The First World War was an unprecedented disaster that kill millions and set the continent of Europe on the course to further calamity two decades later . But it did n’t issue forth out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of hostility coming up in August , Erik Sass will be front back at the lead - up to the warfare , when ostensibly minor moment of rubbing accumulated until the situation was ready to explode . He ’ll be cover those events 100 year after they occurred . This is the 114th installment in the series .
April 21–24, 1914: French Cheer British Royals on State Visit
After a millenary of rivalry , in the first year of the 20th C France and Britain put aside their eld - old departure and embraced each other in the “ Entente Cordiale ” ( friendly understanding)—less out of some newfound appreciation of each other ’s timber than their share fear of Germany . But the friendship was existent enough , as demonstrate by the rapturous welcome for King George V and Queen Mary when the imperial brace paid a state visit to France from April 21 to 24 , 1914 .
The Anglo - French human relationship had always been complicated , to say the least , characterise over the 100 by equal persona antagonism and admiration . Even when diplomatic relations were at their worst , the British elite group venerated Gallic culture and culinary art , and it wasde rigueurfor educated blue blood to drop Gallic musical phrase in casual conversation and have a French - speak governess for their children . On the other side many French admire Britain ’s representative governance , commercial achiever , and world - straddling empire — and even , on occasion , English esthetic ( in the eighteenth 100 English gardens were all the rage in French landscape painting design ) .
Under the Third Republic the popular French also display a sealed drippy fondness for the British regal family unit , peculiarly among French monarchists nostalgic for the lost resplendency of their own Bourbon dynasty . This fascination with the British royals was on full display during the official nation sojourn of George V , who was greeted by huge gang of embolden French citizens everywhere he choke during the three - day stay in France .
After intersect the English Channel in the royal racing yacht with an escort of British and French combat ship , the royal couple proceeded from Calais to Paris , where they come via the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne in the previous afternoon , and were officially greeted by President Poincare along with other high officials including the President of the Senate , the President of the Chamber of Deputies , and all the Gallic politics ministers . After a sojourn to the Foreign Ministry President Poincare and the French First Lady hosted the regal brace at a state dinner party at the Elysee Palace .
The following day the king and queen were keep company by President Poincare and the First Lady to the parade land at Vincennes , where they reviewed French flock , followed by an official reception at the Hôtel de Ville , the metropolis mansion house of Paris , and then a state dinner party with the President and First Lady hosted by the royal brace and foreign secretary Edward Grey at the British Embassy . The royal twosome also attended the Paris Opéra , where they were received with rapturous applause . in the end the next day was filled with more intimate pursuits , including a visit to the Equus caballus races at the Auteuil Hippodrome .
The royal couple made a very favorable impression with their “ common spot , ” which pleased the classless French then just as it did four ten years after , when Roland Barthes indite about the phenomenon of “ The ‘ Blue Blood ’ Cruise . ” Thus French newspapers reported that the king cheerfully drank a toast with everyone who come near him at the Hôtel de Ville , andL’Illustration , a weekly magazine , outstrip itself with breathless praise for the top executive ’s humility and magnanimity .
In the background was always the result of surety , meaning the German menace , as President Poincare sidelong hinted in his effusive official address on April 21 : “ After a prospicient contention which had instruct them imperishable lesson of esteem and mutual regard , France and Great Britain have learnt to be friends , to approximate their thoughts and to merge their efforts … I do not doubt that , under the auspices of your Majesty and your Government , these ties of familiarity will be day by day strengthened , to the great profit of civilization and of universal peace . This is the very sincere regard I express in the name of France . ”
But beneath the flowery rhetoric a great deal of ambiguity remained in the Anglo - French relationship , as there was still no conventional treaty of alliance between them , leave it to Britishdiscretionwhether they would take France ’s side in the event of war with Germany . It was by no means sure that they would .
A week afterward , on April 28 , 1914 , Grey seemed to throw a bucket of cold water on French hopes when a member of Parliament asked him “ whether the insurance of this body politic still remains one of freedom from all obligations to engage in military surgical process on the Continent . ” In reply the foreign secretary coolly referred back to a statement by Prime Minister Asquith the late year , to the effect that , “ As has been repeatedly posit , this body politic is not under any obligation not public and known to Parliament which obligate it to take part in any state of war . ”
See theprevious installmentorall entry .
