward ammunition magazines for the secondary guns destroyed the ship.^[5] 210 men died and 136 were seriously injured.^[6] The captain, Louis Jaurès, was on leave at the time.^[7] 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.^[7] 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).^[8] Delcassé ordered that all ammunition made before 1907 be replaced.^[6] The older ammunition was removed from the ships, and the remainder was steadily replaced with a new explosive containing diphenylamine as a stabilizer.^[9] Continued efforts were made to improve the powders, and there were no more major disasters.^[10] It was not until 1914 that the "powder crisis" was fully resolved.^[6]

Delcassé retained his position in the cabinet of Joseph Caillaux until its fall on 14 January 1912. Raymond Poincaré 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.^[11]

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.^[12] After the election, which was won by Poincaré, a new cabinet was formed by Aristide Briand. 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.^[13] 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.^[14] Delcassé was minister of foreign affairs, Aristide Briand was minister of justice and Alexandre Millerand was Minister of War.^[14]

Delcassé resigned from the Cabinet on 14 October 1915, partly on the grounds of differing opinions and partly because of ill health.^[15]

Honours

Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1900^[16]
Principality of Bulgaria: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Alexander, 1902^[17]
Spain: Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, with Collar, 9 July 1900^[18]
United Kingdom: Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 4 May 1903^[19]

Portrayal in media

Portrayed by Harald Paulsen (Delcassé is credited as the "French Foreign Minister") in the 1941 German film Ohm Krüger
Portrayed by Oliver Borlen in the 2012 Filipino film, El Presidente

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Chisholm 1911.
^ Porter 1936, p. 260.
^ Porter 1936, p. 280.
^ Porter 1936, p. 284.
^ Gardiner 1979, p. 297.
^ ^a ^b ^c Vego 2013, PT189.
^ ^a ^b Candar & Duclert 2014, PT305.
^ Schwerer 1912.
^ Porter 1936, p. 296.
^ Porter 1936, p. 297.
^ Porter 1936, p. 290.
^ Porter 1936, p. 308ff.
^ Porter 1936, p. 310.
^ ^a ^b French Ministry Resigns 1914, p. 330.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Delcassé, Théophile". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 816.
^ Handelsblad (Het) 3 November 1900.
^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36811. London. 4 July 1902. p. 3.
^ "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III", Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish), 1901, p. 170, retrieved 28 July 2020
^ "Page 3526 | Issue 27560, 2 June 1903 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2023.

Sources

Candar, Gilles; Duclert, Vincent (5 February 2014), Jean Jaurès (in French), Fayard, ISBN 978-2-213-68377-5, retrieved 26 October 2017
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Delcassé, Théophile". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 953.
"French Ministry Resigns", The Independent, 7 September 1914, retrieved 24 July 2012
Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 978-0-8317-0302-8
Porter, Charles Wesley (1936), The Career of Théophile Delcassé, University of Pennsylvania Press, retrieved 27 October 2017
Schwerer, Antoine (1912), Rapport concernant les poudres de la marine, présenté à M. le ministre à la suite de l'enquête qui lui a été confiée, Paris: Impr. nationale, p. 268
Vego, Milan (31 October 2013), Austro-Hungarian Naval Policy, 1904–1914, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-136-71337-8, retrieved 27 October 2017

External links

"Delcassé, Théophile" . The New Student's Reference Work . 1914.
Newspaper clippings about Théophile Delcassé in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Political offices
Preceded by Ernest Boulanger	Minister of Colonies 1894–1895	Succeeded by Émile Chautemps
Preceded by Gabriel Hanotaux	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1898–1905	Succeeded by Maurice Rouvier
Preceded by Auguste Boué de Lapeyrère	Minister of Marine 1911–1913	Succeeded by Pierre Baudin
Preceded by Joseph Noulens	Minister of War 1914	Succeeded by Adolphe Messimy
Preceded by Gaston Doumergue	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1914–1915	Succeeded by René Viviani

[FOOTNOTEChisholm1911-1] Chisholm 1911.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936260-2] Porter 1936, p. 260.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936280-3] Porter 1936, p. 280.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936284-4] Porter 1936, p. 284.

[FOOTNOTEGardiner1979297-5] Gardiner 1979, p. 297.

[FOOTNOTEVego2013PT189-6] Vego 2013, PT189.

[FOOTNOTECandarDuclert2014PT305-7] Candar & Duclert 2014, PT305.

[FOOTNOTESchwerer1912-8] Schwerer 1912.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936296-9] Porter 1936, p. 296.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936297-10] Porter 1936, p. 297.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936290-11] Porter 1936, p. 290.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936308ff-12] Porter 1936, p. 308ff.

[FOOTNOTEPorter1936310-13] Porter 1936, p. 310.

[FOOTNOTEFrench_Ministry_Resigns_1914330-14] French Ministry Resigns 1914, p. 330.

[15] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Delcassé, Théophile". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 816.

[16] Handelsblad (Het) 3 November 1900.

[17] "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36811. London. 4 July 1902. p. 3.

[18] "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III", Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish), 1901, p. 170, retrieved 28 July 2020

[LG-27560-3526-19] "Page 3526 | Issue 27560, 2 June 1903 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Théophile Delcassé

Biography

Colonial affairs

Foreign minister

Naval affairs

Later career

Honours

Portrayal in media

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Read other articles:

José Palma

Rodhial Huda

NBC

Bandar Udara Toulouse Blagnac

لغة مختلطة

イスラームにおける結婚

Reiner Ferreira

WBNB-TV

McKenzie Lee

ソー (オー＝ド＝セーヌ県)

Повітряні сили Збройних сил України

سينما الكونغو

بطولة آسيا لكرة اليد للسيدات 1991

Augustin Daly

Torlakian dialects

Federasi Sepak Bola Turkmenistan

Kurunthancode

Asia Pacific Greens Federation

قضاء العمارة

Red August