The French Foreign Office and the Origins of the First World War 1898-1914 [Hardcover]

This is the first full scholarly history of the French Foreign Ministry--the Quai d'Orsay--in the years between the Fashoda Crisis and the First World War. In an intensively researched study, M. B. Hayne examines the bureaucratic machinery of the Quai d'Orsay, its policies, and its personnel. He explores the ideas and influence of leading diplomats and administrators, their prejudices, and their aims; and traces the often complex relationships between successive Foreign Ministers and the functionaries of the Quai d'Orsay. His analysis throws much new light on French policy and actions during the July Crisis, and makes a significant contribution to the debate over the origins of the First World War.

Students of French diplomatic history will be indebted to Haynes for his masterful analysis of the inner workings of the Quai d'Orsay and the diplomatic exploits of French diplomats, including Paul Cambon and his brother Jules, Camile Barrere, and others. The final chapter presents new insights into the outbreak of WWI. --CHOICE

Splendid study....This is an engrossing study of the minds and relationships of France's foreign policy elite. --The Journal of Military History

Based on exhaustive research in the diplomatic records and especially in the relevant personal papers. The author has shown much skill in arranging his material in an orderly and disciplined account. --The Historian